Category Archives for Airlines.
Dine on demand is a great feature. There are many long flights with late departures, some passengers will eat in the lounge and want to go straight to sleep. Others will want to eat on board. However with large business cabins it’s a lot of extra work for flight attendants.
On this morning’s United earnings call Senior Vice President Andrew Nocella announced that they’ll be adding a plane with new Polaris business class seats every 10 days through 2020. If that turns out to be accurate it’s a real acceleration of pace for an airline that’s only retrofitted half a dozen planes in the two years since the product was announced.
Meanwhile two new Polaris lounges will open next month.
JetBlue’s flight attendants voted to unionize and will be represented by the Transport Workers Union. Over 85% of eligible flight attendants voted, and nearly two-thirds of those were in favor.
Southwest Airlines flight 1380 from New York LaGuardia to Dallas Love Field made an emergency landing in Philadelphia after blowing an engine.
Reportedly “Shrapnel hit the window causing a serious injury.” One passenger said “there was bloody everywhere.”
We’ve just learned United’s seating plans for its new Boeing 787-10s. They have 14 on order and are expected to take delivery of 3 this year.
United has also updated seat maps for Boeing 767-300ER, Boeing 777-200 and Boeing 777-300ER planes that show the configurations including premium economy.
American Airlines flew its inaugural Airbus A321T premium transcon flight just a month after its merger with US Airways closed. And this flight symbolized everything that was different between the two cultures.
Legacy American had committed to be the only US airline offering three cabin cross country service. Meanwhile when US Airways emerged from bankruptcy with America West leadership at the helm, its new stock ticker was “LCC” for low cost carrier.
Allegiant is an ultra low cost carrier with a bit of a different business model than Spirit or Frontier. They take Hall of Fame right fielder Wee Willie Keeler’s admonition to “hit ’em where they ain’t” seriously. If you need to fly from Mesa, Arizona to Pasco, Washington at 1 p.m. on a Tuesday they’re your airline. They’re cheap and they fly non-daily leisure routes no one else does.
Minneapolis-based Sun Country which has transformed itself into a low cost carrier — they even shut down the elite portion of their frequent flyer program — has stranded hundreds of passengers in Mexico.
They offer seasonal service to various cities and because of weather at their home in Minneapolis they cancelled flights from Mazatlan and San Jose del Cabo. And since it was the end of their season they aren’t going to send planes to pick up the passengers later.
The major US airlines offer premium meet and greet services. You can be escorted through check-in and security and from lounge to gate, and you can be met on arrival for connections or escorted to baggage claim.
Amenity kits are about providing something useful to make the flight more comfortable. Amenity kits are a takeaway, a premium reminder of the airline and the experience. Amenity kits are advertising to the customer about a brand. The bath amenities I use at home are ones I first discovered at a hotel.
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 »
