After each quarterly earnings call, American Airlines top executives assemble in a conference room to give a ‘State of the Airline’ message to employees and answer questions. This is streamed to employees who aren’t there in person, and recorded for later viewing. For several years I’ve had an opportunity to review recordings of these events.
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 parties are not far off here! Spirit’s creditors are likely better off with some combination, under new management, than with the standalone turnaround plan. I would have assumed they see this and are negotiating for more rather than actually walking away. Yet Spirit’s bondholders indicated they would not extend the NDAs, effectively preventing further negotiations.
Airlines sued to stop the rule, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit issued an injunction suggesting that the carriers were likely to prevail on the merits, and suffer irreparable harm if the rules went into effect in the meantime. DOT itself estimates the cost to comply with the new rules in the hundreds of millions.
The court heard the case, and mostly sided with DOT but still sent the rule back for reconsideration because the agency failed to follow the Administrative Procedures Act is promulgating the final rule.
After the American Airlines earnings call last week, CEO Robert Isom spoke to employees in a ‘State of the Airline’ address. I’ve reviewed a recording of this private event.
While he began by repeat his standard mantra about “being a reliable airline” as a starting place – as though it’s the only thing they need to accomplish, rather than table stakes – he pivoted to talking later about using it as a building block to attract customers willing to pay more for better services.
Delta will be the anchor tenant for the new D terminal in Tampa, including a new Sky Club that is at least 18,000 square feet. Terminal design is at 30% completion, and is expected to be 60% done by May. The Sky Club will have back-of-house spaces for kitchen and storage, as well as an optional direct connection to one gate. Delta will receive at least six preferential-use gates in close proximity to the Sky Club. They will relocate from existing facilities to the new terminal within 90 days of notification that the new spaces are ready. Delta Sky Club Bar at LAX In addition to the gates, Delta will lease approximately 27,000 square feet of support and operations space near the gates. The club lounge lease is for 5 years, with options for three…
While JetBlue is in severe cost-cutting mode, eliminating cities and routes, dropping hot meals from long haul economy, and scaling back its fleet ambitions, they’re planning to add business class lounges – having gotten Barclays to pay for it.
The new premium JetBlue credit card makes the economics of lounges work for them, and the details were allowed to leak out online.
A woman with 1.5 million followers put her strategy for fighting back against seat recliners on display. She uses a Pringles can wedged between the tray table and its locking mechanism, effectively blocking the seat ahead from tilting backward.
A total of 176 people were on board—169 passengers and 7 crew members-were evacuated using the plane’s emergency slides after noticing flames and smoke near the tail of the aircraft. Firefighters arrived within minutes.
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.
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 »
