Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

Why the FAA Delegates Certification to Boeing — and Why That’s a Good Thing

airplane flying
Mar 25 2019

One of the things many people have been shocked to learn, in the aftermath of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX crash, is that the FAA delegates much of the certification process to the aircraft manufacturer.

People are shocked, shocked, that a company would be able to ‘self-certify’ and suggest this is some sort of dereliction of duty when nothing could be further from the truth.

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Is Transatlantic Low Cost Carrier Wow Air Toast?

wow plane
Mar 24 2019

For the last several years fares between the US and Europe have been available at incredibly low prices, driven down by a generation of ultra low cost carriers — deep discount airlines no longer just flying short haul routes, but operating across the Pond the way that Freddie Laker’s Skytrain service once pioneered.

There have been too many players flying too many seats at too low a price for too long, in a market that’s long been challenging, and airlines trying to make it in this environment have struggled. Wow Air could be next to fall.

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Singapore Airlines Devalues Their Star Alliance Award Chart Effective April 19

flight attendants posing
Mar 23 2019

The KrisFlyer program raised Singapore Airlines award prices again at the beginning of 2019 with about three weeks’ notice. Again they created the window where Star Alliance awards could be cheaper (albeit with fuel surcharges) and again offering a window of savings to throw away a partner flight segment at the end of a one way award booking.

That’s a pretty good indication that things wouldn’t last — that the Star Alliance award chart would be devalued too.

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Watch Those Seat Changes on American Airlines!

inside plane
Mar 22 2019

When American changes from a legacy Boeing 737-800 to a retrofitted ‘Oasis’ plane with a different configuration, most passengers keep the same seat numbers even though those seats are completely different.

You might have purchased a premium or Main Cabin Extra seat and won’t be in one of those seats anymore – which largely seems like a fail on American Airlines’ part.

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