Category Archives for Airlines.
Norwegian is cheap flying, but when things go wrong it isn’t known for great customer service. Mistakes happen, but the test of an airline is how they respond when they do.
When they delivered an 82 year old woman in a wheelchair to the wrong gate she missed her flight. And they told her she’d have to buy a new ticket as a no show passenger.
Airline CEO Doug Parker says he wears a wrist band “that says CECFTM, which is a terrible acronym because it doesn’t say anything, but it stands for Create an Environment that Cares for our Frontline Team Members. That’s what our mission is. Every day one of our officers sends a note to other officers about what they did that day to create an environment that cares for frontline team members.”
On Tuesday what they did is sue their employees again.
It turns out that filming flight attendants is especially prevalent in Japan, where a Japanese union representing cabin crew at Japan Airlines, ANA and other carriers says that 60% of their members have been filmed while on duty.
Some of the videographers are really creepy, too.
Last week a man documented the experience of flying Delta from Aspen to Salt Lake City by himself aboard Delta Express flight DL3652 operated by SkyWest. Boarding was announced at the gate as being for him. He captures the surreal experience of a predeparture announcement being made over the PA system by a flight attendant when he’s the only one in the cabin. He gets to meet the pilots. He’s sitting up front, with a predeparture beverage.
Back in early May I wrote that American was looking to re-start service to Tel Aviv with a Boeing 787. They announced plans to do so from Dallas Fort-Worth last week. The airline intends to offer three-times weekly service beginning September 9, 2020 – so more than a year away.
Unlike most other flights between the U.S. and Israel this one isn’t focused on the Jewish market or even directly the tech sector (though there’s tech in Texas to be sure). Instead it should draw evangelical tourists, and should be the preferred flight for travel from places like Waco and Tulsa.
In November 2017 American Airlines announced Dallas Fort-Worth – Reykjavik service. They were only flying there because two Icelandic carriers started flying to Dallas. It was classic capacity dumping. Now with those airlines gone from the market, American is pulling out too — and moving their Reykjavik flight to Philadephia, where they’d have logically put it all along.
A Norwegian Boeing 787-8 took off from Rome Fiumicino enroute to Los Angeles as flight DY7115 on Saturday. As it climbed from runway 16R, one of its Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines suffered an uncontained failure. Pieces of the engine — described as “glowing pieces of metal” rained down on the town below “in the hundreds.”
The pilot stopped climbing at 3000 feet and returned to the same runway 23 minutes after takeoff with all 310 passengers and crew on board safe. However 12 homes and 25 vehicles were reportedly damaged by falling parts. One person was actually hit, but wasn’t injured.
A requirement to avoid Chinese airspace for Cathay Pacific would add time and fuel expense to flights. The airline might choose to exert pressure on employees not to protest and even express support for protests in social media or be penalized by being unable to work.
Meanwhile Chinese media is reporting on state-owned enterprises instructing employees not to fly Cathay Pacific when other airline flights are available.
This is an attack on Cathay Pacific. It’s also an effort to leverage Cathay Pacific’s influence over its employees. And it’s a demonstration of the ability of mainland China to punish Hong Kong companies and workers for defiance.
British Airways pilots have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, their right to strike has been upheld by the courts, but no strike has yet been scheduled. The airline and its pilots have been in government-facilitated negotiations, much like American Airlines and its mechanics.
Ultimately pilots can bring down an airline in a way no other work group can. Here’s what BA’s pilots reportedly want.
On May 19, 1967, Roy Knight, Jr. was shot down in Vietnam. The Air Force major was “attacking a target on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. He was missing in action, promoted to Colonel, and seven years later declared killed in action.
The Southwest Captain, who brought his father back to Dallas where he’d said his goodbyes 52 years earlier, can now close a chapter on a life that was “posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart and six Air Medals for his actions.”
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 »
