Tag Archives for delta air lines.
Delta Air Lines will be sharing the names of flight crew with passengers a day in advance of travel. Passengers will be able to recognize crew for their service. Even though it’s only first names, crew can opt out, and only positive comments will be passed along, a union trying to organize flight attendants at the airline is blasting the program.
Delta lays out how United’s response is self-serving. And of course it is! Just like Delta’s request is self-serving. The question isn’t the motives of each airline, it’s how should DOT handle it when an airline no longer wants to serve the route that was awarded to them?
Back in October I wrote that, while it wasn’t public at the time, Delta was looking to buy Airbus A350-1000 widebody aircraft. It seemed like a deal could be announced soon, but crickets.
Now the story is heating up with attention by major media that the airline is looking to purchase both Airbus A350-1000s and A330neos.
With so much time on hold it’s easy to call Delta and listen to their hold music and really pick up the beat. One customer did just that. And played the French horn.
I’ve written several times that the biggest and worst devaluation of the Delta SkyMiles program only seems to apply to flights that either start or end in the United States. SkyMiles now charges for partner awards, which are all saver awards and limited in availability, as though they were awards on Delta. That’s how you can get over 500,000 miles one way for a coach award between the U.S. and Thailand.
But if you start a trip in Mexico, you’re effectively rolling back to the last devaluation where partner awards are merely super expensive. And this creates an opportunity.
Private jet company Wheels Up is reportedly on the verge of bankruptcy. It’s also on the verge of being de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange, with a share price that’s gone from high flyer to penny stock since going public and trading at over $11 a share two years ago.
DOT’s rule on these slots was that, once service commenced, none could go dormant for more than 90 days or the route authority could be taken back and awarded to another airline.
With Japan late to re-open, and traditional managed business travel still depressed, U.S. – Japan flying hasn’t recovered nearly as much as domestic travel or flying between the U.S. and Europe.
A Delta Air Lines passenger reclined her seat, and the woman behind her – she says – began pushing her seat back throughout the rest of the flight. In response, she didn’t ask for help from a flight attendant. Instead she… began yelling at the woman behind her. And another passenger caught it on video.
The passengers behind the woman denied pushing her seat and that just drove the her to the brink, publicly defending her right to recline. It was the end of the flight though, so the battle went on silently until she just couldn’t take it anymore.
The airport is spending $1.4 billion to reduce the number of gates at the airport.
Delta’s biggest customer is American Express, generating over $5 billion a year from the financial services giant. Their contract with American Express runs through 2029. And lounge access sells credit cards.
As a result, the airline isn’t in a position to do anything about the true cause of crowding. And crowding tends to be worst in major markets with the greatest concentration of premium American Express cardholders… like New York.
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 »
