News and notes from around the interweb:
- United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby takes naps (HT: Airline Observer)
A thing I do that people have thought is weird is that, throughout my whole career, when I’m in the office, I’ll close the door and take a 20-minute nap. When I first got to United, people were, like, “Oh my God, where do you take a nap?” I said, “I lay on the floor.” They said, “We’ve got to get a couch in here!” They were all stressed out.
But if I take a 20-minute nap, I’ve accomplished more than anything else I would have accomplished in that time. When you’re tired, your brain is not 100 percent. If you’re not 100 percent, you shouldn’t be making decisions.
- Hotels reporting that Hyatt’s impending award chart devaluation – 78 price levels, and up to 67% more expensive for free nights – will hit May 7. Still speculative, and Hyatt has said actual price increases shouldn’t be dramatic this year. Nonetheless, you have about a month to lock in current redemption rates.
Hyatt Devaluation Landing May 7th
by
u/David_Copperfield in
hyatt - Delta’s CEO says the biggest opportunity for AI in aviation is solving air traffic control.
A real rethink of the system is needed but Ed Bastian is likely wrong as a prediction of what will occur, because the FAA’s Air Navigation Service Provider hasn’t been able to eliminate paper flight strips in most facilities after more than 40 years. They’re simply incapable of managing that kind of an upgrade. It’s not even clear that the current modernization effort will fix much.
- Air Canada sued Seats.aero three years ago for scraping their website for award results and for trademark infringement (use of their logo in results display).
It looked in the fall as though the case would settle, but it is now scheduled for a “five-day jury trial..set for 10/30/2028 at 9:30 a.m.” The wheels of (in)justice grind slowly, indeed!
- Delta hikes checked bag fees $10 following United which followed JetBlue.
JetBlue is often first, despite a reputation for being customer-friendly (the reality there ended years ago, but memories die hard). I find it interesting that Delta now plays follow United as the leader, albeit here in the race to the bottom.
Meanwhile, Southwest has followed suit as well – with checked bag fees still new for the airline, it’s their very first increase. And it’s their very first time lying about the increase, claiming that it’s tied to the price of jet fuel. (It isn’t, and the price won’t revert when jet fuel falls.)
- What struck me most in the March on-time statistics from aviation analytics company Cirium is that Delta’s operations were much worse than they look at first glance. Their completion factor was abysmal. They were cancelling flights left and right.
Meanwhile, Spirit Airlines is at the very bottom here. Their employees just haven’t been showing up for work. The Canadian carriers are generally dead last, so Spirit relieved them of this. (In fairness, in many months Canada’s weather can be harsh.) JetBlue and Frontier always perform poorly.
- This is a tweet that you figure just isn’t going to end well.
We would like to share an important update and clarification regarding the dogs around Delhi Airport. (1/6)
— Delhi Airport (@DelhiAirport) April 7, 2026
I liked to take a nap at work instead of eating on lunch break. But I realized it was a luxury and not a a necessity. I wonder how his advice would play out in a military clash.
Yet he thinks aircrew need to be up and diligent 24/7.
Huh
Sheesh. Most CEOs (and their oligarch masters) are tone-deaf. Kirby is next-level. He’s trying to make Isom look good, it seems. Meanwhile, Ed salivating over his new $100 million incentive package. All while nearly everyone else struggles and conditions get worse for most. Psh.
Wow AA’s numbers were a big improvement. . .that is encouraging. Now if they could just shed the old US Air attitudes in PHL 🙂
Who needs AI? Just reduce air traffic by about two-thirds, and a lot of the ATC problems solve themselves.
The way things are going these days, we very well may get there.
@Drew Simmons – Huh to your comment. A 20 minute nap helps him function, good for him. Doesn’t the union demand breaks for their employees?
@1990 – The man works 7 days a week, give the guy a break, the union demands breaks for their folks, 20 minutes to recharge the battery and evaluate decisions sounds reasonable. Yeah I know management bad, takes money from the people, communist propaganda, etc.
Wouldn’t it be more efficient to simply get adequate sleep overnight? What’s the point of getting up at 5 AM if it means you need a midday nap?
Oh 1990… One of the big Delta lover commenters that pretends to love unions but primarily flies the most anti-union airline in the US — Delta.
Your virtue signaling in the comments is cute but your dollars say you could care less.
@MaxPower — Far worse. I fly foreign airlines. Used to fly QR a lot. Obviously, not these days… Might be staying home more. Thank goodness shame and hypocrisy and truth no longer matter. Phew! Thank you, Dear Leader. (See, @Michael Mainello, your guy is good for something after all. Bah!)
@1990 – “Far worse. I fly foreign airlines.” See you need to denounce your citizenship and move to the foreign country you admire. Stop trying to destroy America, then again you may be a foreign agent. Now I know why you don’t use your name.
@Mike Hunt – If all sleep were created equal, sure! However, it’s not all the same. Research on this is weird and not entirely convincing either way, but I can point to the notable example of Ben Franklin, who slept twice a day for 4 hours at a time because he felt it benefited his acuity.
If somebody benefits from a nap and can fit it in, who cares?
some people can’t grasp that I can recognize the value of unions AT SOME COMPANIES and that DL manages to provide compensation and a work environment that DL employees, not anyone on the internet, including me, see the need for more unionization.
DL just moved up into the top 10 Fortune best companies to work for list, the only airline even on the top 100.
“Just reduce air traffic by about two-thirds, and a lot of the ATC problems solve themselves.” I’ve been arguing the same thing in cancer treatment for years. If we’d only treat the 1/3rd most likely to survive, our cancer success rates would go through the roof..
@This comes to mind — *facepalm* (That’s a good one.)
I don’t see what the big hang-up is about paper strips still being used. Do you know what type of flights are still controlled using paper flight strips? Trust me, with the strip marking required on certain types of flights, it is far easier to use a paper strip for these rather than an electronic strip.
Hyatt says that the May 7 award chart change date is incorrect. Nonetheless, it’s coming soon.
https://thriftytraveler.com/news/hotels/hyatt-award-chart-overhaul/
@ Gary — You should take his advice and sleep more. Sleep is better when you are alive.
Do these statistics include on-time and cancellation rates for regional airlines? The regional flights tend to get cancelled more often during bad weather, and I’m wondering if this table includes that affect, or if an airline using more regional airlines looks better than it really is.
@Gene — Following up on our earlier discussions, I did some analysis ($14K on AFs between P2 and I); $20K value, but it forces us to do a lot of extra stuff to use it all. Gonna dump 60% of the cards, $5K fees, $10K value, reset button. Maybe then I’ll get more sleep, too. Who needs Delta Companion Certificates and 85K Free Night Awards, anyway…
@Michael Mainello @jamesb2147
I don’t get the “sleep shaming” others use. Somehow others would be happier if you work >20 minutes less, but didn’t take the 20-minute nap? Wish I could nap sometimes. I have the time but not the ability.
@This comes to mind – The comment had more to do with the inevitable collapse in air traffic after the Strait of Hormuz (or is it “Strait of Khomeini” now?) goes hot again. Which it will.
Scott prob needs to get his hormones (T) checked.
@Michael Mainello I’ve been denouncing my citizenship for a year but unfortunately renouncing it is the one that makes it go away. And I would love to destroy American but the politicians you simp for every day on here keep beating me to it at every opportunity on every level. They’ve even made our military look weak.
@Winston – Then renounce your citizenship and leave. Folks like you don’t improve the country, but you bitch and tear it down. Our military looks far from weak. The precision operations they have undertook with minimal casualties makes us look strong and compassionate. Your party and the RINO presidents looked weak by finger pointing, bribing and saying “don’t”. The Iranian civilians are rejoicing in their freedom. You must really h8te yourself. You stand for nothing but obstruction. Really I encourage you to move to a communist country and sing their praises.
For someone who pretends to like America you sure hate a lot of Americans. I’m sorry they didn’t properly celebrate our leader bravely re-opening the straight of Hormuz for 45 minutes yesterday. I agree that you are strong and your father respects you.
@Winston – “And I would love to destroy American but the politicians you simp for every day on here keep beating me to it at every opportunity on every level. They’ve even made our military look weak.”
Your words.
You don’t love America, your words prove it. You love the land, you love the wealth you can acquire, you love the freedom to spew your garbage. Trust me, I respect your right to say what you want. I even served for 20+ years to defend that right. But reading your words shows everyone that reads them, you would sell out America if given the chance. I wish what I wrote offended, angered you, but you are probably chuckling because you know deep down I am right.
Woah, fellas, save some hate for me!
@ 1990 — I need those companion certs that book into I and Z! 🙂
@Gene — If you can still pull those off, I applaud you. You mentioned you’re approaching 3 million miler (or was that a joke?), so won’t that be automatic Platinum/Diamond anyway? The RUCs are getting harder to use for D1 transcon/Hawaii, but the GUCs are still awesome.
Nice that Kirby can take a nap. His employees get fired if they do the same.