Category Archives for Airlines.
There’s no frequent flyer earn and burn partnership at this point. They’re just offering connections, then, that are inferior to what competitors offer. However Southwest hints that they will be adding more Asian partners.
American Airlines has an announcement coming. It looks to be new details of a soft product, perhaps tied to the launch of American’s new premium Boeing 787-9 on June 5.
And that seems like a good time to talk about all of the premium rumors swirling around American Airlines right now. We know that soft goods changes are coming, but it seems like a lot more is on the horizon too.
Airlines were embarrassed over a pricing strategy to charge passengers traveling alone more than passengers traveling together. When called out on it, they quickly ended the practice.
Shortly after takeoff, passengers and crew noticed the male cabin crew member seeming agitated and distracted. He allegedly began using cocaine openly in a bathroom on the aircraft. Eyewitnesses reported that he then returned to the business class cabin and stripped naked and performed what was described by witnesses as a “wild, drug-induced dance.”
The airline that has been the most consistently profitable in the history of the U.S. airline industry has blown it all up to become just like the rest of the industry – only offering consumers less than other carriers.
American Airlines flight attendants are selling their seniority again. The company is cracking down on them for it, and the union isn’t protecting the cabin crew.
Flight attendants get to ‘bid’ on trips based on seniority, choosing their schedules which are most convenient to them and which take them to the best destinations. That’s a perk that has real value. Want to fly to Rome? You’d better be super-senior… or be willing to pay someone who is to trade their trip with you.
At first blush it seems like United got the better deal in its partnership with JetBlue. JetBlue’s flights really don’t get United that much, and the airlines aren’t codesharing. United gets back into JFK – by gaining 7 takeoff and landing slots from JetBlue, and the carriers are exchanging a handful of flight times at Newark.
It might be hard to see why JetBlue chose United as a partner. However, the deal makes sense when you read between the lines to what hasn’t been said about the partnership.
A Frontier Airlines check-in agent admitted to a customer, “Yes, I am discriminating.” And they proceeded to charge a wheelchair passenger for transporting their medical equipment.
JetBlue’s CEO admits that the airline hasn’t felt like it’s winning – and that’s caused morale issues across the company. Flight attendants are demoralized, pilots are demoralized, and so are corporate employees: “We’re in a very challenging situation.”
I’m completely blown away by the American Airlines Boeing 787-9P, their new premium-heavy aircraft with business class suites and an all new premium economy. The truth is that even coach is improved. There’s way more attention to detail throughout the cabin than in any plane I have seen from American Airlines, ever, or frankly from a U.S. airline in the past several decades.
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 »
