Category Archives for Airlines.
United Airlines has just announced that MileagePlus miles no longer expire.
MileagePlus has also eliminated award charts. The two changes viewed together redistribute United’s spending from frequent customers to infrequent ones.
One of the major issues of contention between American Airlines and its mechanics – that has prevented reaching a contract agreement and contributed to the airline’s poor operational performance – is outsourcing. American outsources less work than other U.S. airlines.
However the trend is for high value work to be done in house, and lower value work to be outsourced. That’s a trend that union mechanics aren’t going to be able to escape. Legacy American Airlines mechanics are in their mid-50s on average and are being promised job and base protection, so the fight is really about future workers.
Vice President of Customer Planning Jill Surdek addressed the interiors of their A321T aircraft in an employee question and answer session last week.
Between the poor operational performance American Airlines has suffered this summer, the airline’s cramming more seats into coach and surly service, the carrier’s employees have a frequent need to apologize to customers.
Though Prince Harry and Megan Markle came under fire recently for flying private they’re also known to fly commercial, and even flew coach for a New Year’s getaway. Sitting in the very back of an aircraft may be the best position where there are security concerns.
Prince Harry is also known to fly British Airways intra-European business class which is like flying coach. His grandfather Prince Philip, however, once remarked that air travel can be quite nice “provided you don’t travel in something called economy class, which sounds ghastly.”
Is American Airlines international first class worth it? There’s no suites with doors. There’s no fine dining compared to peers selling international first class. The benefit surely comes from the service, right?
A Delhi man called police to let them know a woman was carrying a bomb and planned to use it on a flight bound for either Dubai or Saudi Arabia. All international flights were temporarily suspended at India’s busiest airport.
So far London Heathrow airport workers have postponed their planned August strikes, so British Airways customers next expect disruption from a pilots strike. British Airways pilots have announced strike plans for September 9, 10 and 27.
Here’s what happens next for passengers, and here’s why pilots are striking.
Star Alliance member Air India reportedly hasn’t been paying its jet fuel bills and now can’t gas up at six airports in the country.
It’s great to see the airline deploying their new premium-heavy 46 business class seat 767s aggressively, and not just out of Newark or even on pure business routes.
The new Polaris business class seat is a competitive advantage not because it’s better than what Delta, American, or Air France offer – or what British Airways or Virgin Atlantic will offer – it isn’t. It generally lags all of those. However they’re able to offer fully flat direct aisle access business class seats, attractively designed, using less cabin space. That allows them to fit more seats into the same footprint, or add seats without taking out as many from a lesser cabin.
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 »
