American Airlines has now been dropped from the Dow Jones Transportation Average, two years after being kicked out of the S&P 500. Its stock price had fallen so far that it carried less than 0.5% weight in the price-weighted index — while Delta, United, Southwest, and even Alaska remain.
NIH researchers working with high-containment viruses were charged after arriving in Detroit on an Air France flight with 113 undeclared biological sample vials from Congo, including monkeypox. One allegedly told officers, “I do this all the time.”
A Frontier flight from San Juan to Chicago diverted to Miami after a passenger allegedly tried to open an exit door, moved toward the cockpit, choked an off-duty flight attendant, and broke through flex cuffs more than once. Passengers and crew finally held him with seatbelt extenders until landing.
Israeli travelers trying to book a hotel in Bavaria say they received a reply that should be unthinkable in Germany: “Sorry, there are no Jews allowed in our hotel.” The hotel later acknowledged an employee sent the message, apologized, and claimed it was responding to suspected fake bookings — as though “No Jews allowed” were a normal anti-fraud policy rather than exactly what it sounds like.
American Airlines spent the pandemic shrinking into a more domestic, partner-dependent airline, retiring 40% of its long-haul fleet and avoiding new widebody orders for years. Now, as management tries to reposition American as a premium global carrier, a new widebody order appears back on the table — with Boeing 787s and Airbus A330neos looking more plausible than they have in years.
Southwest’s new 90,000-point Priority Card offer is valuable on its own, but the bigger play is Companion Pass. Between the bonus, required spending, and the 15,000 qualifying-point boost from holding a Southwest card, this offer gets you most of what you need for the best deal in travel.
An American Airlines regional jet from Nashville to Washington National was met by hazmat crews after a so-called service dog made such a mess in the cabin that passengers became sick. Genuine service animals can have accidents, but this is exactly why travelers are fed up with fake service-animal paperwork: a trained working dog is not supposed to turn a cramped regional jet into a biohazard.
Milan may open its close-in Linate airport to long-haul flights for the first time — but only if every seat is business class. The draft carveout would let premium passengers skip faraway Malpensa for all-business narrowbody flights, with New York the obvious first target, while economy passengers remain shut out of the city’s most convenient airport.
Nashville airport’s long-rumored credit card lounge is now a real bidding opportunity: 20,600 square feet, a required $20.6 million buildout, premium food and drinks, private bathrooms, family or gaming space, and a 15-year lease. American Express and Chase have already been in discussions, Capital One has every reason to look, and the winner could make Nashville one of the biggest bank-lounge battlegrounds in the country.
Southwest’s new assigned-seating era is already producing the kind of customer-unfriendly absurdity the old airline used to avoid: a passenger says her assigned seat had garbage and brown liquid on it, but when she moved to an empty row she got yelled at instead. The deeper problem is that Southwest is trying to enforce a paid seat model before it has the premium product, technology, or consistent crew guidance to make it feel anything but hostile.
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 »
