I thought this had been settled some time ago, but in Canada, the war continues. After airlines started playing games during the pandemic, the Department of Transportation (DOT) told airlines if they couldn’t deliver something close to what the traveler purchased, they had to give a refund. This message is … Read the post
Category: Cranky Jackass
I was going to write today about the details of United’s big schedule change, but I’m pushing that off. Instead, I’ve decided that there’s more to write around United’s bad schedule change policy revision that I covered yesterday. Originally, I decided that it wasn’t egregious enough to earn the Cranky … Read the post
This was a close one. When the news came out Saturday night that United was altering its schedule change policy to severely restrict refunds, I immediately dusted off the Cranky Jackass award and began typing furiously. But yesterday I got a clarification that softens the blow, so the Jackass goes … Read the post
When it comes to major weather problems, I’m a pretty forgiving person. Weather wreaks havoc on an airline, and recovery can be really difficult. But even if it takes a week, it’s still important for an airline to make sure it completes its recovery by getting everyone where they need … Read the post
Unlike many of you, I’ve been a fan of traditional airlines increasing density on airplanes over the years. It made sense to me: provide a basic level of comfort and then give people affordable options to buy up if they care. For those who don’t, well, it’ll mean a lower … Read the post
I’ve made a conscious effort over the last couple years to pull back on awarding too many Cranky Jackass awards. I didn’t want to cheapen such an illustrious institution. But today, American, Delta, and United each get a
share of the first Cranky Jackass of the year. This is … Read the post
[There is a new post with more information on this. The impact is less than originally thought.]
If you’ve bought Main Cabin Extra in rows 6-9 on an American CRJ-900, then this is going to piss you off. American has been selling Main … Read the post
You may have seen elsewhere that Delta has decided to stop publishing all award charts. That’s bad, because it makes it easier for Delta to change mileage redemption levels without telling anyone. But there are other changes afoot, and I don’t remember seeing them announced anywhere. It appears that Delta … Read the post
If you subscribe to ExpertFlyer, then you know where this post is going and you are most certainly in full agreement. Delta seems to have decided that it doesn’t like third parties creating extremely helpful tools for Delta fliers, so it is shutting them off without providing any alternative. … Read the post
You all know that I like fees. I think having ancillary fees lets people pick and choose what they want when they fly, and that’s a good thing. This isn’t a rant on fees. Instead, this is a rant on bad fees that really make it difficult to get people … Read the post
There have been so many good news stories about aviation in Latin America lately that it seems like everything is going well. The LAN and TAM merger created a powerhouse, the Avianca/TACA merger is also coming together quite nicely, and then of course, there’s little Copa rocking it in Panama… Read the post
When United decided to fight Southwest’s effort to get international facilities at Houston’s Hobby airport, I didn’t blame the airline. After all, wouldn’t you want to fight anything that had the potential to hurt your business even a little? But now that the decision has been made to move … Read the post