Category Archives for Airlines.
Not all of these are going to work! So surely they won’t all last. Maybe they’re trying too hard, taking too many chances with a large incoming fleet of planes. But they’re certainly playing an exciting game at United. It’s not small ball. In total United will serve more than 40 destinations across the Atlantic and 147 total international destinations.
If you flew last month, you probably got where you were going – and got there on time. Airline operations improved dramatically in September compared to August. Delta Air Lines flights arrived on-time nearly 88% of the time. Incredibly, United Airlines was right behind them, followed by Southwest and then by American Airlines.
I don’t think we have enough to really pin the blame here on Delta, but their customer wasn’t safe on their plane and 4,000 SkyMiles is an insult, since the currency is so low value and the number itself is so de minimis. They should do better here.
Probably the best new option here is for Hyatt elites with 100 nights per year to choose American AAdvantage Platinum status for a year as their choice benefit. Redeeming Hyatt points for AAdvantage status for a day, at the same price you can do this using AAdvantage miles, may be useful for some as well.
The President of the American Airlines pilot union has been removed, recalled by the union’s board of directors in a 15-5 vote. Captain Ed Sicher, in office in 2022, had controversially sought to exclude pilots from union positions that favored merging with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which is the largest pilot union group while pilots at American have their own independent union.
American Airlines used to offer curbside check-in. It still exists at some airports, but it now costs a separate fee for each bag. They got rid of the sky caps who used to do the job, and now it’s a low wage separate entity providing the service at most airports where it remains available.
Here’s an underrated problem that will be solved once Southwest Airlines finally moves to assigned seating next year. We already know that it will end seat savers and wheelchair cheaters. But that’s not the only effect.
An American Airlines passenger shared a photo of a bed bug on his flight 4412 from New York LaGuardia to Detroit. The first class passenger found the bug “crawling on [his leg mid flight” while seated in first class.
I remember flying regularly as a pre-teen, thinking that I’d never be one of those people sitting up front! I’d never be able to pay for it, and even if I could it surely wouldn’t be worth spending for. After all, it was expensive and just a few hours. I was still small, so I didn’t think the extra space comfort was worth it … though I always held my breath hoping there would be an empty seat next to me.
That was at the dawn of mileage programs, and people forget that elite status didn’t start when miles did.
It used to be surprisingly affordable to ship babies and children under 50 pounds by US mail. And people did it.
Just two weeks after the introduction of Parcel Post, a child was mailed for the first time — one mile from Glen Este, Ohio to Batavia, Ohio — for 15 cents. They added $50 insurance to the shipment.
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 »
