Brian Sumers

Will United Airlines ever take the 35 Airbus A350s it has on order? At one point, it had an acute need for the new long-haul aircraft. But times change, and United already has a worthy successor for its Boeing 747 fleet — the Boeing 777-300ER.

In recent years, many Alaska Airlines frequent flyers liked to fly American, because they would receive loyalty benefits even when flying the competition. But starting next year, that perk will end, and that's not great news for road warriors.

With good management, this ultra low-cost airline strategy is profitable just about everywhere. The key? Airlines like Viva Aerobus must be fanatical about costs, and they must provide the cheapest fares, all the time. They also should treat their customers fairly.

Yes, airline frequent flyer programs probably were more lucrative a decade ago. But savvy travelers can still get a lot of value out of the programs and their affiliated credit cards.

Did customers book away from United Airlines after security officers called by the airline beat up a passenger in Chicago? Probably not, considering how well the airline performed financially in the second quarter.

Here's a prediction. The Trump administration may do little on the Open Skies debate. Yes, U.S. airlines probably suffer because of the agreements with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. But plenty of other U.S. interests take advantage of the same agreements to make money.

No, these special airline VIP lobbies are not new. But all three full-service U.S. airlines are investing in them, with each trying to one-up the other. If you're a regular coach customer, you likely don't care. But if you have access to these lobbies, you're probably pleased.

It's 2017. According to SITA, 98 percent of airline passengers fly with at least one mobile device. It's amazing that so many passengers still prefer to the face-to-face experience at airports. It's a lot slower than self-service, and often less effective.

Building a coach airline seat is not like creating home furniture. Building stuff for aircraft is remarkably complicated. We got an inside look recently at the production center for an aircraft seat maker. Here's some of what we learned.

It's a tough time to be a small, full-service airline in Europe. But SAS CEO Rickard Gustafson is trying to ensure his airline can compete both with low cost airlines, like Norwegian, and massive legacy airlines like Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM.