Category Archives for Airlines.
On Monday United Airlines President Scott Kirby announced that they would pause the plan to replace quarterly bonuses with a much less expensive lottery program.
Last Friday they had come up with the lottery that would save the carrier perhaps $30 million per year, replacing bonuses of up to $300 per quarter per employee with big prizes given to just 1-2% of employees. And the backlash was brutal.
American’s regional fleet is going to remain equipped with Gogo’s air to ground internet. However they still have planes without any internet at all. Those planes don’t have any sort of inflight entertainment, either. And it turns out American doesn’t plan to add internet to their 50 seat regional jets. Period. At least that’s what American Airlines is telling employees.
In recent days I’ve covered the questions that American Airlines employees are asking management – and the candid responses they’re getting.
American also answers employee questions in writing. These answers usually aren’t as illuminating because they aren’t as candid and on the spot. However there are still things we can learn.
Apparently frequent flyer elite members pull the “DYKWIA” — Don’t You Know Who I Am? — card far more often than infrequent travelers. And when they do things turn ugly.
Put another way, Russian SkyTeam carrier Aeroflot says that frequent flyer elites are more likely to be unruly onboard than other passengers. Can that be possible?
Right now one of biggest social experiments in the history of corporate America is playing out. There is over a billion dollars behind it.
If it works we all win. If it doesn’t investors burn through cash. But I don’t think many people even realize it’s happening. And the results either way have the power to reshape how we think about labor relations in this country (including how we think about unions).
Back in the day frequent flyers and road warriors used to drive past half a dozen gas stations and ten extra miles to the Shell that accepted Diners Club even though the “low fuel” light had been on all day. We do crazy things for points.
A signup bonus and up to 3 miles per dollar is great. And both earning and burning points are a decent way to keep miles from expiring, buy gas at BP once every 18 months. At the margin it makes BP competitive with Shell (although neither gas is usually cheapest).
A month ago I wrote that Saudi Arabia would allow Air India to fly through its airspace to operate Mumbai – Tel Aviv. There was much handwringing at the time and even a denial from the General Authority of Civil Aviation in Riyadh.
However there’s clearly crack ups in the old order within the Mideast. And now the move has been confirmed by Israel’s Prime Minister.
Malaysian Airline Malindo Air requires women to remove their tops for flight attendant interviews. However they aren’t required to do that for passengers, and passengers are supposed to stay clothed while inflight.
That message wasn’t clear to one passenger onboard flight OD162 from Kuala Lumpur to Dhaka, however. He stripped naked and started watching porn inflight. Then the moment reportedly overtook him. And the flight hadn’t even taken off yet.
American Airlines now uses brown paper bags to hand out food to passengers in coach on international Boeing 757 aircraft and they’re looking at using them more broadly, too.
Eva Mozes Kor is a holocaust survivor. She and her twin sister were experimented upon by Josef Mengele at Auschwitz. She lived long enough to have a son who battled cancer, and to donate a kidney to her sister later on.
I’ve got a hint for the TSA: Romanian Jewish holocaust survivors probably haven’t been radicalized by ISIS, and have probably been humiliated enough.
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 »
