Category Archives for Airlines.
This is going to be a fairly technical post but I’ll do my best to explain it simply. There have been plenty of reader concerns the last few weeks that Cathay Pacific no longer offers business class award space to American AAdvantage or Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members. It turns out there’s just a trick to find and book the space.
etBlue just ordered 60 Bombardier C-Series jets, now called the Airbus A220, at fire sale prices.
Now JetBlue’s founder, Dave Neeleman, is about to finalize his own order for 60 Airbus A220s to launch his new US airline that’s tentatively named ‘Moxy’.
United is taking a goldilocks approach, announcing a small order for new aircraft: 25 Embraer E-175s to be delivered in 2019 and replace the same number of Bombardier CRJ-700s and 4 Boeing 787-9s that will replace widebodies in 2020.
They continue to scour the market for used aircraft so don’t view this as a shift to a fleet renewal strategy.
News came out this past week that an FAA inspector developed a close relationship with an American Airlines manager, and ignored important safety tips.
The Department of Transportation’s Inspector General found problems at the FAA’s safety oversight at American. Their report found concerns raised by the airline’s pilots union going unaddressed for a year and a half, suggesting that “FAA’s oversight office for American Airlines lacked objectivity in its review and did not respond to concerns about unqualified pilots and unsafe conditions during maintenance verification flights.”
Perhaps most notable to me is that Pakistan International Airlines flies London Heathrow – Lahore non-stop three times a week, flies London – Karachi (and on to Lahore) and offers connections from various cities in Europe — in addition to flying Abu Dhabi – Lahore.
Yet the former Prime Minister of Pakistan chose not to fly PIA for his return to the country, preferring Etihad’s business class instead. No doubt he’s well aware that PIA is the worst airline in the world. If you’re going to get arrested, you want to be well-rested.
Last night Ryanair flight 7312 from Dublin to Zadar, Croatia diverted to Frankfurt Hahn airport in Germany after it lost cabin pressure.
The Boeing 737-800 had 189 people on board and was flying at 37,000 feet 120 miles southwest of Hahn airport at the time of the incident. Passengers reported hearing a bang. The flight crew deployed passenger oxygen masks and made an emergency descent all the way down to 8000 feet.
American has relaxed a rule that is causing more award space to show up. Traditionally a connection on a domestic award ticket had to be under 4 hours, with longer connections ‘breaking the fare’ and causing an itinerary to price as two awards.
Now connections of up to 18 hours are permitted on domestic awards.
Years ago it was common to be able to request a credit when you bought a ticket, and the fare for the same flights dropped. Airlines used this to give you confidence buying and not waiting. You could lock in a price, protecting yourself against price increases, while not worrying that you might be overpaying.
Of course most people didn’t claim any money back. Most people buy a ticket and don’t check the price again later. Services popped up to automate this, and airlines because less customer-friendly. However several airlines are still fairly flexible giving you credits back.
Delta President Glen Hauenstein said in the introduction to the airline’s second quarter earnings call yesterday, “We continue to roll out more options that our customers are asking for, including the ability to paying with miles by the end of 2018.”
He didn’t elaborate on what exactly Delta plans to allow customers to pay for in his remarks. However later in the call CEO Ed Bastian explained.
I’ve held off writing about the Air China flight which lost cabin pressure and quickly descended 21,000 feet because there were missing pieces to the story that just didn’t make sense. The incident was being blamed on a pilot smoking in the cockpit.
While it’s understandable that a pilot doing so wouldn’t want to be outed out of fear for their job, it was not clear how the smoking was in any way related to the incident. Until now, that is.
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 »
