Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for November 2018.

Why Do First Class Passengers Board First — Rather Than Last?

by Gary Leff

overhead bin
Nov 08 2018

I often say that you do not want to board first. You want to board ‘not last’ so that the plane hasn’t run out of overhead bin space by the time you get on. Boarding early is about one thing only: not having to gate check your carry on bag.

That’s why I absolutely love a quick overnight, and on a two night trip sometimes stretch myself to travel with just my laptop bag, so that I don’t need overhead bin space. I can show up at the airpprt later. I can work productively in the lounge. And I don’t have to rush boarding. As someone that values every 5 minutes in my day (I really do keep myself that busy), this matters to me.

Continue Reading »

Updated Details of the American Airlines Fleet

by Gary Leff

inside plane
Nov 07 2018

I’ve created a table with the current active American Airlines mainline fleet, which consists of 945 aircraft. You can see how many seats are in each aircraft type, and how many of each type they have in service. The table is accurate as of today.

American’s mainline fleet currently consists of 330 first class seats; 16,562 business class or domestic first seats; 2283 premium economy seats; and 146,063 coach seats.

Continue Reading »

American Express Adds New Membership Rewards Transfer Partner: Star Alliance’s LifeMiles

by Gary Leff

aviancaplane
Nov 07 2018

A year ago Citibank added Avianca’s LifeMiles as a points transfer partner. Now American Express Membership Rewards has done so as well.

LifeMiles is a fantastic Star Alliance program. I have a few hundred thousand of their miles, and I’ve never used them to travel on Avianca. Instead I use them for premium cabin awards on airlines like Lufthansa, Asiana, and Thai Airways. And I use their cash and points awards to book United’s domestic first class.

Continue Reading »

If You’re Flying Basic Economy on American or Delta And Need Overhead Bin Space, Do This

by Gary Leff

airplane seats
Nov 07 2018

If you’re flying American Airlines on a basic economy fare take note: starting December 12 customers with peanut allergies can board early so they have a chance to wipe down their seats. Delta allows this too.

By the way I don’t actually recommend misrepresenting your needs. I do think these loopholes speak to the absurdity of the restrictions themselves.

Continue Reading »

Germans Don’t Know What KLM Is, So the Airline Opened a Restaurant and Bank

by Gary Leff

klm planes
Nov 07 2018

SkyTeam member airline KLM, based in Amsterdam and acquired by Air France in 2004, sees Germany as its most important market but discovered that 46% of Germans don’t know what a KLM is.

The airline created a German ad campaign: We are an airline. But since their research showed that people assumed KLM was either a bank, radio station or restaurant, they opened those things.

Continue Reading »