The Wall Street Journal reports on how United Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are investigating how a passenger gained access to the cockpit of a flight at cruising altitude, in violation of the company’s policy, as well as FAA regulations. Thanks to @xJonNYC for flagging this. Man spotted in captain’s seat on United MLB charter flight This incident happened on Wednesday, April 10, 2024, and involves a United Airlines Boeing 757 that was operating a Major League Baseball (MLB) charter flight for the Colorado Rockies. The plane was operating the 1,315-mile flight from Den ..read more

While Four Seasons is primarily known for its luxury hotels, the brand also has a “private jet” that operates some pretty amazing journeys. I recently had the chance to check out the plane that operates these flights during some downtime at Paine Field (just outside of Seattle), and wanted to share some impressions about what I learned. I knew going in how nice the plane would be (based on the pictures), but what really impressed me was the soft product, from the staffing levels and customization, to the free flowing Dom Perignon… The basics of Four Seasons Private Jet journeys With Four Seaso ..read more

There was a very close call this morning at Washington National Airport (DCA), and I’m sure this will be investigated closely… Southwest Boeing 737 & JetBlue Embraer E190 incident at DCA This incident happened today (Thursday, April 18, 2024), and involves two flights that were departing Washington National Airport. Specifically, this involves: A Southwest Boeing 737 MAX 8 with the registration code N8710M that was scheduled to fly to Orlando (MCO) as flight WN2937 A JetBlue Embraer E190 with the registration code N323JB that was scheduled to fly to Boston (BOS) as flight B61554 VASAviat ..read more

Southwest Airlines has just unveiled a new brand campaign, which is the carrier’s largest in nearly a decade… Southwest’s new “The Big Flex” brand campaign Southwest’s new brand campaign is called “The Big Flex,” and it’s intended to showcase the carrier’s flexible and customer friendly points of difference. This includes how the carrier allows two free checked bags, how flights credits and points don’t expire, and how there are no change or cancelation fees on tickets. The campaign is centered around stories of customers who benefit from Southwest’s flexible policies, and showcases the ways c ..read more

In October 2022, Lufthansa formally announced plans to introduce a new first class product, as part of its new Allegris product generation. This is of course in addition to Lufthansa’s highly anticipated new Allegris business class, which was announced all the way back in 2017. While Lufthansa’s new Allegris business class will shortly be entering service, we’ll have to be a bit more patient with the new first class. In this post I wanted to go over all the details of Lufthansa’s new first class experience, based on how things currently stand. The basics of Lufthansa’s Allegris concept Allegri ..read more

In April 2023, I wrote about a gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), which sounded like it was straight out of a movie. Roughly a year later, it has now been announced that nine people have been arrested in connection to this, and police have explained how this operation played out (thanks to Dave for flagging this)… How gold & cash were stolen from an airport facility This incident happened on April 17, 2023, and involves an Air Canada flight that had landed in Toronto from Switzerland. The jet had quite some valuable cargo, including a container with 6,600 gold bars ..read more

In 2017, Lufthansa announced plans to introduce a new long haul business class product. This product has been delayed considerably — nearly seven years later, not a single jet is in service with these seats yet. The good news is that this will shortly changing, as Lufthansa is preparing to finally introduce its new Allegris business class. The airline has just taken delivery of its first jet with new Allegris cabins, and it should be entering service in the coming days. In this post I wanted to go over all the details of Lufthansa’s new business class experience. The basics of Lufthansa’s Alle ..read more

American Airlines has just announced plans to introduce new amenity kits and bedding as of Memorial Day Weekend, which the airline describes as contributing to a “reimagined onboard experience.” I’m not sure what exactly to make of these changes, so let’s go over the details. New American Airlines amenity kits American will be rolling out new amenity kits in first class, business class, and premium economy. The kits will include a dental kit, eye mask, and earplugs, in addition to a rotating selection of skincare products and offerings. What I find interesting here is how little consistency th ..read more

American Airlines has just announced that it will introduce a special product within business class, known as the Flagship Suite Preferred seat. Details remain somewhat limited, but let’s discuss what we do know… American’s new front row business class on the 787 & 777 We know that American will soon be introducing a new long haul business class product, known as the Flagship Suite. This will initially be available on American’s newly delivered premium Boeing 787-9s, and will also eventually be retrofitted on existing Boeing 777-300ERs, as American eliminates “proper” first class. American ..read more

Greece’s Aegean Airlines has just announced a fascinating development, as the airline will be introducing a subfleet of Airbus A321neos, which will be longer range, and in a much less dense configuration. Aegean will fly four A321LRs in premium configuration Star Alliance member Aegean exclusively flies Airbus A320-family aircraft, and the airline is currently modernizing its fleet with new A320neos and A321neos, all of which are in a regional configuration. That will be changing eventually, but only for a subfleet of aircraft. Aegean has made the decision to invest in four Airbus A321neos wit ..read more