On Wednesday Southwest Airlines held an employee rally in Baltimore and pilots, in the midst of a contract negotiation with the airline, walked out on CEO Bob Jordan, reminiscent of United Airlines pilots turning their back on their own CEO in December.
Jordan reportedly flew back to Dallas, not on Southwest Airlines – but on American Airlines – according to a Southwest pilot.
Here’s video of a plane that’s going viral, appearing to show the aircraft not moving in the skies over Chicago. It’s being called ‘a glitch in the matrix’.
Considering how important frequent flyer programs are to airlines – they drive billions of dollars of high margin revenue – they disclose very little about that portion of their business. Delta filed its SEC 10-K annual report on Friday, and included tidbits about the inner workings of the SkyMiles program
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.
An American Airlines Airbus A321 without passengers on board collided with a shuttle bus in Los Angeles on Friday evening. The plane was being pulled by a tug to park in a remote location, and the shuttle was carrying passengers between the American terminal and the remote ‘Eagles Nest’ building for regional flights.
The fire department treated five people at the scene. Four people were hospitalized.
A little over a year ago I expressed shock that Delta would publish 369,000 miles roundtrip in business class as a ‘flash sale’ deal to Rome.
Now 750,000 mile award trips are something they advertise as a good deal to jump on. It’s right there on their International Premium Cabin Deals page.
Colorado updated its drivers licenses in February 2022, but the TSA hasn’t updated its drivers license readers to recognize the new design. As a result, people that have renewed their Colorado licenses over the past year keep getting flagged at airport security.
As if TSA screening isn’t enough of a mess in Denver, the preponderance of Colorado licenses makes things even worse, because the screener then has to identify the passenger without relying on the government ID.
The role that each of the four largest U.S. airlines plays is changing rapidly, upending the fixed narratives that prevailed prior to the pandemic. Delta’s leadership role is being challenged. American and United, laggards prior to Covid, are each focused on strategies that could catapult them to the top or fail. And Southwest Airlines faces a struggle for its identity.
The U.S. airline industry heavily regulated and protected from competition, and as a result can seem sclerotic. Change happens very slowly… and then all at once.
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.
The American Airlines operation was taken down by bad labor relations in the summer of 2019. Mechanics weren’t fixing planes, and writing up minor issues, causing rampant cancellations. The two sides came to an agreement on a contract just before the pandemic, and things have been running smoothly.
But pilot and flight attendant contracts have been in negotiations for years, and things are beginning to turn ugly.
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 »
