Eight months ago American Airlines Senior Vice President Kurt Stache spoke publicly about the airline’s lack of brand purpose and work they’d done to try to get clarity on who they are and what they’re trying to be.
There’s a new tag line in American’s holiday commercial…
American Airlines President Robert Isom hosted a meeting separately with pilots and with flight attendants updating employees on the 737 MAX. At the final ‘Crew News’ employee forum of the year they walked through Boeing’s changes to the MCAS system in anticipation of the aircraft’s return to service. They’re confident in the fix to the underlying issue that occurred in both the Lion Air and Ethiopian disasters.
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.
For many of you French Polynesia is about the destination and not how you get there. But a whole new way of getting there has been opened up to AAdvantage members. Up until now there’s been no competition for premium economy award space – it was available only to Club Tiare members. We’ll see how long availability remains this good now that so many more people can book it.
My Tuesday flights already posted to my American AAdvantage account when I checked Tuesday evening. I didn’t wait until the morning to look because these flights would put me over 100,000 miles for the year. Other readers have confirmed that they’re also seeing miles posting right after flight.
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.
Ultimately very few people go to the airport just for the restaurants — except maybe Tortas Frontera sandwiches at O’Hare — and most people probably won’t know about this sort of option. It does mean incremental revenue for businesses and the airport, and convenience for customers.
With major US airlines and American Express lounges moving to require a same day departing boarding pass for admittance it’s unlikely to lead to greater crowding of lounges or greater costs for rail drinks.
Marriott did not deny that the 10 elite nights for any event benefit is changing, although it’s not clear when or what the change will be (they simply promise to tell us if they make changes).
My read is this: if you want to take advantage of this opportunity in 2020 it might be a good idea to do it early in the year.
You’re definitely going to want to register for Hilton’s new promotion and do it now even if you don’t expect to stay at Hiltons because you’ll never remember to go back later to do it when you wind up with an unexpected stay.
Meanwhile Hilton is back selling points at the lowest price Honors points are ever offered – half a cent apiece through a 100% bonus on purchase points valid through December 28.
British Airways has formed a joint venture with China Southern. British Airways has already moved its Beijing operations to the new Daxing airport there, and flights under the joint venture are for sale beginning January 2.
American owns a stake in China’s biggest airline but isn’t permitted to enter into a joint venture.
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 »
