A Delta Sky Club crackdown and 11 other airline storylines we'll be watching in 2025
2024 was an eventful year in the U.S. airline industry. It started early when a door plug explosively separated from an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft last January, renewing scrutiny of the U.S. plane-maker and ultimately fueling a shake-up of its leadership.
The year also brought us news of Southwest Airlines' shocking move away from open seating, the approval of Alaska's acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines and a wave of new air travel consumer protections passed or proposed by the Biden administration — to say nothing of the industry's latest Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
What do the skies have in store this year?
Here are some of the top U.S. airline storylines we'll be watching in 2025.
Will airfare go up?
After passengers felt the sting of airfare amid the post-coronavirus pandemic rush back to travel, 2024 brought a nice change of pace for customers.
While fares remain stubbornly high in some markets, they finally moderated in others — particularly in cities like Orlando and Las Vegas, where airlines added so much capacity in recent years that the stiff competition forced fares down.
Discounted fares and unfilled seats on many routes cut into carriers' bottom lines. As a result, we saw a dramatic series of route cuts, from JetBlue to Spirit Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Frontier Airlines.
Late in the year, several carriers noted the changes were working. While that's good news for their shareholders, it could fuel higher fares for passengers in the new year.
We'll be closely watching how airfare trends unfold in the coming months and what that means for spring and summer 2025 travel.
Read more: The best time to book flights for the cheapest airfare
Delta Sky Club clampdown is coming
It's been well over a year since we first reported on Delta Air Lines' SkyMiles program overhaul, which included a crackdown on Delta Sky Club access as a way to stem overcrowding.
While the backlash that ensued in September 2023 may seem like a distant memory, some of Delta's toughest new lounge access rules still haven't gone into effect yet.
But they will soon.
Starting Feb. 1, Delta loyalists who earn Sky Club access via a cobranded American Express credit card will face annual limits on their lounge visits.
Cardmembers with the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card and the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card will be limited to 15 Sky Club visits per calendar year.
Cardmembers with The Platinum Card® from American Express and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express will be limited to 10 annual visits.
Note that all Sky Club visits made in a 24-hour period will count as one visit.
Delta hopes the changes will thin out the crowds in its popular airport clubs, but the start of these stricter policies will certainly require some adjustment on the part of SkyMiles members who have previously taken advantage of unlimited access to those lounges.
Read more: Delta unveils new Sky Club in Charlotte, a fortress hub for American
Delta One Lounge portfolio expands
On the other hand, frequent Delta flyers should find this 2025 lounge news a bit more exciting. The carrier plans to continue expanding its high-end Delta One Lounge portfolio this year, starting with a new business-class-only outpost at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) that's expected to open in late spring.
Beyond that, the carrier has told TPG it's plotting future business lounges at its Atlanta and Salt Lake City hubs, but the timeline for those remains a bit unclear.
Delta debuted the swanky concept last summer and finished the year with three Delta One Lounges in New York, Los Angeles and Boston.
Previously the only U.S. legacy carrier without an elevated business-class lounge experience, these new facilities easily rank among the nicest lounges you'll find at any U.S. airport.
Related: Future Delta One lounges, the next Sky Club and more about Delta's plans for premium
Airbus A321XLR to shake up air travel
A new airplane type hitting the marketplace should shake up the air travel landscape this year.
It actually started in November, when Iberia operated the first-ever Airbus A321XLR on a transatlantic flight from Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD) to Boston Logan International Airport (BOS). The Spanish carrier is also planning to fly the long-range, narrow-body jet to Dulles International Airport (IAD) near Washinton, D.C., starting this month.
With transatlantic-capable range and a lower cost to operate than a big twin-aisle jet, the A321XLR should allow carriers to experiment with new, more creative routes, including links between smaller U.S. cities and Europe.
Look no further than Aer Lingus' planned routes from Dublin to Indianapolis and Nashville.
American Airlines expects to receive its first XLRs this year, too. The aircraft will begin by replacing the four-cabin "A321T" on prime transcontinental routes, but with future deliveries, American plans to deploy the aircraft on new and interesting international routes, the carrier told TPG.
American's Flagship business-class suites arrive
Speaking of American's XLR, that aircraft — along with a slew of other wide-body jets — will usher in the airline's first-ever privacy suites in its business-class cabin.
American's XLRs will sport the new lie-flat Flagship Suite concept, as will new deliveries of its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Plus, later this year, American plans to give its Boeing 777-300ERs an internal refurbish complete with the new suite concept.
Sadly, these changes will spell the end of American's Flagship First cabin.
However, the new business-class suites should soon be an alluring product for American Airlines AAdvantage redemptions.
An added bonus in 2025 for premium flyers: American plans to bring its all-business-class Flagship Lounge to Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) by this summer, offering a higher-end airport experience for passengers headed to Europe via Philadelphia.
Related: Refurbish or replace? American Airlines ponders fate of top international workhorse jet
United's ambitious network takes shape
United Airlines has garnered a barrage of headlines in recent years, with a dramatic Pacific expansion and nonstop service to the likes of Christchurch, New Zealand, and — more recently — Morocco.
There's much more to come in 2025, as the carrier will soon launch flights to Senegal, Sicily, Mongolia and Greenland, expanding the notion of where a U.S. airline would conceivably consider flying.
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United sees its ambitious new routes as a boon for its United MileagePlus program and promises even more creative nonstop offerings once it receives its own Airbus A321XLR jets in the future.
Southwest's new extra-legroom seats begin appearing
While Southwest Airlines' new assigned seats and extra-legroom seats won't technically go live until 2026, travelers should start seeing the more spacious rows appearing on select Boeing 737 jets by midyear.
Southwest plans to start retrofitting its fleet with new cabin configurations featuring the extra-legroom seats by this spring. Once a jet gets serviced, it'll rejoin the fleet, which means lucky passengers could be pleasantly surprised to find the seats on certain flights within the next several months (and increasingly as the year goes on).
This year, we also expect to learn more about the Southwest Rapid Rewards changes that will come with the carrier's dramatic shift away from its half-century open seating policy. Already, TPG reported that A-List and A-List Preferred status will come with free access to the extra-legroom seats in the future.
Related: Best Southwest Airlines credit cards
JetBlue enters the (lounge) chat
Between now and when the famous Times Square ball drops in JetBlue's hometown next New Year's Eve, the carrier is expected to cut the ribbon on its first-ever airport lounge at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). A second is expected to follow shortly after at BOS.
JetBlue's decision to wade into an increasingly competitive airport lounge landscape is a firm push to appeal to travelers willing to pay more for premium experiences — a slice of the traveling public that airlines collectively have sought to woo with a flurry of changes across several carriers in recent months.
Who will be able to access the new JetBlue lounges? JetBlue TrueBlue members who carry the premium JetBlue credit card (details of which should be announced this year) along with top-tier Mosaic 4 elite status members and travelers flying on a transatlantic Mint ticket — including those on their way to the airline's newest destination in 2025: Madrid.
We'll have to wait a bit longer to see the airline's just-announced domestic first-class seats, though. Those are expected to join its planes in 2026.
Frontier's first-class seats take flight
Frontier Airlines' first-class seats are expected to become available this year, though.
CEO Barry Biffle told TPG that the carrier hopes to have its entire fleet outfitted with the new, spacious recliners by year's end.
Before that, the airline is offering up no-strings-attached companion passes to Frontier Miles members who reach Platinum status. That requires 50,000 elite status points — or 20,000 points between now and April 30.
Uncertainty over Spirit Airlines
After months of speculation over its future, Spirit Airlines announced in November that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with hopes to exit the proceedings by the end of March 2025.
The move came as the airline faced mounting debt, aircraft engine issues affected a large swath of its fleet and it faced an overall uphill backdrop (like other ultra-low-cost carriers) in recent years.
Spirit has laid out a comprehensive strategy to get the company back on track on its own, but it's also been the subject of one merger discussion after another, from multiple rounds of talks with Frontier Airlines (one publicly acknowledged in 2022 and another, late last year, reported by The Wall Street Journal) to a failed merger attempt with JetBlue blocked in federal court.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy involves restructuring, so Spirit should continue all operations while the proceedings unfold. Still, a top U.S. airline industry storyline in 2025 will center on how Spirit ultimately emerges — assuming it does, in fact, emerge on its own without all (or parts) of the company being acquired by another carrier.
Will consumer protections push continue under new administration?
The Biden administration took a tough regulatory posture when it came to the airline industry.
In court, the Department of Justice successfully blocked JetBlue's Northeast Alliance with American and its proposed merger with Spirit.
Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation embarked on a major consumer protections push. It pressured airlines to clarify (and, in some cases, improve) their promises to customers when responsible for a significant delay or cancellation. With the help of Congress, it strengthened federal refund rules when a passenger chooses not to fly after a major disruption. It made a public push over family seating policies and issued new protections for disabled passengers.
Generally speaking, the Trump administration is widely expected to take a less heavy-handed regulatory approach.
It's unclear what that could mean for individual protections championed by Biden's Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, some of which Trump's DOT could undo or choose not to enforce.
As soon as next month, Trump's DOT could face a decision on how to handle a proposed rule put forward last month by the Biden administration that would require delay and cancellation compensation for passengers when it's the airline's responsibility.
It's also worth watching whether a new administration inspires any merger and acquisition activity in the airline industry.
Related reading:
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- Maximize your airfare: The best credit cards for booking flights
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- What are points and miles worth? TPG's monthly valuations
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