An Anonymous Airline Pilot Comes After Me In A New ‘Live And Let’s Fly’ Post

by Gary Leff

Oct 28 2020

I hope the anonymous airline captain who authored the latest post at Live and Let’s Fly demanding more respect never happens to be flying an aircraft I’m ticketed on because he’s threatening to make things worse for passengers if pilots are criticized, even when the criticism is justified – as the anonymous captain admits that it is.

He takes issue with my post about the Delta captain who kicked a woman off a flight over her F-12 hat, which she took off as he instructed.

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J.P. Morgan Chase: Airlines Will Get Second Bailout, Come Back For Third Because Why Not?

by Gary Leff

scrooge mcduck diving into coins
Oct 28 2020

Jamie Baker, in a research note for J.P. Morgan Chase, points out that if airlines get another ‘payroll support’ bailout they’d have to spend some of that money on extra payroll. In other words it isn’t all money straight into the kitty.

But will it happen? Baker says a new round of subsidies will happen (“We believe PSP 2.0 is a question of when, not if”). And then expect airlines to come back again for a third round.

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First-Ever 100,000 Point Offer For JetBlue Credit Card

by Gary Leff

Oct 28 2020

Barclays is offering 100,000 points as an initial bonus for the $99 annual fee JetBlue Plus Card. The offer is also available for the $99 annual fee JetBlue Business Card.

You’ll generally get 1 to 1.6 cents per point in value redeeming for JetBlue flights. Mint (business class) flights will skew towards the lower end. I value a JetBlue point at around 1.25 cents apiece, so a 100,000 point offer means $1250 worth of travel, or $1151 net of each card’s annual fee.

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Wide Open Business Class Availability To Europe, Up To 4 Passengers At Just 34,000 Miles Per Person

by Gary Leff

stock airline bed
Oct 27 2020

Spanish flag carrier Iberia is owned by British Airways parent company IAG. It’s a member of oneworld, and part of the same transatlantic joint venture as American Airlines. They have a nice business class product, and right now they have amazing business class award availability from several U.S. cities for four passengers for next fall.

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American Airlines New ‘Low Protein’ Meals In First Class

by Gary Leff

Oct 27 2020

Let’s take a look at American’s current lunch and dinner sandwich, enjoyed this past week on a flight from Dallas Fort-Worth to Washington Dulles. The standard offering appears to be a ‘low protein’ meal.

American Airlines still sells first class, and doesn’t discount it based on providing less service. This represents a current first class meal. The man who took this photo fo the current first class meal says “[g]lad I ate before my flight!”

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American Isn’t The Largest Airline In The World Right Now. The Biggest Carrier Isn’t One You’d Expect.

by Gary Leff

Oct 27 2020

A week ago Delta was briefly the largest airline in the world by scheduled seats. They’ve dropped back down to number three. However the largest airline in the world right now isn’t American Airlines, as they usually claim. It’s actually China Southern Airlines (which is part-owned by American, and also Qatar, though is largely a state-owned enterprise).

These are the top 10 airlines in the world based on their size (scheduled seat capacity) right now:

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Brawl Breaks Out In The Aisle Of Puerto Rico Flight As Police Board To Tase The Aggressor

by Gary Leff

Oct 27 2020

On Monday evening Spirit Airlines flight NK2322 from Newark to San Juan broke out in a major fight throughout the cabin over a passenger not wearing a mask. What’s remarkable is the extent of the brawl, and that it happened upon landing in Puerto Rico, rather than prior to departure. The woman who wouldn’t wear a mask was ultimately tased by police who responded to the brawl.

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