Category Archives for Airlines.
The first real, tangible move from Wow Air 2.0 seems to have been spotted: a Wow Air Cafe in D.C.’s West End.
Icelandic media reported that the nascent airline planned to offer “a sales office and a facility where people can sit down, have a coffee and browse the possibilities.”
Southwest though has a long history of profits and margins that have eluded much of the industry, and they haven’t gone down the same fees and restrictions rabbit hole. They are the largest domestic airline in the country. They do not have change fees or checked bag fees (for up to 2 bags per passenger). They don’t have seat fees, without assigned seats, but they do charge to be at the front of the boarding queue which means earlier dibs at seat selection.
Ukraine International Airlines flight PS753 from Tehran to Kiev crashed into an open field in a Tehran suburb minutes after departure. The three year old Boeing 737-800 with 176 souls on board ceased broadcasting from its transponder as it climbed through 8000 feet.
Several Iranian sources and a Dubai-based news agency reported the cause as an accidental missile strike although it is too early to offer any conclusions. Initial reporting on such incidents is often wrong.
Delta has been promoting their CEO Ed Bastian’s keynote at the Computer Electronics Show as a Really Big DealTM, the ‘first airline’ to do such a thing, as though that suggested on its own that Delta is a leader in technology. At CES you find virtual reality, 8k TVs and next gen wearable devices. And Delta has tech to unveil that’s so big it’s a keynote at the conference. Given the prominence of the forum and the buildup, what did he reveal? Free inflight wi-fi someday, with no specifics. They say this is an area where other airlines have struggled although of course JetBlue offers free wifi and American has just been waiting to see what Delta announces so they can copy it. Biometrics in partnership with the government to track you throughout your journey.…
American Airlines has previously said they’ve lost about $580 million from the grounding of the MAX. I actually don’t believe they’ve lost anything close to that since they’ve largely cut what they believe are the biggest money losing flights.
However the fact that American is saying they’ll contribute an additional $30 million to employee profit sharing gives us some indication of the value of the settlement.
Alaska Airlines is offering double miles when crediting paid Fiji Airways travel to Mileage Plan. Registration required. Tickets must be booked by February 29 for travel between February 1 and June 30.
And they’re also running a discount of up to 50% on Fiji Airways award redemption through February 29.
An internal United Airlines memo details that the carrier will no longer automatically send out vouchers to passengers on flights that are delayed less than 6 hours.
Cathay Pacific is offering a 10% bonus transferring credit card points to Asia Miles in January (registration required). This is a bonus offered by Cathay itself, rather than by the bank, so you won’t see it on the Membership Rewards or Citi Thank You Rewards websites.
Air Canada Jazz flight 8684 from Montreal to Bagotville in Quebec lost a wheel during takeoff on Friday. The Dash 8-300 had 49 passengers and 3 crew on board. The “inboard left main wheel began to glow orange.” The wheel came off the gear strut and fell off the aircraft.
On Thursday Air India’s flight AI865 from Delhi to Mumbai was delayed 7 hours prior to finally departing. However while the plane taxied out, it returned to the gate with another issue.
Passengers had had all they could stand, and they couldn’t stands no more. Unfortunately instead of eating spinach they erupted in other, less productive ways.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
