Category Archives for Airlines.
Air India has sold a 43-year-old Boeing 737-200 that sat abandoned at Kolkata airport for more than a decade because the airline had literally forgotten it owned the aircraft. The jet only resurfaced after the airport asked Air India to remove it, revealing how badly the former state-run carrier’s records and oversight had deteriorated prior to privatization.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is on a courtesy campaign, trying to get passengers to be kind to each other and to flight crew – and to dress better. But what people wear isn’t the driver of conflict in the skies.
Scott Kirby used this week’s Airlines Confidential podcast to lay out, in rare detail, how his thinking as a leader has changed over the past two decades — and how that shift now shapes United’s strategy. It’s the clearest explanation yet of the pivot from spreadsheet-driven tactics to a product-focused vision he once dismissed.
United has raised the price of close-in saver awards without warning. Routes that were 15,000 miles just days ago now price at 20,000 miles, a one-third increase that applies only within two weeks of travel and isn’t tied to cash fares.
A flight attendant says she looked up during the safety demo and saw her own face on a passenger’s phone, enlarged and already texted to someone else. In her TikTok, she explains exactly how she responded and why crew have limited options when they’re being recorded without consent in a confined cabin.
Most travelers book airfare direct to keep earning bonuses on their card of choice. But some travel portals now pass through airline merchant coding and add their own points on top, letting you double-dip rewards and still get the protections and earnings your premium card offers. For many flyers, that makes portal booking more lucrative than buying straight from the airline.
Finland’s government is seeking a €7.6 million fine from Finnair after investigators said the airline gave misleading information in a case examining how it restricted the display of cheaper fares on online travel agencies. The probe is still ongoing, but regulators say the airline’s responses obstructed their work—creating the unusual scenario of a government moving to penalize its own majority-owned carrier.
The DOT’s recent airline passenger regulations have stretched their authority, prompting a major rethink. Instead of rushing rules through, they’re adopting a more deliberate, evidence-based process—hoping new consumer protections withstand legal scrutiny and deliver lasting passenger benefits.
Southwest will end its wheelchair-boarding advantage on January 26 when assigned seating takes effect. That change removes the incentive to preboard for early seat selection, but it doesn’t touch the real reason unneeded wheelchair requests have exploded across airlines.
The Trump administration has formally withdrawn the Biden administration’s plan to require airlines to pay cash compensation for flight delays — a rule that was never close to becoming real. Despite two years of headlines, DOT never issued an actual proposal, never established legal authority, and never moved beyond an advance notice of proposed rulemaking.
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 »
