Category Archives for Airlines.
The American Airlines retrofit plan of its Boeing 777-300ERs is called Project Olympus. These Boeing 777-300ERs are getting a lot more seats – and a lot more premium seats – 84 to 114 total premium seats, without losing any coach seats. In order to do this, it means that current seats have to be squeezed and so do lavatories.
Southwest Airlines will require cabins to be prepared for landing earlier in order to protect cabin crew from injuries at the end of each flight. Starting December 4, flight attendants will have to be seated earlier – so they’ll require passengers to prepare for landing when a flight descends to 18,000 feet instead of waiting until 10,000 feet.
Delta, United, American, Spirit and Frontier together generated $12.4 billion between 2018 and 2023 in seat fees alone and that this can be more than checked bag fees – citing United earning $1.3 billion in seat fees vs. $1.2 billion in bag fees last year. The total number is artificially low – fees were down during the pandemic when travel was off.
British Airways has unveiled its new first class seat for the Airbus A380, to debut in ‘early’ 2026. The seat is based off of the Collins Aerospace RTX.
United Airlines now offers an easy way to buy extra seat space for comfort and earn miles, a strategy also possible on other airlines, though occasionally complicated by gate agent errors or policy confusion.
The one thing I value most from Executive Platinum is – I suppose – not something that many flyers factor when making their decision. As often as I’ve had challenges getting where I’m going with American, the ability to put backup flights in a reservation during irregular operations has made a huge difference getting me to my destination close to as-planned.
Delta Air Lines doesn’t even upgrade their ‘secret’ 360 members very much anymore. Good luck if you’re a Diamond Medallion.
Going forward Artificial Intelligence and ‘personalized pricing’ that Delta says they are working on to present a specific price based on what they know about a customer will make sure they sell every seat – and not have to give out elite upgrades.
United Airlines flight attendants fired their negotiating team after years of stalled contract talks, underscoring a failed union strategy that delayed demands and weakened their leverage as the chance to strike diminishes under shifting political conditions.
A long-time reader shared their experience flying Delta this past weekend from Dallas to Detroit. They’re a Diamond Medallion member, and they were flying on a paid first class ticket. When they boarded the narrowbody jet, they discovered that their seat had no tray table. It was missing, “so I can’t eat, drink or do work with my computer.”
An important thing to know is that if you buzz because you’re boarding before your group is called, the gate agent can clear the flag on their screen and allow you to board. If you’re traveling with a family member or friend on a different reservation, for instance, it is actually policy according to the airline that you should still be allowed to board together in the earlier group.
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 »
