American Airlines has started flying its newly retrofitted Airbus A319 with 12 first class seats instead of 8—and it got there without removing any coach seats. The result is visible in a new back-galley photo: flight attendants say there’s nowhere to stand or work, and they end up in the aisle while passengers queue for the lavatory.
American Airlines has a new internal playbook for oversold flights — and it changes how you should think about taking a voluntary bump. A leaked memo lays out two rules that matter to passengers: everyone is supposed to be paid the highest offer the gate makes, and the third offer is usually the ceiling unless managers approve more. If you want the most compensation, that inside detail is now part of the strategy.
American Airlines sent employees a pointed note accusing United of dumping capacity into Chicago O’Hare to manipulate a lease provision that allocates gates based on prior-year flying. What stands out is who didn’t sign it: the message came from the COO and Chief Commercial Officer, not CEO Robert Isom, whose job has been on the line.
Singapore Airlines flight 21, the 19 hour 10 minute non-stop from Newark to Singapore, struck the tail of a Spirit Airlines plane on Tuesday morning. Video from inside the Singapore Airbus A350-900 shows the damage to Spirit’s tail.
An Iran Air Airbus A319 was reportedly destroyed on the ground at Bushehr Airport as strikes hit Iranian aviation infrastructure. Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport was also struck, underscoring that these targets are tied to military activity as well as civilian traffic—while early statements indicate the nearby Bushehr nuclear power plant itself has not been hit.
American Airlines sells a “premium” experience and even tells coach passengers their ticket is “more than just a seat,” but customers keep documenting the opposite: broken armrests, headrests that fall off, and first class tray tables marked “out of order.” When they complain, the response is remarkably consistent—no compensation, no partial refund, product delivered—as if a functioning seat and usable meal setup were optional extras.
American Airlines quietly rewrote its Contract of Carriage in two places that matter: wheelchair damage claims now have a 24-hour clock on domestic trips, and downgrades to coach now come with a fixed 40% refund on the affected segment. That turns a mishandled mobility device into a paperwork race, and can make overselling premium cabins more profitable.
Hyatt’s latest points devaluation means fewer outsized redemptions at top properties—here’s precisely how I’ll shift my strategy to keep getting the best possible value.
American Airlines is running a new AAdvantage promo that awards bonus Loyalty Points on March and April flights that count toward status. Register in your account by April 30 to earn 500 extra Loyalty Points per flown segment (up to 5,000), with additional bonuses on select Mexico and Caribbean routes and for segments booked through AAdvantage Business/Corporate.
A United Boeing 787-9 bound for Newark turned back to Los Angeles and was on the ground again just 36 minutes after takeoff, after its left engine began smoking. Fire crews met the jet on the runway, and passengers were sent down the evacuation slides onto a taxiway as LAX imposed a ground stop.
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 »
