Airlines overbook coach, but rarely overbook business and first class. The airline may sell more tickets than seats, but it’s the passengers in back who usually risk being kicked off the flight. And this actually makes sense.
Southwest Airlines will announce major changes to how they’ll operate this coming Thursday. It’s Investor Day, and the change to lay out plans that have been spurred by activist investor Elliott Management. We know some of what they have planned from previous earnings calls, but they’ve told s that more changes and details will come out in their planned investor presentation.
It’s a flight that should have been added years ago, when Cathay could codeshare with American Airlines on routes that took them over Russia, and when Hong Kong itself mattered more as a destination from the U.S.
Virgin Atlantic was the first airline to offer elite status credit when redeeming miles. Delta, which owns 49% of Virgin, copied them. And then United followed. Now American Airlines appears to be testing something similar.
Alaska Airlines is raising $1.5 billion in debt against its Mileage Plan frequent flyer program, which it expects to use in part to pay down the $900 million in Hawaiian Airlines debt it’s taken on as part of acquiring the Honolulu-based carrier.
United Airlines reportedly threatened to force everyone on their flight 923 from Los Angeles to London to get off the aircraft on Sunday, unless three business class passengers gave up their seats and moved to extra legroom coach in order to make room for flight attendants. A passenger says that this “came across as a threat, both in their wording and tone.”
You used to be able to take any open seat in your cabin once the doors closed. You might move closer to the front, grab an aisle seat, or head for an empty row in the back so you could stretch out.
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An American Airlines passenger draped her hair over the back of her seat, right into the view of the passenger seated behind her. It was draped over and covering up the tray table. So what’s your inflight vigilantism style?
My hypothesis was that Uber seemed to be picking a higher price because I had credits in my account. I might be willing to spend more because my ‘real’ out of pocket cost was less, and those credits were trapped anyway.
I decided to use my Uber credits for Uber Eats instead. That pricing seemed normal.
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 »
