Category Archives for Airlines.
Airlines around the world are under a lot of pressure over their climate impact. This is most intense in Europe, where governments are seeking to curtail flights – limiting airport operations, and even banning flying short distances.
There’s a concerted effort among airlines globally to set climate goals in order to forestall greater regulation. And, in so doing, there’s a push for subsidies instead of regulation.
If I’m checking a bag, I rarely bother checking in online in advance. It just doesn’t save any time. Airline processes are just too cumbersome. There are some airlines in the world that have a ‘just drop the bag and go’ process, but most do not. It really shouldn’t be that hard.
American Airlines has finally made a simple improvement to their bag check process that’s actually a nice time-saver. When you check in online, and opt during that check-in process to check bags, customers can walk up to a kiosk and go right to ‘print bag tags’ rather than walking through a repeat of all of the steps.
The end of the partnership has been bad for customers, and bad for American and JetBlue which are in a tough spot trying to compete against Delta and United in New York. Neither one can grow there, and both are too small on their own to really matter.
There’s a chance that they could try to re-start the partnership that was dismantled last year. Both carriers say that they want this.
Southwest Airlines quietly raised checked bag fees on Tuesday. This has gotten little notice.
Alaska Airlines is selling miles with a 100% bonus through November 15th.
Thursday night’s American Airlines flight 954 from Buenos Aires to New York JFK pushed back 4 minutes early – but turned around and returned to the airport after passengers on board the Boeing 777-300ER (registration N717AN) heard noises that seemed to be coming from the cargo hold.
The new government rule is less generous than United’s and Delta’s policy used to be, but better than American’s policy.
So I was worried – correctly, it turns out – that the DOT rule might cause United and Delta to revert to the government’s less generous standard, leaving many passengers worse off. Oh, and automatic refunds are slow refunds.
Austrian Airlines has left Twitter because of “an increasing spread of hate, agitation, and disinformation” which they say is incompatible with their values.
They consider a continued presence on TikTok, on the other hand, to be consonant with the airline’s values and will continue to remain engaged in that platform. Go figure.
American Airlines’ post-earnings employee meeting, held right after their quarterly call, underscored CEO Robert Isom’s emphasis on reliability as the sole key to success, insights on Boeing delivery issues, and the costly challenges of airport real estate, especially in high-demand locations like JFK.
Delta’s vision is that they’re a premium, mostly non-union airline that pays employees well and negotiates hard with partners, suppliers and even customers. United’s vision is as the nation’s most global air carrier, an increasingly upgauged route network, and more premium seats than before.
On the other hand, American’s vision is cost cuts?
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 »
