Delta Air Lines paid 13 passengers on an overbooked Boston to Rome flight up to $4,000 each – plus covered their hotel rooms for the night – to get them to give up their seats.
The flight had already boarded when an agent came on board still looking for volunteers, and she ran an auction. You can hear her raising the price to $3,500 begging someone to “take one for the team” and “go shopping.”
A security screener at the Manila airport this month was caught on camera stealing $300 from a departing passenger whose bag she was inspecting. To hide the evidence, she stuffs the money in her mouth.
Don’t talk during the safety demonstration, expect flight attendants to help with your bags, or poke flight attendants.
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 CEO Robert Isom was named the world’s best airline CEO. That may be debatable, but the airline’s board has awarded him a rich compensation package potentially worth over $26 million.
It’s not April Fool’s or Backwards Day, yet reportedly ultra low cost carrier Frontier Airlines is considering adding first class to its planes – and Sun Country is considering an airport lounge in Minneapolis, at a time when Delta with its Minneapolis hub is kicking passengers out of lounges.
There’s a shot across the bow of aviation – an intellectual case is being made for airlines to revert to the status of public utilities. Sitaraman’s upcoming book can be seen as a starting gun for arguments over regulating the airline industry. The arguments for this used to be unserious, by folks like Robert Kuttner. That’s changing, and with a direct line to people in power.
People who care about not making air travel worse need to wake up to the threat, though there is also much we should be doing that would make air travel better.
Should the first class overhead bins be for first class passengers only? And if so, should a passenger get kicked off of the flight when they disagree – even if they move their bag back to coach?
Daraius Dubash is currently suing the city of Houston for violating his rights.
American and United are in many ways rising. Delta isn’t as good as it once was, though that could change. Ultimately brand follows the underlying reality, even if imperfectly and with a lag.
Delta is not a good enough airline to keep doubling down on the path of low value miles, expecting more from the consumer, and seeing the consumer continue to respond.
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 »
