News and notes from around the interweb:
- Filing an EU flight delay claim was easier than I thought
- JetBlue TrueBlue redemption value as low as 1 cent per point for Mint (business class).
- Despite pressure from Wall Street analysts Southwest Airlines isn’t considering paid seat assignments, checked bag fees, or a premium cabin. Of course ‘early bird checkin’ fees are essential paid seat assignments now.
- For the first time a flight to Israel is allowed to cross through Saudi Arabian airspace. It’s an Air India flight. El Al objected, thawing relations may be good for the country but the Saudis won’t let Israel’s flag carrier offer the same direct routings. However El Al has withdrawn its appeal to its nation’s high court.
- Iraqi Airways wants the safety blacklist lifted to allow them to fly to Europe
- American Airlines could be considering flying Los Angeles – Seoul with Singapore pulling out of the route, though in yesterday’s earnings call the airline emphasized future growth in the near term at Dallas Fort-Worth and Charlotte, their most profitable hubs, over Los Angeles and Philadelphia (the latter of which had been driven by responses to low cost carrier incursions).
- Air India blames weather for bed bug infestation. Of course they do.
What an #airindia #businessclass would do to you? AI still has to get in touch with me inspite if my repeated attempts to get in touch with them. @airindiain @NewYorkTimes11 @cnni pic.twitter.com/tDHfmhX0Vx
— Saumya Shetty (@saumshetty) July 20, 2018
Is there a good one world partner there for onward connections? I didn’t think so.
Southwest’s Early Bird Checkin is not worth it when your first flight is delayed and your A35 & A36 boarding order lets you choose from 2 of 3 remaining all-terrible seats. I’d much rather have assigned seats. There was a reason those 3 choices were not previously picked. And we got 2 of them. We survived, but the SW seating system isn’t a plus in my book.
The absence of fees has been a differentiating factor and marketing focus for a long, long time. These quarterly report maximizing bean counters who would ruiin an airline’s inage for short term gains need to be ignored. Thanks for not turning WN into another KirbyParker race to the bottom carrier.