Category Archives for Airlines.
China is beginning to liberalize in much the same way the US did 40 years ago.
In 1976 – two years prior to deregulation – the Civil Aeronautics Board ‘experimented with price competition’. China is doing that, allowing airlines to set their own prices on about 300 routes: “domestic routes that have at least five carriers competing.”
American Airlines keeps playing Delta’s ‘greater fool’. The biggest move was giving up their reach into India and the surrounding region, tricked by Delta. in a play that helps Delta and no one else.
This time they’ve been put in check by Delta in China.
Pakistan International Airlines is the worst airline in the world. Best known for sacrificing a goat for safety and flying with more passengers than seats (and making customers stand for 1700 miles), the airline’s CEO was actually detained as a result of his efforts to provide good seats and service by wet leasing aircraft from SriLankan.
Over the weekend I wrote about problems with American’s Boeing 737 MAX and in particular “design flaws” with the lavatory. It was revealing to me that American Airlines CEO Doug Parker says he hasn’t flown on the controversial plane.
I shared this Q&A with an employee who described the 737 Max as “Mini.”
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Star Alliance member EVA Air is out with a new safety video that they say took three months of planning and rehearsing — and which they view as art (“EVA Makes Inflight Safety a Work of Art”).
American has a new play in Chinese distribution. China’s Alibaba Group has an online travel service called Fliggy. American Airlines is launching an online travel store on Fliggy, and extending elite benefits to Fliggy’s elite customers.
Aeroflot cancelled flight SU102 from Moscow to New York JFK on January 7. They offer 3 flights a day on the route, this is the second one, but they reported to passengers that flights were full.
Transit without visa through the Moscow airport is only permitted for 24 hours….
Star Alliance member Avianca’s LifeMiles program is useful for frequently reasonable redemptions, no fuel surcharges, and regularly selling miles on the cheap.
Miles have expired after 24 months of account inactivity, and until now any activity has been enough to reset the clock. Starting April 15th they’re revising the rules to say miles expire after 12 months and only earning more miles resets the clock, not redeeming miles.
We’ve seen cases of passengers being kicked off flights for showing too much cleavage, one woman even got a Playboy spread after being kicked off of Southwest Airlines.
I’m not sure I can recall anyone ever being kicked off a flight for wearing too much clothing, unless of course it was Naked Air.
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 »
