No business has more data on passenger upsales to business class across airlines than PlusGrade, and its CEO says that the product an airline offers really matters in monetizing the cabin.
A passenger on a delayed Delta Air Lines Minneapolis – Sacramento flight put down his carry on bag to throw something away at a nearby trash – and wound up accused of stealing his own bag when he returned. And it wasn’t until another passenger, a white woman, stepped in that police backed down.
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.
American Airlines and JetBlue basically asked the judge to do what the judge suggested would have been permissible: codeshare and partner through their frequent flyer programs. That helps retain some competitiveness in the New York market, attracting customers away from the biggest players Delta and United.
The government though wants the partnership itself fully terminated, not only the parts that were found to be anti-competitive.
The starting gun on taking care of customers in the event of controllable delays and cancellations – compensating customers for failing to deliver the product that airlines have sold – has mass appeal, and signals a concern by the current administration for middle class concerns in a way that they think can differentiate themselves from their opponents. Precisely because this legislation won’t be acted upon, the President can paint Republicans as unwilling to protect voters from unpopular businesses.
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.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a passenger book more than one seat for their animal before. Yet here is a man traveling with his dog. He has one seat, the great dane has two. And the dog needed every inch of it.
Throughout this cross country flight to New York JFK on an American Airlines Airbus A321T, the 140 pound pup stood up, sat down, napped, and interacted with the rest of the cabin.
One man is a hero to us all, making baby back ribs in his bathroom. He uses a towel to help strip and remove the membrane. He dumps the rib rub out over the meat at the sink. Then he cooks it with a hair dryer. For four hours. He then takes out the dish to add a honey glaze before returning the ribs to the “oven” for an additional three hours of cook time.
A Chicago Midway airport customer service agent for Southwest Airlines has been indicted for selling almost $2 million in travel vouchers.
After working for the airline for about three years ago, the man figured out that he could issue customer service “LUV vouchers” to compensate passengers… and could do this even when there wasn’t actually a disserviced passenger.
Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) have re-introduced their bill to crack down on credit card interchange. That’s the cost businesses pay to accept credit cards. Since banks and card networks like Visa and Mastercard make money on each transaction, they spend money to encourage those transactions. That’s what funds credit card rewards. It’s even to a large extent what funds the airlines, when carriers like American often don’t make money flying planes but ultimately earn money selling their miles to banks. Reducing interchange reduces card rewards. Of course if that were somehow good for the world, it would be tough to argue for our miles and points. But it isn’t good for the world. Countries that have capped interchange haven’t seen prices fall to consumers. Consumers are used here a fig leaf…
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 »
