News and notes from around the interweb:
- With American’s ramped up codeshare with Qatar Airways given the launch of their New York JFK – Doha service, here are the reasons I’ve thought of one might actually choose to fly New York to Doha on American rather than on their partner Qatar.
- Fly America Act – government travel and you have to stick with a U.S. carrier
- Price – American is cheaper for a given trip
- Your corporate deal requires it – what are you going to do?
- To use systemwide upgrades – better to fly American business than Qatar economy
- American has premium economy – a great option for passengers not in a position to fly business
- There’s sometimes semi-decent web saver award pricing on American, useful for times when Qatar redemptions aren’t available
Qatar Airways is so obviously the better experience on average, but there are also edge cases worth considering.
- Fly America Act – government travel and you have to stick with a U.S. carrier
- Man tapes wife in first class while he slinks back to coach
- Snack time
- Nigeria complains about foreign airlines flying to the country quite a lot. Domestic airlines there operate as something of a cabal. So it’s not entirely surprising to see the government talking up making it more difficult for foreign carriers to fly to the country, raising costs by ‘auditing’ them for whether they’re hiring sufficient Nigerian locals.
- Timing is everything.
This is everyone who knows what is important in life. @SouthwestAir pic.twitter.com/4BQM9TEajh
— UpgrAAded (@UpgrAAded) June 4, 2022
- No matter how well-disclosed during the booking process there will always be consumers who don’t internalize it:
I booked a flight from Philly to Atlantic City and I showed up to the gate and it’s a bus. Wtf is this? @AmericanAir pic.twitter.com/5JqQ8E5O9M
— Its Modelo Time Foo (@nocheezpizzaguy) June 4, 2022
Reason number seven to Fly American Airlines Instead Of Qatar Airways:
When flying to Doha, you might enjoy a daiquiri seated next to former Chairman and CEO Doug Parker.
Reason number eight to Fly American Airlines Instead Of Qatar Airways:
Flagship dining is better than a burger at the airport Mcdonald’s.
Regarding point #1, for the Fly America Act, it’s the “code” that matters, not the “metal.” So government travelers could still fly on Qatar metal by booking it as an AA codeshare.
This is how JetBlue got a government contract for flights to Dubai, even though they obviously don’t fly there (it was an Emirates codeshare)— this attracted some controversy but was ultimately found to be legal.
There is no reason to fly American Airlines – they are terrible.
First time I disagree with you!
There are 0 reasons to why flying AA instead of QR.
I’d rather fly Qatar economy than American Airlines business class.
frank – do you agree with me or disagree – you post , as written, makes no sense if you disagree with me…
I wouldn’t fly AA from Chicago to Milwaukee. AA is one big Spirt airlines and an embarrassment to our country. The only way I would ever fly AA is if they offered a non stop that no other airline offers. I guess I would fly them if AA was about $400 or more cheaper on the same domestic route too.
There may be 6 reasons to fly AA over QR, but there are 106 reasons to fly QR over AA.
People fly the garbage that is Air Canada to DOH/DXB enough for those planes to be packed, so clearly demand for a vastly inferior airlines exists to those destinations.
Speaking of how terrible American Airlines in just about everything they do, try booking PHL-ACY and you will see how there’s no real disclosure that it’s a bus, other than a small-type aircraft type “BUS”. Yes, you book with an airline and you get a bus. Even Amtrak knows how to disclose when it’s a bus, with a big bold “Bus Service” during booking.
When is American Airlines finally going bankrupt? They’ve really hit bottom.
Here’s another reason, but “it depends”. Under the new Loyalty Points scheme, if the flight number is not American, the Points are awarded based on the old mileage and class of service model.
So, if you are on an expensive ticket, you don’t get the Points based on ticket price plus status multiplier unless it’s an AA ticket number. I learned this the hard way to RUH via DOH and on the return via LHR. it’s going to make it extra difficult to maintain EXP status unless flights are on AA metal and/or AA flight numbers, even if the tickets are bought directly from AA.
Of course, if you can snag a cheap J class flight on QR, the Points could be greater with a QR flight number. So much for simplicity,
Moderator. Please correct my comment. It needs to be an AA flight number, no ticket number. Thanks.