Greetings from San Francisco! Mrs. ATX and I are wrapping up a quick trip to the Bay Area with ATX Jr. that’s been a mix of work, play, and visiting friends and family. With the travel this week I’m behind on a couple of reviews but hope to have those up before we leave on our trip to Asia the week after next.
With no reviews, it’s going to be a news heavy recap but there was a lot of information that came out over the past seven days. Hope you enjoy the weekly recap for March 8, 2025!
Southwest Takes an Axe to its Rapid Rewards Program
The biggest news of the week seemed to come out of left field as Southwest slashed earnings, some by as much as 67%, on its lower level Wanna Get Away and Wanna Get Away Plus fares without warning.
This is the latest major change for the airline that is undergoing a complete overhaul of its operating model due to pressures from an activist investor. The LUV airline announced the first layoffs in the history of the company last month as they look to squeeze more profit out of the operation and change the culture of the company.
Delta Celebrates its 100th Anniversary
While it kicked off the celebration in January at CES, Delta Air Lines officially turned 100 this week. The Atlanta based carrier was founded as Huff Daland Dusters on March 2, 1925 in Macon, Georgia before being relocated to Monroe, Louisiana shortly afterwards. In 1941 the airline moved to hits current headquarters of Atlanta, Georgia and was renamed Delta in 1945.
Delta has grown far beyond its crop dusting origins and currently operates a fleet of 990 mainline aircraft. The carrier serves more than 300 destinations from its nine primary hubs and two focus cities
Strong Winds Blow Private Jet off of the Runway in Austin
Strong winds hit the Austin area earlier this week wreaking havoc on operations at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS). Nobody had it worse than Bombardier Challenger 300 registered as N283B owned and operated by Elite Air, which was attempting to take off for a flight to St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (PIE) when gusts blew the aircraft off of the runway and into the grass.
This incident caused the airport to close to all traffic for a short time before reopening. Fortunately, there were no reported injuries to anyone on the ground or aboard the aircraft.
United Rolls Out its First Aircraft Equipped With Starlink Wi-Fi
United Airlines announced yesterday that it has upgraded its first aircraft with high Speed Starlink Wi-Fi. The first aircraft to receive Starlink connectivity carries the registration N127SY. It is a 10 year old Embraer E175 operated by SkyWest for United Express.
United plans to outfit its entire two-cabin regional fleet by the end of this year and have its first mainline Starlink-enabled plane in the air before the end of 2025. Wi-Fi will be free for MileagePlus members on the Starlink equipped aircraft.
JetBlue Unveils Super Mario Themed Aircraft
This one isn’t really newsworthy but I wanted to add a bit of fun to this week’s update. JetBlue has just unveiled a new special livery in partnership with Nintendo. The aircraft, registration N561JB, is nicknamed “Cloudtop Cruiser” and features Mario, Princess Peach, Luigi, Bowser, Donkey Kong and Yoshi on the exterior of the aircraft.
The Super Mario theme will also be carried through to the interior of the plane as passengers will be greeted by Mario and friends on the welcome screen of their seatback IFE screens.
Summary
This marks my third straight weekend on the road but I’m loving the chance to spend some time with friends and family during my travels. I’ve got plenty of reviews that I need to finish so be on the lookout for some new ones in the coming days. Thanks for reading the March 8, 2025 weekly recap!