14 airports have lost all commercial air service in the past three years, and 324 small airports have seen losses of air service averaging 30%.
While the long run trend is fewer non-stop flights in small markets, large hubs have made it economical for airlines to serve many of these markets with a connection. Now we’re seeing fewer – and in some cases no – connections.
American does very little ultra long haul flying. And Doha’s premiums cabins are consistently empty in his observation, filling up only at the last minute (presumably with nonrevenue employees and upgrades). And they can’t be making money off of just a full coach cabin with their costs. As a result there has been speculation about this route being pulled. Here’s why I don’t think that will happen in 2023.
Shark Tank start and former New York real estate broker Barbara Corcoran has a message for frequent flyers: you’re using your miles wrong, don’t upgrade or redeem for first class, and bring your own booze to drink on the plane.
American Airlines loses and delays more checked bags than competitors – at times up to 1% of bags. The airline has 3 changes to make baggage reliability better, according to Julie Rath who is American’s Senior Vice President of Airport Operations (and had a brief tenure running the AAdvantage program). She offered these comments during an employee meeting following the airline’s first quarter earnings call on Thursday.
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.
Sometimes you’re cutting it close when you travel, and when you land off of a flight you’re going to have to head straight to work. You need all your tools and supplies with you – no time, even, to… stop at Target? And, I guess, that’s one reason that someone might check a plastic trash can as luggage.
The restrictions imposed by the U.S. were performative. They were not sufficient to influence the course of the virus, and thus did not on their own make sense when instituted. Now that the government no longer even considers this a public health emergency it’s absurd that restrictions remain in place.
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.
When you check a bag with an airline, the airline is responsible for the bag even though they aren’t the only one that touches it. You may have seen the slips that TSA sometimes sticks into bags saying that they’ve opened and inspected it.
One woman shared her story of flying Delta from New York JFK to Los Angeles, only to discover that her bag had been opened and one of her packing cubes removed.
American Airlines has updated the script that gate agents are supposed to use when boarding planes. It should be the same, each and every time. The goal in streamlining the script is to help them get planes out exactly on-time, reducing the time it takes to board the aircraft, and giving passengers instructions that – if followed – help towards this goal.
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 »
