Category Archives for Airlines.
Award space between the US and Tahiti is as tough to get as any route in the world.
Right now Air France business class has some availability for two passengers a few days each month. That’s better than I’ve seen it, whether searching in November or February or April.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Qatar Airways owns a 49% stake in Air Italy and is attempting to revive what was once Meridiana into the dominant airline in Italy. With Delta partner Alitalia struggling, that seems possible. Although given Alitalia’s challenges, draining subsidies from Air France and then Etihad and the government of Italy the Italian aviation market isn’t a place that’s likely to produce profits. Delta sniffed around looking to invest in Alitalia, but no deal has been done.
US airlines don’t want to compete with Air Italy, though. They don’t want to compete with anyone, and there’s always a chance to go to the administration and complain about foreigners.
The JetPrivilege program has value. Last summer investment group Blackstone looked at buying it outright.
Indeed the frequent flyer program has been preparing to operate independently of Jet Airways.
When American Airlines launched their ‘web specials’ they were discounted awards, for less than the cost of a saver award. These awards allow no changes versus traditional awards which permit date changes free of charge and routing changes for a fee.
Now though these non-changeable web specials appear to be offering fully dynamic pricing.
British Airways appears to be testing a redemption option to spend more points on an award ticket in exchange for reducing or eliminating taxes and fees.
Japanese Star Alliance carrier ANA is partnering with a company called OpenJaw Technologies to implement the IATA NDC standard.
OpenJaw’s miles redemption platform provides for both “Transparent and Opaque. Dynamic Pricing” for revenue-based redemption.
It’s not clear who is in charge at the airline, as the carrier’s third largest owner claims to have been appointed by the board as CEO while the previous head says no such change has been made.
There aren’t just dueling chief executives but also dueling spokespeople. Over a dozen representatives of the new CEO entered company headquarters yesterday “to enforce the message about the leadership change.”
The largest private airline of India, which had a fleet of over 120 aircraft, is being grounded amidst debts to lessors, fuel suppliers, pilots, and banks. There’s talk that this is ‘only temporary’ but once shut down airlines rarely start back up (and it’s pretty much never a good idea for them to). At most branding gets purchased out of the ashes and a new carrier with a new business model might operate under the old name.
Even though their South Africa partner is exceptionally weak – indeed, perhaps because South African Airways is so weak – United is launching Newark – Cape Town service.
This is certainly a gamble but United has seemed to be in a gambling mood, willing to experiment, fail, and adjust their route network.
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 »
