Category Archives for Airlines.
It is reasonable to be frustrated by a three hour delay. It is reasonable for a smoker to be itching for a cigarette after going without one for several hours, though that’s something to plan for and there are myriad strategies for managing this. It is not reasonable to ‘lawyer up’ and claim civil rights have been violated when an airline employee wasn’t willing to escort a passenger out of the post-customs inspection section of the terminal.
United is sticking to its guns as the only airline refusing to let passengers bring carry on bags onboard when buying basic economy fares. They’re opening two more Polaris lounges and may re-evaluate the number of business class seats on board some aircraft. And airfares have a lot more room to rise — and passengers will pay up and keep flying.
At the beginning of the month I wrote about minor transatlantic player Primera Air shutting down. Now Wow Air is eliminating 5 routes — including Dallas Fort-Worth and New York JFK, which they had refused to confirm yesterday.
There has been talk about British Airways parent IAG acquiring Norwegian as a way to kill low fare competition.
American Airlines is raising prices of Admirals Club membership by $100 per year effective February 1. They are also eliminating household membership discounts.
And they’re going to start requiring same-day boarding passes on American Airlines, oneworld partner airlines, or Alaska Airlines for entry..
Sharknado and American Pie star Tara Reid and her dog were kicked off of Delta flight 613 from Los Angeles to New York JFK on Monday. Initial reports were that she was apoplectic over her seat assignment and that she didn’t have a pillow.
Now she’s speaking out.
UN Ambassador and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who will be stepping down from her post at the end of the year, blasted American Airlines on Twitter for their operational reliability.
There’s much speculation about why Haley is stepping down from her post at the U.N., including whether she might be appointed U.S. Senator from South Carolina if Lindsey Graham were named attorney general after the midterms (with the President asking for Jeff Sessions to resign). American, though, had better hope she’s not waiting in the wings to replace Elaine Chao at the Department of Transportation.
Cho Yang-Ho is facing charges of embezzling ~ US$17.4 million. Korean Air is owned by Hanjin Group of which he’s also Chairman. In addition to that embezzlement he’s accused of taking US$135 million “from the state insurance agency in medical care benefits by illegally running a pharmacy under a borrowed name.”
He’s the father of the infamous ‘nut rage’ Vice President who served a brief prison sentence after hitting a flight attendant and order a plane back to the gate in New York after predeparture nuts were served improperly in first class.
Sharknado and American Pie star Tara Reid and her dog were kicked off of Delta flight 613 from Los Angeles to New York JFK yesterday.
Apparently the actress was apoplectic over her seat assignment and that she didn’t have a pillow. The aircraft had already pushed back when the captain announced to the plane that they’d be returning to the gate causing a delay.
This doesn’t happen often, but it does happen, usually when departing from a remote stand when air stairs have been removed before the door closes. Falling onto concrete from a Boeing 777 is more severe than doing so from a 737, though both carry real risk.
This doesn’t come close, though, to the flight attendant who fell 33,000 feet from the sky and lived for forty four more years.
This week’s issue of Airline Weekly (subscription) contains charts on the largest airlines in each of the largest country markets in East Asia, based on Diio Mi data on scheduled seats in 2018.
The biggest takeaways are the growth of Chinese carriers and the declining importance in Southeast Asia of national carriers relative to low cost carriers which are overtaking them, especially on short haul and domestic routes.
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 »
