American Airlines and Hyatt Hotels announced a partnership that will allow elites from each program to earn while flying or staying with the other. But some aspects of the partnership are one-sided, leaving Hyatt members upset, but maybe they...
Captain Sully Weighs In On Boeing 737 MAX Crash
Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger III, the pilot who skilfully landed US Airways 1549 on the Hudson River in 2009, has harsh words for both Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines. The “Miracle on the Hudson” pilot is an Aviation and Safety Expert for...
Bowing To Pilot Pressure, American Airlines Abandons Venezuela
American Airlines quickly suspended service to Venezuela after its pilots were instructed by union leaders to refuse all trips to Venezuela. The situation in Venezuela continues to deteriorate. In response, the U.S. State Department issued a new travel warning advising...
Lufthansa Announces Boeing 777-9 Base
Lufthansa will base its incoming 777-9 fleet in Frankfurt. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr made the announcement in Berlin yesterday. Although this airplane has been hyped for years and Lufthansa’s new business class product was unveiled in November 2017, the first...
Lufthansa Snubs The A380
Lufthansa’s latest aircraft order comes at the expense of its majestic superjumbo Airbus A380-800. Earlier this week, Lufthansa ordered 20 Boeing 787-9s and 20 additional Airbus A350-900s. But its deal with Airbus came with a caveat. In exchange, Airbus...
Woman Who Dressed “Too Provocatively” Told To Cover Up Or Get Off Plane
Sticking to the Thomas Cook theme today, it appears the airline wants you to be comfortable onboard, but not too comfortable. That’s at least what one 21-year-old passenger claims after a recent onboard incident. Emily O’Connor was flying Thomas...
European Leisure Carrier Now Offers “Lie-Flat” Seats In Economy Class
You can soon pre-reserve a trio of economy class seats on Thomas Cook that transform (to use the word loosely) into a lie-flat bed. Thomas Cook, the British-based leisure airline, is adding “Sleeper Seats” to its A330 fleet. “Sleeper Seats”...
FAA Explains Why Trump Grounded Boeing 737 MAX
Just moments ago, U.S. President Donald Trump stated he was grounding all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in the United States by Executive Order. Now the Federal Aviation Administration has issued its own explanation. Via Twitter, the FAA stated: The FAA...
Spirit Airlines Announces New Service To Burbank, CA
No-frills budget carrier Spirit Airlines is coming to Burbank, California. Today, the carrier announced it will offer three daily flights between Burbank and Las Vegas starting in June 2019. Burbank becomes our second airport destination in the Los Angeles Basin,...
President Trump Weighs In On Boeing 737 MAX Crash
U.S. President Donald Trump has just weighed in on the Boeing 737 MAX crash…via Twitter. Let’s first look at what the president said in a series of two tweets just after 10:00AM ET this morning: Airplanes are becoming far...
Exclusive: U.S. Commercial Pilot Addresses Boeing 737 MAX Safety
121pilot, a frequent commenter on this blog, is a U.S. commercial airline pilot. I asked him to address the safety of the Boeing 737 MAX and he graciously agreed. His thoughts are below. There has been a great deal...
Philippine Airlines Hints At SkyTeam Preference
Philippine Airlines (PAL) may join the SkyTeam alliance…but it is in no rush. PAL Vice President of Sales Ryan Uy was asked about alliances at a conference in Cebu this week. He proceeded to give a rather detailed answer:...
Free Beer On United Airlines Tomorrow
Tomorrow is 312 Day (not to be confused with 420 Day). In celebration, United is offering free beer to select 21+ passengers flying from Chicago O’Hare. Indeed, this is a totally made-up holiday. But Chicago beermaker Goose Island Brewing Co. wants...
As China Grounds 737 MAX, Safety Questions Abound
Tragically, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX traveling from Addis Ababa to Nairobi crashed shortly after takeoff yesterday. 159 perished and there were no survivors. The second crash of this aircraft variant in a matter of months has left...
Marriott’s Loyalty Program Is So Bad, “Bonvoy” Is a Derogatory Verb
Many lines of prose have been written about the bungling of Marriott Bonvoy, their loyalty program transition. Now that the program has been re-launched, many loyalists are using the peculiar name of the botched program, “Bonvoy”, as a derogatory verb. If...
United Will Introduce New Livery Next Month
When United Airlines and Continental merged, the United name may have survived, but the Continental livery did. Now comes the chance for true reconciliation. I say that facetiously, of course, since the paint on aircraft is like the old...
AAdvantage Elite Members Win Big, But World Of Hyatt Members?
American Airlines and Hyatt announced a new partnership today which will launch later this year. The new partnership will allow double dipping; American Airlines AAdvantage elite members will earn Hyatt points plus AA bonus miles for every Hyatt stay....
British Airways Debuts Its Next Retro Jet (And It’s A Stunner)
British Airways has revealed the second in its series of heritage liveries, this time a reminder of the British European Airways (BEA) era. The Airbus A319 arrived in Heathrow yesterday from Shannon, Ireland with fresh paint. It soon made its first...
Delta Pilot Leaves Handgun Sitting In Cockpit
I’m certainly prone to leaving mobile phones and passports behind on airplanes, but handguns? One Delta pilot went home but forgot the handgun, leaving it sitting in the cockpit for cleaning crews to find later. We don’t have the...
Southwest Wages War Against Its Mechanics
Southwest Airlines has sued its mechanics’ union, alleging that the union is engaging in an illegal work slowdown. For the last few weeks, mechanics have taken far more aircraft out of service than usual, citing maintenance concerns. Southwest has...
