Greetings from Austin, it’s my last weekend in town for a bit as I gear up for a busy few weeks of travel including my first trip to Asia! While new reviews will be coming soon, there was a decent amount of news on the airline front this week which we’ll five into below in the February 15, 2025 weekly recap.
American Airlines Indicates a Shift Back Towards Premium Offerings
In an internal memo to employees this week, American Airlines announced the creation of a Customer Experience organization which will focus on improving the customer journey from booking to baggage claim.
The Fort Worth based carrier appears to be indicating a shift towards a more premium business model and away from the no frills “our network is the product” approach we saw with the last group of leadership. It will be interesting to watch and see what exactly will change but I’m optimistic.
Spirit is Moving Forward with its Restructuring Plan, Rejecting Frontier’s Latest Merger Proposal
Spirit Airlines filed for bankruptcy late last year and is currently in the process of restructuring. It was widely thought that the airline’s best chance of survival was to merge with another carrier. The airline had previously attempted a merger with JetBlue but that was shut down under the Biden Administration.
After filing for bankruptcy, fellow ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) Frontier Airlines emerged as the most likely candidate to purchase Spirit. The two carriers went back and forth over the terms of the deal with Spirit ultimately deciding to move forward as its own.
Delta Introduces Personalized Luggage Tags for Medallion Members
While minor in the grand scheme of things, Delta Air Lines has introduced new, customizable, bag tags for its Medallion frequent flyers this year. The Atlanta based carrier, which has positioned itself as a high-end carrier, is also upgrading the tags from plastic to metal. Medallion members can include a variety of different items on their tags when ordering.
Alaska Airlines is Pulling Out of Dallas Love Field
Alaska Airlines is closing up shop at Dallas Love Field (DAL) and consolidating operations at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). This doesn’t come as much of a surprise as the airline drastically cut service from the airport, which it inherited after its takeover of Virgin America. Before the announcement, Alaska was down to a single daily flight to Seattle Tacoma International Airport (SEA).
With Alaska consolidating operations at DFW alongside OneWorld partner American Airlines, the big question is around what will happen to the carrier’s gates at the constrained airport. Will Delta finally end up with the gates needed ]to expand its operation at Love Field or will a new airline move in?
Summary
It was a slower than normal week on the news front but there were a couple of things that may have some long term impacts. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. As always, thanks for checking out the ATX Jetsetter weekly recap for February 15, 2025.
