News and notes from around the interweb:
- United Airlines was first to drop change fees on an ongoing basis during the pandemic. CEO Scott Kirby says he always believed no change fees gave Southwest Airlines a huge advantage and wanted to eliminate them for decades. Also Scott Kirby: The fee to cancel and retain value on a basic economy ticket has gone up from $50 to $74.50.
Cancelling for a credit is the same thing as a change fee – you cancel, and use your credit to chang your ticket to something else. So it’s a change fee! Of course, you can still spend more to avoid change fees… just like you use to be able to!
- Hot dogs are comfort food, I guess, but are they premium?
Nathan’s hot dogs in the JFK Lounge!
byu/darknight1012 indeltaThey were always popular with Air New Zealand lounge passengers, though. And American Airlines used to serve a hot dog in international first class
- Roundup of new, weak points transfer bonuses. Chase is offering an 80% bonus on points transfers to IHG in April. You’re still getting less than a penny apiece in value for your points much of the time. Amex is offering a 20% bonus to Etihad and to Aeromexico through April 30.
Aeromexico customer service is such a pain to deal with and they add surcharges to awards. There are occasional use cases, like award sales on their own flights, but I just find them quite frustrating (and pricey). Meanwhile, I do love Etihad as a airline and redeeming travel through AAdvantage is no longer useful with premium cabin awards available mostly only close to departure. However, Etihad Guest miles
- 100 years (mostly) union-free: Delta is still striving to stay ‘different’ “Twelve votes by four unions in 20 years have failed at Delta,”
When asked why Delta has stayed largely union-free, Ausband says it “started Day 1” with the company’s founder, C.E. Woolman.
She paraphrased a quote of his: “Every airline can buy the same airplane, they can buy the same seat, they can serve the same meal, but what they cannot replicate is the people of Delta.” Crucial to maintaining this, Ausband said, is the company’s “open-door policy” credited to Woolman.
…Ted Reed, a veteran aviation reporter who recently published a book about the power of the industry’s labor unions, said the biggest driver of Delta’s mostly unionfree track record boils down to its ability to compensate well.
- Amex checking-only customers (no credit card) can transfer points to a subset of airline and hotel partners.
- Reclined seat reportedly sparks row between Jetstar passengers on Melbourne to Bali flight
Last year, Delta had a Nathan’s cardtat the JFK lounge and I ate a pretzel from it. Awful.
Basic Economy tickets are supposed to be disposable. Better off to get a new ticket than change it.
United really, really, really doesn’t want you to buy Basic Economy tickets.
While it’s true Delta has been able to stay non-union, one of the reasons is because the OTHER airlines’ pay scales (where there ARE unionized work forces) are high enough that Delta has to stay ahead of them to retain employees. If the others had lower pay scales, I guarantee Delta would lower their pay commensurate. Union wages help drive up the surrounding pay scales due to fear of losing employees to a union shop.
Like everything from Noo Yawk, Nathan’s is overrated. David Berg and Vienna Beef, good Chicago companies, make far better dogs. And there’s nowhere better to get one than at one of Chicago’s over one thousand hot dog stands, not from a cart in a lounge of the most evil airline in the world. They probably put ketchup on the dogs.
What @Lane said.
What @Lane and @Christian said.
80% of the aviation industry is already unionized. At least Delta’s pilots have ‘solidarity’ as they’ve been part of the ALPA since 1934. But, Delta’s flight attendants, ramp, cargo, and tower agents remain the major holdouts. All while Delta continues to be the most profitable US airline–after all, CEO Ed ‘earns’ about 336x the median employee’s pay (how nice for him!). Yet, how can the front-line workers ‘Keep Climbing,’ if their employer can ‘pull the ladder up behind them’? I think they deserve better. I hope they’ll vote to unionize soon. Unions built this country, and for the better.
There should be a penalty for basic economy. Didn’t it used to be use it or lose it? It still should be that way. I don’t think they should even have basic economy.
Lufthansa Senator lounge at FRA had a manned hot dog cart. There was a line, worth the wait.