Category Archives for Airlines.
For seven years I’ve been saying that inflight internet will eventually be free. Since I started making that prediction JetBlue introduced free inflight internet and Aer Lingus has announced usage-capped free wifi. Southwest, Delta and Alaska now offer free inflight messaging.
My 2012 prediction was that inflight wifi would be free in 10 years (so by 2022). Delta CEO Ed Bastian says they’ll do it in a year or two so by 2021.
American Airlines has 24 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft in service. Plenty of customers are expressing concern over the aircraft after the Lion Air incident in October was followed by yesterday’s tragic crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX. China and Indonesia have grounded the jet.
Many airlines operating the plane, including Southwest and American, have expressed support for the aircraft’s safety. And it’s too early to know just what happened in yesterday’s occurrence. We’ll know more soon, especially now that the aircraft’s black boxes are being studied. It’s natural though to have concerns.
Lounge Buddy features airport lounge reviews and also sells single visit lounge passes often at a discount. The last time I spoke with the Lounge Buddy team they were also providing management software to lounges as well.
They’re now being acquired by American Express. As a result we’re promised there will be “additional [unspecified] ways” that American Express will “become an essential part of our…digital lives.”
I find that cleaners getting on the plane while passengers are trying to get off just blocks passengers getting off and as a result their getting on too early may not save time.
Since I wrote about the bottleneck deplaning due to aircraft cleaning, American rolled out a policy that focuses even more heavily on ‘D0’ and sacrifices cleaning. Here’s a notice from Dallas Fort-Worth:
Just as China’s move to ground the MAX conveniently serves political interests (in escalating trade tensions with the U.S.), Indonesia has an interest in blaming the aircraft itself versus their country’s largest privately-run airline for its tragic incident.
In the aftermath of today’s loss of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 carrying 149 passengers and 8 crew I’m hearing from many frequent flyers wondering whether the aircraft will be grounded, and thinking about whether or not they’re willing to fly on the jet.
China reportedly is grounding the plane. Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Hainan Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Shandong Airlines, and XiamenAir all operate Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.
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.
American Airlines grounded 14 Boeing 737-800s. These are planes that have undergone the ‘Oasis’ modification – to replace interiors with more seats; less comfortable seats; less distance between seats; less recline; no seat back video; and smaller lavatories plus bigger overhead bins.
All of the planes were modified by the same vendor, Aviation Technical Services. There were several problems identified with some aircraft including the way that overhead bins attached to the aircraft, and how wiring was done that raises potential safety concerns.
A four month old Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-8 MAX lost radar contact six minutes after departure at 8:44 a.m. local time. No survivors among the 149 passengers and 8 crew from flight ET302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi have been found.
The one you may not have heard about is that a Laser Aereo Colombia Douglas DC-3 from San Jose del Guaviare to Villavicencio with 14 passengers on board declared an emergency at 10:40 a.m. local time on Saturday, and crashed into the ground bursting into flames.
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 »
