Prior to the pandemic, American Airlines was growing its Charlotte hub to 700 flights. They got new gates and were doubling down on their Southeastern hub, with its low costs and access to Sun destinations. Charlotte was still second to Dallas – Fort Worth, where they were growing to 900 flights.
American’s future in Charlotte may be about to get even bigger, since the airport has started work on a new 10,000 foot, $1.6 billion runway west of the terminal.
Southwest is offering 40% off paid and award flights booked by June 15 for travel August 15 – December 14, 2023 using promo code 40OFF.
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.
For years United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has argued that there’s an historical relationship between airfares and GDP. Fares have been lower than they have been in the past, and so they’re likely to snap back. In fact, five years ago, he was essentially arguing that airfares should double based on this natural relationship.
This woman declares that she isn’t going to leave the aircraft. “Take me to Cleveland,” she says, and threatens to “make an international incident.”
American and Southwest, for their part, face competition in their home market. JSX is allowed to offer convenient scheduled service from private terminals, using their own security (which includes scanners, bag swabs, and ID verification), because they operate with no more than 30 seats per aircraft. American is explicit that their concern is the competitive advantage this gives to JSX.
The two-time Olympic Gold medalist is a lightning rod for culture wars, because she’s not just the first openly gay athlete signed by Nike but she models clothes that are branded ‘menswear’. She has vocally objected to playing the national anthem at sporting events, but agreed to stand for the anthem for the 2023 WNBA season after being freed from Russia.
Female cabin crew at Hainan Airlines – and only women – face immediate suspension if they are 10% above the airline’s ‘standard’ weight limit for their height, as part of the carrier’s image program. It seems to be hurting their image more than helping it? Or maybe it’s guerilla marketing to sell tickets.
Etihad business class award space is wide open this spring, for up to four passengers. And there’s even two first class awards many dates from Washington Dulles as well.
New hotels often take awhile to build up a clientele. They’re frequently quite empty at the start. Paid rates are lower as a result too (often but not always) as properties try to put heads into empty beds. Take Hyatt’s brand new Regency in Conroe, Texas that’s just opened – they expect to average just 30% occupancy for the rest of the year. It makes sense to use a chain’s loyalty program to do this.
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 »
