Cincinnati was doomed as a hub whether Delta and Northwest merged or not. It lacked sufficient lucrative high yield local traffic. It supported mostly high seat cost regional jets, and the hub was in decline for three years before the merger as oil prices rose. But all wasn’t lost, and the airport was reborn with a new mission.
American Airlines offered $4,000 travel vouchers for volunteers on an overbooked Philadelphia–Athens flight, an unusually high bid for a carrier that often caps offers much lower.
American Airlines now accepts Venmo, adds FOX One streaming passes for AAdvantage members, and will stop charging stranded passengers to recheck bags after overnight disruptions. Also: Spirit’s costly campus, United Flight 93’s passenger vote, and a flight delayed by bees on the wing.
British Airways is fighting a U.K. tax demand over London hotel rooms provided to flight attendants between back-to-back trips. The dispute turns on whether the rooms were necessary operational rest or taxable lodging near the crew’s normal base. The U.K. governmnet argues flight attendants should have just gone home.
CrowdStrike’s botched software update helped trigger one of the biggest airline meltdowns in years, stranding passengers and costing Delta alone more than $500 million. Now those passengers are being told they may not be able to sue a software company because of the Airline Deregulation Act.
United Airlines confirms its new Airbus A321XLRs will use blocked middle seats in coach so the planes can fly with fewer Flight Attendants. The move copies European-style business class seating and could turn two otherwise unusable middle seats into a paid extra space product.
Crowded airport lounges are looking less premium as passengers leave behind dirty tables, used plates, and even bare feet on furniture.
Flying Blue Gold status match ends Saturday for U.S. and Canadian members, offering Delta flyers free bags, priority boarding, and exit-row seats for $199. A family checking bags can recover that cost quickly.
The man hit and slapped the officer in the head and took the officer’s glasses. Las Vegas police responded and tried to detain him, but he fought them, flipped one officer over his back, and both fell to the ground. He grabbed an officer’s pen and tried to him with it, kicked a police officer twice, and kicked a TSA officer in the face. One police officer was injured and sought medical help.
A Frontier passenger was arrested after allegedly sneaking a second dog onto an Atlanta–San Francisco flight. Video shows a confrontation at the front of the aircraft before airport police removed her to the tarmac.
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 »
