Airlines tips

For the average flyer, squeezed into a cramped coach-class seat and nickel-and-dimed to distraction, air travel has never been worse. But flush with outsized profits, and under fire for keeping airfares high even as fuel costs have plummeted, the full-service carriers are taking steps to stem the rising tide of anger and frustration.

Fuel, one of the airlines’ two largest operating expenses, is 40 percent cheaper than it was a year ago. And airline profits are robust, in some cases at record-high levels.

USA Today reports that American has been fined $1.6 million for tarmac delays that occurred during 2013-2015.

For the first time in more than 50 years, U.S. airlines have received federal approval to operate scheduled flight services to Cuba.

Emirates has announced it will reduce service between Dubai and almost half its destinations in the U.S. Flights to Boston, Seattle, and Los Angeles will be reduced from two per day to one, and daily flights to Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale will be reduced to five per week each. The total number of weekly flights cut comes to 25.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about discount airlines providing low-fare flights to European cities. London, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen are now an inexpensive Wow Air or Norweigan Air flight away from the U.S.—that is, if you’re willing to forego an in-flight meal and deal with a layover. But many business travelers and membership-savvy flyers aren’t looking for a cheap, lengthy flight sans free food.

Cuba’s swing from “It” destination to last year’s Caribbean wannabe has been nothing less than breathtaking, an unprecedented turnaround in the annals of tourism marketing.

The Department of Transportation today announced its nominees to operate nonstop flights to Havana, Cuba. In all, eight airlines were approved for service to Havana from 10 U.S. airports, as follows:

For the twelfth consecutive year, JetBlue tops the list of best airlines in North America. It ranks first among low-cost carriers in J.D. Power’s annual ranking of North American airline satisfaction. Alaska Airlines is ranked highest among traditional airlines for the ninth straight year. Southwest, which is grouped in the low-cost category, had the second-highest score overall.

How satisfied are travelers with the airlines?

Conde Nast Traveler gets a lot of mileage out of its annual Readers’ Choice Awards, slicing and dicing feedback from 300,000 travelers into a dizzying array of categories, sub-categories, and sub-sub-categories. Not only is there a ranking of the best cities in the world, there’s also the best small cities in the U.S. The world’s best hotels, sure. But also the top 10 hotels in Europe, and in Northern Asia, and in Eastern Mexico, and in Florence.

Two fast-growing budget carriers that serve the U.S. from Europe, Norwegian and WOW Air, both recently announced cancellations of several transatlantic routes.

We are currently traveling in a relatively golden era of airfares. Fares have been on the cheaper side for a while, thanks to low fuel prices and a healthy supply of available seats.

Four airlines—United, American, Southwest, and Alaska—have been fined by the Department of Transportation (DOT) for “providing inaccurate information to passengers about how much compensation they could potentially receive for being denied boarding against their will, or “bumped” on oversold flights, and for lost, damaged, or delayed baggage.”

Members of the Oneworld alliance, which includes American Airlines, British Airways, and Cathay Pacific, among others, recently announced a plan to start charging bag fees for separate legs of the same flight. In some cases. Not always. Okay, it’s actually somewhat confusing.

It’s been a long time in coming, but PreCheck, the TSA’s trusted-traveler program, is now available to passengers flying on Frontiers Airlines.

The recent computer meltdowns at Southwest and Delta, two of the country’s most efficient and financially sound carriers, resulted in thousands of cancelled and delayed flights, disrupting the lives of hundreds of thousands of travelers. And they were just the latest incidents in what has come to seem like a systemic problem.

Love ’em or hate ’em, most travelers would agree that kids on a plane can make for a stressful flight experience.

JetBlue Airways burst onto the U.S. domestic airline scene 15 years ago with bigger and more comfortable seats, livable 34-inch seat pitches (pitch is the distance between seats), free inflight entertainment and TV in every seat, and generous checked baggage policies — and when it got a heap of slots at the JFK airport, many hardcore travelers flocked to the airline.

In his opening remarks before yesterday’s House Transportation Committee “Oversight of U.S. Airline Customer Service” hearing, committee chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) referred to two recent incidents: United’s forcible removal of a passenger on flight UA3411, and an American Airlines flight attendant’s tussle with a passenger over her child’s stroller.

To the argument that flying is becoming more hospitable, or is at least regaining some of its former hospitability, can now be added this: American Airlines is bringing back free meals in coach on some flights.