Most checked bags in the U.S. are limited to 50 pounds. Anything heavier than that and you’ll pay extra. First and business class passengers, and those with elite status, may be allowed 70 pounds. When you approach the check-in counter, they’ll weigh your bags, and if your luggage is overweight you’ll be assessed an extra fee.
However it’s not always so simple. There’s an unspoken cat and mouse game between airline employees and passengers.
After Sunday morning’s incident where an engine cowling detached off of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-800 shortly after takeoff from Denver, the airline now knows what happened. Someone screwed up.
The ideas United is currently surveying for their new business class offer a window not into ‘how might business class be improved’ but ‘how much more money could we make if we offered certain improvements’. They’re taking a commercial approach to a premium product, which is smart, even if some of the current brainstorming ideas like a champagne button seem a bit unlikely to come to fruition.
There’s no question that Isom is well-compensated compared to the airline industry as a whole (and American financially underperforms) and it’s especially controversial among employees when flight attendants haven’t seen a raise since 2019 while first and second-year Boston-based flight attendants qualify for food stamps.
It’s not very good! But it’s free food! Of course the schnorrers are going to come out in droves and take the food, even if they don’t eat it.
There is no secret what is going on here. A couple of readers have asked why I keep writing about this when a new broadside comes out from the big airlines. It’s because you’re being lied to. You’re just being lied to. And that’s triggering.
Just because you make it to your flight while the boarding doors are still open, and customers are still in line to get on, doesn’t mean you’re still going to be able to fly.
American Airlines rules are that it can give away your seats if you’re not in the gate area 15 minutes prior to departure, even though doors don’t close for an on-time flight until 10 minutes prior to departure.
Southwest Airlines devalued their points at the beginning of the year and about 43% in 12 years, but for four days they’re letting you increase their value with 25% off on awards.
The pilot seems to be dating this flight attendant and it doesn’t seem like a brand new relationship, either, so there appears to have been… overlap. The flight attendant was on her way out of the house, and had spent the night. She appears to be wearing a Delta (purple) uniform and is reportedly Seattle-based.
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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 »
