American Airlines changed its published check-in policy so that at a bare minimum you have to check-in 45 minutes prior to departure even for a domestic flight without checked luggage. Both Delta and United continue to publish 30 minutes in similar circumstances.
However American Airlines spokesperson Ross Feinstein clarified for me that in fact, American will still issue a boarding pass 30 minutes prior to departure for a domestic flight.
My American Airlines upgrade failed to clear yesterday afternoon. I was second on the upgrade list with one open seaet. I made my way back to 8B on the MD80 for the two hour flight in Main Cabin Extra, which was fine.
When your upgrade doesn’t clear, you sit in back. That’s just how it works. You do not decide to take matters into your own hands.
A man was kicked off an Alaska Airlines flight from Dallas to Seattle on Wednesday because, the man says, “a passenger complained he looked ‘Arabic and scary'” as a result of his beard. Oh, the man’s name is Mark French.
As much of the coverage of this incident notes, the Alaska Airlines eskimo in their aircraft livery has a beard. Regardless of what happened to this man when he tried to fly, it’s time we stop living in fear.
Emirates will apparently be bringing an Airbus A380 to Chicago O’Hare for a single flight. O’Hare pulled a permit to build an A380-capable gate back in February, and at the time both Emirates and British Airways were noted as having expressed interest in flying A380s to the city.
Emirates has perhaps the flashiest first class product in the sky on its Airbus A380. But there’s real substance to it too. Emirates offers a comfortable private suite, good food and flexible dining, top notch wine and spirits, and a bar that’s matched or exceeded only by Qatar.
I wonder whether it’s a good idea for people to be served alcohol when they’re stuck in a metal tube.
A drunk Russian just wound up tied up after he was dragged off a plane “shouting and screaming” when he wouldn’t take his seat.
I’m starting to wonder, why do airlines serve alcohol onboard at all?
United and Continental merged in 2010, with Continental management eventually taking over, but six years later that merger is still not complete.
Legacy United and Continental flight attendants still do not have a single contract, and as a result United flight attendants work United planes and Continental flight attendants work Continental planes — and new aircraft get split between them.
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In March American changed the minimum check-in time to 45 minutes prior to flight, from 30 minutes. The airline did not notify customers of this change at the time — no emails, no banners at AA.com, just different information on its website. Neither Delta nor United require this.
It’s part of American’s obsession with “D0” — cajoling employees and inconveniencing customers by making every operational decision not based on precision or rule but based on anything that will promote pushing back exactly at the proscribed minute in the schedule.
Saudia’s flight SV21 from Jeddah to New York JFK yesterday declared an emergency as it was about to head out over the Atlantic Ocean. It dumped fuel and then turned around for London Heathrow because a female passenger was going into childbirth.
No doctors had been onboard the flight, so flight attendants helped with the delivering “after arranging a discreet corner in the plane.”
Saudia’s current first class product on their Boeing 777s is an antiquated six seats across, but with a huge cabin of 24 seats.
Their business class on that aircraft is angled. It’s not terrible as far as such things go on a dry airline, but hardly a modern product.
Fortunately…
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 »
