Category Archives for Airlines.
American’s Flagship First Dining is the best lounge offering in the United States. I used to argue that distinction went to the Qantas first class lounge at LAX, but all three American spaces open so far are more peaceful and JFK especially but also the others have better views.
There are really just two shortcomings, in my opinion.
The airline gets a lot of buzz out of its flashy first class products, a halo effect that convinces people they’re a premium airline. But the truth is somewhat more complicated. Their business class lags most of the world on the majority of their fleet.
Emirates has unveiled a new new business class. Here are photos of the new product which begins flying tomorrow.
An American Airlines flight attendant recently asked the carrier’s President Robert Isom, “What is being done to create more consistency in onboard service for example I commute through Denver, Denver-Phoenix you might see one service with a different crew base side you might see a different service.”
Isom, though, saw this as an opportunity to emphasize the theme of consistency which is important to the airline all of a sudden.
Traditionally ‘premium’ domestic markets have been limited to New York – Los Angeles and San Francisco because they’re premium revenue markets and East Coast – Hawaii because though it’s primarily leisure it’s a longer flight than Europe. That means at a minimum lie flat seats up front.
There’s increasing competition offering a premium product on other routes from United, Delta, and JetBlue.
Regular readers know that I’m thrilled by the support travel companies have given to same sex marriage. Travel providers do tend to be more socially liberally than the countries in which they’re based. That’s true all over the world, they bring people into contact with other cultures and bring foreign experiences home.
But now, in the aftermath of Delta’s PR debacle ending a discount arrangement with the NRA, Delta says they may stop offering discounts to “any group of a politically divisive nature.” Will that end Delta’s support for LGBT groups?
On Friday United sent out a memo that they’re eliminating quarterly performance bonuses of up to $300 and replacing those with a lottery which fewer than 2% of United’s employees will receive anything from.
Employees are not happy about this change. A flight attendant created a change.org petition detailing grievances, but was forced to close it.
United Airlines sent a memo to employees yesterday telling them they would no longer receive their quarterly bonuses of up to $300.
Instead when United hits at least one of four performance metrics they all get entered in a lottery.
As governors around the country flirt with the idea of luring Delta’s headquarters out of Georgia now that lawmakers there are refusing to give them fuel tax subsidies they’ve lobbied for — and some are even offering to back the truck up as it were (Connecticut’s governor says they “are committed to doing whatever necessary to help make this relocation a reality.”) — consider that Delta doesn’t just devalue SkyMiles they renege on deals with governors, too.
In this week’s “Tell Me Why” podcast for American Airlines employees, airline CFO Derek Kerr explains why they do not hedge fuel.
I offer a slightly different formulation of Kerr’s answer and it evinces surprising humility and self awareness.
The flight attendant who runs the ‘Flight Service Official’ Facebook page made up of American Airlines employees says the group’s number one question is whether they’ll “ever see profit sharing numbers competitive with other airlines like Delta and Southwest.”
American should offer to match Delta on pay and profit sharing on equal terms with Delta. American’s unions will never agree to this of course. They want a less efficient work force that makes more.
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 »
