Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

American Airlines Flight Attendants Unhappy With New Discipline System. That Won’t Be Good for Service

by Gary Leff

back airplane tv
Aug 18 2018

We’re just over a month away from when American Airlines will cut over to a single flight attendant scheduling system. They’ll no longer have to keep former US Airways crews separate from legacy American crews. And this will allow the airline to schedule their planes more efficiently — driven more by passenger demand than contractual obligations to different flight attendant groups.

At the same time they’re imposing a new discipline system on flight attendants to ensure they show up for work.

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Southwest Introducing Dynamic Pricing for Early Bird Check-in: Here’s Your Strategy

by Gary Leff

southwest plane
Aug 18 2018

Southwest Airlines is apparently going to vary the price of Early Bird check-in by route instead of charging a flat $15. Some routes will go up to $25 starting August 29th, and this will be based on two things: the length of the route (so how much getting a more desirable seat is likely to matter to you) and demand for Early Bird Check-in on the route (how many people are already buying it).

This isn’t as big a deal as it seems, especially if you know how to play Southwest Airlines boarding strategically.

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Mike Huckabee Was Quarantined in Nashville After American Airlines Flight

by Gary Leff

baboons on beach
Aug 16 2018

The father of the White House Press Secretary flew American Airlines last night though, on American’s Los Angeles to Nashville redeye. On arrival though passengers weren’t allowed to enter the terminal.

As a regular Delta flyer Huckabee didn’t realize quarantine has been standard procedure for American flights whenever someone in coach bought a barbecue sandwich.

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Frequent Flyer Program for Sale: Blackstone May Buy Stake in Jet Airways JetPrivilege

by Gary Leff

jet airways plane
Aug 15 2018

While both Etihad and Jet Airways would retain stakes in the program after a deal with Blackstone it’s not clear the relative shares each party would give up. For Etihad even a partial sale would them out of their worldwide expansion, which they’ve retrenched from after losing their shirts in Alitalia and air berlin. For Jet Airways it would provide them desperately-needed cash.

Reportedly the deal would value the program at $429 – $569 billion, which is 43% – 90% higher than in 2013. At the same time though membership in the program has grown 220% during that period so its value would be lower on a per-member basis.

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American Says They Have a Problem With Premium Revenue. Will They Fix It?

by Gary Leff

airline cabin
Aug 15 2018

At a meeting between American Airlines employees and airline President Robert Isom last week, a sim instructor asked whether – with higher fuel prices – there’s an ‘industry initiative to increase fares’ to compensate. Isom explains that American is lagging behind on premium revenue.

However he thinks that premium economy will drive higher performance, and that basic economy and segmentation will “offer our customers what they want to buy, trying to encourage that move up the ladder” and that this will fix things.

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