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.
United’s Jeff Smisek, Delta’s Richard Anderson, and American’s Doug Parker started crowing a little over a year ago about having to compete against Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar – that it was unfair these Gulf carriers got subsidies and they didn’t.
While it became clear that the case made against the Gulf carriers was itself a fraud (which isn’t to say there haven’t been subsidies), that the US airlines have themselves been massively subsidized, and that it was a case of selective outrage (not complaining about other state-subsidized partners, including ones part-owned by US airlines), the cry over the Big 3 Gulf carriers somewhat subsided.
Except, oddly, from Doug Parker..
The founders of L’Avion, all business class airline to Paris, were hemorrhaging but managed to luck into a deal to sell to British Airways (the airline is now OpenSkies). Not content to have gotten out ahead, these same people started all over with La Compagnie.
Richard Branson seems to say he wants to pull the trick. He says he won’t let Virgin America die.
Earlier in the week I wrote that an Air India pilot refused to show up for one of the airline’s inaugural flights because he wanted to fly to Delhi instead.
Now comes word that an Air India pilot delayed a flight to the Maldives for 2.5 hours because he was insisting that the airline schedule a particular female co-pilot to fly with him.
Alaska Airlines beat out JetBlue to buy Virgin America. That means JetBlue won’t build a big California presence out of Virgin’s San Francisco hub and Los Angeles operation.
But JetBlue still wants new customers in California, and in their home state of New York. They want Virgins.
One of my all-time favorite songs is Roxy Music’s 1982 single ‘More Than This’ from their albom Avalon (it was covered by 10,000 Maniacs in 1997). I loved it as a kid, and am even more emotionally tied to it because of Bill Murray’s karaoke rendition in Lost in Translation.
Roxy Music’s Brian Eno recorded perhaps the greatest muzak ever, Music for Airports, in 1978.
Chris Holbrook asks in the New York Times why airports are ‘designed for everyone but the passenger’ and laments that many architects have forgotten the “obligation to please the people who use their space.” Holbrook begins by recounting the story of Brian Eno caring about the experience for people inside the airport, which airports often pay only lip service to. But it’s not at all surprising why this is.
There’s no magic bullet day of week to book, but there are general rules for how far in advance to book. Know what tickets usually cost for your route. Learn airfare routing rules and how to search for discount inventory, and then piece together actual flights that have the lowest inventory buckets available. Buy one seat at a time even if you’re traveling as a pair.
Here’s what you need to know.
United is celebrating 90 years today.
United is highlighting their ‘firsts in aviation’ to mark this milestone. It hasn’t always been all sunshine and unicorns, but I’m flying United more and more (again in a few days), though I don’t expect to earn status with them.
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.
Virgin America’s CEO sent a note to employees about being bought out by Alaska Airlines for $2.6 billion.
Most Virgin America employees will keep their jobs for the foreseeable future. Alaska Airlines doesn’t serve many of the cities that Virgin does. Alaska doesn’t have enough flight attendants and pilots to maintain Virgin’s operation without Virgin’s employees. Alaska’s pilots generally aren’t currently rated on Airbus equipment. Alaska’s mechanics aren’t either. And the Airbus equipment stays, at least for awhile.
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 »
