Delta often claims to have been the first airline to fly with business class suites, but that isn’t true. Qatar Airways was first, and their QSuite debuted seven years ago and remains one of the best business class products in the sky. The overall Qatar Airways business class experience is better than first class on airlines like British Airways and American.
It is clear that you do not want to be a Delta customer even today, which hopefully will be better than the past three days. As of 6 a.m. Eastern the carrier has ‘only’ scrubbed 15% of its flights while American is at 1% and United 0%.
A passenger on Frontier Airlines flight 1449 from Atlanta to Denver Friday evening says they were bumped from the aircraft after they had already boarded in order to make room for staff. She says she was “threatened with arrest” if she didn’t give up her seat, and she missed the wedding she was headed to. The flight wound up taking off without her.
This absence certificate being required by the airline is extensive and invasive, demanding personal health information including a “treatment plan” and “progress of treatment” that is highly unusual to share with any employer – let alone for merely taking a sick day that an employee is contractually entitled to when sick.
SkyTeam member Vietnam Airlines flies non-stop between the U.S. and Vietnam – four-times weekly San Francisco – Ho Chi Minh City service – with an Airbus A350. There is fantastic business class award availability right now for this flight, for up to 4 passengers per flight, whether looking for trips right away through eleven months from now. You can use this flight to connect onward in Southeast Asia (or, if you’re willing to pay the requisite miles, even beyond).
One hotel in Europe lays out the consequences for stealing towels. You will be denounced to an agency! Guests face $16,000 fines and one Hilton even pressed charges against a guest who was sentenced to jail – two years for stealing two towels.
Delta is a good airline that is not doing very well right now. But it’s also an overrated airline, a result of its own PR machine that persistently beats the drum about how premium it is despite workhorse Boeing 767s whose premium passenger experience lags that of both American and United. This is a strong reminder that though it performs marginally better much of the time, and its crews are marginally friendlier, it’s still an airline and can underperform peers in dramatic ways.
Starting today, and until further notice, United Airlines requires a doctor’s note from any flight attendant calling in sick from duty on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. They note that sick calls have increased over summer weekends by as much as 23% and they believe cabin crew are misusing their sick time.
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chair of Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation – the committee that oversees DOT and that drafted the FAA Reauthorization Act language which created these slots – didn’t just write the law that created new slots at Washington’s National airport.
She didn’t just draft language that virtually assigns those slots to specific airlines. In case her point wasn’t clear enough, she’s written to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, in the regulatory docket, explaining who she believes should get the new slots that permit flights greater than 1,250 miles from National airport.
A Marriott Ambassador member, who spends over 100 nights and $23,000 a year with the chain, reports returning to their room to find housekeeping there – and the cleaner brought her boyfriend.
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 »
