Dots, Lines & Destinations

Welcome to Loyalty 2018 in Bangkok, where representatives from around the travel loyalty world are meeting to talk trends and what the future of the industry looks like. We sat down with David Feldman from Catchit Loyalty to talk about his vision for the industry and some of the fun we had in Bangkok, too.

Spoiler alert: There's a LOT more to loyalty than just points or miles. That makes for some interesting challenges when programs have been so obsessed with points for so long.

 

There are topics in this episode. Lots of them. Some of the best topics. But I have no idea what they are so you'll need to listen to find out more.

Some of the potential topics include:

* Airbus formally cutting production on the A380 and A400, and 3700 jobs, too

* Air Canada is de-Rouging some Hawaii routes

* American is retiring some 737s

* More engine issues and the costs adding up

Remember a few weeks back when Delta Air Lines and Marriott managed to piss China off by listing Tibet as a separate country. Turns out that move cost at least one guy a job thanks to China throwing a temper tantrum. Alas, it was probably the wrong guy.

Also in this week's show:

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A United/Mesa/Embraer E175 hop-scotched its way to China, drawing an amusing line along the way.

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That O'Hare expansion project we talked about last week hit a snag, just as expected, mostly because American Airlines is crying foul.

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United Airlines President Scott Kirby has a pretty awful new plan to motivate employees.

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Flight plans aren't always about getting to the final destination as efficiently as possible. Sometimes there's an out-of-the-way stop or routing for a little bit of paperwork.

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The OneWorld TATL JV carriers are launching Basic Economy fares across the Atlantic.

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American wants more A319s, just like United. Are there enough used frames to go around?

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Delta continues to struggle with its NRA discount kerfuffle.

Delta pulled its discount for NRA members over the weekend, pissing off Georgia's Lieutenant Governor and costing it a potential $40mm annually in tax savings.

Also in this episode:

* A blown tire on a United flight kept Stephan from joining us this week in a somewhat bizarre sequence of events

* AF is flying SAN-CDG 11/29-12/4. Why?!?

* Hawaiian Airlines is dropping its A330neo order in favor of the 787

* Ryanair is suing Expedia for screen scraping

* O'Hare is set for a massive $8.5bn redevelopment effort

* American & Qantas are trying again to collude

The A350-1000 is finally in customer hands. Qatar Airways took deliver of its first this week and threw a massive party to celebrate. Maybe they should've invested some of that party money in making sure the IFE/C kit on boardwas fully functional.

Also in this week's show:

* Air Canada is increasing its Rouge fleet domestically

* United publishes its initial 737 MAX 9 schedule. Yawn.

* Joby is building mini electric "flying cars" with a fresh infusion of $100mm in capital.

* Air Italy is the new Meridiana

 

Pratt & Whitney leads the show with a pair of engine issues on long-haul aircraft on Tuesday. United Airlines had an issue on a 777 inbound to Honolulu while a Delta A330 returned to Lagos immediately after departure. Plus, EASA has an emergency directive out on the Pratt & Whitney A320neo engines that is pretty spooky, with references to inflight shutdowns. Yikes!

Also in this show

* Air China wants to fly from Houston to Panama, competing with Star Alliance partner United Airlines.

* Etihad is dropping the 777-200LR from its fleet and slashing capacity in some markets. Is the carrier collapsing?

* Is there really a foreign airline willing to invest in Air India?

* American Airlines' employees are speaking up and there's a lot of animosity in play.

* The Maldives sit at the center of a political and economic battle.

* JFK's massive (and expensive) animal terminal is on the brink of bankruptcy

* Southwest Airlines is struggling to keep enough Glycol in stock at its Midway hub

* The first (not quite really) A321LR crossed the Atlantic this week on a proving run

 

Our annual January beer run to Europe didn't go quite as planned this year. Confusion reigned supreme as we planned and canceled various itineraries. The good news is that we ultimately all ended up in the same place, though getting there was (as always) part of the fun.

Some of the stories include:

* Vaduz, Liechtenstein on a Sunday morning

* Reviews of the Sofia Hotel Balkan, a SPG Luxury Collection property

* Checking out the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart

* Some sketchy upgrade action at the Aloft at the Munich Hbf

* Comparing United's Polaris and Swiss' Business Class

* A WizzAir flight not really to Munich

And, as always, lots of other stuff.

 

So, this is one of those good news/bad news scenarios. For the first time in probably two years we have all four of the team on the recording. And we're all in the same place. That makes for a way more dynamic show, even if it also involves some hand gestures shared at various points that don't really come through on the recording.

Among the topics:

* United Airlines is paying a ton of cash for naming rights on the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles

* Qatar Airways is taking a delay on the first A350-1000 delivery from Airbus thanks to issues with QSuite. Also, the country agreed to new financial reporting requirements, giving the US3 a small victory in that battle.

* Former AirBerlin subsidiary Niki appears to really, really, really have a new owner now.

* Bombardier actually won its case against Boeing related to CSeries production costs.

* Perhaps more than you ever wanted to know about inflight wifi service.

Did Emirates really save the A380? A new order certainly helps keep the production line running for a few more years but is that enough?

Also in this episode:

* Delta is cracking down on fake service and support animals

* Some United Airlines flight attendants are unhappy

* Alaska Airlines has some A320 family planes carrying the Alaska livery instead of Virgin America; new uniforms, too

* American Airlines has a new "Shuttle" route

* Carlsbad might really grow into an airport with lots of flights.

And probably a few other bits, too.

 

 

 

 

 

The aircraft slipping off the runway in Turkey this past weekend is our lead story but there is a lot going on in this week's show.

https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/952927006789898241

Among the other topics:

* Lufthansa wants the remnants of Alitalia, but not all of them.

* American Airlines is finally getting new uniforms. Eventually.

* A special An-124 delivery: De-icing at CHS

* Azores Airlines is struggling

* AA's FAs can now issue points for service issues. And some of them seem upset about that.