Brexit – and the politicians it has placed in power – are bringing a more nationalist industrial policy to Britain. The latest target is Emirates and their ‘over the top’ first class experience which needs to be taxed, in the view of some, to protect British Airways.
IAG, parent of British Airways, also owns Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling, and LEVEL. Now for the price of €1 billion they’re acquiring Air Europa (10 times current earnings). The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2020.
They are currently the third largest Spanish airline, behind Iberia and Vueling already owned by IAG. This is a blow to transatlantic redemptions using Delta miles.
While American’s claims against Boeing will likely be settled amicably, the airline has a hard case to make that Boeing ought to reimburse them for any lost profits when it’s more likely that the grounding of the MAX simply averted losses.
According to American Express points are not your asset and points cannot be transferred by the government. Moreover in bankruptcy all points are going to go away.
The Department of Justice, though, prosecuted a woman for redeeming Membership Rewards points despite a government order not to hide or move assets. Who is right?
I finally had my first taste of the Spirit Airlines Big Front Seat. On my way home Chicago O’Hare to Austin after United Airlines Media Day I flew Spirit Airlines. I bought my one-way in a “Big Front Seat” (a domestic first class-ish seat without extra benefits) for $118.29. A coach seat on American or United would have been $225 and I’d have had to wait around the airport two and a half hours longer for either. Spirit seemed like a no-brainer.
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.
Self-certification dates to 1956. It is not part of a deregulatory push. It’s a system that has worked remarkably well. The FAA has approximately 400 engineers to work on aircraft certification. Boeing has 45,000 engineers. The FAA cannot possibly do all of the work themselves and we wouldn’t want to shift the best engineering minds away from creating product to oversight.
Delegation isn’t a strictly-U.S. practice, or one which was limited to the MAX.
TSA sceeners have maintained a private Facebook group for years, where about a third of the agency’s employees are members, as a as a home for mocking passengers with racist tropes and homophobic rants.
The page is called “TSA Breakroom,” it’s limited to agency employees, and there are 18,000 members.
On Wednesday morning I debated Stifel Managing Director Joseph DeNardi on whether or not to spin off frequent flyer programs at the Airline Information MEGA event in Florida.
Joe is the best-known face of the argument that loyalty programs are the primary drivers of revenue and value for airlines, and he’s argued that the overall businesses are undervalued because investors don’t clearly see how much good, high margin revenue is coming in from credit card partnerships versus from the airline as old-line industrial. He was charged with defending the idea of spinning programs off into a separate business, and I was charged with arguing against this.
Each year the American Airlines management team does a musical performance – all dressed up for Halloween. This year it was Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ filmed around their new Skyview campus.
CEO Doug Parker stepped into the role of Billy Ray Cyrus.
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 »
