Southwest Airlines Raising Fees Starting August 15th

by Gary Leff

Jun 23 2023

Southwest Airlines, the largest U.S. domestic airline, is raising several fees effective August 15, 2023, the carrier has revealed to employees in a document reviewed by View From The Wing. They will be raising pet and unaccompanied minor fees, as well as fees for additional, oversize, and overweight bags. Third and beyond checked bag goes from $75 to 125. Overweight bags go from $75 for up to 100 pounds to $100 for up to 70 pounds or $125 for up to 100 pounds. Oversized bags go from $75 to $125. Unaccompanied minor fees go from $50 to $100. Pets go from $95 to $125 per carrier, with no change to intra-Hawaii pet fees. Southwest still doesn’t charge for seats (they don’t pre-assign seats), don’t have change fees or basic economy fares that are unchangeable, and…

Continue Reading »

The FAA Goes After The Points Guy: Who Is At Fault For Airline Delays?

by Gary Leff

air traffic control
Jun 22 2023

The FAA is calling out Brian Kelly (‘The Points Guy’) who sold his eponymous website years ago, and no longer manages it, but still represents them in media. He blamed summer 2023 flight delays on FAA staffing, but the FAA points out that weather is a bigger cause of delays.

The FAA also calls out volume of flights and runway capacity as bigger issues with delays than staffing, though this is misleading.

Continue Reading »

Review: Qantas First Lounge Sydney Before My American Airlines Flight

by Gary Leff

Jun 22 2023

While American Airlines Flagship first class largely means a bigger seat, a soup course, and more stuff in the amenity kit – and little else – departing from Sydney means access to the excellent Qantas First lounge as well.

The day began heading over to the terminal from the Rydges Hotel across the street, checking in with American, and then having breakfast in the Qantas first lounge before our flight.

Continue Reading »

Washington Dulles Airport Will Spend $8 Million Each To Refurbish 60 Year Old People Movers

by Gary Leff

american airline moon buggy
Jun 22 2023

One of the unique features of Washington Dulles airport is that, despite building an expensive train system, they still use “mobile lounges” to ferry passengers across the airport from their D concourse and to bring passengers from some international flights directly to customs and immigration. These people movers were built in the 1960s.

Continue Reading »

Is Domestic First Class Air Travel For The Poors?

by Gary Leff

economy seats
Jun 21 2023

Airline domestic first class isn’t a marker of wealth, since a large subset of passengers able to pay for air travel can pay for first class as well as it often isn’t that much more. But it hasn’t really ever been a marker of wealth.

Twenty years ago 90% of seats up front were going to upgrades, which frequently meant business travelers who weren’t poor by any stretch but often in the middle rungs of the corporate ladder. Who is flying up front has changed a bit, especially with managed business travel still down, but it hasn’t matched the mythology of the product in decades.

Continue Reading »