Category Archives for Airlines.
American Airlines flight AA1014 from Chicago O’Hare to San Antonio was delayed 47 minutes today. Apparently after arriving in Texas a baboon onboard broke free. It was on the loose but emergency responders stepped into action.
A year ago United directed flight attendants to keep a watchful eye over passengers who might ‘steal’ business class bedding.
United’s Polaris soft product does have nice bedding, in fact I don’t know any airline business class whose bedding is clearly better. That’s an amazing statement to make. It would have been hard to imagine two years ago that anyone would have wanted to take a business class pillow or blanket off of a United flight.
On a plane your seat belt buckle may contain germs from the previous passenger. And don’t think the airline is sanitizing it between flights. And who knows what happened in the seat before you go tthere?
One of the most disgusting places on a plane is the seat pocket in front of you….
Etihad was an airline that started when Gulf Air eliminated its Abu Dhabi hub and the ruling Al Nahyan family sought to preserve and grow the capital of the UAE as a center of aviation.
But cash and ambition was never going to be enough to turn around carriers like Alitalia and air berlin. They were basket cases. And the ruling Al Nahyans finally decided to stop lighting money on fire as the price of energy fell. They axed the CEO of their airline who, ironically, they had poached in the first place from Gulf Air.
Last weekened I wrote that United had confirmed cutbacks to meals in domestic first class on flights under four hours outside of departures between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
There were beverage cutbacks too. That’s generated negative publicity for United. So they’re making an about face on one (and only one) change. Tomato juice.
Under pressure to ‘do something’ the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General is going to audit the FAA’s oversight of American Airlines and Allegiant. This is a change in focus of an existing audit launched at the behest of Democrats in Congress last summer.
It’s a concern, apparently, that the FAA takes a collaborative approach to safety rather than focusing on finding violations it can fine.
Issues around breastfeeding aren’t new. And there’s no reason to dig in when making a mistake, humiliating customers.
If there’s a disagreement, check out and see who is right. Especially for a supervisor. Too many employees just blindly back up other employees.
American Airlines is getting rid of seat back video from its domestic fleet. As part of their “Project Oasis” retrofit even planes that have seat back screens are going to have those removed.
While American claims 90% of customers bring their own devices, so screens are unnecessary, that number can’t possibly be right unless “devices” include “flip phones.” Older travelers and children frequently don’t have their own devices. A family of five probably doesn’t own five tablets.
Over the weekend I wrote that United had confirmed cutbacks to meals in domestic first class on flights under four hours outside of departures between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Unfortunately it’s not whether or not a flight gets a full meal, other service elements in domestic first class are being pared back as well.
A dog was the first to notice, barking that something was wrong on Delta Flight 1854 from Detroit to Denver. Fumes came through the vents on the MD90.
Ultimately passengers dropped to the ground so they could breath and Delta evacuated the flight on the ground in Denver on Tuesday night. One person was taken to the hospital.
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 »
