[I]n any given incident it’s difficult for the passenger to know what’s going on or have all of the available data — especially when gate agents aren’t forthcoming with information.
In the case of a Los Angeles – London flight this weekend where several business class seats were left empty with customers on the waitlist, American tells me that the issue with the Boeing 777-200 was “weight and balance… not the gate agents skipping over upgrades.”
British Airways parent IAG acquired Aer Lingus and the Irish carrier is expected to ultimately join oneworld and the transatlantic joint venture with BA, Iberia, Finnair and American.
Aer Lingus is a former member of oneworld — they left nine years ago to pursue a strategy as a low cost carrier. Since then they’ve built back their premium offerings. They have a good transatlantic business class, considering the short flights between Dublin, Shannon and the East Coast of the U.S. which are their bread and butter (though not exclusive) destinations.
An American Executive Platinum who is reconsidering keeping that status, shared his experience flying Los Angeles – London on American on Friday.
He checked in for his flight and was told there were 8 seats open in business class and he was second on the list. At the time the flight closed he was third on the list and no upgrades appeared to be processed at the gate.
Last night’s Qatar Airways flight from Washington Dulles to Doha hit massive turbulence. The flight diverted to the Azores, and another aircraft was dispatched from Doha to pick up passengers.
Many of the passengers onboard with unhappy with how things were handled on the ground, but it’s a difficult situation. Residents of India, Pakistan, and Southeast Asia don’t have the flexibility that US citizens do.
On Thursday a Belgian flying from Istanbul to Manchester stepped out of the lavatory on the flight. He had already had four gin and tonics. A flight attendant came over to him, and he asked for a fifth one. I can’t imagine the gin was that good.
She asked the man if he had been smoking in the lavatory. He said he hadn’t.
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.
There’s a oneworld sale from Chicago that lets you book Stockholm, Sweden or Copenhagen, Denmark at crazy low prices. Travel on British Airways or Finnair.
Flash sales have become the new airline discount strategy in order to pick up incremental business from people that wouldn’t otherwise be flying — without leaving the fares around long enough to displace most of the trips airlines would otherwise sell. That’s great for flexible leisure travelers especially.
In Italy programs themselves are required to expire. But you can imagine laws going the opposite direction. However I don’t think expiring miles are all that unreasonable.
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.
The pilot of a KLM flight from Glasgow to Amsterdam fell unconscious as the plane prepared to depart Glasgow.
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 »
