Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

American Airlines About to Drop a Big List of New Routes and Network Changes

by Gary Leff

american plush airplane
Aug 07 2019

I’ve previously predicted Chicago – Krakow and Philadelphia – Casablanca so I’ll still with those. (They weren’t final by any means when I heard about them.) Since there’ll be several routes announced there should be something from the Qantas JV, it’ll include Europe changes, and also bundle small ball North America stuff. I expect that changes will probably be less heavy in South America – even though airline President Robert Isom just made a trip there – pending the LATAM joint venture.

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When Things Go Wrong With an Airline, It’s the Whole Industry That Suffers

by Gary Leff

southwest plane
Aug 05 2019

David Dao getting dragged off of a United Express flight was a worldwide moment. It focused attention on involuntary denied boardings. It generated outrage. And United, Delta and American all looked closely at their approach. United’s stock recovered quickly, passenger numbers held, and the airline continued to grow. Two years later United suffers no drag at all from David Dao, but it’s the industry that has shifted.

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Paroled Drug Addict Goes to Court to Defend Right to Harass Women Inflight

by Gary Leff

southwest plane aisle
Aug 05 2019

Back on October 16 a man flying Southwest from Los Angeles to Dallas claimed to be flirting, playing footsie with his seat opponent, and even argued that she had come on to him. She asked for a new seat though, and he got up and followed appearing to keep up his romantic pursuit.

The man, who was released on parole days before the flight, had overdosed on heroin three days prior to travel and used used methamphetamine just the day before.

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Can You Fly and Virtue Signal Concern for the Environment at the Same Time?

by Gary Leff

sulfur dioxide emissions
Aug 05 2019

Hotels encourage you to fly out for a stay while they replace single use plastic toiletries with bulk wall mounted shampoo, and offer to let you skip housekeeping, telling you these cost saving measures are out of their concern “for the environment.”

The Dutch government wants to ban flights between Brussels and Amsterdam for the environment since apparently it’s more environmentally friendly to connect at Heathrow or Frankfurt.

Ponder whether you should fly at all, while you continue to have kids and eat meat…

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After United Cancelled a Flight Because of Intoxicated Pilots, They Downgraded a Passenger Too

by Gary Leff

united plane docked
Aug 04 2019

It’s been widely reported that United’s Glasgow – Newark flight had to be cancelled on Saturday morning when two pilots showed up to work intoxicated.

However United’s efforts to inconvenience passengers weren’t limited to two intoxicated pilots, they continued to inconvenience passengers through the decisions they made recovering from the incident as well.

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Uzbekistan Airways is Looking to Sell 18 Aircraft — on Facebook

by Gary Leff

uzbekistan airways plane
Aug 04 2019

Uzbekistan Airways now has Boeing 787-8s and those have 4.7 tons greater cargo capacity than 767s. They may not be able to carry a full cargo payload when full and servicing long flights, that shouldn’t be an issue for Tashkent – London for instance. It makes sense for the carrier to consolidate operations.

However given Amazon’s penchant for growing its cargo fleet I wonder if listing the planes on Amazon Marketplace might turn out to be a more effective platform.

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British Airways Reduces Fuel Surcharges, Coach Awards Can Now Make Sense

by Gary Leff

british airways plane
Aug 04 2019

British Airways settled a class action lawsuit over fuel surcharges. See, these fees had nothing to do with the price of fuel (as required by the Department of Transportation). They awarded cash or miles to a whole bunch of frequent flyers, but continued charging the fees — they just stopped calling them fuel surcharges, and started calling them surcharges. In other words, extra fees that no longer even pretend to have a purpose.

While fuel surcharges aren’t a government tax, they are a tax on frequent flyers, a fee for using miles for free travel (ironic, huh?).

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Two United Pilots Too Drunk to Fly – Again – Passengers Entitled to Over $650 Each

by Gary Leff

united plane docked
Aug 03 2019

Since Glasgow, Scotland is part of the UK and Brexit hasn’t happened yet, this flight delay should be covered by Regulation 261/2004 entitling passengers to significant cash compensation. Given the distance and that passengers won’t reach their destination within four hours of schedule, they’re clearly entitled to 600 euros cash each (US$677).

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