A Record 75,000 Consumers Filed Complaints That Major Airlines Took Over DOT To Quash Competition

by Gary Leff

Oct 14 2023

The FAA’s docket on public charter regulation advocated by American Airlines and Southwest Airlines has closed.

So far over 58,000 public comments have been posted to Regulations.gov. JSX says the number of submitted comments is 76,000 (there is a lag in posting comments to the web). Already it’s the most comments ever received on a Department of Transportation or FAA proposed rule. Drones topped 50,000. Emotional support animals topped 15,000. Usually there are just a handful.

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United Airlines Demands $400 To Gate Check Bags, But Passengers Didn’t Have The Money

by Gary Leff

Oct 13 2023

What happens if you’ve purchased a ticket, you’re about to board your flight, and the airline demands $400 that you don’t have? Two women traveling United Airlines had to find out. And they were only able to fly, along with all of their belongings, thanks to the kindness of a stranger traveling on the same flight that day who pulled out her own credit card.

The Oregon-based musician, singer, and Rhodes scholar JT Flowers shared what he witnessed at the boarding gate. Two passengers, that he noted were “black women speaking broken English,” were told that they could not board because “they can’t afford to pay $400 to check two tiny purses at the gate.”

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American Airlines Tells Security: Look Out For Flight Attendants In Union T-Shirts

by Gary Leff

Oct 12 2023

American Airlines flight attendants, led by union President Julie Hedrick, delivered a letter of ‘no confidence’ in management to Senior Vice President Brady Byrnes on Thursday. The airline’s reaction to union members at ‘Skyview’ corporate headquarters was to put out a memo to security to “BOLO” – Be On The Lookout – for anyone wearing a union t-shirt.

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American Airlines Flight Attendants Demand 50% Wage Increase Or Strike

by Gary Leff

Oct 12 2023

The American Airlines flight attendants union has reduced pay demands ever so slightly, but extended out the period of time they’re talking about to get up to a 50% bump in wages in order to sell it to their members.

They’re still outside the zone of possible agreement, though. And they’re saying they are “holding firm on” wages after taking a strike authorization vote in which over 99% of voting crew supported going on strike. They want a 50% increase in wages – firm – and they’re threatening strike to get it.

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U.S. Plans To Evacuate Americans From Israel, But Who Will Fly The Planes?

by Gary Leff

Oct 12 2023

The Wall Street Journal‘s Alison Sider asked during Delta’s third quarter earnings call this morning, “would Delta be open to flying Israel under a charter if the government asks..?”

And Delta’s CEO Ed Bastian replied “we don’t have any plans to be flying into Israel. It’s considered unsafe for a U.S. carrier to operate in that airspace currently.”

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