Brian Sumers

IAG's Avios points are coveted among people who want free or reduced-priced flights. A company might prefer to adopt its currency rather than start its own program. But IAG needs to invest in technology to make earning and burning a more attractive proposition for consumers.

You don't wan't airlines to apologize. You want airlines to get better. There's the starting point in how to message to your customers going forward.

For most U.S. airlines, June was the best revenue month in a very long time. But don't mistake that for a sustained recovery. The situation is dicey. It's not clear whether this recovery can continue for the final three months of the year.

Demand for summer air travel is sky-high. But let's be honest, these are still uncertain times. The airline recovery might continue to grow in a linear way. But it also might zig and zag. There's no guarantee the good times will last through the fall and winter.

This is going to be a tough summer for U.S. airlines. They are scheduling more flights than the system can handle as passengers show a near insatiable appetite for tickets. The last thing they need to be doing is joining the pass-the-buck club between airports and governments.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian, who left the company briefly in 2005, loves to tell the story about why he quit. At the time, Delta was pursuing a discount strategy that he didn't like. Not long after he returned, Delta made aggressive moves for premium traffic, which has made it considerable money since with new efforts under way.

A couple of regions are performing well for Accor, the France-based hotel company. But let's not confuse this with those booming pre-pandemic times. The Covid hotel industry recovery still has a long way to go.

Loyalty is big business. Presumably, MGM Resorts replaced its old program with a new one to juice revenues. But it's not exactly clear why this program is better than the old one.

There are probably enough qualified pilots in the United States for Breeze to hire. But some may want higher wages than Breeze wishes to pay. Why shouldn't the airline look abroad for labor? It is a perfectly legal program.

Hawaiian Airlines is late to the lie-flat seat game, but its new Boeing 787s will have 34 beds in the front of the aircraft. Why? The airline thinks leisure travelers, especially from Japan, will pony up when travel restrictions ease and they resume vacations to Hawaii again.