President Biden has been talking up poor disclosure of airline fees, as though consumers don’t know that checked bags come with a fee, or that airlines don’t tell them what a seat assignment might cost (they literally present a seat map with prices, because they are trying to sell these seats).
Few politicians have ever hurt themselves railing against airlines.
Delta Air Lines is offering free inflight internet to elite SkyMiles members on many planes that are equipped with their fastest satellite wifi. Entering your SkyMiles number and password at DeltaWifi.com unlocks the service now where offered. This is part of the airline’s slow test to ensure they have enough bandwidth when usage goes up as a result of not charging for connectivity.
Cathay Pacific has started routing flights over Russian airspace again, after pausing the practice as a result of Western sanctions which followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Their New York – Hong Kong flight takes a ‘polar route’ which touches the eastern part of Russia, because it’s faster and they don’t have to weight restrict flights as they do taking a longer route.
Alaska Airlines and Lyft have a new partnership. You’ll earn 1 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan mile per dollar spent with Lyft in the U.S. and Canada, and through December 31 you’ll earn 2 Alaska miles per dollar. Pay with Sapphire Reserve to earn 10 points per dollar as well.
When Western sanctions were imposed on Russia, that voided the aircraft leases on planes operated by Russian airlines. More than half the Boeing and Airbus planes in Russia had to be returned. Airworthiness Certificates were cancelled. The Russian government, though, ordered that the planes not be returned in violation of the country’s Cape Town Treaty obligations. And the planes were re-registered in Russia.
Politics is like professional wresting. What you see is rarely real. Take, for instance, six Democratic Senators urging the FAA to bar airlines from further reducing legroom and seat width. These Senators aren’t calling for more passenger space. They are calling for passengers to not have less space. In other words, they demand the status quo!
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Etihad has great business class award space for two passengers between New York JFK, Chicago O’Hare, Washington Dulles and Abu Dhabi for travel from January through end of schedule. You can use Etihad to connect onward to places in the Mideast or destinations in Asia like the Maldives and India.
And there’s a handful of dates with two first class award seats available, also which I’m seeing on the Washington Dulles route.
In our deeply divided world, where we can’t seem to decide whether Elon Musk is a hero to the left (electric cars and solar energy) or villain (since if he allows former President Trump to trashpost on twitter that’ll be a threat to democracy, though it likely helps the political fortunes of Democrats), there’s one thing we can all come together over. Taylor Swift. Hero to the alt-right and to the cultural left.
A flight attendant for American Airlines wholly-owned regional carrier PSA detained a passenger and confiscated his phone when the plane had arrived at its destination. The passenger explained that they were already on the jet bridge headed into the terminal, but the crewmember wanted to review the phone’s photos to see whether they appeared in any of the shots.
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 »
