Over the summer the FAA launched a safety audit of Southwest Airlines. This came after the airline came within feet of the water while still miles from Tampa less than a month after another of the airline’s 737s descended to just over 500 feet while still 9 miles out from the Oklahoma City airport. In April, a Southwest Airlines flight in Hawaii came within 400 feet of the Pacific Ocean. Then in June a Southwest Airlines flight took off from a closed runway Southwest has shared internally some of the issues that FAA inspectors have flagged during the Certificate Holder Evaluation Process Safety Audit. I suppose some of these are better than the pilots who spent a flight watching video feed of passengers in the lavatory? The airline declined comment since “[t]he CHEP is still…
Airlines
Category Archives for Airlines.
Alaska Airlines Overhauls Mileage Plan: Faster Elite Status, New Perks, And Unlock Better Award Flights
Alaska Airlines has announced changes – nearly all improvements – to its Mileage Plan program for 2025. I spoke with Alaska’s Vice President of Loyalty, Alliances, and Sales Brett Catlin about the effort – which he calls a “phase one.”
Delta’s Luxe Cabin Revamp: Memory Foam Seats And Mood Lighting Can’t Hide Surface-Level Refresh
Delta Air Lines has announced an interior cabin refresh. They’re tying this to their 100 year anniversary, presenting a new more modern image. The palette is darker. They won’t swap out seats, just add memory foam padding to some seats. And they’re adding new lighting. Naturally this is pitched as being “premium” and a new interior, to most passengers, feels like new planes.
Lufthansa Fined $4 Million For Targeting Jewish Passengers—DOT Holds German Airline Accountable For Discrimination
The Department of Transportation and Lufthansa have entered a consent order addressing the airline’s discrimination based on religion, impacting 128 Jewish passengers on May 4, 2022 who were traveling from New York JFK to Budapest via Frankfurt and who were denied boarding on their connecting flight due to the misconduct of some passengers on the first leg of the journey.
American Airlines Beta Test: Confirm Flight Upgrades Online At Time Of Booking
Throughout 2023, American Airlines was promising that anything you wanted to do with the airline could be done digitally – with the few remaining features to be delivered by the end of the year. I kept asking, just as a glaring example of what was missing, what about upgrades?
December 10th Showdown: Southwest Airlines CEO Faces Ouster—Investor Vote Will Decide The Airline’s Fate
Elliott has been talking to institutional shareholders. I can’t imagine they call for a vote they don’t think they can win. And that would mean that Southwest ousts its CEO and more closely follows Elliott’s prescriptions which turn the airline into JetBlue and American Airlines – more fees, fewer perks.
Delta Set To Slash Business Class Perks: Premium Passengers Bracing For Coach-Level Fees
On last week’s Delta Air Lines earnings call, executives “drum[med] up excitement for premium product announcements in November.” That’s when the airline is holding its Investor Day, and they’ve already told us what to expect: ‘basic business class,’ doing to the premium cabin what they’ve already done to coach.
Kamala Harris Chocolate Bar on American Airlines? Passenger’s Surprise Highlights Vanishing Inflight Politics This Year
An American Airlines passenger says that one of the flight attendants on board their recent Airbus narrowbody flight handed out Kamala Harris chocolate bars. He took to social media for an explanation from the airline… but then conceded that the chocolate bar was actually “kinda good.”
The Simple, Smart Reason American Airlines And Hyatt Are Devaluing Their Partnership
The American Airlines – Hyatt partnership isn’t about ‘rewarding us.’ The partnership is about looking for new customers for each brand. And these changes are designed to align marketing dollars with corporate objectives.
United Airlines 737 MAX Lavatory Flood Ruins Passenger’s $1,200 Laptop – 5,000 Mile Compensation Leaves Traveler Furious
Wednesday afternoon’s United Airlines flight 557 from Charleston to Denver left about half an hour late. During the flight, a lavatory toilet started spewing water, according to a passenger on board. It came from one of the lavatories by the rear galley of the Boeing 737 MAX 8.