Monthly Archives for April 2023.
When you see arguments that the U.S. ought to model Europe and Airbus in its own economy, that’s not really an argument about Airbus or Boeing it’s an argument by former conservatives who want to use the tools of government towards their own end, so are putting out content to give their switch greater intellectual grounding.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
On Friday I flew an old United Airlines Boeing 737 with credit card swipe beside the screens. It had the old mostly non-functional wifi (seat back entertainment wasn’t working either), and the old small overhead bins.
American Airlines is updating its pre-arrival service in premium cross country flights – with new freshly baked on board cookies – and has two new food for sale items in coach on flights over 1300 miles.
The airport is spending $1.4 billion to reduce the number of gates at the airport.
14 airports have lost all commercial air service in the past three years, and 324 small airports have seen losses of air service averaging 30%.
While the long run trend is fewer non-stop flights in small markets, large hubs have made it economical for airlines to serve many of these markets with a connection. Now we’re seeing fewer – and in some cases no – connections.
American does very little ultra long haul flying. And Doha’s premiums cabins are consistently empty in his observation, filling up only at the last minute (presumably with nonrevenue employees and upgrades). And they can’t be making money off of just a full coach cabin with their costs. As a result there has been speculation about this route being pulled. Here’s why I don’t think that will happen in 2023.
Shark Tank start and former New York real estate broker Barbara Corcoran has a message for frequent flyers: you’re using your miles wrong, don’t upgrade or redeem for first class, and bring your own booze to drink on the plane.
American Airlines loses and delays more checked bags than competitors – at times up to 1% of bags. The airline has 3 changes to make baggage reliability better, according to Julie Rath who is American’s Senior Vice President of Airport Operations (and had a brief tenure running the AAdvantage program). She offered these comments during an employee meeting following the airline’s first quarter earnings call on Thursday.
Passengers are not an airport’s customer, they’re the product an airport (and airline) sells to merchants who rent space inside the terminal.
Long walks frequently designed to accommodate more shopping, with more retail space in the terminal. And airports don’t want passengers skipping the shops!
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 »
