Category Archives for Airlines.
United has been slow to retrofit its fleet with new Polaris business class seats. Only 11 planes have been retrofit with these seats since the program was announced two years ago.
So far United says only 3 Boeing 777-200 planes have the new seats. This is the aircraft that’s getting international premium economy first, and that product will become available this month.
American’s food service in its clubs has really been boosted, and perceptions of their club experience should be upgraded as a result. Onboard I got a predeparture beverage, and that’s actually notable. And I tried a special meal at breakfast for the first time, unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be the passport to a great inflight meal the way it is at lunch and dinner.
United charges up to $75 for awards booked within 21 days of departure. However the ‘book farther out then change’ trick with United has persisted for a long time. I’ve written about it or linked to others writing about it many times.
American’s new Boeing 737 MAX interior has seats with less space between them than ever before, less recline, and no seat back entertainment. They are installing satellite wifi and bigger overhead bins, but to squeeze in even more seats — they’ve gone from 150 seats to 172 seats on this size aircraft in just four years — they’re shrinking the bathrooms onboard.
One American Airlines pilot describes these lavatories as the most miserable experience in the world. He says he’ll refuse to deadhead on the aircraft to get to his duty assignment.
American Airlines is already a lot stricter with same day confirmed changes than their competitors are.
Consistent with the American’s overall move to limit agent flexibility they’ve changed how reservations agents process same day standby.
There is no de jure change here, but a de facto change in what reservations agents will be able to do for customers. They’ll no longer be able to ignore other business rules when E inventory is available
Jill Surdek, American’s Vice President – Flight Service, updated crew on several projects underway and on several tweaks to the airline’s onboard service.
Sun Country Airlines has transformed itself into a low cost carrier. They brought in a CEO from Allegiant. They’re abolishing their elite program. They’re eliminating first class.
And in a sign, perhaps, of things to come they stranded hundreds of passengers in Mexico in April.
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards has a new campaign to attract other airlines’ best customers. They will give you their elite status right away.
Midwest Airlines, Frontier, and AirTran all tried to hub in Milwaukee. Today, no one does. There are some cities that have been tried and don’t quite work as hubs. America West used to hub in Columbus, for instance.
Old airline brands never seem to die. There’s another attempt to bring back Eastern Airlines. An airline using the People Express name operated again for a few months in 2014. And Pan Am is a name that just won’t go away.
Paul Jacobson, Delta’s Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer presented at today’s Deutsche Bank 2018 Global Industrials and Materials Summit.
He laid the airline’s improvement in Net Promoter Score (willingness of its customers to recommend) with growth in its revenue premium — how much extra customers are willing to pay to fly Delta over its competitors.
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 »
