American Airlines is joining a bandwagon of carriers making big upgrades to economy class buy-on-board menus. American being American, the new food must be a marketing opportunity. Last week I wrote about how airlines are turning cabins into experiential marketing nests, and American’s latest announcement plays right into that ethos. Conveniently, the airline is also…
Ryanair, the European discount carrier often cited as the world’s most-loathed by customers, has built its entire business out of charging airline passengers for just about every damn thing. But get this, the four big U.S. airlines are now beating Ryanair at its own game. American, Delta, Southwest and United Airlines all collected incometotal fee…
Cathay Pacific First Class? Boring. Flying the Etihad Apartment? Pedestrian. Try pulling 5 Gs in a fighter jet, or staring down a lioness on an African safari… on points and miles. Beyond flights, credit card rewards points and miles are increasingly redeemable for experiences and travel expenses far beyond their conventional and original intended purposes…
In marketing, the power of a captive audience is incredibly valuable. Distractions on-the-ground abound, and capturing shorter attention spans are becoming increasingly difficult. Having a product next to, or on, a potential customer who has no choice but to sit in a seat for hours is a golden opportunity. The Five Senses Onboard Let’s break…
There have been a few headlines about the American Airlines CEO threatening to end flight changes and cancellations on non-refundable tickets. Disregard, there are much bigger forces at play. Congress is considering a cap that would limit fees that airlines can charge passengers to change tickets. This is significant in two ways. It would be…
There are hotels views that are so spectacular you don’t know which way to look. I heard so much about the view of the Petronas Twin Towers from the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur that I made absolutely certain to arrive at the hotel during the day. No way would I have been able to arrive…
This is the future. Starting later this year, your face will be all you need to catch an international flight at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. Delta Air Lines sent out a news release Thursday about end-to-end biometric facial recognition that will allow passengers to access all parts of the airport, and board flights, using just their face.…
Every airline blog has covered American Airlines’ tortured new Boeing 737 ad nauseam. The tiny lavatories have been mocked from major news outlets to late night talk shows. The prevailing narrative: American’s newest 737s, the “MAX 8”, are about as customer friendly as a DMV office. Are these brand new airplanes really so bad? I…
This is embarrassing. Actually, quite embarrassing. Cathay Pacific just misspelled its own name, and not on some piece of in-flight literature. This typo is plastered on the side of a Boeing 777: “Cathay Paciic”. It’s not clear how or why this happened. Cathay fessed up to the error on its own Twitter account. Oops this…
Copa Airlines will become the first interamerican airline to put lie-flat business class seats on Boeing 737s. In plans and seat maps for its forthcoming Boeing 737 MAX 9 jets, Copa is depicting B/E Diamond flat bed seats. The new seats are advertised as “Dreams Business Class”. This could make flat bed seats available on…
