The internet is gong crazy to discover United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby in drag, trying to link it to his efforts at pilot recruitment from diverse communities.
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.
While United Airlines doesn’t have a formal, published program to support status extensions there are plenty of customer reports that a call or an email has gotten status extended for customers that didn’t re-earn it during 2023. They’re about to see their status drop February 1. If you’re in that boat, you might reach out to MileagePlus, too.
With Global Airlines convincing the co-founder of OnlyFans to invest in an all-Airbus A380 startup airline flying transatlantic, the ‘CEO’ of Avatar Airlines must think the time is ripe to dust off his business plan that hasn’t taken off in 30 years… and that’s sent people to prison along the way.
Points Path is a new browser extension that lets you search for award flights using Google Flights. When you search for paid travel, it also shows you the price of an award. And if helps you compare whether it’s a good use of points or not.
A passenger got stuck inside the lavatory of a Boeing 737. Unable to get out for over an hour, crew tried to assist, but they couldn’t get him free. Instead, they passed him a note that sealed his fate: “Sir, we tried.”
Boeing has major problems. So does Spirit Aerosystems, which produces many of the components of their planes, it seems. But that, too, is a Boeing problem. It’s no longer possible to paper over those. And airlines that buy and operate Boeing aircraft are going to have to take on greater responsibility for safety assurance. The Boeing brand has been damaged.
It turns out there’s also amazing availability now through summer on a variety of Delta transatlantic routes as well, which can be booked for 50,000 Virgin Atlantic points each way without surcharges (and Virgin partners with most bank currencies).
Specifically, 9 or more seats available on some routes February through August.
Currently the union is in the midst of officer negotiations. Union leadership can’t compromise prior to their own elections. A savvy National Mediation Board would encourage negotiations to continue past the results of these member elections, when leadership may be in a better position to negotiate without immediate fear of their roles.
American Airlines is preparing to fly from New York JFK to Tokyo Haneda airport, opening up transfers to New York for flight attendants who speak Japanese.
This suggests they’re confident in winning the Tokyo Haneda slot given up by Delta (which no longer wanted to fly from Portland) – that the Department of Transportation will award it to them rather than to United which has proposed using the slot to fly from Houston.
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 »
