Passengers File $1 Billion Lawsuit Against Boeing After Door Blew Off Alaska Airlines Flight

The Department of Transportation is reviewing how the 10 largest U.S. airlines handle, use and collect passengers’ personal information. 

Alaska Airlines just launched an unusual new subscription service that is going to require a $5-per-month payment to get early access to Alaska fare sales and a bit more. The Seattle-based airline is calling it "Alaska Access" and is saying it gives advanced alerts to some of its biggest sales of the year.

Alaska Airlines is launching a paid subscription service this month offering discounts on Wi-Fi and first dibs on sales.

Following last week’s incident, in which a LATAM Airlines suddenly plunged downward in mid-flight, major aircraft manufacturer Boeing is advising airlines to inspect switches on cockpit seats aboard their 787 Dreamliner planes as a precautionary measure. According to AP News, a published report pointed to these switches as the apparent cause of last week’s incident. 

As part of its Nonstop to Net Zero effort, Southwest Airlines is signing on to a project that's been dubbed the Hawaii Seaglider Initiative.A new mode of transportation designed to combine the speed of an aircraft with the “relatively lower cost of a boat to reduce the time and cost” of transporting travelers, seagliders are all-electric, zero-emission vessels. They operate exclusively over water and can move at up to 180 miles-per-hour, which dramatically reduces travel time. Seagliders function by floating on their hull before transitioning to “wave-tolerant underwater hydrofoils” and then take flight at ultra-low altitudes about 30- to 60-feet above the surface of the water. The vessels are being designed by Rhode Island based manufacturer REGENT.The Hawaii Seaglider Initiative (HSI) was first announced in January and includes a broad coalition of partners. Some of the high-profile corporate and community partners supporting the effort include AES Hawaiʻi, Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Hawaii Building & Constructions Trades Council, Hawaiʻi Lodging and Tourism Association, Japan Airlines, Maui Hotel & Lodging Association, Mokulele Airlines, Molokaʻi Chamber of Commerce, Polynesian Adventure, and United Airlines.

After a spate of high-profile airline industry incidents, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has issued a memo addressing safety concerns.In the memo Kirby said safety is the airline’s top priority, according to a report from The Points Guy.The airline CEO also discussed United’s own safety incidents, including acknowledging the airline has had “a number” of such incidents."While they are all unrelated, I want you to know that these incidents have our attention and have sharpened our focus," Kirby wrote, per The Points Guy. "Our team is reviewing the details of each case to understand what happened and using those insights to inform our safety training and procedures across all employee groups.”The memo from the CEO also indicates that United is working on rolling out a variety of new safety measures. Though Kirby also explained that the new safety upgrades were in the works before United’s recent spate of safety episodes. Some of the new measures the airline will be implementing include an extra day of training for pilots and new curriculum for maintenance technicians."I'm confident that we'll learn the right lessons from these recent incidents and continue to run an operation that puts safety first and makes our employees and customers proud," Kirby added.Kirby’s memo comes on the heels of a rocky few months for the airline industry as a whole. The most significant of which was the January 5 incident involving a Alaska Airlines’ Boeing 737 Max flight during which a door plug blew off after take-off and the plane was required to make an emergency landing.A handful of passengers who were on that Alaska Airlines flight have since filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Boeing, alleging negligence on the part of the plane manufacturer.As for United Airlines, one of its flights involving a 737 Max rolled off the runway at George W. Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston recently. Part of the plane’s landing gear collapsed as a result. That United incident followed a tire falling from a Boeing 777-200 plane (also flown by United) one day earlier.

A United Airlines jet was found to be missing an external panel after completing a scheduled flight to southern Oregon on Friday.

A United Airlines flight that took off on Friday morning from San Francisco International Airport landed in Oregon in the afternoon missing an external panel, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Bilt Rewards is announcing a partnership with Alaska Airlines as the travel and rent rewards program's newest airline transfer partner. It's possible to transfer Bilt Points to Alaska Airlines at a 1:1 ratio. Extra perks will be available later this year. For example, the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® card will be able to earn double Alaska miles on qualifying rent purchases later this year.

TPG founder Brian Kelly is a Bilt adviser and investor.

An Alaska Airlines cabin crew blocked the cockpit with a beverage cart to stop a passenger from accessing the cockpit, an affidavit states.

Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci says the court ruling that blocked the Spirit-JetBlue merger has increased the chances that the Alaska-Hawaiian Airlines merger will receive approval.