Category Archives for Airlines.
A Delta pilot has been indicted for lying to the FAA in order to be certified to fly, claiming that he didn’t suffer depression even though he had sought help from the Department of Veterans Affairs for a “major depressive disorder.”
The pilot had claimed his VA disability benefits for covering “knee strain and tinnitus.”
Taipei-based Star Alliance member EVA Air has one of the world’s best business class products. They should be on everyone’s radar because they also frequently have very good award availability from their US gateways and offer good connectivity into Asia.
EVA Air will take delivery of its very first Boeing 787-9 on October 2. They worked with BMW’s Designworks on the look and feel of the business class seats.
American Airlines just announced what should surprise literally no one, that they’re raising first and second checked bag fees by $5 as well, from $25 to $30 and $35 to $40 respectively. When United followed JetBlue, it was clear American would have to — they’re under real pressure from Wall Street over revenues and would have a difficult time explaining why they’d be “leaving money on the table.”
Once Delta made the move, American was never going to stand alone. And besides, Delta did it. Delta is smart, everything they do must be right.
Emirates is in negotiations to acquire Etihad, forming the world’s largest airline by number of passengers carried.
Etihad has been cutting costs and slashing routes after a $1.5 billion loss last year and a $2 billion loss the year before. They’ve been expected to walk away from some aircraft orders. I’ve read much of the changes at Emirates as cleaning up the balance sheet before getting acquired.
Singapore Airlines offers much better award availability to people using their own KrisFlyer miles than to people using miles from partner frequent flyer programs like United.
Right now Singapore Airlines is offering discounts on awards for their non-stop flights between the US and Singapore: business for the price of premium economy, and premium economy for the price of coach, which means up to 43% off.
Ever since David Dao was dragged off a United Express flight by police and beaten last April it’s been clear to most people that we have a problem in the airline industry. Customer service problems are turned into law enforcement problems.
Delta called the police on a woman who began taping her interaction in the baggage service office at Boston Logan airport. No law was being broken and no one was in physical danger.
A month ago JetBlue raised its first checked bag fee to $30. United followed the Friday afternoon of Labor Day Weekend presumably looking for the news to get buried with the rest of the trash when no one was watching.
Now Delta has jumped on board with $30 first checked bag fees (up from $25) and $40 second checked bag fees (up from $35).
Cathay Pacific misspelled their own name on a freshly painted plane. Apparently the painters doing the job had no F’s left to give.
The airline dubbed this ‘a special livery’ while acknowledging the plane would need to go in for warranty work.
Delta and Alaska offer free inflight messaging, you don’t have to buy internet. Days after Delta announced it in September of last year, American announced that they would do it also. Yesterday I got an admission from American that they were walking away from their promise to offer free inflight messaging.
It turns out that Southwest is rolling free messaging too. That’ll leave only major U.S. airlines that have been run by Scott Kirby not offering it.
Singapore’s Los Angeles – Tokyo flight is wide open with saver award availability for two passengers in first class.
The best availability seems to be May onward although you’ll find space at other times as well.
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 »
