News and notes from around the interweb:
- Airline lobbyists are thrilled the budget bill didn’t raise ‘passenger facility charges’ which fund airport improvements claiming airports don’t need the money, but in the very next breath highlight that the federal government is giving an extra billion dollars to airports. Umm… pick a side maybe (that isn’t airport money is good when it doesn’t come from us, and bad when it does)?
- Earn 50% bonus Miles & More miles for Lufthansa flights booked on their website by May 31 for travel through August 30, not open to residents of Austria, Switzerland or Liechtenstein.
- Oscar Munoz gets it wrong on dogs. He defends the employee who forced the dog into the overhead bin, killing it. And he blames airline rules for the death: “We put our folks in bad places when we give such definitive, specific, concrete, rigid rules that they’re not allowed to show a little caring and compassion.”
But that’s exactly wrong. Airline rules do not ever require a dog to go in the overhead bin. A pet in cabin goes underneath the seat in front of the passenger. An emotional support animal has far greater latitude. And United has said previously that their rules would not ever put a dog in the overhead. Munoz seemingly speaks up for employees – as he did in the David Dao incident – no matter the facts.
- Why mobile airfare search falls flat
“For flights I’ll do complicated searches, for instance using ITA’s matrix, with special routing language to get really granular in my searching. Typing out codes is tougher on my phone than my laptop,” says Gary Leff, the travel expert behind View From the Wing.
Although the fare hacker does use mobile to check in online, request upgrades or even book car rentals, when he’s comparing airlines, routings and different airports, he finds it much easier to use his personal computer. Leff says, “Ultimately I think that travel provider technology hasn’t advanced far enough to supplant traditional booking venues .”
- US air fare wars: Basic Economy vs ULCCs shifting network focus, a good piece but conflates premium cabin improvements with basic economy, lumping all ‘segmentation’ together, to declare victory for the majors in their basic economy efforts.
- Cathay Pacific wants you to come to the airport early to make time for the lounge.
Let me start by saying that I’m definitely not an Oscar Muñoz apologist. That said, I was there in person at the Global Leaders Series luncheon and listened intently as he spoke. I am sure it comes as a shock to literally no one that Fox News took his comments out of context to make it look like he is tone deaf. Going into that session, I was extremely skeptical of him. However, coming out of it, I gained a newfound respect for him. He absolutely took responsibility for all of the mistakes, both the multiple dog incidents as well as the David Dao incident. In fact, he went farther than taking responsibility, he said he reminds people regularly of the David Dao incident and wants them to keep it front and center in their minds as they go about their day, so as to learn from past mistakes and not repeat them.
Where I suspect you would have taken issue with his talk was not on that subject, but with regard to investments they are supposedly making in expanding and improving Polaris, which as we all know, could not be further from the truth, given its path towards death by a 1,000 paper cuts.