Good morning from Skift. It’s Tuesday, April 23. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
09.04.2024 - 20:25 / skift.com / Delta Comfort / Delta Skymiles / Delta Air Lines / Delta I (I) / United Airlines / Southwest Airlines / Meghna Maharishi
Boarding a plane can be a frustrating travel experience. The lines are long, and it’s almost always slowed down by passengers storing their carry-ons in the overhead bins.
But Delta Air Lines hopes to make that process a little smoother. Starting May 1, the carrier is rolling out changes to its boarding process in an attempt to streamline the experience for passengers and airport customer service agents.
“While a simple change, Delta believes the move to numbered zones will simplify the boarding process for both our customers and our employees, adding clarity of sequence and improving the overall gate experience,” the company said in a statement.
Instead of a “branded boarding” experience where groups are named “Delta One” or “Diamond Medallions,” the carrier plans to use eight different zones to denote each boarding class.
For example, “Zone 1” will include Delta One and first-class customers, while “Zone 3” is for travelers flying Delta Comfort+. The boarding order itself will not change, as those flying first or business class will still get to board before those in economy.
Delta said it decided to use numbered zones to make the boarding process more intuitive, especially for travelers who do not fly frequently or have a language barrier.
The carrier also said the changes align more closely to the boarding process its international partners use, giving passengers flying with mixed itineraries a more simplified process.
While it’s unclear if the switch to numbered zones will make Delta’s boarding process more efficient, airlines have been looking for ways to better organize boarding.
The boarding process has even caught the interest of astrophysicists looking to make the experience less time consuming for flyers.
United Airlines re-introduced a boarding process in October where passengers sitting in window and middle seats board before those in aisle ones. And Southwest Airlines is famous for its open-seating policy, giving travelers the opportunity to sit almost anywhere in the plane.
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Good morning from Skift. It’s Tuesday, April 23. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
If there’s anything that sparks spirited debate among airline passengers, it’s the flight boarding process. No matter what system the airlines develop, the process always feels like a struggle, and some passengers are invariably left disgruntled. Airlines must balance the often-conflicting goals of loading a plane quickly and efficiently with rewarding passengers who purchase high-fare tickets or have airline status that includes an early boarding perk. Given airlines’ constantly increasing fees for checked bags, the passenger battle over early boarding in order to snag coveted carry-on space is likely to only get worse.
Delta announced Monday that it plans to give its employees 5% raises and increase the minimum starting wage for frontline employees to $19 an hour.
Delta Air Lines said Monday that it will give most of its employees a 5% raise and will increase the minimum starting salary that it offers in some positions.
Major U.S. airlines are bringing “unprecedented competition” to the transpacific market. The comments from Air New Zealand come as the Kiwi flag carrier lowered its earnings guidance for the current financial year.
As a full-time digital nomad, I like to follow the sun: I spend part of the year enjoying summer in South America and the other part spending summer in Europe. This year, however, European summer will look slightly different, as Paris is hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics. Knowing I’d already be in Europe, there was no way I could miss an event of this caliber.
Even as the grounding of the Max 9 prompted Alaska Airlines to cancel thousands of flights in January, the carrier came out relatively unscathed in the first quarter. And that’s partly because its business travel fully recovered to 2019 levels.
Senators are calling for a broader investigation into Boeing’s safety and manufacturing practices after a whistleblower alleged issues with the structural integrity of the 787 Dreamliner and 777.
From Boeing delivery delays and increased Federal Aviation Administration oversight to escalations in the Middle East, it would seem like United Airlines might be in hot water.
Delta Air Lines announced plans to begin testing a New Distribution Capability (NDC) process with several of the carrier’s key partners later in 2024.
The best airline loyalty program is one that's well-rounded and can meet the needs of a wide range of travelers.
As a frequent traveler, I stockpile airline loyalty points and frequently earn upgrades to first class, business class, or premium economy.