Delta’s New Subscription Loyalty Play and 8 Other Top Aviation Stories This Week

Delta Air Lines Sells a New Subscription That Indirectly Includes Overhead Bin Access: This priority boarding craze is getting out of hand. Almost no one wants to get on an airplane 45 minutes before it departs. People go nuts over boarding early because they have overhead bin anxiety. Can we just start charging for bin space? It’s a precious resource for which demand outstrips supply.

United’s Plan to Use Larger Jets to Control Rising Costs: Fun fact: What airlines refer to as costs is not an absolute measure of how much a carrier spends. A massive global airline like United can spend a lot more money from quarter to quarter and still keep its costs in check so long as it grows capacity during the quarter.

Travel Agencies Have Long Struggled With Southwest. Now This Is Changing: Southwest has been a thorn in the side of many travel management companies. Now they have a shot at a mutually beneficial relationship with the airline.

Travel Agencies See Huge Opportunity as Southwest Business Expands: The airline’s recent agreements with Amadeus and Travelport signal a turning point in its distribution strategy. This is a big deal for travel management companies.

Booking.com Launches Flights Through Partnership Across Europe: The Booking.com flight partnership with eTraveli doesn’t seem particularly seamless because travelers still have to hop over to a third-party site, Gotogate, to complete their reservations. Still, the deal is another step in Booking.com’s evolution from hotel-only provider in its early days to well-rounded online travel company.

5 Takeaways From the UK’s Thomas Cook Inquiry: Inquiries like these are often pretty brutal on company executives. Former CEO Peter Fankhauser shoulders a lot of responsibility for what went down at Thomas Cook but he’s not the only one at fault. The actions of his predecessors, as well as the UK government itself, are likely to also come under scrutiny.

Delta-Latam Tie-Up Could Expand SkyTeam Reach in South America: The new partnership in the works between Delta and Latam may drastically affect the way that Oneworld and SkyTeam loyalists shift their business. But there’s still no timeline for when any changes will happen.

Making Events Green Starts First With Transportation: Getting rid of plastic straws is nice, but the biggest positive impact will come from cutting back on plane trips and the use of gas-powered cars. At first, these changes may seem overly inconvenient, but that feeling will lessen once attendee expectations start to shift.

Planners Tackle Plane Travel for the Sake of Greener Events: The masses of attendees boarding flights and using cars is a big reason why events have such a negative environmental impact. Transportation needs to be a central focus for planners looking for greener events.