Then, you hear from some friends that they didn’t have any wait at all! In fact, they can’t remember getting through security that fast ever! They don’t understand what the fuss is about.

And that’s part of the problem with this latest curveball thrown at the airline industry — you never know what you’re going to get. And, if there’s one thing that drives airlines, travelers, airport administrators, Uber drivers, airport food delivery trucks, and Hudson news managers nuts, it’s inconsistency.

But why the differences? How come the line is two hours long in Atlanta and zero minutes long in Fort Lauderdale? Well, there are a lot of reasons, but here are three that come to mind.

1. Some Airports Have Always Stunk

Some people see lines in Atlanta and can’t believe it. Some of us ask, “What else is new?” We can remember lines stretching down the check-in lobby back in 2004.1

A big reason for this is structural. The overwhelming majority of local ATL passengers access their gates via the main terminal building. While there are many different lines, it’s essentially one very big security checkpoint that everyone must funnel through. Most airports in other large cities have multiple terminals that spread passengers out across different checkpoints. While ATL has made improvements over the years, it can’t overcome physics.2 There’s also no relief airport in Atlanta like there are in other big cities, so all roads lead to Hapeville.3

Even when it’s a “normal” time, we never expect to get through ATL security quickly, and we have all the Pre-Check/Touchless ID/Clear/Clear Plus memberships you can name. Under these circumstances, we might just drive to Birmingham.

2. Size Matters

Speaking of Birmingham, you’ve rarely seen small airports in the news on this. We’ve waxed poetic about small to mid-sized airports before, and once again, this is a time when they shine. Smaller airports naturally need less staff to operate security, and the staff in these airports is generally more consistent and tenured, as who wouldn’t rather screen bags at Norfolk instead of Dulles?

It would not be out of the question for a concerned traveler in Cincinnati to drive to Dayton versus flying out of CVG. Ultimately, the time saved could be worth the trip up I-75.

3. People Like Getting Paid for their Jobs

We’ll avoid a screed on the effectiveness of governmental organizations when it comes to efficiency and logistics. But, we wouldn’t be honest with our readers if we didn’t say that a lot of this comes down to congressional failures, poor planning, and a lack of coordination between airports, the TSA, and airlines. But, more than any of those things, it’s hard to expect people to come to work when they don’t get paid for it, no matter what the job.

That seems to be the reason why we’re seeing such major issues at Houston Intercontinental.4 IAH has multiple terminals to spread out screening. The city has Hobby Airport downtown that takes on a big share of local passengers. Nevertheless, when your sick call rates are near 35%, there’s just no way to manage that volume of traffic without significant issues. Also, not getting paid in a big city like Houston is probably a little bit tougher than not getting paid elsewhere.5

So what can the industry do about all this? Well, I was pleasantly surprised to see Delta CEO Ed Bastian say, “Enough!” and suspend the special services that DL provides to Congress. While that was satisfying news to a lot of the flying public, it couldn’t have been an easy decision given how much say the federal bureaucracy has over the “deregulated” airline industry. Still, Congress loves to (rightfully) call the airline CEOs in for a grilling when they mess up — this might be the closest thing the airlines can do in return.

Now, let’s get back to worrying about jet fuel prices.

Notes

Here’s a five-pack of things that caught our eye both in the news and out on the road (again) this past week.

Once Again the Airline Business is Not for the Faint of Heart

As we pointed out in one of our very first posts, airlines are subject to external forces as much as any business. Right now, the industry is getting it from two different angles: the US attack of Iran which has severely hampered operations at significant international hubs while driving oil prices to nearly $100 a barrel and another government shutdown which is causing increasingly significant chaos at airport security checkpoints around the country.1

Anything else anyone wants to throw in the mix while we’re at it?

I guarantee that airline finance and scheduling teams around the world are running all sorts of models on how to deal with the oil price issues, but as our friend Brett Snyder pointed out, there’s only so much they can do. Meanwhile, their colleagues in airport operations and PR are dealing with nonstop news clips of ridiculously long security lines. And we know those reports will only get worse because passenger misery is every local news broadcasters favorite topic.2

This is why I sigh whenever an airline executive starts getting all geeked up about how great things are looking. Bite your tongue, boss.3

How Am I Going to Play Candy Crush Without the Sound On?

There was a lot of pick-up about United’s new policy to potentially ban passengers who fail to use headphones while listening to audio or video content.4

Finally, an airline regulation we can truly get behind. People playing stuff on their phone with the volume turned up is a scourge on our society.

However, this really needs to be extended to the lounge environment. (We’d also love to say the gate area, but all is pretty much lost out there in the wilds of the main concourse.) We will never understand the mentality that thinks it’s OK to have a FaceTime call on full blast around multiple strangers. Go get some more cheese cubes and put in the earbuds, dude.

Highly Refined Southwest

We got an email from our friends at Love Field about how they are “refining” their much criticized new assigned seating policy. Also on the bingo card were terms like “feedback,” “enhancements,” and “loyalty.” Southwest is also planning to add larger/dedicated overhead bins for Extra Legroom passengers — something that probably should have been part of this process to begin with.

Now, we love to pick on corporate-speak, but kudos to Southwest for at least (kind of) acknowledging that there have been issue with this new policy. That being said, we would have loved a much more honest note. Something akin to, “Tough. This is how it is now, and we’re never giving back that sweet, sweet assigned seating upcharge cash.”

Nerd Alert 1: LAX Eastbound Operations

We’ve already written about our propensity to hop on Flightradar24 during interesting weather or other events at airports. What’s even better is when you had a view from the top of a nearby hotel as LAX made a very rare switch to taking off to the east due to some very strong Santa Ana winds. Multiple planes had to go-around and make a big u-turn out by Catalina to come back in and land over the ocean. It was an aerial version of a packed LA freeway interchange.

We also got to experience an eastbound takeoff a day later for only the third or fourth time in our LAX flying history. We are also fully aware that all of this is of limited or nonexistent interest to most people.

Nerd Alert 2: Wow, Greenland

We’ve flown over Greenland many, many times. When it’s not covered by clouds, the scenery is absolutely spectacular. Still, we’ve never seen it look the way it did last week as we made a rare dusk flyover.5 It’s hard to believe it’s a real place.

It’s so easy to take everything below you for granted when you’re watching old 30 Rock episodes and eating another bag of chips. Every once in a while you may want to look out the window.

Notes

Occasionally, though, we get a long connection. Usually the temptation during this time is to head to the lounge for complimentary well drinks, but earlier this week we decided to walk around O’Hare (ORD) to see what’s up.

And what’s up, you ask? Well, like everything in this world, the robots are taking over.1

1. Vending Machines are out of Control

Airports have long had vending machines. Like all airport retail, it’s kind of a racket, both for the vending machine operator and the consumer. And, despite the one-sidedness of their transactions, they have long served a noble purpose, particularly after hours when you’re still waiting for a crew for your flight, and the nearby Auntie Anne’s shuttered a while ago.

However, my stroll revealed that Cheez-Its and Diet Coke have been usurped by Kylie Jenner cosmetics, LEGO sets and your favorite podcaster’s favorite supplement, AG1.2 Yes, a $100 per month wellness supplement now has multiple vending locations at O’Hare.

Unless AG1 has some incredible data on the proclivity of connecting passengers to purchase nutrients and gut health support on the go, we have to think this is mostly marketing. (We never actually saw anyone using the machine.) Maybe they’re trying to get some halo effect from Farmer’s Fridge, which seemingly has a machine at every gate. There were plenty of people using those, and perhaps some of them will go eat their Cobb Salad in the privacy of a Regus hourly rental work pod.

2. “Regular” Retail is Just as Soulless

Let’s say you want to peruse the (few remaining) magazines and candy options at Hudson News or CIBO Express. Well, at this point, you might as well be using a vending machine. Nearly every retail location has multiple self-service terminals, or in the case of the Amazon-powered locations, none at all.3 Sure, there is usually an employee or two in the store, but they’re usually standing with their hands behind their back, bemused or bored or both. You’re never sure whether they would rather you use the self-checkout or actually engage them in an actual transaction.

We are not anti-progress at Al on the Airlines, but we’re also not not anti-progress. Walking into Hudson News is a reminder that every piece of the travel sector will look to eliminate “people costs” wherever they can. The margins are too tight, and the pressure is too strong. About the only redeeming factor is not having to look someone in the eye when you’re buying a $9 bag of Sour Patch kids — hypothetically, of course.

3. A Last Gasp for Zombie Brands

We thought we were hallucinating as we passed an OG Brooks Brothers location in Terminal 3. We were immediately taken back to an earlier era of paper boarding passes, Nokia phones, and IBM Thinkpads. It made us want to fire up Lotus Notes and load a PowerPoint presentation on a Zip drive.4

Brooks Brothers’ time as a shopping mall juggernaut has come and (mostly) gone, but perhaps here at ORD people still do wear business casual and don’t wear joggers. In fact, we were tempted to pop in and buy some dress shirts or get in on a 3 for 2 polo shirt deal.5 Then we realized we would have to engage with an actual salesperson and that it’s 2026 and that we were out of AG1.

There are so many entrenched interests and impediments that make any changes to airport retail difficult and contribute to this unfortunate trajectory of experience. To be fair, a few airports have done better than others to create a more engaging and local-feeling environment. Still, the major airport retail management companies will continue to sell these changes with press releases that use terms like “reshaping the airport experience” and “journey is as exciting as the destination.”

If we really want to make the journey as exciting as the destination, then I can think of one travel retailer where that phrase rings true — a place where people actually want to stop, where the retail experience is part of the trip, and where they have brisket.

Maybe one of these airports (especially in the South) will get wise and put in a Buc-ee’s.

Notes

Nostra-dAL-mus?

We’re going to go ahead and declare vindication on our earlier prediction that Southwest’s move to assigned seating last month would cause “chaos.” What we did not expect is that the strongest backlash would come from the airline’s best customers. As we mentioned in another prior post, A-List customers who used to always board first and comfortably scatter throughout the plane now have to do the same overheard bin jockeying that other big US carrier customers have been doing for years. Do you really think all those people on the Monday 8 a.m. flight from DFW to LAX or from ORD to SFO want to be standing at the gate (and staring down at their phones) a whopping 45 minutes before departure?1 Of course not! But they’d all rather do that than wait at baggage claim. Once they land, they’ve got to get to that very important meeting about the meeting next week.2

Now there are some news pieces and desperate social media threads speculating about Southwest returning to open seating.

That’s not going to happen.

Southwest says they had research indicating customers preferred assigned seats. And that may be true. But anyone with more than a hot minute in the airline biz knows that this change was really made to start generating additional revenue from paid seat selection. And, since Southwest’s stock price is up 79% in the last year, perhaps it was the right call. The investors at Elliott who drove these changes are certainly happy.3

When it comes to this business, sometimes what’s good for the airline isn’t great for the customer. This will probably never change.

Another Milestone Falls in the Forest

In one of our first posts, we noted how Delta celebrated another passenger on our flight getting to one million miles. There was an announcement and a little bit of fanfare onboard before we left.

Well, someone very close to this blog may have crossed one million miles on United last week. And that person may have been excited about some sort of acknowledgment onboard. And perhaps that person may have been disappointed when nothing was done, but it was a mess in Denver last week and that person understood that things sometimes get lost in the shuffle. So maybe that person figured that he would at least receive a celebratory email the next day because you really just need to program robots to do that. And perhaps that email never came and that person only got a generic splash page message when he happened to log into his account a couple days later.

But who can say for sure?

Snowstorm Nerdfest 2026

We try to keep the #avgeek tendencies in check, despite the certified bona fides. (Yes, we’ve been to Maho beach.4)

However, sometimes tendencies get the better of us, and that was certainly the case on Sunday night as the latest crippling winter storm made its way into NYC. While arrivals were virtually shut down, a few international flights were trying to make their way out of Newark before things came to a halt. Operationally, airlines put special emphasis on these flights because if they don’t get out, there is no plane waiting on the other side of the ocean to bring passengers and crew back.5

By using a combination of Flightradar24.com and LiveATC.net, we were able to enjoy a thrilling, tense and occasionally exasperating symphony of dispatchers, controllers, de-icing truck operators, snow plow drivers, pilots, and co-pilots as they navigated snow-covered taxiways, maintenance issues, and the tick-tick-tick of the clock. Congrats to the folks who got out to Edinburgh, Frankfurt, and Sao Paulo. Better luck next time those of you who were headed to Barcelona, Berlin, and Dubai.

As an airline-loving child, I could only imagine having that kind of real-time information at my disposal. We’ve come a long way from looking at airport terminal maps in the phone book.

Notes

I've been fortunate enough to do my fair share of transatlantic and intra-European travel over the years, including my latest trip this past week.1 While there are some definite improvements over what we experience in the US, there's also moments that leave something to be desired. Now that we’re back on American soil from our most recent trip, let's do one of our favorite things: tearing down AND reinforcing stereotypes.

European Airlines are Just Better than US Carriers: False

If US airline staff are inconsistent at best and disinterested at worst, then European airline crews must be buttoned-up and the epitome of service, right? Well, I’ll give you the buttoned-up thing, but I’ve seen European airline crews disappear in a galley just as easily as a flight attendant on an American or Delta flight.2 A lot of regular travelers conflate “International” and European and assume their KLM crew will be as engaged and attentive as their Asiana crew. However, European work rules, years of labor strife, and competitive challenges mean that your top-tier flag carriers don’t have the mojo they used to. Let’s also not forget the fairly regular labor stoppages, including a fun one just this past week!3

In addition, the relentless pressure from Low-Cost Carriers across the Continent means that your typical Intra-European flight is a pretty bare-bones experience, especially in economy. Most folks expect to pay for everything onboard when they fly Easyjet or Ryanair, but you’re not getting much for free on BA or Air France in the back. Hope you grabbed something at Pret when you were in the airport.

European Airports are Better: True AND False

It’s often very easy to take a train straight to the airport from most major European cities. That fact alone is a major plus. However, as transit airports, some of my worst nightmares have happened in places like Frankfurt, de Gaulle, and Amsterdam. To be fair, some of the logistical challenges are due to the flights coming and going from many different countries, all with their different travel zones. However, I also believe that some European airport design engineers have never actually changed planes in their lives. It may be close to a mile from A4 to D32 in Atlanta, but you’re much less likely to make a wrong turn and suddenly end up outside at the taxi stand.4

The other place it’s easy to get lost is the duty-free zone that one must navigate immediately post-security at almost every European airport. Once you’ve finally re-gathered your belongings, it’s time to meander through the alcohol and the cosmetics and the watches and the candy as you better believe there’s no way they’re going to let you go straight to the gate or lounge. You gotta respect the intensity of it all.

Finally, speaking of lounges, the Europeans do love them. There’s usually a regular airline lounge, an elite lounge, and three or four other independent lounges in every terminal. They can be as crowded as anything stateside, but they almost always feature a self-service bar.5 Point, Europe.

European Travelers Dress Better: True

More suits. Less sweatpants. No further comment necessary.


European Premium Travel is Better: Sometimes

I love that on intra-European flights in business class, I always have an empty seat next to me. I hate that my knees are usually somewhere in the mid-section of the person in front. It really is just economy with no one next to you and a free meal. But, you’re in the air for a couple of hours on most intra-European flights, so I get it.

When it comes to longhaul premium, it’s more of a mixed bag. That experience is greatly driven by the seat and “hard-product” on board. I’d rather be on a brand-new United 787 with an all-aisle access business cabin instead of a Lufthansa A330 with its old 2x2x2 business class and infamous “let’s-play-footsie” seat configuration. As a general rule, I do think that European carriers put more emphasis on food in business class, but that’s not the given it used to be a couple decades ago.

The one thing mainline European carriers haven’t given up the ghost on is first class cabins for long-haul. Some Old World habits remain, and if you can somehow find your way up to the “front” front, then sit back and enjoy.

European Pilots Have a Better Relationship with the Seatbelt Sign: True

Wait a second? Aren’t you going to talk about the important stuff? Well, as we’ve said before, the little things are important. I’ve always appreciated that European (and other international) airline cockpit crews turn off the seatbelt sign much more quickly after takeoff than a typical US carrier. They also turn it back on much later, which can be a godsend when your flight’s holding in the “stack” before landing at Heathrow and you need to use the facilities.6

So, I know we have a lot of readers over in Europe who will agree with me on some of these and disagree on others. And, that’s basically my point. There are so many similar structural issues facing both North American and European carriers. While the cultural differences may be stark, the actual travel experiences often aren’t.

Notes

That sad fact aside, let’s talk about some industry news that caught my eye.

A Good Old-Fashioned Billboard War1

O’Hare Airport (ORD) has been the site of a decades-long battle for supremacy between American and United. While United is technically Chicago’s hometown airline due to its headquarters in The Loop (for now), American’s presence in Chicago has long been a force to be reckoned with, not to mention its prominent product placement in Home Alone and Home Alone 2.2

While one could argue that AA had the upper hand over the years due to some infamous UA missteps, it’s now UA that has the advantage.3

And they’re not holding back.

Now it’s one thing to have 750 departures from ORD this summer to try to own the market. It’s another to start taking copywriting shots on prominently placed billboards in the aforementioned Loop.

While I’m firmly of the belief that karma is very real in the airline biz, the former marketer in me loves that the team at UA has gotten to do this. Most people in airline advertising spend their days wondering how to create inspiring messages for an often uninspiring product. That’s way less fun than writing mean-spirited puns.

Game on.

Assigned Seating Overhead Bin Armageddon

Speaking of the Super Bowl, Southwest spent big bucks on an ad showcasing their recently launched assigned seating. Reviews were mixed.

What’s not mixed is the feedback I’ve gotten from very loyal WN top-tier flyers. It’s clear that the new assigned seating process has created the infamous “early boarding overhead bin scramble” that is a feature on the other big US carriers.4 Southwest A-list members never used to have the fear that other carrier elites did — the crippling panic that if you missed your early boarding group/zone/area, you may have to put your bag several rows behind you or, even worse, check it.

On top of the overhead bags issue, there is the chance that a late flight change may result in the dreaded 33E seat assignment.5 Good thing business travelers don’t make last-minute changes — oh wait.

The final piece to all this is that Southwest is not the default cheapest option wherever they fly. In fact, my very unofficial research for Spring Break flights shows them to be the most expensive option on many routes. A lot of WN flyers simply go straight to them (and no one else) based on that assumption. Now that other charges are in the mix, we’ll see if that changes.

There will be some case histories written about these changes — it’ll be interesting to see where they net out.

Quick Top 3 ORD Restaurants, Go!

Since Al on the Airlines is back on the road this week, time for a quick airport restaurant ranking using our proprietary methodology.6

1. The Billy Goat
Some might feel guilt and shame enjoying a Billy Goat bacon, egg and cheese or double cheeseburger in the Jazz Food Court. I am not one of those people.

2. Wicker Park Sushi
Used to be number one, but post-COVID they got way more expensive and even worse, they changed the recipe of the Hot Night Roll. Still good and fast (especially with a corporate card).

3. Any of the hot dog/pizza stands on the concourse
Chances are you won’t have time to sit down anywhere because you’re running to make your connection, so make use of the multiple quick locations.

Honorable Mention
Cubs and/or Blackhawks Bar for authentic Midwestern early morning drinking before a.m. Caribbean/Florida departures

Please
Tortas Frontera — yeah, it’s great, but unless you have a four-hour layover, good luck

Notes

That being said, airlines are businesses. As businesses, they need to make money. As publicly traded businesses, they need to be accountable and transparent with shareholders. That’s how this whole deal works, man!

Still, is there anything greater than the gap between what gets discussed on an airline’s quarterly earnings call and what actually happens every day out there in airports and airplanes around the country?2

Yes, I know—these calls are for the benefit of big institutional investors with very specific questions about financial performance. But this side of the airline biz gets right to what I like to call “the math problem mindset.” Plenty of people in important positions at airlines (and the investment banks) view the whole operation as one big exercise in assets, routes, average fares, yield, revenue, and (sometimes) profit—a purely transactional lens.3 It’s very easy to drift away from the nuts-and-bolts business of actually flying people when everything is viewed through a spreadsheet.

For example, let’s take the very first question for the Delta leadership team on their call last month:

“…but, you know, if we can assume that your prior commentary around mid-single-digit revenue growth for the full year stands and you’re starting off with high single-digit growth, would it be fair to assume that the 7.35 has a pretty conservative back-half revenue outlook baked in there? And then outside of potential revenue upside, what else drives that upside from 7.35?”

Ok, then.

Here was a question for my friends at JetBlue:

“Second question here just ties to leisure revenue and the, you know, recovery glide path that the current guide embeds. And, I’m thinking leisure fares so far this month are, you know, largely flat year over year, and I’m just wondering if that full-year guide embeds sort of the flattish revenue, you know, leisure component or what that recovery, the shape of that recovery could look like.”

I’m not sure what “flattish” means, but I will use that word from now on.

When the few questions did come about the actual experience of customers and flying, they were almost invariably about premium cabins, lounges, and other elite experiences. I’m guessing these lead analysts don’t fly in the back very often.4

Now, I’ll give some credit to the airline leaders on these calls. When things are going well (as they are for most US carriers right now), it’s very easy to get deeper and deeper into the “math mindset” and the excitement about future forecasts—and further away from talking about the “operation.” However, most of the execs I heard mixed in (at least) a little bit about running on time, the people in the field, and the challenges they face. As a whole, the industry is much better about this than it used to be.5

I’m also pleased that some of these leaders made clear they’re always ready for reality to hit them in the face. (Or, in the case of American, for reality to be hitting them right now.) Reality doesn’t care about EBITDA or CASM. It wants to strand your customers, disrupt your schedules, and generate bad press. And of course, the same analysts asking about your current premium revenue mix will be the first ones to ask how much in one-time charges you’re going to take thanks to Winter Storm Fern, CrowdStrike, or the latest crew scheduling meltdown.

Again, these calls aren’t built for me—or for most customers. But if I were ever in charge of an earnings call, I’d love to get some actual regular flyers in the mix.

It’s not always about the math.

Notes

You also may remember that I said no one ever calls people out on predictions.

Well, here at Al on the Airlines, we are nothing if not accountable. So, in anticipation of a very important change for Southwest, I booked a flight for yesterday so I could see things for myself.

Then my driveway froze over.

And so did the roads in town.

And so did the interstate.1

So, instead of a first-hand account of the new era of assigned seating for Southwest, this blog will have to commentate from afar… but we’re good at that.

So, let’s start with the booking process (which was not impacted by snow).

Southwest was known for decades for its overall simplicity, and this included fares. They featured far fewer fare buckets than other airlines, and their rules were easy to understand.

This is the chart I was confronted with when booking my flight. Wow.

Now, it’s one thing to have different fare levels and varying service bundles associated with those fares. But now, we have to mix in assigned seats. From a revenue management standpoint, this is great, because now Southwest can extract extra dollars from Basic Fare customers who don’t want to risk getting stuck in a middle seat.2 From a customer standpoint, now I have to do even more math.

“Do I go Choice and buy up to a better seat, or do I go Choice Plus where the better seat is included? Is this fare level refundable now? Do I get a free Wild Turkey with this fare or not?”

And now, on to the thing I never thought I’d see on southwest.com — a seating chart.3 Once again, like every other airline, there’s a chance to buy your way to a better seat. We’ve gone from a cattle call to a margin call.

One other pre-flight note: given the magnitude of the change, I assumed I would get multiple communications about assigned seating prior to my flight. That was not the case. I even got an email the day prior to departure reminding me to buy up to A1-A15 boarding. This was surprising.

But what about yesterday itself? Well, there were very few reports of “chaos,” so we can say that Al on the Airlines is 0-for-1 on predictions.4 That’s not to say everything went perfectly, but there weren’t any spicy videos of confrontations in the cabin or the like. The new process did apparently cause some issues with overhead bin space, as early-zone customers who once spread throughout the plane are now bunched among the premium seats. Additionally, if you have to change your flight at the last minute or you misconnect, you’re probably going to be stuck in a middle seat, now.

There was also more than one post on the interwebs about the removal of the infamous Southwest boarding number stanchions the night before and their replacement signage. Find someone who loves you as much as the airline industry loves stanchions and signage.

I know that Southwest leadership was forced—errrr, strongly encouraged—into some of these recent changes.5 I’d wager a hefty amount that the majority of frontline employees are not thrilled with them. My hope was that Southwest’s leadership would have found some way to imbue these changes with a bit more of their unique personality.6 I’ve already said it in this piece, I’ve heard it in the press, and I’ve heard it from more than one frequent Southwest flyer: what makes Southwest different from anyone else now?

Southwest will undoubtedly say its people. And they might be right — Southwest’s people are among the best. But it’s putting a lot of pressure on those people when they no longer work in the simple, easy-to-understand brand environment Southwest nurtured for decades.

I hope they keep showing the LUV.

Still, all of that preceded the actual storm which hammered almost two-thirds of the U.S., forced thousands of flight cancellations, and left many of us staring out the window wondering why we don’t live in Southern California anymore.

As usual, I digress.

The more you fly, the more you learn to expect the unexpected and gird yourself for the worst possible outcome. Still, that doesn’t make things any easier.

Now, it would be way too easy for me to play the role of the cynical, grizzled frequent flyer and lob criticisms at my fellow travelers as we all navigated less than ideal conditions here at the start of 2026.

So, I’ll do it!

1. You’re not the only one getting on the plane

It’s freezing on this jet bridge. Let’s go!

2. You’re not the only one connecting

If you are flying into a hub, the majority of the people on your plane have another flight. The majority of those people have a flight that is leaving about the same time your flight is leaving. Almost all of those people want to get to where they are going.2

But please, push your way to the front of the plane with your bag in your arms and announce to everyone that you have a tight connection.

Yes, I also long for the days when the crew would make an announcement about passengers with tight connections, and those who could afford to wait would remain in their seats to let others hurry off to Gate 42. Unfortunately, that was also probably when all those onboard got a free meal and watched a movie on a big screen on the bulkhead.

3. You’re not the only one in the lounge

I know what you’re thinking.

“I’ve got two hours between flights here in Houston. I have a lounge membership. Let’s use the time wisely and have that Teams call about yesterday’s sales report in the lounge. Even better, I’ll do it in the middle of the lounge where I can speak at full volume. I’ve got my AirPods in, so I can keep loudly pontificating while I make my way through the salad bar. ‘Thanks, Lisa, for acting on that! I think we’ll see better returns on that issue moving forward.’”3

4. You’re not the only one who got hosed this week

Putting aside lost airline and airport revenue, there were a lot of plans thrown by the wayside this past weekend. Conventions, concerts, reunions, basketball games, weddings, funerals, you name it . . . all postponed, canceled or significantly affected by this crazy weather.

This is not a “heavy dose of perspective” blog. But occasionally, we will remind our readers that hurtling through the sky from one end of the country to another is not a given.

And today, neither is backing out of your own driveway.

Notes

Delta Keeps Unbundling

Delta President Glen Hauenstein confirmed the recent rumors that Delta plans on “unbundling” its premium cabin fares. Unbundling is industry code for taking a fare that once included services X, Y, and Z, and now making it only include service X, with a new higher fare to get services Y and Z. But halfway through booking, you might be able to buy up to include the Y service you didn’t add on at your initial selection. And after you actually book, you might receive an “exciting offer” to add service Z.1

This drive towards valuing every single aspect of a ticket purchase is nothing new. Doing it in Premium Cabins isn’t necessarily new, either, but it is a big step forward in the US industry, particularly when it comes to big-ticket international business class fares.2 My unofficial analysis concludes that the kind of people who book business class fares on their corporate accounts are going to be surprised when they suddenly can’t pick their seat assignment in advance or lack the ability to make changes.

There is a whole (very smart) contingent within every airline’s HQ that views things as one big math problem. I am sure that a ton of analysis has been done on how unbundling premium fares will drive X% in additional revenue or increase paid load factor by Y%. That’s their job! Still, I’m wondering at what point does the other side of the business push back and argue that the endless quest for ultimate fare disaggregation goes too far?3

United Keeps (Passengers) Pre-Ordering

United was in the headlines this past week for a variety of things, including an anticipated strong earnings call this Tuesday, a wheel falling off an A321 after a hard landing in Orlando, and CEO Scott Kirby speaking a bit off the cuff about a competing travel app (and a lot more).4

But something that did not make big headlines was the announcement that starting in March, passengers must pre-order meals for Economy flights over 1,190 miles.5 This was accompanied by the usual press release material about reducing waste and streamlining catering operations.

In today’s age, this seems like a welcome development. I can order my Tacos al Pastor in advance!

But, as I have noted before, what happens when things change?

Let’s say I have to make a last-minute flight change due to a sudden work conflict or God forbid, I miss my connection at ORD due to a 45-minute taxi from the runway to the gate.6 What happens then? Do I shell out $24 for a Torta at Frontera Grill? Or do I settle for a Tapas box onboard? Or do I eat 13 or 14 chocolate quinoa crisps?

Unfortunately, there was nothing in United’s press release about those scenarios.

Starlink Keeps on Rolling

There will never be an end to the Wi-Fi wars, but Starlink struck yet another blow with the Lufthansa Group’s announcement that it would begin rolling out free Starlink Wi-Fi across its 850 aircraft. Installations are set to begin later this year.

While this is definitely not a political blog, it’s worth noting if there ever was an airline group with pressure to resist a Starlink implementation, it would be Lufthansa, particularly given their leading position in Europe. However, Starlink’s high-bandwidth/low-latency solution is proving too hard for so many carriers to resist.

As dominant as Starlink’s aviation offer has been in recent months, one must always remember that the airline industry hates sole suppliers. Airline executives, particularly in “strategic sourcing,” will constantly be monitoring for other potential solutions the same way they do with aircraft, engines and even snacks.

When it comes to airline buying practices, promiscuity is not a flaw.

Notes

Oops.

While I’m not as plugged in as most, even I couldn’t escape the recent “viral sensation” that was a passenger’s criticism of a First Class meal served on United Airlines. Let’s take a look.

Yeah, that doesn’t look great, but I have definitely seen worse. And, as a United frequent flyer myself, I’ve been known to disparage a meal or two. However, I’ll save my measured critiques of inflight cuisine for another post.

Instead, let’s take a look at the inevitable thing that happens when something like this reaches the internet: everyone and everything goes too far.1

First, there was the litany of incredulous responses that quickly grew from basic dismay to deeming the salad unfit for human (or animal) consumption.2 That was followed up by people demonstrating their own personal travel superiority by posting pictures of their high-end meals on other carriers. And of course, that wave of preening had to include the obligatory Emirates premium class meal because “Why can’t we have every flight in the US be on Emirates?!”3

Then there was the backlash to the backlash.

“First-world problems!”

“Entitled!”

“At least you got a meal!”

As a primarily economy class flyer, I wanted to grab my social media pitchfork and torch, too! “What about the very nice lady in 37E on your flight that had to pay for her snack box while being wedged between two large fellow passengers!? Were you thinking about her while you pondered the odd translucent reflection off your turkey slices?”

It would have been easy to do, but what are we really accomplishing here?

Finally, the grandstanding came along. Dr. Peyman Milanfar, source of the original post and Distinguished Scientist at Google, challenged United to refund his money so he could donate it to charity. There’s no way United can ignore that humanitarian plea now, can they?

Dude, this is the airline that withstood “United Breaks Guitars.” Do you think that a little meal criticism is going to faze them?4

Thankfully, the one thing I did not see was chirping from other airlines. In today’s day and age, when an airline catches flak on social media, it’s not enough for competitors to stand back and say, “Thank God it’s not us this week.” Instead, too many of today’s airlines (including some executives) feel the need to jump on the dogpile. Trust me, though, it always comes back around.5

In spite of all this internet-based inanity, airlines do very much care about their public perception. However, like any mass market brand, you can’t indulge every single social media blast. It would be one thing if United didn’t serve a meal at all in First Class on a five-hour flight. It’s another to be subjected to hyper-criticism of turkey texture, cheese cubes, and a giant whole tomato.6

This latest kerfuffle is also another reminder that airline food was the butt of jokes when I was a kid and will undoubtedly be the butt of jokes when my kids are grown. You can’t win if you’re serving food on a plane.

Take it from tonight’s host, Bobby Wheat.

My usual bedeviled response?

“Well, you should never fly Airline X again.”

The cold truth, though, is that most people will fly Airline X again. As you’ve already learned, I’m no industry apologist, but the fact is the vast majority of airline customers do not vote with their wallets. The late Spirit Airlines CEO, Ben Baldanza, put it best when he accidentally replied all to a customer complaint email in 2007 with this still (in)famous quote in industry circles:

Please respond, Pasquale, but we owe him nothing as far as I'm concerned. Let him tell the world how bad we are. He's never flown us before anyway and will be back when we save him a penny.

If you don’t think there are a lot of people in airline management positions who feel the exact same way, then we should probably talk.12

Well, life has a way of coming around, and this past weekend, I suddenly became the family member/friend/mild acquaintance with the axe to grind. Our family is going on a cruise this summer, and I had a decision to make:

To Allegiant or Not to Allegiant

On an objective level, I like Allegiant Airlines. I have a strong affinity towards carriers that do not waiver (much) in their brand proposition. Allegiant got its start flying ancient planes once or twice a week from tiny cities to Las Vegas with a strong focus on ancillary revenue from hotel bookings and other services. While the planes and cities have changed, their overall ethos really hasn’t. In fact, back when I used to attend airline industry conferences, one of the more informative presentations I remember was given by Allegiant’s CMO. He presented a clear vision and didn’t try to persuade anyone that Allegiant was something it wasn’t.3

Now, let’s go back to my first experience as an Allegiant customer. I booked a roundtrip for the family from Cincinnati to the Redneck Riviera, errrrr, Florida’s “Emerald Coast” over the Christmas break a few years ago.4 The outbound was perfectly smooth and uneventful. However, Allegiant cancelled our return four days before it was scheduled to operate. With little to no affordable alternatives, we ended up renting a car and making the almost ten hour drive home.

I could have been done with Allegiant then and there, but they did the right things given the circumstances. They gave us plenty of notice, offered to rebook us (not an option with their limited schedule), refunded our money right away, and even provided additional compensation. That’s about all I can ask. None of it was fun, but I wasn’t putting Allegiant in the doghouse for it. I’m a rational airline industry expert.5

Flash back again to last summer, and we decided to fly Allegiant home from our cruise as they had a perfectly-timed nonstop from Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to our home airport of Lexington (LEX). Our sun-kissed family was still filled with the enchantment of our trip (wink, wink) when we got to the Allegiant check-in counter.

I knew that like many ultra low-cost carriers, Allegiant had moved to a virtually paperless experience. I also knew that they use contract employees in many stations. I knew that one needs to be patient and flexible when flying G4.6

What I did not know is that surly Allegiant contract check-in agents will performatively tear apart baggage claim checks in front of you while curtly telling you that “They’re in the app.”7

Luckily, my wife was there to witness that moment and the entire interaction leading up to it.8 We walked to security vowing never to fly Allegiant again. We sat in the gate area vowing never to fly Allegiant again. We sat on the Allegiant flight vowing never to fly Allegiant again.

Now yes, I see the contradictory logic here:

Cancel my entire trip and force me to drive home? No biggie, man!

Be rude to my wife and me at check-in? You’re done!

That may sound crazy, but remember, it’s the little things.

Now zoom forward to this past weekend. We have another cruise this summer and need to buy plane tickets. Said cruise is leaving from FLL. Flights on mainline carriers, all featuring connections, are very expensive. Allegiant has non-stops from LEX at ideal times on both ends of the cruise. Allegiant’s prices are reasonable.

What do I do? Do I stick to my guns, follow my own patronizing advice, and never fly Allegiant again? Or, do I begrudgingly enter my credit card number at allegiantair.com?

See you in June, Allegiant. No need to respond, Pasquale.

Note to Readers: this post went to “press” before the news of Allegiant and Sun Country’s planned merger. For the best immediate take (with actual data and stuff), I recommend reading the latest post from my friend Brett Snyder, aka Crankyflier and the godfather of snarky airline commentary.

Notes

1. Chaos at Schiphol

   I’ve noted how the US media never lets airport weather-related chaos go to waste, but the same thing can and does happen overseas. Airlines cancelled hundreds of flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport this week due to heavy snow and a shortage of deicing fluid. This obviously hit Dutch carrier KLM the hardest.
   
   Now Schiphol would not be my first choice of European airports to be stranded at, but it also wouldn’t be my last, especially if the heavy snow did not affect the delivery of bitterballen and stroopwaffels.1
   

   

   
   The highlight of the press coverage was a video of ramp workers having a snowball fight. I realize there’s not much to do when there’s no plane to push back, but maybe not the best look guys.

2. AA + AT&T + Viasat = Free Internet!

   American just made the latest advance in the wifi wars by launching its own free internet service, with plans to have the entire fleet covered by this Spring. This is a big step for American as it counters Delta’s earlier move to free wifi on its mainline fleet and United’s move currently in progress. It’s also a big moment for Viasat as it battles to maintain its market position against the Starlink behemoth.
   

   

   
   As we’ve discussed, free wifi doesn't work without an underwriter (or underwriters), and for American that patron is AT&T.2 Also unsurprisingly, you must be an Advantage Member to access the service. I know you’re not going to read the fine print on the portal page because you want to check your Instagram, but you can’t say I didn’t give you the heads up on what you might be sharing.

3. Alaska Addendum

   I tried as best I could to wedge a reference to Alaska Airlines’ seminal 1980’s TV commercials into my post yesterday about their new livery.
   
   So I’ll do it here instead. Growing up in Southern California, these ads littered the airwaves and were a staple of my tv-watching youth.
   

   

   
   They also may be the greatest commercials of any kind ever created for any industry at any time.3
   
   They were also so incredibly prescient about what flying would become . . . scarily so.
   
   Watch, laugh, sigh, and we’ll talk next week.

Notes

When I first started this Substack, I thought the only thing I would talk about is liveries.1 The biggest chunk of my career has been spent in the world of inflight entertainment, but my heart will always be in airline branding. My very first job required me to watch airline paint dry on several occasions.2

I plan on going deep into the importance of liveries in a future (and much longer) post. But for now, I’m excited that my friends at Alaska officially unveiled their new livery yesterday in Seattle. The freshly painted 787-9 made its debut along with an announcement of Alaska’s largest aircraft order in history from their neighbors at Boeing.

As someone who had the pleasure of working with Alaska for many years, it has been remarkable to watch their growth during that time. When I first started working with Alaska, they were still primarily a West Coast airline that also flew to Alaska, Hawaii, and Mexico.3 We used to send them a box of audio cassettes for their boarding music because that was the only entertainment onboard.4 Since then, they’ve fended off multiple attempted kill-shots by Delta in Seattle, bought (and disappeared) Virgin America, expanded significantly across the country, bought (and didn’t disappear) Hawaiian Airlines, improved their overall product and will start flying to Europe later this year. Not bad.

So yesterday was obviously a big day for the team, and they did it up right.

Big reveal in a dramatically lit hangar at Boeing?

Check.

Enthusiastic hand-picked employees and business partners in the audience who will applaud everything that is said?

Check.

Speeches from Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Alaska CEO Ben Minicucci that can be easily pulled for news clips?

Check.

Extremely well done online press kit and hype video on YouTube?

Double Check!5

Beautiful livery that’s a slam dunk hit?

Well, let’s talk about that . . .

In a vacuum, I think the new livery is objectively attractive. While it adheres to the contemporary school of a mostly white fuselage, the intricate tail design definitely stands out from other recent livery debuts that use the same basic construct.6 It also helps that Alaska has a strong creative theme behind it, dubbing this the “Aurora” livery for its evocation of the Northern Lights, or as they put in their words:

The new 787-9 exterior design draws inspiration from the natural wonder of the Aurora Borealis, featuring a palette of deep midnight blues and lush emerald greens that channel the aurora’s energy and spirit of the Alaska brand.7

My main issue with the new livery, though, is why? Alaska’s existing livery is one of the most iconic in the industry. The core design, featuring the infamous “Chester” on the tail, has been going strong for decades and has deep connections to Alaska’s heritage.8 There have been several business turning points over the years where a major livery or brand change could have been justified, but Alaska has held firm. Consistency has trumped all — something I have always admired about the airline.

I guess that’s finally changed. In his speech, CEO Ben Minicucci talked about Alaska becoming the fourth US “global airline.” That’s an ambitious and laudable goal. But maybe the Alaska team doesn’t think that Chester plays in London or Rome or wherever else in Europe they want to fly. I might have been willing to give Chester that shot.

In fairness, there does not seem to be any indication that Chester will be disappearing from the Alaska domestic fleet, including the over 100 737-10 aircraft that are part of yesterday’s purchase announcement. I’m guessing there will be lots of employees and longtime loyal fliers who are relieved that he’s not disappearing entirely. It would be tough to pull up to SeaTac Airport and not see dozens of smiling Chesters.

It’s indisputable that yesterday was a big day for the folks at Alaska. They have big plans and just bought some sweet-looking new planes to help achieve them.

I’ll be cheering for them, even if I’m still cheering for Chester.

Notes

Yeah, Hong Kong is a great airport. Did you know Singapore has a movie theater and a waterfall!2 However, in my travels, my favorite airports have always been much smaller in size and local in flavor. That’s right, almost all of my favorite airports are mid-sized airports: Greenville-Spartanburg! Palm Springs! And today’s spotlight: Louisville!

While it’s not my hometown airport, I have been flying in and out of Louisville (SDF) on a relatively consistent basis for both work and personal reasons for over a decade.3 While I would not have singled out Louisville ten years ago, the airport has visibly embraced and improved the key things that make a mid-sized airport hum.

1. A Sense of Identity

As of 2019, SDF is officially the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. While airport names can easily change with the civic winds, Louisville has embraced a hometown figure with global name recognition and broad appeal.

And then they even made a cool logo out of it.

Still, the experience at SDF goes beyond the Muhammad Ali branding to also include what makes Louisville a unique destination: there’s the Churchill Downs Gift Shop, the obligatory KFC and the longstanding call-to-the post bugler tune that’s played before the bags come out on the belt.

And then there’s bourbon. Lots and lots of bourbon.

It’s not surprising that many of the improvements at the airport parallel the explosive growth in bourbon and bourbon tourism over the past decade.4 It seems every lightbox, every column wrap, or any other available surface has been sold to a distillery to promote their whiskey or their tour. The main airside gift shop used to have a few bottles for sale. Now you have tons of options to purchase at a very healthy mark-up.

You may or may not like bourbon, but there’s no doubt you’re in Kentucky when you get to Louisville.

2. A Sense of Reach
Who doesn’t want their local airport to be on a tropical island with a dusty runway, a couple folding chairs and one flight a day? Unfortunately, that’s not practical if you need to be on the road a lot. The beauty of a good mid-sized airport is that you can still generally get to where you need to go with some degree of comfort.

Louisville (and other good) mid-sized airports have a healthy mix of flights to major airline hubs with low-cost flights to sun destinations. No, there is no non-stop to Barcelona out of Louisville, but your monthly sales meeting in New York and annual trip to Disneyworld can both be done just fine.5

3. A Sense of Relief

I would argue the most stressful times in big airports most often occur landside, particularly on arrival. For example, you’ve just landed at O’Hare and made the trek to to ground transportation. Hopefully you didn’t have to wait for a bag. Even if you didn’t, are you going to take a cab to the Loop or are you going to try to find out where the latest Uber pick up spot is? Oh wait, it’s 4 PM, you’ll be on the Kennedy forever. Maybe you’ll take the Blue Line? Do you really want to take the Blue Line? You’re renting a car? Well enjoy the Air Train ride out to the rental car center. Squeeze in!6

When you land in Louisville, you’re basically already where you need to be. Downtown is maybe 20 minutes away. You don’t have to worry about new Uber pick-up locations because there’s only one location. If you’re renting a car, you can WALK to the rental car center and get your vehicle.7 Let’s get to that distillery tour!

Now, not everything in the mid-sized airport world is perfect. You’ll have to connect a decent amount. There aren’t as many options to get home when things go wrong. The parking garage can fill up the week of Spring Break. There might be only one Starbucks. There might not be a Starbucks at all!

Still, as someone who led the big airport lifestyle for a long time, I know where I want to be starting and ending my journeys. Give me mid-sized.

Notes

Then it’s back to the harsh reality of your inbox and meetings, a reality particularly exacerbated for those in the colder climates of our country. Yay, January!

“Hey Al, isn’t this an airline industry blog?”

Of course, of course. My apologies.

A PR executive once told me that the absolute easiest way to get press coverage is to write a future predictions column. You can get as crazy as you want, and no one ever calls you on anything. Making “bold” predictions about a preposterous airline merger or a sudden surge in eco-tourism charters or invisible supersonic aircraft comes with little risk and easy clicks.

With that in mind, we’re going to do things a little differently by making some “moderately” bold predictions about what’s going to happen in 2026. If these predictions were a flight, they would be more like an exit row seat from Atlanta to Cancun. Comfortable and not going anywhere super wild, but still a little provocative, especially if you decided to get an extra drink at the airport bar beforehand.

Prediction #1: Southwest Assigned Seating Armageddon

The dichotomy is real: the airline that has had open seating for its entire history will experience MORE chaos with assigned seating when it launches later this month.

The press has already been out in front of what is arguably the biggest change in the history of the country’s largest domestic airline. Staring down pressure from activist investors at Elliott Management, this latest move will eliminate the last key piece of what made Southwest unique in the market. Airline brand folks like myself sigh.

Now of course the team at Southwest will do their best to communicate this change to passengers in advance via all sorts of methods. I am sure that airport staff are being trained on how to communicate the new assigned seats procedure before, during (and maybe even after) the boarding process.

It won’t matter. People who fly Southwest are going to be on autopilot given the long history of open seating. Or they’ll be oblivious on their headphones in the gate area. Or both.

I fully expect onboard conflicts and confrontations as passengers take seats that aren’t theirs out of genuine or feigned ignorance. It won’t matter if there’s a seat assignment on the boarding pass because “I thought I picked my own seat on Southwest??”2

Over time, things will work themselves out, but I expect an interesting first month.

Prediction #2: An Airline Will Outsource Its Inflight Entertainment (IFE)

As some of you know, I lived in the IFE world for over a decade. Every year someone predicts some fatal blow to IFE. When the iPad came out fifteen years ago, you would have thought that every airline in the US was about to rip-out their in-seat screens and let everyone fend for themselves with their magic new tablets.3

This is the year I think an airline says, “We’re out!”

The fact is that airlines spend millions of dollars to license content from studios, not to mention the sizable costs associated with production, delivery, and maintenance. While some airlines have announced partnerships with streaming platforms, those are for content that is still stored onboard the aircraft. Same with content that you currently access wirelessly via your device — it still has to be delivered to the plane. Again this all costs a lot of money.

With a robust enough internet connection, a carrier could conceivably reach a deal with Netflix, Amazon Prime, or another similar service to allow passengers to access their content for free via the web. That’s it. No more loading of files, no more license fees to multiple studios. Even the airlines that have been strong in their commitment to in-seat entertainment might consider that option.

While this move would actually reduce the amount of content available to passengers, airlines could conceivably spin it as a win, given the strength of streaming services’ brands (and their increasing dominance in Hollywood).4

Prediction #3: The Inevitable Robot Takeover Marches Onward

In middle-age, I am leaning deep into my luddite tendencies. I won’t use the self-checkout at the supermarket. I like real books. I still like to print out my boarding pass.5 (Gasp!)

While some of these behaviors are rooted in grumpy nostalgia, they are also rooted in some degree of grizzled practicality. Let me explain. I have no doubt that airlines, airports, and hotels will continue to replace human interaction with automation at every conceivable opportunity. American recently announced it’s testing an agent-less gate at DFW, the next inevitable step in an airport process that is almost entirely digital and without human interaction. While these moves are sold as being more efficient for us travelers, they are primarily done to reduce costs, plain and simple.6

Now, I am not opposed to airlines or airports reducing costs. (Tough business, right!) However, the issue becomes when things go wrong.

And they will.

Instead of airlines or immigration staff facing the problem with the normal compliment of employees, you will now have fewer people to help fix the problem when the passport scanners or boarding pass readers do not work.7 We’ve already seen what happens when the passport readers go down in the UK, not to mention the almost monthly airline IT outages that we hear about in the press.

The continued move to full automation cannot be stopped, but let’s hope that there are the proper contingency plans to go with it when something inevitable happens here in 2026.

I’ll be taking notes on my paper boarding pass.

Christmas on the Concourse

I always appreciate the effort by the local airport authorities to spruce up the terminals for Christmas. People who manage airports will tell you anything that isn’t nailed down is likely to get destroyed or disappear, so there’s probably some reticence to go crazy with the garlands and the oversized ornaments.3 Nevertheless, I was greeted by a variety of lovely decorations in airports across the country

It always makes for a warm feeling when you’re greeted by a beautiful Christmas tree as you make your way to your gate, soon to be reunited with your loved ones. Of course, sleeping under the light of that same tree because you’re delayed until tomorrow morning makes things much worse.4 Emotions can run to the extremes this time of year, and the airport is no exception.

Tis the season!

Lump of Coal for Hertz

In an earlier post, I talked about my frustration with the car rental companies over the past couple of years, with some particularly harsh words for Hertz. When I arrived at the Burbank airport a few nights ago, I was not expecting there to be any cars available for President’s Circle members.5

There were three.

Three is better than none, but there were other flights due in after mine. One can only hope there were more cars on the way for my Gold Rewards comrades.

When I returned my car, the scene was not much better, as I saw only one car available for pick-up. Now this is is a busy time in Southern California, but the horde of Indiana fans coming in for the Rose Bowl were not going to be happy when they got to the Hertz lot.6

Indiana football has had quite the 2025 . . . the rental car companies have not.

Holiday Rib Roast Prices for Airport Cuisine

I’m not the first person to notice that airport food prices are out of control. I also understand the many factors that contribute to those costs.

But $20 for a chicken sandwich and tater-tots? Props to Ludacris for his burgeoning Chicken and Beer airport restaurant empire, but this seems a bit excessive, even with the excellent “Hotlanta” sauce on the sandwich.7

Prices like this might be the best reason to get an airline lounge membership if you fly a lot. Hotlanta sauce is great, but there’s a perfectly acceptable bow-tie pasta dish at the United Club buffet. And you can pour Tabasco on it.

Happy New Year!

Notes

Note to Readers: Thanks so much for supporting my soft launch. This is something I have been meaning to do for a long time, and the feedback I have gotten in these first few weeks has been remarkably encouraging.

If you know anyone who might enjoy Al on the Airlines please feel free to pass along. While it’s clearly written for an airline-y audience, I have gotten great comments from non-airline folks as well.

Finally, please send me any feedback you might have (both positive and negative) as well as anything you’d like to see covered. Email me at al@alontheairlines.com ! Merry Christmas!

One of the very first flights I can remember taking was a United Airlines transcon flight from LAX to JFK in the summer of 1986. Those were the days of meal service, movies on bulkhead screens and a superior livery for United.1 That trip was followed by many others over the ensuing years, whether they be on American DC-10’s, Delta 767’s, JetBlue 321’s or the aforementioned United, but this time on a “p.s.” 757 with a less superior livery.2

The LA-NY market remains the most high-profile battlefield for the US industry. While carriers have restructured, consolidated, and transformed over the past two decades, you could always count on a full schedule of flights leaving from JFK (or EWR) each day for LAX (or SFO), and of course the same happening in reverse. You could also (usually) count on a better product and service for these routes than you would get on a ho-hum feeder flight into a hub.3

Last week, American fired the latest salvo in this fight with the debut of its new A321XLR on the JFK-LAX route. The newest plane in AA’s fleet, the A321XLR features twenty new lie-flat “suites” in its business class cabin, a revamped premium economy section (that looks a lot like domestic first class), a Main Cabin Extra section with additional legroom, and of course, plain old coach . . . errrr . . . "Main Cabin.”

The media preview and first flight featured the typical travel press coverage that comes with a new service. As expected the focus was on the new business class suites, now featuring a door!4 While narrow-body aircraft and suite doors are not new to the market, the A321XLR appears to represent a big step forward from AA’s current A321T transcon product. The team at AA has clearly put a lot of thought into the design of the cabin and have added some nice stylistic touches that are not always associated with the brand.5 This is doubly important as these same aircraft will also fly to secondary European markets such as Edinburgh.

While AA’s recent struggles are the subject of a lot of industry press, they have a strong legacy presence in the transcon market.6 However, returning to a leading position won’t be easy.

AA used to be the king of JFK-LAX frequencies, something corporate travelers crave. Now, they are not. AA used to have arguably the best ground experience for super-elite customers. That might not be the case anymore. AA used to be THE choice for celebrity types.7 Now TMZ cameras have to wait outside other airline terminals, too.

There’s still a long way to go, but hopefully the shiny new A321XLR can help my friends in DFW get some of their coast-to-coast mojo back.

Notes

Al, why are tickets so expensive over Christmas?

I get asked this question at least once a year by a friend or family member.1 This answer is a simple one: because they can be.

There are few things less understood by the average consumer/traveler than how airlines price flights. Most lay people still have no idea that each flight is priced to maximize revenue. They seem to think that airlines have no idea when Christmas is . . . or the Super Bowl . . . or that giant orthodontist convention your brother-in-law goes to every year.2

Newsflash! The very smart people in pricing and revenue management at every airline know exactly when everything is happening. They will charge you accordingly. There are no Miracles on Google Flights this (or any) Christmas season.3

Flying for the Sake of Flying

Tis’ the season of the mileage run.

What’s a “mileage run” you ask?

A mileage run is when a traveling professional abandons his or her family in late December to get enough points to make the next tier of elite status. You can see on message boards like Flyertalk how user “VAFlyer2784” got to Silver/Gold/Frankincense/Myrrh status by flying RIC-ATL-CDG-MSP-LGA-RIC over the course of a weekend instead of going to his kid’s basketball tournament.4 That status will allow VAflyer2784 to barely miss out on business class upgrades to Europe next summer instead just missing out.

And, before you ask, I did shamefully go on a mileage run once. I was just short of United 1K status and went to Honolulu for a night.

Did I feel weird about it? Yes.

Did I get over it with a plate of fried pork chops at the Side Street Inn? Hell, yes.

The truth is, the mileage run is increasingly obsolete as every airline moves to dollars spent as the main qualifier for status. I do send kudos to American, because a couple weeks ago they essentially said, “Let’s make this easier. Just write us a check.”

Christmas at the Airport in the Movies

I don't fly through Terminal 3 at O’Hare as much as I used to, but every time I do, I can’t help but think of the iconic scene in Home Alone when Kevin’s family is running down the main concourse to catch their flight to Paris.5 6

Die Hard 2 is the second best Die Hard Christmas movie. It features an absolutely preposterous plot about a terrorist takeover of Dulles Airport. Yet, what always stuck out to me was John McLane using a Pacific Bell payphone in an early scene (because he was actually at LAX).7

But, Al, what about the amazing last scene at Heathrow in Love Actually?

Didn’t see it.

Have a nice weekend.

Notes

Airline bankruptcies, like severe weather, are catnip to those same trade and financial press. Massive layoffs and potentially stranded passengers make for great storylines, especially when things happen around the holidays. There was a time in the mid to late 2000’s where these filings happened all the time, but the industry has stabilized considerably.2 With this latest news, that press corps smells blood in the water again.

Aside from the genuine human interest angle on airline bankruptcies and shutdowns, the media storylines tend to focus on the big-time banks and other creditors who provide “Debtor-in-Possession” loans to help airlines restructure while they’re still operating. That was the main source of the Spirit rumors, as it appeared their lenders might not provide a necessary cash infusion to operate past the weekend. Contrary to those rumors, the money came through and Spirit keeps flying.

However, there is a whole class of creditors in an airline bankruptcy that rarely gets mentioned: the unsecured creditors. This group consists primarily of an airline’s suppliers, everyone from food and beverage providers to maintenance shops to advertising firms.3 When it comes to airline bankruptcies, these folks don't get the press, but they do get the shaft.

I have the scars to prove it because I have spent most of my career as an airline supplier and an unsecured one at that. I have had several clients file for Chapter 11, both here in the US and abroad. As an airline supplier, you can generally count on experiencing three phases of emotion:

1. A period of crippling anxiety and tension

   No airline files for Chapter 11 out of the blue. There are always warning signs. Your airline clients are stressed, your team is stressed and most importantly, your own finance people are stressed. You can expect your CFO to be calling you to demand that any outstanding invoices be paid immediately. Meanwhile your airline client is being told by their CFO that those invoices aren’t getting paid any time soon.4 Your team is still expected to deliver in the crossfire, all the while wondering if their jobs are at risk.

2. A period of frustration and finagling

   There is a tiny sigh of relief when the filing actually happens, because at least you know what’s coming next as an unsecured creditor. You and your fellow unsecured suppliers will form a committee at the bankruptcy court to try to get paid on any outstanding debts. You probably won’t. If you do, it might not be for years.5 Yet, the expectation is that you will continue providing the same quality service (at a reduced price) because we’re all really in this together as business partners.6

3. A period of detente and/or disillusionment

   If you’re lucky, you will continue your relationship with your client, and your team will have survived to fight another day. But things are unlikely to be the same. Or, if you’re unlucky, your client will decide that they want a “fresh start” as they exit Chapter 11, a fresh start that does not include you.

Anyone with airlines as customers knows that this is a risk when you enter the business. The big suppliers have a team of lawyers and other experts to handle things as they’ve been around this block a few times.

But perhaps there’s a small supplier out there who landed a big agreement with Spirit. Maybe it was a watershed moment for their company. Maybe now they’re worried a liquidation could be a very different kind of watershed moment for their company.

Hang in there, everybody.7