American Airlines flight attendants voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. They’ve asked the government’s National Mediation Board for permission to do so. Their contract became amendable in 2019 and they haven’t had a raise in five years.
Outwardly, things have looked pretty bleak. But the two sides are closer to an agreement than ever.
After a number of high profile incidents, the FAA has been auditing safety practices at United Airlines. They’ve been unable to open up flights to new cities or add new delivery aircraft to their fleet, and they have had to defer already-announced service.
There was some worry that this could drag on as the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General announced an audit of the FAA’s audit.
With JetBlue struggling, corporate raider Carl Icahn took nearly a 10% stake in the carrier and won the right to appointment members to the airline’s board. Now he’s walking away?
A Southwest passenger complained on social media about four young girls and their parents pre-boarding their flight despite “not need[ing] assistance or extra time” and Southwest responded that “many disabilities aren’t visible” so they are “unable to question preboarding requests.”
We regret any frustration, Stephanie. As many disabilities aren't visible, we're unable to question preboarding requests. -Brytani
— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) May 14, 2024
Here are the ‘disabled’ passengers in question that the airline was responding to.
An airline employee fell off a TransNusa Airbus A320 in Indonesia, and video of the incident is spreading widely. He stepped out the door of the aircraft – just as stairs to the aircraft were being removed. Fault here lies with the ground handler, which shouldn’t remove the stairs while the aircraft’s door is open.
Air France KLM’s Flying Blue program has made award space wide open across the Pond for nearly all of their transatlantic routes, starting this summer (when space has been scarce!) and through the end of their schedule.
Airlines don’t want you to give birth on the plane, so they have special policies for pregnant women approaching their due date. It’s common, for instance, to require a doctor’s note for travel within four weeks of the woman’s due date stating that she’s fit to fly. However immigration attorney Brad Bernstein says that airlines have been told not to allow non-resident women who are “heavily pregnant” to fly to the United States because there’s a risk they’ll give birth here. It’s legal for a foreign woman to give birth in the United States If she’s coming here for the purpose of giving birth that’s illegal However the child still becomes a citizen, and allows for priority in their eventually sponsoring relatives to come to the U.S. as well. Enilria is not surprised, noting that…
Two passengers on board a Zipair flight got into a fight over the air vents above their seats. The man in the window seat wanted to turn it on, while the passenger at the aisle wanted it off. He got mad, slapped away the hand on the vent and eventually punched the window seat passenger. There was nobody seated in the middle.
Which passenger controls the air vent?
With Bilt Rewards adding Alaska Airlines as a transfer partner, they are also introducing the ability to earn miles paying rent with an Alaska Visa. That option is finally live.
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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 »
