News and notes from around the interweb:
- During the recent American Airlines earnings call CFO Devon May talked about ‘softness’ in coach demand. So it’s no surprise that the airline is looking to liquidate inventory that is not selling through its mileage program.
The airline is promoting “more than one million Main Cabin seats on domestic flights (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) redeemable at just 5,000 AAdvantage® miles one way” through May 28, plus “Main Cabin seats on trans-Atlantic flights will be redeemable starting as low as 15,000 AAdvantage® miles one way.”
- Grand Hyatt DFW will renovate its rooms in the second half of 2025. Honestly I’m not sure it needs it! But they’re also adding 17 rooms and that space has to come from somewhere, I will inquire as to where – hopefully not cutting up suites…
Update: The new rooms come from elimination of the old conference suites (oversized hotel rooms with boardroom table and Murphy bed). There’s no change to the number of suites otherwise.
Grand Hyatt DFW - LAX rideshare pickups are absolutely miserable for passengers – having to go to an off-site lot first – but they’re miserable for drivers, too.
- Crowne Plaza Executive Center Baton Rouge may have my favorite bullshit fee, “The surcharge covers a vareity of extra services that the Crowne Plaza provides.” We just won’t tell you what any of them are! IHG hotels are pure comedy gold. (HT: Joe)
- The Essential Air Service program is actually harming small nearby airports that don’t get the money
[S]ubsidies for some (smaller) airports damage the economics of slightly larger, unsubsidized airports that in many cases are within driving distance of the EAS airports. Given this unintended consequence, [William] Swelbar suggests rethinking which airports get EAS subsidies.
Part of the analysis points out that airline deregulation and EAS legislation were enacted prior to the completion of the Interstate Highway System, which has reduced travel times for many trips in EAS states. The report zeroes in on EAS subsidies to airports located less than 120 miles from a large, medium, or small hub airport. There are 64 EAS airports in this group; 53 of them have air service destined for a network carrier connecting hub. The average driving miles to the closest hub airport is 81 miles at an average drive time of one hour and 42 minutes. The average subsidy for the EAS service at these airports is $136.49 per passenger.
…“The government has created a zero-sum air service game where the stronger markets are not able to maximize their economic generation facilitated by air service.” In other words, those nonhub (nonsubsidized) airports could likely attract more service,” if not for subsidies to the EAS airports.
One telling example of a non-EAS airport that could attract more service is Duluth, MN (DLH). There are six other airports within a 180-mile radius of DLH, including large hub Minneapolis/St Paul. The five EAS airports are between 48 and 137 miles from DLH, but DLH loses some business due to the subsidies to the other five.
- Use a credit card instead of your hotel key card to turn on the lights and air conditioning in your room. Hotels want to make sure you save energy, you don’t want your room super hotel when you return. So this is how to keep your room cool while taking your room key with you, at hotels that make you stick your key in the slot to turn on power.
- Sneak peak at new 801-room Omni Fort Lauderdale (HT: Joe)
Oddly, my last flight on LH TATL was full in business and PE, but almost empty in economy. I wonder if something is going on.
I have always carried old hotels key cards to use in europe to keep the aircon running
Its a very old trick
I love how the people on TikTok post their “discoveries” that have been known for years and so many people are amazed at their ingenuity.
The “any card in the slot” thing must be as old as the hills.
I did find a hotel in Spain though that would only work with the key card, I can only assume it was reading off the RFID chip, but surely the cost would outweigh the savings?
cattle is empty because it sucks
for longhaul PE should be the minimum pitch/seat/product – call it “survival class”
for domestic <2 hours minimum 38" pitch in back – remove worthless torture benches
What’s wrong with having my room “super hotel” when I return? Sounds like a bonus.
Come on give AA a break – this is not the first sale like this. It’s just a copy of the Delta sales. And AA had one before. Liquidating is inflammatory language.
And shouldn’t we be happy they are offering lower award prices???
EAS, like all subsidies, and more generally all distortions of the free market, are bad. End them all, unless there’s a very compelling national security justification.
Fire sale at American Airlines because the company is a dumpster fire.
Gary was right! The upside of a downturn in the economy (self-imposed or otherwise) is the potential for deals on cheap airfare. Not worth it overall, but… smoke ‘em if you got ‘em!
I think AA problem is deeper than seats. Some gate agents are rude, mean and are bullies. Not all of them but just enough that I will never fly with them again. If I am going to pay more at least don’t treat us like you hate us.
@Mantis — Oh, please, we do not live in an anarcho-libertarian feudal state, and even though that may be your (and Mike P’s) fever dream, it ain’t happenin’, even with this regime. This market is already distorted, corrupted, and does need reform, but EAS subsidies are not the real issue. As I’ve said before on here (and it isn’t ‘fun’ having to defend these programs), maintaining EAS is crucial for the economic health and development of many regions. Like any program, it can and should be improved, often incrementally, not destroyed, just for your spite.
yet Ryanair has a load factor of 90%+
Perhaps Americans are just too fat for Y?
The problem is most airlines have gotten incredibly greedy with sky high coach mileage redemptions so I simply don’t fly unless I have to.What happened to the 12.5 k award? Quite rare it’s become more than some one ways in business class to Europe on some other airlines
As for ride share @ LAX I switched to Burbank to avoid the dumpster fire pick up area
It’s the worst in the world.LAx only when departing
I heard they eventually will make the ride share pick up closer and more accessible?
As for Grand Hyatt DFW though it’s still nicer than most hotels I found it slightly dated for a property that charges 350 to 400 a night plus taxes .Last time I was there breakfast sucked
(Used to be excellent )so I never went back as a Globalist.And if you don’t come into terminal D it’s a pain in the @$$ to get to with luggage in scorching hot temperatures
It used to be one of the nations best.But after Covid it lost its way
Granted the hard product is nice enough.
Hyatt Regency still not a terrible option at DFW. Not as convenient or as nice as Grand Hyatt of course but can still walk there (albeit through the parking lot) and it’s a bit cheaper (value for money!). Can still see the planes taking off with the right room. There are cookies at check in for the kids. And if flying from C/E gates… it’s on that side of the airport.
I usually catch the FlyAway bus from LAX to Van Nuys and Uber or taxi from there on long trips. Going the other direction, I usually get dropped off at the Van Nuys FlyAway lot. I sometimes catch a shuttle to LAX. Once in a while one way rentals are cheap enough that I take one to get home. On short trips I drive to and from that FlyAway and take that bus to and from LAX. I have only got a Uber ride from LAX a few times. The pickup place is inconvenient but an Uber ride is faster and that is sometimes what I need. Hopefully when the Automated People Mover at LAX is running, a lot of the problems will be solved.
I’m very happy with the 787 Dreamliner, from Dallas to Honolulu. The seats were good in economy, and free drinks on the way out. Yes the shorter hoops absolutely sucked
I’m very happy with the 787 Dreamliner, from Dallas to Honolulu. The seats were good in economy, and free drinks on the way out. Yes the shorter hoops absolutely sucked
Just ask for an extra key at check in.
Those 5K mile awards are probably on routes in which you can get a $59 BE fare. Ultimately it’s not a good use of miles unless you have relatively few miles and don’t fly enough to ever get enough miles to obtain an International award.
American Airlines First Class service is horrible!!! I can’t even imagine what it’s like flying basic economy!!
@Chris – It ain’t so bad.
“A variety of extra services that the Crowne Plaza provides” Classic!
At this point they might as well just say “this fee is because we want more money” and at least I’d appreciate the honesty (but still avoid). Not sure if I’ve said this before (so many cases of hotels charging random fees which I’m glad are all being called out) but this reminds me of when Cards Against Humanity sold nothing for $5 each and made $71,000. “I understand I am paying Cards Against Humanity $5 and receiving nothing in return.” That’s transparency right there, ha.
When at LAX, I get on a bus bound for a car rental or hotel location to get my rideshare. No airport fees when using an offsite location. Also, in those hotel rooms where you use your room key to turn on the utilities, use a business card or a card I forgot to return at a previous hotel. You may forget to get your credit card when you leave.
I was at LAX three weeks ago and, surprisingly, one way to get around going to the rideshare lot is to order a Lyft Black. The driver picked me up curbside in about a minute, right where I was. (Maybe it works for Uber Black as well. I don’t know). The friend I was traveling with told me about that.
@dwonder
there is an ancient chinese secret to deal with checked luggage when not-arriving-at-terminal-D but staying at the hyatt
however i’m not posting it in the clear given gsw is reading this
how often do you deal with this?
September, and much of August, are relatively slow times for US airlines these days. It seems weird, but the heavy loads vanish after the second weekend in August. AA’s award sale targets that period. And there will generally only be this “websaver” inventory on off peak flights during that time. I do wonder if these sales will help them sell credit cards. It should, because there really is no other way for most Americans to acquire a useable number of AA miles.