Qatar has the best business class product in the world in its new ‘QSuites’. To be sure even their older Airbus A350 business class is very good, a B/E Aerospace Super Diamond seat and a phenomenal soft product. But QSuites are revolutionary suites with doors and moveable partitions that allow two and even four passengers to travel together in their own space.
Currently they fly the product to New York JFK, Washington Dulles, and starting Saturday to Chicago.
Air India is warning staff that they’ll get in trouble if they keep upgrading friends and family to business class. The Chairman of the airline sent a memo to employees, It has come to my knowledge that operating crew carry out upgrades to business and first class unofficially during the flight for their friends and relatives. This is viewed seriously. …It is reiterated once again that officials/crew members responsible for all such unauthorised upgrades shall face strict disciplinary action. Air India Boeing 787 Apparently the concern is just that putting friends and family into empty business class seats trades off with selling onboard upgrades. I hadn’t been aware that Air India allows onboard upgrades for a fee. That opens a whole different avenue for crew corruption. I imagine that passengers are far more likely to…
Yesterday I received a nice box with a thank you note inside and a book 1000 Places to See Before You Die with my name inscribed onto the cover.
I reached out to Barclays to see what’s going on with this and they shared:
A ramp worker for dnata at London Gatwick got run over by an Airbus A319 today.
He was “briefly trapped by the wheel” of the Rossiya Airlines aircraft.
Boeing was hit today with the WannaCry computer virus and it may be inhibiting aircraft production.
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.
El Al is suing the government of Israel — the Civil Aviation Authority, the Prime Minister, and the Transportation Minister. They’re also suing Air India.
That’s because Saudi Arabia (and not the government of Israel) is allowing Air India to traverse its airspace on flights between India and Israel.
At last Thursday’s American Airlines employee Q&A with management, someone asked American’s CEO Doug Parker how to talk to people who prefer Southwest over American ‘for their flexibility’.
Doug Parker told the employee “well you’ve got to find some new friends, first of all.” But he also did a fantastic job explaining how American thinks about its business, and its pricing strategies.
Diamond members who qualify on nights are going to like these changes. For anyone with Gold status they’re a nothing-burger (just know you’re on the hook for $2.50 a night if you redeem points in Malaysia). For others staying with Hilton gets less rewarding.
At American’s employee town hall last week a 26 year Dallas-based flight attendant asked if “any airline strives to be number one other than from the bottom line standpoint and for our shareholders?”
He said it “used to be nice” at the end of a flight “when people weren’t so crammed in” so he wanted to know “Do we strive to be number one at all or are we just striving to fill every seat and the bottom line?”
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 »
