Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination for President on Thursday. His Vice Presidential running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, almost wasn’t there because his team had forgotten to secure clearance for the charter bringing him to the convention to enter its restricted airspace.
The new long range Airbus A321XLR received its Type Certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. It’s been certified with CFM LEAP-1A, and a Pratt & Whitney version is expected to be certified later this year. The first plane is expected to enter service later this summer, and over 500 XLRs have been ordered to date.
A reader flying American Airlines from Nice to Philadelphia boarded their aircraft to find that the tray table at their economy seat 13K was broken, “Broken tray in seat 13K not ideal for an eight hour flight with a 6 year old.”
An American Airlines passenger flying from Dallas Fort Worth to Los Angeles took another passenger’s bulkhead seat and refused to give it up. He argued that it was his by right as a result of his U.S. citizenship. Defying flight attendants requests to move, all passengers were eventually deplaned in order to get him off the aircraft peacefully.
The JetBlue flight attendants union let crewmembers know on Thursday that the airline was planning to need fewer flight attendants starting in September as a result of schedule reducations, and that this would last at least through the winter season. Specifically they estimated that 39,000 flight attendant hours would be dropped from the schedule. As a result they’re offering leaves of absence of up to six months.
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During the United Airlines second quarter earnings call on Thursday morning, CEO Scott Kirby laid out his belief in how economic forces will drive up airline industry revenue. In response to a question by J.P. Morgan’s Jamie Baker, Kirby explained his belief that mean regression alone will mean higher fares.
Initially the flight delay was due to maintenance. A passenger reports that it was a “door issue.” Mechanics responded, and it appears that maintenance determined they could defer fixing the issue. The captain, though, told passengers he wouldn’t fly the plane in that condition.
Domestic first class will reportedly be called “Mini Mint” and be introduced in 2026. It’s currently expected that they will use the Collins Aerospace MiQ seat. They won’t reduce total seats on planes, so they’ll squeeze legroom from coach to make room for first class.
Twenty years ago Alaska Airlines seriously considered eliminating first class altogether, but determined that they could better monetize the product instead. Now they’re betting more heavily on premium.
They don’t have lie flat seats even for cross country flights, and they eliminated Virgin America’s superior first class product after the merger, but they’re planning to add a row of first class to Boeing 737-800s and add a row of extra legroom coach (“premium class”) to their 737-900ER and 737 MAX 9s.
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 »
