Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

American’s CEO Says His Airline’s New Miniature Lavatory Is Just Fine (He Still Hasn’t Flown the Product)

by Gary Leff

lavatory
Jun 26 2018

Prior to the plane going into service, and before American began retrofitting its fleet with this new interior, the airline’s CEO Doug Parker hadn’t even tried the product. And it told me that domestic passenger experience isn’t central to the product the airline believes it is offering.

He now at least says he’s seen the lavatory, though he still hasn’t flown on a plane that has it. He also doesn’t seem to know that his airline has an ongoing effort to reconfigure its existing domestic fleet with more seats and smaller planes, in fact he denies it outright.

Continue Reading »

Fantastic Business Class Award Availability to Europe for 4 Passengers (Air France/KLM/Delta)

by Gary Leff

flight chart
Jun 26 2018

Right now there’s great Air France award space for four or more passengers New York – Paris in both directions in February and March. Pretty much every day. And that’s not all.

You’ll note plenty of New York – Amsterdam space. That’s KLM. New York – Madrid is generally Air Europa. There are several Delta flights offering four or more seats as well — such as London, Zurich, Barcelona, Dublin, Frankfurt, and Lisbon.

Continue Reading »

American Airlines is Having a Hard Time Delivering Their New Extra Legroom Product With Free Drinks

by Gary Leff

airline drinks
Jun 26 2018

American Airlines now offers free drinks in Main Cabin Extra seating. First class and Main Cabin Extra also have reserved signs on the overhead bins, though this isn’t something flight attendants are expected to enforce and I watch customers walking to the back of coach storing their backs up front all the time.

Last week at an employee town hall a flight attendant brought up to the carrier’s CEO Doug Parker that they’re having difficulty delivering the free drink benefit to customers in extra legroom seats.

Continue Reading »

American Will Start Catering More Drinks Onboard in August

by Gary Leff

plane docked
Jun 25 2018

American Airlines hasn’t fully integrated its operations for the amount of beverages they’ll stock on board. American Airlines used to actually stock fewer beverages than US Airways. And they reduced beverage catering in Phoenix down to the old American Airlines levels.

Fortunately that’s being reversed and come “late August” we’ll start seeing more beverages catered in first class across the system.

Continue Reading »

Why Locals Can’t Eat on United’s Marshall Islands Flights That Are Over 4 Hours

by Gary Leff

man passing bag to passenger
Jun 24 2018

First Hawaiian bank, owned by a French banking group, is pulling out of its relationship with domestic banking there due to regulatory risk even though there’s no indication of money laundering. This makes cashing paychecks from the US military base problematic.

Western Union has one branch in the capital, which may leave residents taking a trip hundreds of miles by boat or air to receive funds from the rest of the world.

Continue Reading »

United Handing Out Gift Cards and Miles at the Gate to Promote Credit Card Awareness

by Gary Leff

lax spinning wheel
Jun 23 2018

I’m a big fan of creative and even guerrilla marketing efforts, especially when it’s travel companies getting attention by giving away value to their customers.

Last year Barclays and Mastercard promoted the American Airlines card with in-airport cooking and golf demonstrations with giveaways for cardmembers. United is doing something bigger.

Continue Reading »

How One Head of Loyalty Helps Customers Every Day

by Gary Leff

mark ross-smith
Jun 22 2018

Long-time Southwest Airlines CEO Herb Kelleher used to say they were in the customer service business “we just happened to fly airplanes.” Jeff Bezos talks about the importance of focusing on your customers, not on your competitors.

Those are two principles I think about in the me-too US airline world. And principles I thought of when I saw Mark Ross-Smith share on Facebook how he interacts with customers.

Continue Reading »