American has launched a series of new #OurHeritage amenity kits. These are branded with several of the airlines that have merged over time to create the current American Airlines. The kits come wrapped in plastic with an identification of the legacy carrier on the plastic. These are the 9 carriers: This isn’t truly comprehensive of course, American itself was initially founded out of something like 80 different airlines around 1930. And I don’t see the 1970s acquisition of Trans Caribbean Airways on the list. From the US Airways side there’s no Lake Central, Empire, or Trump Shuttle. But the biggies are there. American sent me a TWA kit to sample.
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for February 2015.
The Big Hotel Points Giveaway: Enter for a Chance to Win Hilton, Hyatt, Starwood, or Marriott Points Thanks to the MobileSuites App!
I’ve never really been jealous of iPhone users before. I’m an Android guy, and that means I can’t download the new MobileSuites app when it comes out in a few weeks. It’s only for the Apple ecosystem at launch. This app will let you order room service, request housekeeping, set up transportation, and reserve restaurant and spa services regardless of where you’re staying. Diamond room service breakfast at the Andaz 5th Avenue, New York They have a database of over 1200 hotels including many from the major hotel chains and rolling out quickly across their portfolio of full service hotels. Through their free app, MobileSuites facilitate interaction between guests and hotels (they aren’t formally partnered with the chains at this point). They offered to give a View from the Wing reader a bunch of hotel…
25% Bonus Transferring Hotel Points to American Miles: Here’s Why Starwood Gets Excluded
Through March 15 you’ll earn a 25% bonus when you transfer hotel points to American AAdvantage miles. Most hotel programs are eligible for this bonus, however: Point conversions from Starwood Preferred Guest®, Melia Hotels International & Resorts, La Quinta Inns & Suites® and Langham Hospitality Group OUIDA program are not eligible for the 25% bonus offer. What’s more, Conversions for hotel and air packages from eligible AAdvantage hotel participants are excluded from this offer. Hat tip about this offer to One Mile at a Time who points out that the two best options under this bonus are excluded: Marriott Rewards travel packages, which bundle free nights with airline miles Starwood Preferred Guest points transfers, which already offer 1:1 plus a 25% bonus when transferring points to 20,000 miles. When airlines run these conversion promotions, they…
Six Tricks to Get Airline Customer Service When Phone Waits Are Long and Airlines Melt Down
Wendy Perrin shares very good advice similar that what I’ve offered here in the past. When snowstorms hit, or operations melt down for other reasons, it can be tough to get help. There are just too many people chasing too few agents. A year ago during an ice storm in Dallas American Airlines’ operations were so impacted (yes, that’s a word) that the hold time for a 100,000 mile flyer was frequently four hours. But there’s no reason to wait on the phone that long even though you do need help. The most frustrating thing for me about long telephone hold times is that I can find myself flights that are still operating, and with availability (using Expert Flyer) but by the time an agent gets around to the call that space is likely already…
Hacking Your Drugstore for a Free Flight, Your Bank for More Interest, and the Cockpit of the Last Qantas 767…
News and notes from around the interweb: Free flight offer from Rite-Aid. The highest interest rates for deposit accounts. Will airlines and hotels use your aggregated reputation information from companies like Uber and Airbnb? Imagine the outrage if this guy had been driving for Uber… (HT: Jeff B.) Start thinking about your 2015 holiday plans now. Really.. Inside the cockpit of the final retiring Qantas 767. (HT: World Airline News) You can join the 40,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
Thai Beach Destination: Police Chief Wants Officers to Stop Taking Bribes
There’s a new police chief in Pattaya, a beach town just a bit more than an hour’s drive from Bangkok that was a significant R&R destination for US servicemen during the Vietnam War. It became the sort of place that US servicemen, spending US dollars, could buy anything they wished. Pattaya has been cleaned up some compared to what it once was. I’ve stayed at the Sheraton, the property was lovely, though it wasn’t uncommon to spot an older Russian man with young Thai female who spoke neither Russian nor English.. or an older American man with a young Thai male at breakfast. The new police chief is the brother of the national police chief yet is focused on his officers not taking bribes. New Pattaya police chief, Pol. Col. Sukthat Pumpunmuang told officers to…
The Business Class Award Flights to Asia You Can Always Get Because No One Is Competing With You For Them
I attended a talk by a legendary fundraiser, probably 15 years ago, where he told a story about not going to visit with the wealthiest donor in a state. When making a trip to Arkansas everyone assumed they knew he was going to see the Waltons of Wal-Mart but he explained, ‘the line’s too long.’ One of the reasons I’ve loved redeeming Chase points for Korean Air first class, American miles for Etihad first class, and Alaska miles for Emirates first class, is that in those cases there are relatively few programs able to redeem for the seats. Etihad and Emirates aren’t part of global alliances, and Korean’s Skyteam partner Delta doesn’t allow redemptions for first class. In other words, the line is shorter. One of the shortest lines in award redemption is for Philippine…
Transatlantic Business Class Awards Wide Open Again for Summer With No Fuel Surcharges!
A couple of weeks ago, immediately after US Airways transitioned to using American’s fare class codes, the floodgates opened on US Airways international awards in business class. Krystyna F points out to me that US Airways transatlantic business class space is again very very good. Not quite what it was a few weeks ago, most dates on most routes with a whole cabin wide open. But still excellent for summer travel. You can use US Airways or American miles, and not pay fuel surcharges. Using American miles across the Atlantic in business class without fuel surcharges has been a real challenge the past couple of years. You can use British Airways points prior to the April 28 Aviosgeddon. Here are some samples of what I’m seeing — in all cases business class for 2 people,…
Singapore Airlines Eliminating Half Its First Class Seats from Long Haul 777s Getting Premium Economy
AirlineRoute.net has the lowdown on the Singapore Airlines Premium Economy retrofit. Their A380s getting premium economy go from 12 first class, 60 business, and 399 coach (or 86 business, 311 coach) to 36 premium economy and 333 coach in the low-density business configuration or 36 premium economy and 245 coach in the high-density business configuration. Premium economy is coming at the expense of fewer coach seats. Their 777-300ERs getting premium economy go from 8 first class, 42 business, and 228 coach to 4 first class, 48 business, 28 premium economy, and 184 coach. That’s 10% more business class, half the first class, and 20% fewer economy seats to make room for premium economy. I’m not especially interested, then, in the A380 retrofit except to the extent that I know someone interested in buying premium economy.…
Would You Fly Okay Airways? (Yes, They’re Real, and They Just Took Delivery of a New Boeing…)
Okay Airways (OKAir) is China’s first fully privately owned airline, based in Tianjin. They’ve been flying for a decade, and nearly sold a 49% stake in themselves to Korean Air shortly after receiving their operating certificate. Along with ‘Joy Air’ they’re the launch customer for a Chinese-designed turboprop aircraft, the MA700, anticipated to begin flying in 2017. They already operated a dozen MA60s. Their mainline fleet consists of 13 Boeing 737-800s. They fly from Tianjin to Krabi, and are adding four weekly flights from Xi’an to Krabi and three from Xi’an to Bangkok in the coming months. In addition, they fly Tianjin to Changsha, Chengdu, Haikou, Hangzhou, Harbin, Hefei, Jiamusi, Kunming, Nanjing and Zhangjiajie. They’ve now taken delivery of a 737-900, becoming the first operator of that model. Boeing’s press release says they fly “more…
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