United Airlines is changing its frequent flyer plan so that miles accrued don’t expire in a member’s lifetime. Wednesday’s change to MileagePlus aligns United’s program with those of Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways. Delta changed its mileage expiration policy in early 2011. American Airlines requires members to earn or redeem miles at least once every 18 months, as had United. Southwest Airlines and Alaska Air Group require account activity at least once every 2 years. The more generous policies reflect efforts to make airlines’ co-branded credit cards -- and the miles attached to spending on them -- more attractive to travellers. “We want to demonstrate to our members that we are committing to them for the long haul,,” Luc Bondar, United’s VP of loyalty, said. <br/>
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United Airlines is starting to move its 14 Boeing 737 MAX jets to short-term storage in Phoenix, Arizona, which has better weather for stored aircraft and where it will be easier to prepare them for commercial flight again, the carrier said Wednesday. Once the US FAA approves new software and pilot training, airlines will have to upload the software changes and run a series of maintenance checks on the jets before flying them again with passengers. Having all of its MAX planes in one place at Phoenix Goodyear Airport will be more efficient for that process, United said. The airline has received a ferry permit from the FAA for each of the 14 flights to Phoenix from their current locations in Houston, where it cited hurricane threats, and Los Angeles. United has removed its MAX jets from its flight schedule until Nov 3. <br/>
Airlines have been married to each other in alliances for 20 years. But sometimes it feels like they hardly talk to each other. They struggle to check people in for flights on other airlines within the alliance. They frequently can’t even get you a boarding pass and don’t have a way to book a seat assignment or sell you an extra-legroom seat. “We haven’t done customers a great deal of justice in terms of the experience crossing the alliance,” admits Jeffrey Goh, CE of Star Alliance. Now Star, Oneworld and SkyTeam say they are finally investing in technology that will make simple travel functions possible across their networks. Some changes have already happened, like the ability to use United’s app to get seat assignments on SIA and Air Canada flights. Travellers will start seeing a lot more changes by the end of this year. <br/>