How Alaska Airlines Is Considering Changing Its Frequent Flyer Program

alaska airlines plane
Mar 05 2020

Alaska Airlines is surveying potential changes to their program, including moving to revenue-based earning and offering elite tiers starting at just 5000 qualifying miles.

While programs survey potential changes all of the time, and many of the potential ideas being surveyed never see the light of day, since it’s reasonable to expect to see changes to the program coming as a result of the American and oneworld partnership, changes that Mileage Plan is surveying now become especially interesting.

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40 Years Ago Today Trans American Flight 209 Made a Miracle Landing in Chicago

Mar 05 2020

On March 5, 1980 Trans American flight 209 from Los Angeles made a miraculous landing in Chicago after the pilot Captain Clarence Ovuer and First Officer Roger Murdock suffered incapacitation due to food poisoning during the flight.

One of the flight attendants, Elaine Dickinson, managed to activate the aircraft’s auto pilot while a passenger on the flight, Ted Stryker, took the controls.

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Leaked Memo: What United Plans To Do To Reduce Costs As Coronavirus Dries Up Travel

united plane
Mar 04 2020

The aviation world has been rocked by coronavirus, as demand for travel shrinks. Businesses are telling employees not to fly. Discretionary trips are being cancelled. And there’s tremendous uncertainty over the future.

While U.S. airlines have been healthy and better-positioned to handle what is so far a less extreme hit to their business as carriers in China, Hong Kong, and South Korea they’re certainly scrambling to figure out what’s next. United has been proactive communicating with employees, first with a note over the weekend and now with another message outlining drastic steps they’re taking to reduce costs given reductions in revenue.

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Why Doug Parker Changed His Mind And Started Working Closely With Qatar Airways Again

qatarplane
Mar 04 2020

In making the announcement of the renewed codeshare with Qatar Airways this past week American said that “the issues [of subsidies] had been addressed” between the two airlines. That’s bullocks, the U.S. airlines failed completely in their effort to get meaningful government action against their Gulf rivals.

On Wednesday American Airlines CEO Doug Parker spoke to employees at an internal town hall, a recording of which was shared with View From The Wing. There he explained the carrier’s change of heart.

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