Category Archives for Airlines.
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.
A passenger on board Biman Bangladesh flight BG147 from Dhaka to Chittagong to Dubai attempted to hijack the plane, informing crew that he had a gun and some reports also suggest a bomb.
According to Bangladeshi officials the alleged hijacker asked to speak to his wife and to the country’s prime minister who was visiting Chittagong.
United proudly is the only major airline that has kept the ban on carry on bags for basic economy customers. In fact they’re more punitive than that, even. A basic economy customer who isn’t checking a bag isn’t allowed to check-in online or via app. They have to show up at the airport early in order to stand in line to check in, so an agent can personally verify they don’t have a carry on.
Airlines have rolled out basic economy fares between the US and Europe but the carry on bag restriction didn’t take hold for transatlantic travel. Now it seems like it might not be able to even if airlines tried.
There’s a great deal of discussion of a rumor that Etihad could sever ties with American Airlines and partner with United or even join Star Alliance instead.
I first covered these discussions over the summer but now it’s getting much broader attention.
The airline has been consistently down aircraft over the past couple of weeks and they haven’t been able to fly a portion of their schedule. The carrier has been down 60 planes a day because a group of mechanics are writing up everything they can find to write up.
The airline is almost certainly right that there’s a coordinated illegal job action on the part of mechanics, and it’s causing damage to the airline. However the carrier has maintained a strong culture of working with its employees. It didn’t engage in layoffs during economic downturns. It has managed to retain a culture where employees generally like their jobs. Southwest Airlines isn’t the same place it was under Herb Kelleher but these sorts of confrontations chip away at what’s left of the culture little by little.
After many years of speculation, sixteen months ago Southwest finally announced they would fly to Hawaii. How long have we been waiting? In December 2010 they advertised for an ETOPS manager suggesting they were planning long overwater flights.
They have yet to begin selling tickets but details of their plans have been trickling out ever since. Last year they confirmed several Hawaii routes: Oakland, San Diego, San Jose, and Sacramento will see Hawaii service and they’ll fly to Honolulu, Maui, Kauai, and Lihue.
And now we know what they will serve inflight, too.
Back in February American Airilines went apoplectic over a deal to disproportionately increase United’s gate count at Chicago O’Hare. They said they would not sign a new lease under those conditions.
The Chicago Deputy Mayor charged with handling O’Hare expansion has now been… hired by United. Robert Rivkin was named United’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel.
These flights represent 5% of American’s flights but the airline says they generate more than half of premium cabin revenue. They touch 80% of American’s cargo. And “[n]early 50 percent of first and business passengers” on these flights are elites.
Whether you have PreCheck because you’ve signed up for that program, or gotten it through another service like Global Entry, it only works with participating airlines that have invested in integrating with TSA for screening customer information.
TSA announced today that 9 more airlines support PreCheck: Air India, Asiana Airlines, China Airlines, Eastern Airlines, Elite Airways, EVA Airways, Japan Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, and Volaris.
Advice on how to get the best airfare deals has remained largely the same, here are the 8 best ways to save money on airfare and I don’t think it alters much based on new research from the Airline Reporting Corporation and Expedia.
However there are significant findings you should know about.
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 »
