Tag: Gulliver
El Al can no longer ask women to move seats on religious grounds
ONE of the more unsavoury airline practices has now been outlawed. In 2015 flight attendants on El Al, Israel’s national carrier, asked Renee Rabinowitz, an 81-year-old holocaust survivor, to move seats after she boarded her flight in New Jersey. An ultra-orthodox Jewish male passenger had objected to having to sit next to her. Haredim, it was explained, are forbidden from close contact with females who are not relatives.
Ms Rabinowitz is not alone. As this blog has reported on several occasions in recent years, haredi men flying El Al regularly refuse to take their seats next to female passengers. And El Al staff, if the men cannot be accommodated elsewhere on the plane, will sometimes ask the “offending” woman to vacate her seat.
At the time, Ms Rabinowitz
Etihad allows flyers to bid to keep adjacent seats empty
THERE are few things that airlines will not now put a price on. Even so, Etihad Airways has come up with an intriguing idea. The Abu Dhabi-based carrier is offering flyers the chance to bid to keep adjacent seats on a flight empty. Passengers can suggest the price they are willing to pay to block up to three berths, and the chance to stretch out a bit.
Anyone who regularly suffers the ignominy of economy-class flying knows that there is no finer feeling than discovering that a flight is half empty and that there is no need to sit cheek-by-jowl with fellow members of the hoi polloi. Most travellers can recount with glee a journey in which they found they had an entire row to themselves, could raise the armrests, and sleep soundly and horizontally for the duration of the flight. It is surely the only time that it is preferable to have a booked ticket in the middle column of seating. (A particularly pleasing
Qatar Airways wants a 10% stake in American Airlines
IT SEEMED, at first blush, to be a masterclass in how to bait a rival. For years, American Airlines, along with other big American carriers, has complained of “unfair” competition from Middle Eastern operators, which stand accused of taking state subsidies. On June 22nd one of those accused, Qatar Airways, said it planned to take an unsolicited 10% stake in the firm.
In a regulatory filing, it was revealed that Qatar, which reported a profit of $540m in 2016, wants to buy at least $808m of American’s shares. The move has not gone down well with some. Doug Parker, American’s boss, described it as “puzzling”. One airline union accused Qatar of “using enormous government subsidies to gain a greater foothold in US markets”. Adding “They’re coming after our routes, which means the jobs of our members are at stake.”
Politicking from America, in turn, has been making life tough for Qatar’s national carrier. This month Donald Trump backed the decision of several Gulf states to cut diplomatic ties with…Continue reading
“Basic economy” class is winning over flyers
GULLIVER wrote last week about American Airlines handing indignant flyers a notable victory. The carrier rescinded a plan to take away an inch of legroom from economy-class seats on new planes, following a public outcry. Such concessions are rare. Airlines generally worry about how customers vote with their wallets not how they grumble with their words. Hence, they cut comforts to offer the low fares that people demand.
Anyone hoping that American Airlines’ climbdown might signal a reversal of that trend should think again. Earlier this year, United Airlines introduced a new class of fare, “basic economy”. Such tickets, which strip out those few remaining comforts that economy passengers enjoy, have been derided as “last class”. But, like it or not, cost-conscious passengers are showing their approval.
The airline expanded the programme to all domestic markets last month. Andrew Levy, United’s CFO, said last week that about…Continue reading
Complaints against America’s airlines are rising
LAST year, Bob Fornaro, the boss of Spirit Airlines, talked of the effort his firm had made to reduce the number of customer complaints. The ultra-low-cost carrier, dubbed the most hated airline in America by Bloomberg, had long been ranked as a primary purveyor of passenger pain, regularly propping up lists that rate airline service. Alas, Mr Fornaro’s efforts seem to have gone unrewarded. Complaints per passenger remain easily the highest of any of the big American operators. In fact, as our chart shows, things seem to be getting worse.
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American Airlines reverses a pledge to squeeze legroom further
SOME rare good news for anyone planning to fly economy class on American Airlines: the carrier has scrapped plans to shrink the distance between rows on new planes it is purchasing. The Texas-based airline had said it would reduce the seat pitch on its new Boeing 737 Max planes to a knee-aching 29 inches in certain rows, down from its typical 30 inches (or 31 inches on its current 737-800 fleet). Now it says it will install those rows 30 inches apart.
An inch may not sound like much, but its significance is broader. The airline made the change in response to public outcry. American said it received copious feedback from customers and employees and that “it is clear that today, airline customers feel increasingly frustrated by their experiences and less valued when they fly.” People complained, and American listened.
In fact, the pressure came from more than just ordinary Joes. A member of Congress, bemoaning the ever-shrinking seat pitch, introduced
Sanctions in the Middle East are bad for airlines, worse for travellers
PEACE in the Middle East, Donald Trump announced last month, is “not as difficult as people have thought over the years”. History will have to judge the president’s geopolitical impact on the region, but when it comes to air travel his influence is already being felt. And many business travellers might find themselves flying on inferior airlines as a result.
Mr Trump recently took credit for efforts to isolate Qatar. Last week, Saudi Arabia and five other countries in the region cut diplomatic ties with the tiny nation, which wields disproportionate influence through its oil wealth and international aviation. As a result of the sanctions, much of the airspace surrounding Qatar was closed. That blow follows the Trump administration’s earlier actions to ban nationals of several majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States—an order that has been put on hold by the courts—and to prevent…Continue reading
Younger business travellers are more likely to extend trips for fun
ACCENTURE, advertorial, jeggings. The competition for ugliest portmanteau is fierce. Few constructions, though, can match “bleisure” for barbarousness. For the uninitiated, the word is a blend of business and leisure. But ugly as it is, it exists for a reason: the practice of adding a few days of pleasure to a work trip is becoming increasingly popular.
The latest research to bear this out was released this week by the Global Business Travel Association. Its survey of North American business travellers found that 37% had extended a work trip to include some leisure within the past year. This, typically, might mean stetching a break in a city into the weekend, possibly shipping in the family to join the fun. Often, such travellers will stay in the same hotel for the duration, making up the extra cost themselves.
Interestingly, the older the travellers…Continue reading
Should animals be allowed to roam freely on jets?
FLYING can be a stressful and nerve-wracking experience. For those with mental-health issues it must be doubly so. One way in which vulnerable travellers deal with their anxiety on a plane is to take on board an “emotional support animal” (ESA). Such creatures provide succour for their owners. Unlike guide dogs, they “do not require any kind of specialised training,” according to CertaPet, an organisation that provides such services. “In fact,” reckons CertaPet, “very little training is required at all, provided that the animal in question is reasonably well behaved by normal standards.”
That sounds like an easy and effective way to help sufferers. It was distressing to read, therefore, of the emotional support dog that mauled a passenger on Delta flight from Atlanta to San Diego earlier this week. Reports suggest that the dog, a labrador-pointer cross-breed, was accompanying a military…Continue reading
Don’t trust an airline with your instrument
B.B. KING was famous for being inseparable from Lucille, his Gibson guitar. So much so that when taking a plane, he would book his six-string its own seat, often under the unimaginative nom de guerre of “Mr Guitar”. It is understandable that musicians prefer not to check their precious instruments into the hold. Airlines do not have a history of treating them so gently. Even a steel guitar can be made to weep.
Perhaps the most infamous horror story resulted in “United Breaks Guitars” a series of revenge songs recorded by Dave Caroll that went viral in 2009. Mr Carroll watched aghast from his plane window as ground handlers tossed about his $3,500 axe, after retrieving it from the hold. Though the neck of his guitar was plainly broken, it took nine months and the release of three mocking songs before the airline coughed up $1,200 for the repairs.
That incident may have been on…Continue reading