Category Archives for Airlines.
Going through the whole message to employees there’s a lot that’s interesting about Southwest’s positioning – and problems. The airline doesn’t see the same sort of business travel they used to, and much of their network is still optimized for non-stop business travel on the West Coast. That needs to change, and they need to seek out more connections.
Southwest Airlines lets passengers pick their seats on a first-come, first-served basis. You board earlier if you buy the most expensive tickets, if you’re a frequent traveler, or if you pay for early boarding. Or if you fake the need for a wheelchair.
That’s why Southwest Airlines has more wheelchair passengers than any other airline.
One recent change is that you can give someone a trip credit to use for their own travel. You’ve cancelled your ticket, and the credit can be used by someone else. But if they buy a ticket worth less than the full value of the trip credit, the residual value now goes back to you.
United Airlines will pay flight attendants not to take a hotel room for the night during layovers on their trips. This is called the “Hotel Gainsharing” program, and pays “at least $20 per night based on how much United saves in canceling a hotel room that it no longer requires.”
In yesterday’s announcement about airport lounges, JetBlue’s benefit cuts got short shrift in coverage. The airline’s elite members will no longer receive seating benefits or flight changes on basic economy fares, and they’re dropping the BLADE helicopter transfer partnership.
Italy is hot. It was a focus of limit summer 2025 Europe additions by American Airlines. And it’s a focus of Delta’s latest route network changes as well.
Delta’s President views SkyMiles as a ‘giveaway program’ rather than something his customers invest in and can expect a return from. So it’s no surprise that Delta can charge more than 4 times as many miles for the same Delta seat that their partners will charge to their own customers. The Vice President running SkyMiles even admits they’re not trying to compete over offering value to customers.
A confrontation took place between an American Airlines passenger and gate agent in Miami, with the passenger walking down the jetbridge without being given permission to board and – it seems – the employee grabbing at the woman’s phone (she was filming the interaction) and grabbing her.
Six months ago I wrote that JetBlue would open lounges at New York JFK and Boston Logan airports. The carrier pushed back on this – in June the airline said that lounges were too expensive and not profitable – but today they’ve announced it.
With the deal for Alaska Airlines to buy Hawaiian Airlines ,now done, they’re beginning to move forward on integrating the two carriers.
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 »
