Monthly Archives for November 2015.
The story broke last night at Traveling Better: American AAdvantage is making some changes to the AAdvantage program for 2016 and beyond.
Elite status earning remains very similar to what it is today, dropping ‘points’ as a method of qualifying but adding bonuses for premium fares. The airline will go to revenue-based for mileage-earning in ‘late 2016’. Lots of details here.
While it looks like American plans to follow Delta by introducing Basic Economy Fares (lowest fares that do not come with the ordinary benefits of a ticket on a full service carrier, such as advance seat assignments or the ability to upgrade or even make changes with payment of a fee), there’s some indication that United may follow American’s existing model of selling bundles of benefits with their tickets.
And they want to use miles for inflight purchases and for ancillary services during the booking process.
It turns out that by posting DON’T CALL THE AIRLINE a frequent flyer let an airline off the hook for honoring a mistake fare. And it didn’t help that another declared, “I feel so alive inside.”
Last week I wrote that – out of the blue – American was reaching out to folks who held reservations (but did not ticket) for a business mistake fare to China back in March and who had their reservations cancelled. Now we know why…
Reader Michael G. spotted couches just past security in the Tom Bradley International terminal at LAX “Courtesy of the American Express Centurion Lounge” .. there’s no celebrity chef, but clearly an attempt to raise awareness of the American Express and Centurion lounge brand.
We know of course that American Express is seeking to build its own network of lounges in major airports, rather than relying on airline partners alone to provide lounge access to their premium cardmembers. Here’s what else we know:
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
There’s an interesting anomaly that I’ve noticed, that several readers have asked about and that’s been discussed in several forums recently. American seems to be using ‘married segment’ logic for upgrade availability sometimes and on some routes. I’m not certain that this is intentional, but it throws a monkey wrench into how we track upgrade space but also creates an opportunity for jumping the upgrade queue internationally sometimes as well.
Let me explain what married segments are, how to use the information to find upgrade space that you wouldn’t otherwise know about — and what to do to jump the upgrade queue.
Virgin American has a new partnership with Airbnb that gets you 1 point per dollar spent, plus 1500 points for your first stay as a new customer, and 20,000 points if you rent out your own place.
The offer is stackable with a $50 rebate on $100 spend that’s available from American Express.
Back in June I wrote that discount carrier Norwegian – which offers cheap flights between the US and Europe – would start flying from the US to the Caribbean as well.
By flying between French Caribbean islands and the US they’re able to take advantage of US-Europe Open Skies agreements.
There are 3 inaugural routes launching at the beginning of December. Here’s a giveaway with 20 tickets on each of the 3 inaugural flights (with choice of return).
The Chairman of the airline industry lobbying group is the CEO of America. The Vice Chairman is the CEO of Alaska. With Delta pulling out and saving its $5 million a year, those two are saying good riddance. In fact, Delta is out 6 months early from the group and other airlines are making up the difference in dues.
Brilliant move on Delta’s part to free ride on the lobbying efforts of others, or unwise to give up the power that comes from your lobbyists having very personal relationships with the Chairman of the House Transportation Committee?
American Airlines and Qantas became joint venture partners in 2011. That means they’re allowed to coordinate schedule and pricing. These arrangements also frequently include revenue-sharing. Competitors Delta and Virgin Australia are also joint venture partners.
American and Qantas are entering into a new, tighter arrangement that’s making possible American’s Sydney flight and Qantas’ San Francisco service – plus possible new service by American to Auckland. The first flight starts December 17. But the Department of Transportation may not give the go-ahead.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
