Category Archives for Commentary.
The President has changed the way the U.S. will celebrate the Fourth of July this year, and that has a big impact on operations at Washington’s close-in National airport.
Four years ago the FAA dropped Trump-branded navigational waypoints in South Florida. Now as President he has the power to shut down commercial airspace.
This morning I learned the shocking story of a United Airlines unaccompanied minor being put on a flight to Germany instead of Sweden.
Though an adult put him on the plane — a flight he didn’t have a boarding pass for — he realized he was heading to Germany and let his mother know. That began an odyssey during which she desperately tried to get United’s help to stop the plane from taking off with her son on it. She tweeted, she called, she sat on hold for over an hour and tried to get supervisors to do something. But how did this even happen?
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
When you’re flying a European holiday airline, you’re likely if passengers are wearing any clothing at all. And if the budget carrier is flying between the UK and the south of Spain it’s a miracle if they’re sober enough to make it to their seats unassisted.
So the biggest news in a woman being booted off an easyJet flight from Malaga to London Stansted on June 23 was that she still had on her top at all.
Last night Brenda Berg reported on Twitter that her son had flown as an unaccompanied minor on United Airlines from Raleigh Durham to Newark, intending to connect on to Stockholm on SAS. However United put him on a Eurowings flight to Germany instead.
I can only imagine this woman’s horror because she couldn’t even get through to United. If you don’t have elite status telephone wait times are interminable, and that’s just to get access to an agent without much motivation or empowerment to do anything that requires more than keystrokes on their computer.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
The campaign by U.S. airlines for trade subsidies from the federal government could backfire, because if the U.S. violates its treaty obligations and Europe then sees the treaty as non-absolute, United, Delta, and American could face their own challenges with operating rights in Europe.
Government-granted airline privileges are a driver of industry consolidation. The primary reason Alaska Airlines acquired Virgin America was for access to gates and slots at congested airports. Badly run carriers, that provide poor passenger experience, are protected from market discipline because more innovative startups aren’t permitted to compete and incumbents can continue earning off inferior products because passengers lack other options.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
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 »
