Category Archives for Airlines.
A recent blog post calls out frequent flyers using the term “SkyPesos” for Delta’s SkyMiles as potentially racist. And, since it acknowledges that the term – which took off in mileage circles – is something that I originated, they’re suggesting that I’m being racist.
Southwest Airlines fired a flight attendant who sent graphic anti-abortion messages to their union President on Facebook after the union spent employee funds to attend the pro-choice Women’s March in 2017. A jury, which saw emails of union officials mocking the woman, found that the airline and union violated her rights.
The original verdict was knocked down from $5.1 million to $910,000. Southwest was ordered to tell flight attendants that federal law requires that they “not discriminate against Southwest flight attendants for their religious practices and beliefs.”
I’ve had airlines ask me whether I wanted to board first or last when flying first class. I always prefer last, unless it’s a new cabin product I’ve never taken photos of and want to get in early for blog content.
One passenger decided to tell a lie to keep the empty seat next to him open, on a flight that cabin crew announced was completely full. As the plane filled up, he told each passenger who eyed that middle seat next to him that it was taken and his wife was just in the lavatory. He tells this to a flight attendant, too.
He sticks to his story even as the last passenger, looking for the last seat on the plane, tries to find a seat – walking up and down the aisle of the aircraft because he was told that ‘last seat’ was already taken.
If you take the window and aisle seat, and leave the middle empty, you run the risk that someone winds up sitting there. You don’t get any extra room. And as this fellow shows, sometimes the passenger won’t move.
Last summer United brought in a Vice President from Comcast to lead MileagePlus. It wasn’t because he had a unique understanding of loyalty marketing. The idea was to better monetize MileagePlus members by selling ads more aggressively.
Southwest Airlines seating is first-come, first-served. The earlier you board, the better your seat selection. The earlier you check in, the earlier you’re allowed to board. But some passengers get to jump the queue.
The Alaska Airlines flight attendants union, whose members have already overwhelmingly authorized a strike, says that they’re giving negotiations “the next two weeks” and that they “won’t wait” to take the next steps towards a strike after that.
The Biden administration broke up the JetBlue-American Airlines partnership because they were concerned with competition in New York, and didn’t want competitors colluding. Or maybe they just wanted to make sure there wasn’t a third viable competitor to take on Delta?
Because it sure seems that the administration is more interested in keeping competition out of New York than ensuring it.
The smart thing would have been to take the money since nothing was required in exchange – it was literally just allowing the airline to increase paychecks without a new contract or accepting any company terms whatsoever. You don’t leave free money on the table especially when you… need the money. This would have set a new baseline to negotiate upwards from.
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 »
