View from the Wing

rare photo of American Airlines CEO Robert Isom at a gate points to the work still required: persuading 130,000 employees to deliver the premium airline the company is finally building.

A Marriott Platinum member says severe weather diverted her flight and the AC Hotel Kansas City Plaza canceled her prepaid four-night stay and kept $596.76, while an identical amount later appeared pending. When she asked for a receipt, the front desk told her to “get the f— out”—but a hotel bartender says the viral clip omits repeated confrontations.

American Airlines downgraded a family from business class to make room for deadheading pilots, choosing them because their tickets were booked with miles. The $600 voucher offered doesn’t replace the mileage refund required after an involuntary downgrade.

View From The Wing has obtained the first video inside American Airlines’ completed Boeing 777-300ER retrofit, showing its enormous 70-seat business-class cabin installed. The first aircraft, N718AN, is back in Dallas ahead of an expected early-September commercial debut.

A woman used her own miles and money to move herself and her husband from Delta Comfort+ to lie-flat Delta One on a 10-hour family flight. Her mother-in-law said first class wasn’t for “kids”—and wanted to know who would help with the baby left in back.

Starting September 1, Delta says FAA enforcement will require carrier-provided cups and glasses to be collected before pushback, while passengers may keep identical drinks they brought aboard if properly stowed. The 34-year-old rule is about evacuation safety and could make already-inconsistent predeparture beverages even less reliable.

Thrifty Traveler Premium’s biggest percentage discount of the year brings flight deal alerts down to $90.99 for the first year, with flight-and-hotel alerts available for $132.99 through Sunday.

A United Polaris passenger says he opened freshly packed bedding on a San Francisco–Tokyo flight and touched dried feces—then spent nine more hours in the same seat because the cabin was full.

A couple flying to Las Vegas to elope wound up married at 35,000 feet by an ordained Southwest pilot, with 178 strangers watching and a toilet-paper dress and coffee-stirrer bouquet supplied by the crew.

Sean Duffy’s long-delayed family road-trip series is finally online, complete with Trump cameos and sponsor placement paid for by companies his department regulates. It looks less like tourism promotion than a corporate-funded vehicle for the Duffy family brand—and for the Transportation Secretary’s extraordinary public flattery of the President.

Insiders argue American Airlines has reversed disastrous sales and distribution mistake while still running the same old strategy that left it weak in major markets. That critique is partly right, but incomplete: American’s Sun Belt focus was less a fresh strategic choice than the result of years of retreat from competition, premature aircraft retirements, slot and gate constraints, and a long-running failure to value the markets that drive loyalty and credit card spend.

A man allegedly living at Miami International Airport was arrested after police say he stole a passenger’s suitcase from an American Airlines baggage carousel and kept it so he could look like a traveler and blend in. The bag and its contents were valued at about $9,000, turning the case into a felony — and police found him weeks later back in the same baggage claim area, still with the suitcase.

A Florida man was arrested after allegedly trying to charge hotel drinks to room 666, claiming he was the son of God, refusing to leave a DoubleTree restaurant, and then attempting to get into a Rolls-Royce at valet.

Uber is cutting the value of its Uber One subscription program, reducing rebates on rides from 6% to 5%. That’s a 16.7% reduction. And Uber wants members to know it’s what you demanded. Here’s how they open their email on the change, We’re always looking for new ways to improve Uber One, evolving what we offer based on what members value most. We’re making a few updates and want to share what’s changing. Then comes the actual change: In the coming weeks, eligible rides will start earning 5% Uber

American Airlines’ Contract of Carriage already bars passengers from flying barefoot or wearing offensive clothing, but some travelers still need the reminder. Also JetBlue’s first class seat moving toward installation, why airport food costs so much, Houston Intercontinental’s renovated Executive Club, and American’s latest “premium” service gaps.

Two American Airlines flights using the same flight number were airborne near Phoenix at the same time, on the same air traffic control frequency, and one accepted instructions meant for the other. The planes never lost required separation, but the communications close call highlights a strange problem facing major carriers: in a codeshare-heavy world, airlines are running out of usable flight numbers.

Citi Strata Elite arrives in a surprisingly premium package, but the real value is what the card earns. The current offer delivers 75,000 points and credits worth up to $1,200 in the first year, and its points now transfer to American Airlines AAdvantage.

A blind machinist who had spent years manufacturing Boeing parts says Boeing hired him for factory work, then removed him from the workplace and refused reasonable accommodations after deciding he was unsafe. The lawsuit raises a strange but serious question: how far disability law requires an aircraft manufacturer to go in accommodating a blind worker on the factory floor, especially given Boeing’s own recent record of manufacturing failures.

American accepted wheelchair, meet-and-assist and hearing-assistance requests for an 89-year-old in Fort Wayne. Her family says she was parked, forgotten, missed her flight and was nearly left outside in the rain.

Outrage ensued after Fox reported DFW airport will install two Islamic wudu stations for $300,000. DFW says the proposal remains under evaluation, and the source of its “private” funding is unidentified.