Ed Bastian

So in the end, it's again about card acquisition for Amex, which is also how Delta gets rich.

Yeah, our friend Ed Bastian has been very clear that the Amex Delta relationship is very tight, and I believe him.

But it doesn't work like this for all the airlines, as far as I understand.

And every now and then we hear Scott Kirby on a United Earnings call saying, poke at Chase a little bit remember in all these cases you have two companies that are negotiating with each other that share these customers and I do hear in the background especially at United but maybe at some other airlines as well That maybe one side, maybe the bank is taking too much advantage of the airline or vice versa.

It's a great time to check in with him on how things are going.

Worth noting, he'll be the fourth major U.S. airline CEO on Airlines Confidential since Ed Bastian's August 19th appearance and more to come this fall.

So thrilled to be able to bring all this to you.

Thanks for listening, everyone.

Just think about this, right? So say I am a...

Gold chain medallion with Delta, right? So if you book it through Eddie B's website, Ed Bastian's delta.com website, you book your cruise.

Guess what? You are captain's elite or whatever the hell they have on celebrity.

You get whatever the captain's elite people get.

Oh, my gosh, I'm not going to go on vacation because airfare is up one hundred dollars.

Are you really going to not do your bucket list because gas was at four dollars or airfare went up one hundred? This is Ed Bastian and he's on Fox Business.

He said, you know what? We deprived ourselves during COVID.

People are still out there saying, I want to live and I want to do the stuff I want to do.

But if you're investing in yourself, that economy is very, very strong.

You recognize that voice a little bit there.

If you've ever been on a Delta flight, that's Ed Bastian.

He is the CEO of Delta.

I doubt that they've forgotten to formulate a European strategy to I guess it's possible they think the 330 Neos and the 787s will be enough, or we've seen Delta put in late orders for all kinds of aircraft over the years.

What was that thing that Ed Bastian said maybe last year or the year before about Delta delivery delays from Airbus, that there's an alarm bell that rings in Toulouse? I suspect that Delta can get XLRs if it wants them.

Maybe.

I just don't know how long it would take to get them delivered.

And the industry has been pivoting hard to serve this audience.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian said earlier this year that 90% of the airline's revenue is coming from this high-earning, high-spending segment.

Meanwhile, Skiff's daily lodging report found that U.S. luxury hotel Redpar has been consistently growing by double digits in 2026.

For any commercial leader thinking about a premium strategy, the question to solve right now isn't whether premium is working.

We have a lot of sponsorships.

And then September 15th, Ed Bastian, who's the CEO of Delta, I'm gonna be interviewing him on a panel-

Nice

... at a fireside chat in front of the 100 members that are lucky enough to get a ticket.

Good.

Then they talked to, just they're interviewing separately, CNBC, the CEO of Delta, another airline, of course, Ed Bastian.

And they said, hey, what do you think about this video that goes viral? And he said, I think customers have the right to recline.

The right to? Yeah.