Category Archives for Airlines.
United Airlines prevailed in a federal class action case over its decision to eliminate the Silver Wings senior citizen discount program in which they had sold lifetime memberships.
The program was founded in 1986 for customers 55 years and older. In 1996 the program is said to have had 560,000 members. They continued to add lifetime members through 2005, costing at that time ~ $250. The program was terminated (‘closed to new members and renewals’) in 2007.
Right now there’s as many as four first class award seats on Cathay Pacific, New York JFK – Hong Kong — although it can be cumbersome to see and book the space.
A year ago Delta announced they would serve meals in coach in 12 markets. In response American announced meals in coach.. for New York JFK – Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Other airlines offer lie flat seats competing again American’s standard first class domestic seats. American believes they have the better service. Here’s why.
Let’s look at what American Airlines thinks about its loyalty program. In written Q&A with employees, who listen to customer complaints about AAdvantage devaluation, here’s how American responds:
Wednesday night’s American Airlines flight AA930 from Sao Paulo to Miami delayed 27 hours after the Boeing 777-300ER’s captain assaulted an American Airlines ground agent and was arrested.
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).
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 »
