Jan
22
2018
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.
Free Hilton Status and a $4.3 Million Hotel Stay
united baggage
Search Results for "united baggage".
New Pre-Reclined Airline Seats are Awful – But They’re Just a Symptom of the Real Problem
Jan
11
2018
Two weeks ago I wrote that British Airways is introducing seats with 29 inches of pitch and no recline. That’s an inch less space than Ryanair offers from seat back to seat back.
Since word of BA’s new seats without recline came out the buzz word has been that they’re pre-reclined, a phrase I first heard from former Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza. It’s a silly statement, but it’s also true that their seats aren’t completely upright.
Alitalia Destroyed a 300 Year Old Viola, Says You Shouldn’t Trust Checking Bags With Them
Jan
09
2018
Myrna Herzog flew Rio to Tel Aviv via Rome on Alitalia on January second, arriving on the third. She checked a 17th century Lewis viola da gamba reportedly worth $200,000.
That strikes me as a dumb move, however she says Alitalia had “promise[d] that the instrument would be only handled BY HAND.” Of course it arrived in Tel Aviv looking, in her words, like “it was savagely vandalized, ..it seems that a car ran over it.”
Big Singapore Airlines Changes: Paid Seat Assignments, Earn More Miles, New Upgrade Rules
Dec
15
2017
Singapore Airlines has announced ‘new fare types’ that will go into effect January 20th.
They’re introducing higher award change fees, the elimination of upgrades on the cheapest premium economy and business class fares, and seat selection fees on the cheapest coach tickets. At the same time more economy fares will become upgradeable (at a higher mileage cost) and the cheapest coach fares will earn a lot more miles.
British Airways Shows How Cuts to Quality Destroy an Airline Brand
Dec
09
2017
British Airways no longer has a positive net promoter score among its own customers. They obliterated their reputation very quickly. And data shows that customers have become more likely to leave British Airways for a low cost carrier.
So rather than making BA more competitive, they’ve given up their competitive edge. There are lessons here for US airlines as well.
Delta, Air France and KLM Introducing Checked Bag Fees on Flights to Europe
Dec
07
2017
Delta and their transatlantic joint venture partners are adding a first checked bag fee to their least expensive fares to and from Europe.
As American and United roll out their Basic Economy fares internationally you can expect they’ll follow Delta in short order since they generally believe Delta is smarter than they are.
The Chicago O’Hare T3-T5 Shuttle is a Giant Cluster
Nov
05
2017
Chicago O’Hare started offering a bus between terminal 3 and terminal 5. In theory this should save a lot of time for American Airlines passengers in terminal 3 transferring to international airlines departing terminal 5. (United passengers from terminal 1 could walk over to terminal 3 to take the bus if they wished.)
The bus was supposed to run from 8:30 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. at least that’s how it was announced. Except that it doesn’t.
NAACP Issues Travel Warning Against American Airlines
Oct
25
2017
The NAACP, co-founded by the legendary W. E. B. Du Bois, was one of the most important organizations — not just civil rights organizations — in the history of America. It’s pursued some of the most important lawsuits in the country, and did incredibly important work fighting Jim Crow laws.
We need an NAACP, even one tilting at the windmill of everyone’s passenger experience onboard commercial airlines. But suggesting that American Airlines is targeting African Americans for discrimination is simply unsupported by any of the facts offered, and runs counter to many of the facts available.
Southwest Airlines Finally Announces — They’re Going to Hawaii!
Oct
12
2017
Hawaii service has been speculated for years. In December 2010 they advertised for an ETOPS manager suggesting they were planning long overwater flights.
Finally this year service has begun to seem imminent.
Here’s Chicago O’Hare’s Major Overhaul Plan
Oct
06
2017
Chicago’s O’Hare airport isn’t the most modern or beautiful airport. But the biggest problems they face are weather, distance from the city, and insufficient gates to grow. They’re planning to do something about gates while in the process rebuilding terminals.
I’m ultimately happy with O’Hare today since so far it’s the only place with a United Polaris lounge, American’s second Flagship lounge just opened there, and they’ve got Tortas Frontera.
