It’s February and that means it’s time to take my annual pilgrimmage to Dallas/Ft Worth for American’s Annual Leadership Conference. The ALC is a great event that’s for managers in the company to learn more about how the last year has gone, see what’s in store for the future, and … Read the post
Month: February 2018
It’s on. Etihad tried to remake Alitalia from the Worst Airline Ever into something amazing. That didn’t work. Now, Qatar Airways seems to have said, to borrow an overused meme, “Oh yeah? Hold my beer.” But Qatar isn’t pouring money into the bottomless pit that is Alitalia. Instead, it is … Read the post
This week’s featured link:
Travelers air frustration over changes by Frontier Airlines – Newsday
Frontier is exceedingly quick at moving in and out of markets if they don’t work well. There is always backlash, and I find myself wondering about the long-term implications of all these changes. If someone lives … Read the post
Following in the footsteps of its American counterparts, Air Canada has decided to join the Basic Economy club on some domestic Canadian routes. Ok, actually, it’s Economy Basic because, well, I guess Canadians need to do things just a bit differently. In true Canadian fashion, this implementation is friendlier than … Read the post
I may not cover earnings reports all that often here, but when one comes out that’s as bad as Norwegian’s, I take notice. Norwegian spent 2017 floundering as it has done for years, but 2017 was so bad that it actually lost money for the full year. Airlines that lose … Read the post
Decoding the Design of In-Flight Seat Belts – Atlas Obscura
It takes skill to make an airplane seat belt into an interesting story, but Atlas Obscura did a great job of doing just that. Try to ignore Amy Fraher’s conspiracy-theory quotes and and just focus on what matters. An airplane … Read the post
I really don’t care about airline lounges. Sure, I’ll gladly check one out when given the opportunity just out of curiosity, but as long as there’s wifi and a power outlet, I’m generally more comfortable just sitting with the masses and enjoying the people-watching in the terminal. So when American … Read the post
When I looked at 2017 operational performance earlier this year, I told you I was going to drill down a bit on some of the problem children. My first victim airline is JetBlue. I had ideas about why JetBlue was performing so poorly. These were primarily centered around the airline’s … Read the post
If you like the game “death by a thousand cuts,” then you’ll love what Delta has been doing at Tokyo’s Narita Airport. With the creation of the joint venture with Korean and the opening up of Haneda, we all knew that Delta’s Narita hub was on its death bed. But … Read the post
Frontier Airlines to start service from BHM – Birmingham Business Journal
This was a rather strange discussion, because the reporter knew that Frontier was announcing Birmingham but it was still on embargo and couldn’t tell me that. So, she asked me general questions about what it might mean if Birmingham … Read the post
This week’s featured link:
Heritage meets the future. Lufthansa presents a new brand design. – Lufthansa Group Newsroom
The new Lufthansa livery is out and it’s… well, it’s fine. Basically, the tail just changed to a dark blue with the crane logo now in white. That’s it. There are other … Read the post
It’s time for another Ask Cranky post, and this one focuses on my favorite topic: airline pricing. (Note: I’ve cleaned up the language in the email a bit for clarity.)
… Read the postI have a question for your Ask Cranky section that I would love for you