Senator Sinema is an American Airlines Executive Platinum member whose staff put out a 37 page memo on meeting her travel expectations. She likes room temperature bottled water available at all times (honestly, so do I). She likes a weekly hour-long massage. She wants to avoid flying Southwest though they’re a huge carrier in her home state. She “does not like to fly” and asks staffers to pick her preferred seats when she does.
A Cardless co-founder was a TPG intern 7 years ago, so the relationship isn’t surprising. Still, this strikes me for two reasons.
Conservative media personality Candace Owens bought business class tickets to London for her family on British Airways. Her seats had no working power, so they wouldn’t recline. Seat power didn’t work to charge her devices. And the seatback entertainment screen didn’t work either.
The London-based carrier didn’t tell her about the problem in advance. She discovered it on board when, apparently, it was too late to switch seats or even downgrade to economy where should could use seat video to entertain her kids. And while she says she was promised a full refund for the problem – she did not get what she paid for – the airline’s customer service only offered her $200 in travel credit against $18,000 in airfare.
Southwest awards are fully cancellable this 25% off sale is a good opportunity to book any speculative travel you may think you have over that week – take advantage of the current discount and if you wind up not traveling just cancel the booking in advance.
Four years ago American Airlines and Dallas – Fort Worth airport came to agreement on terminal improvements that included piecemealing a new terminal F and refreshing terminal C. At the time this was estimated to cost $3 to $3.5 billion.
Capital construction was part of master lease negotiations. The old lease expired in 2020, but was extended due to the pandemic. With American representing over 85% of passenger traffic, they have the lion’s share of say. And together with their joint venture partners they’re able to exercise de facto control. So it was American on hand with the CEO of the airport when they announced a new master lease today, that finally included plans for the new terminal and existing terminal refresh.
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.
Since yesterday Southwest has increased how much they’re charging for upgraded boarding. Pricing is still dynamic, but has become more so, with a higher potential price than before, according to an internal memo reviewed by View From The Wing.
Aviation watchdog JonNYC shares internal slides on United’s plan for refreshing its fleet.
Back in October I wrote that, while it wasn’t public at the time, Delta was looking to buy Airbus A350-1000 widebody aircraft. It seemed like a deal could be announced soon, but crickets.
Now the story is heating up with attention by major media that the airline is looking to purchase both Airbus A350-1000s and A330neos.
The pilot union has taken a strike authorization vote, but isn’t legally permitted to strike because they haven’t received federal permission to do so (and that would only come after a 30 day ‘cooling off period’). Pilots are getting frustrated over the time it is taking to get to a contract, though the airline has publicly committed to substantial raises.
Some pilots do not want to wait, and are suggesting taking matters into their own hands. The mistake they’re making, though, is putting this in writing – and the union, therefore, has taken steps to disavow it.
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 »
