Category Archives for Airlines.
Chris McGinnis conducted an interesting interview with United Airlines President Scott Kirby.
There’s a lot here for United flyers, especially those based on the West Coast. For me, though, three things especially stood out.
When you check your bags with an airline you expect that it will arrive at its destination. While the TSA has carte blanche to open your bags, the airline isn’t supposed to. When it happens it’s a huge breach of trust.
However acrimonious labor negotiations at American Airlines seem to now be affecting passengers, as a customer reports finding a union flyer in a checked bag after picking it up last Thursday at baggage claim.
American’s first Airbus A321neo is about to enter commercial service on Tuesday, April 2. They have 100 of the ‘new engine option’ planes on order (22 of these deliveries have been deferred). It’s being outfitted in a new ‘dense’ configuration along the lines of the American Airlines 737 MAX, which has the airline’s new standard domestic interior.
In a communication to employees the airline is highlighting five features of the new aircraft.
A Bangkok Airways pilot filmed passengers streamed off a jet bridge late one night in Phuket, Thailand. He was sitting in the cockpit of his aircraft and noticed that they were walking on the jet bridge but there was no plane anywhere in sight they could be getting off of….
Some airlines make awards available when they load their schedules, which varies between roughly ten to twelve months prior to flight. They might add seats right when schedules load, or they might wait a few days or weeks.
Other airlines will wait until travel approaches. Although in general I find the best time to be searching for award space is about 6 months to departure. And one of the toughest times is two months out — seats made available in advance may be gone, and last minute award space hasn’t opened up yet.
Tokyo Narita airport is going to forego transit security screening of passengers flying from the United States and connecting to other destinations in Asia. The goal is to make Tokyo Narita a preferred airport for connecting passengers.
This short video is making the rounds in social media of falcons boarding a flight. This is far more common than you might think. And no these do not appear to be emotional support falcons.
According to the Points Guy website American Airlines will no longer issue infant tickets when you redeem miles for awards on any of their partner airlines except British Airways.
If this were accurate it would be huge news. I had heard nothing of the sort, so I decided to test it out.
On American Airlines flight AA535 on March 25th there were more than passengers in the first class cabin.
I’m guessing standard compensation for a bee sting is around 5000 miles or a $100 travel credit.
Starting Monday, April 1 United will be conducting a test for one month for late night departures from Washington Dulles. Transatlantic flights departing after 10 p.m. will see a modified meal service in business class that shortens the service to allow for longer sleep. Flights like Washington Dulles – London Heathrow, Frankfurt, and Dublin are scheduled for between just 7 and 8 hours gate-to-gate.
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 »
