Court Blocks DOT’s Airline Fee Rule—Even Though It Had Authority, The Justification Was Botched

by Gary Leff

delta check in airport
Jan 29 2025

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.

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Exclusive: ‘The Game’s Getting Harder’—American Airlines CEO Reveals Premium Pivot In Closed-Door Meeting

by Gary Leff

Jan 28 2025

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.

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Delta’s Massive Sky Club At Tampa’s New Terminal D Will Open Straight To Your Plane

by Gary Leff

Jan 28 2025

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…

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Leaked Online: JetBlue’s $499 Credit Card Details New Lounges And Mosaic Perks

by Gary Leff

lounge
Jan 28 2025

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.

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Delta’s Atlanta Hub Crushes Rivals with 1.1 Million Seats—200,000 More Than Any Competitor

by Gary Leff

delta airplanes on tarmac
Jan 27 2025

Delta at ATL and American at DFW tower over everyone else. American is anchored heavily at a few fortress airports. United splits big capacity across several mid-continent hubs. Southwest is ubiquitous rather than reliant on just one or two big operations.

Both Los Angeles and New York JFK see strong competition among multiple airlines, which keeps the numbers for any single carrier below that of a fortress-style hub. JFK is slot-controlled, while LAX is gate-constrained.

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From Home Straight To Plane: Lufthansa’s First-Class Test Could Eliminate Airports Completely

by Gary Leff

Jan 27 2025

Some airlines around the world cover chauffeur service to and from the airport for business and first class passengers. One of the best used to be Etihad, which – in order to compete against Emirates based an hour away in Dubai – offered to take you anywhere in the U.A.E. when you arrived. They’d drive you to Dubai or Sharjah, and pick you back up there as well. And this even used to be available to passengers traveling on award tickets. Other airlines will offer tarmac transfers from the lounge to the plane and back. Air France does this for La Premiere at Paris Charles de Gaulle. Once clearing dedicated passport control, you drive from Lufthansa’s first class terminal to the plane. After all, you’re in a different terminal from everyone else that’s boarding the…

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