Tag Archives for delta air lines.
Delta Air Lines is now making guests check bags before entering the dining room at its Delta One lounge at New York JFK, after what staff described as a very serious recent incident. At the same time, passengers buying upgraded drinks are being asked to tip in SkyMiles, adding a tacky new twist to what Delta sells as a premium ground experience.
Delta Air Lines returned to São Paulo within minutes after takeoff when one engine caught fire. Video from inside the cabin shows flames outside the aircraft, a terrifying view for passengers – though the crew handled it exactly as they’re trained to do.
A Delta regional jet was already landing at LaGuardia when the pilots realized they had been talking to the wrong controller. The crew had switched to the wrong New York tower frequency on approach, and the mistake only became obvious when the controller asked the flight a simple question: where are you?
Passengers on a Delta regional flight say the plane sat on the ground waiting for a late-arriving traveler tied to airline leadership. They also say a man who had already been upgraded was removed from first class so the traveler could take his seat.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was photographed flying first class on Friday. He’s being criticized for the premium experience of an upgraded class of service while the working classes suffer coach. That take does not makes sense.
Delta usually sells its first class seats rather than giving them away as upgrades. So when a gate agent in Salt Lake City still had two empty seats to fill, she did not just clear the list and move on. She turned the gate area into a break dance contest and used that to assign the seats.
Delta has suspended some special airport perks for members of Congress, including VIP escorts, Red Coat handling, and priority help with upgrades or rebooking. But lawmakers still get a travel experience ordinary passengers do not, with dedicated booking desks, flexible same-day reservations, and other privileges that insulate them from the airport misery the rest of the country is forced to endure.
Delta has already made clear it wants Austin to become a major growth city, with more gates, more lounges, more flights, and even Seoul in its sights. After adding flights to American’s Miami hub it is now adding Phoenix. As American is distracted by its fight with United at Chicago, Delta is encroaching on American’s hubs.
Delta Flight 69 from Seattle to Taipei was forced to divert to Anchorage after a passenger allegedly grabbed a flight attendant, used the N-word, and threatened to beat him up after landing. What began as an argument over whether a lavatory was occupied escalated into a level-three onboard disturbance serious enough to lock down the cockpit, divert an Airbus A350 heavy with fuel, and end with the passenger in federal custody.
A blind passenger boarded a Delta flight with a seeing-eye dog, only to face complaints from another couple claiming their own dog was a service animal and could not sit nearby. What followed was a familiar modern airline mess: a real working dog, a likely fake one, and a dispute not just over where the animals should sit, but over who got to use the blind passenger’s underseat space.
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 »
