Category Archives for Airlines.
Last fall I wrote that American was changing how they wait list mileage upgrades and systemwide upgrades. Companions would begin inheriting their upgrade sponsor’s elite status for upgrade priority effective January 1.
That didn’t happen, the IT wasn’t ready. However it’s now gone into effect.
Wednesday United’s website indicated they were eliminating full meals on flights under 4 hours outside of dinner time. I reached out to United and they confirmed the change. This looks like a major cut to me.
While it’s not clear yet what the shakeup will mean, a union official says planned strikes Monday and Tuesday will “probably” go forward.
For now the unions have a scalp. It’s unclear whether the company appoints someone more conciliatory and caves to wage demands, or whether they’ll dig in to maintain a line on costs.
A passenger from onboard United Express flight UA4689 from Denver to Williston, North Dakota posted a photo to twitter yesterday of a flight attendant that she said was “drunk and disorderly” on Thursday.
Reportedly “police and an ambulance were waiting for the plane when they landed Thursday afternoon.”
In American Airlines weekly employee podcast Vasu Raja, Vice President of Planning for the airline, explains Chicago O’Hare as a connecting hub and their decision to cut Beijing flying.
He says they are profitable on “every flight Chicago – West” though presumably here that means domestic. And they’ve tried a number of Chicago international routes – Delhi, Helsinki, Moscow, Frankfurt, Beijing – that they’ve killed.
After speculation that’s been going on for years (indeed, I’ve been covering the murmurs since at least 2010) Southwest Airlines announced plans to fly to Hawaii back in October.
They’ll initially operate with 737 Next Generation aircraft and eventually replace those with longer range 737 MAX planes.
Since leaving government he’s worked as a commentator for NBC. And now United has hired them to become their new senior vice president and chief communications officer.
In other words, in his new job it’ll be as if he stayed on as Press Secretary through the new administration.
Of course we all love it when mistake fares happen and they’re honored and we get to travel the world at insanely cheap prices, especially in business or first class.
For some readers booking a $28 ticket to Paris presents a moral challenge: should you take advantage of something you know is a mistake? My own view is that I’m happy to book it, airlines will choose to honor it or they won’t, but if they’re going to fly people to Paris for $28 I’d like to be one of those people.
Yesterday I wrote that American was expected to order new Bombardier CRJ-900 aircraft. These are large regional jets with first class cabins. They did place an order for 15 of these and 15 options.
It turns out at the same time that American is also ordering 15 Embraer E175 76 seat regional jets. That’s on top of the 10 of these planes they ordered in the fall. So American remains committed to two separate fleets of 76 seat regional jets.
On July 7 of last year Air Canada Flight 759 from Toronto to San Francisco was cleared to land on runway 28L. It lined up to land on taxiway C instead, which had four planes on it waiting for take off.
The NTSB released security camera footage of the Air Canada Airbus A320 about to touch down on the taxiway.
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 »
