A tornado struck Antalya airport in Turkey today and it was captured on film heading across the airport “travelling between international Terminal 1 and the threshold of runway 18C.”
The storm manages to move “a Corendon Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8, an Onur Air Airbus, and another 737 in the colours of tour operator Detur.” Airport buses and other vehicles were overturned.
Tokyo’s subway is offering vouchers for free soba noodles and tempura to passengers who consistently travel at off peak times. Don’t like surge pricing? The idea has tremendous potential.
American may launch Chicago – Krakow. Phoenix will become more of a seasonal hub. And Toledo, Akron, and Charleston, West Virginia should all launch from Dallas Fort-Worth.
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.
American Airlines introduced new domestic first class lunch and dinner options in November.
Mid-February they’re refreshing breakfast and also all three meals on regional jets. There are several changes to international snack items, and a couple of notable mentions about domestic economy food for sale.
Hilton has been talking for years about improving its elite benefits. Now they are running a test with confirmed suite upgrades for a small group of top elites, and using that test to model a potential new program benefit.
Along with American Airlines fourth quarter and year-end results, the airline filed an expected fleet plan with the SEC. They’ve outlined the planes in their fleet at the end of 2018, along with where they’re expecting to be in each of 2019, 2020, and 2021.
The government shutdown continues to affect airport security wait times. Sick out calls have been hovering over 7% for the past week, peaking at 10% this past Sunday.
Air traffic control centers faced staffing shortages today that led to delays across the Northeast including the major New York airports of Newark and LaGuardia as well as Philadelphia. There were delays in and out of Tampa as well.
During American Airlines’ earnings call this morning Cowen & Company’s Helane Becker asked airline President Robert Isom, “If you polled your customers what would they say is the #1 complaint about the airline, and what are you doing about it?”
The airline’s approach to unhappy customers – declining likelihood to recommend scores – appears to be to double down on the same approach they’ve been taking at the very time those scores have been falling.
If you could sue an airline just because you hurt your back inflight I think we’d have seen a whole lot more lawsuits since the introduction of ‘slimline’ seats that have less padding, and so take up less space, and allow airlines to squeeze seats in closer together.
One man though says he hurt his back when his United flight diverted to Goose Bay, Canada in October and he’s been having “horrible plane crash nightmares” ever since.
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 »
