United CEO Oscar Munoz’s statements now suggest he’s happy with the quality of service his airline provides.
Delta, American, and United want to be protected from competition because they’re afraid it will hurt their business. But that’s the point — it will, unless they improve to compete. Acting as a quasi-public utility is a recipe for a continuation of the status quo, and no customer should want that.
For the past two years American has been asking the federal government to crack down on flights to the U.S. by Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar. Along with Delta and United they want less competition and higher prices.
Inconveniently for American, however, they have maintained a codesharing relationship with Etihad as well as a frequent flyer partnership. And Qatar Airways is a member of the oneworld alliance with American, so they offer reciprocal mileage-earning and redemption and frequent flyer recognition.
The campaign by Delta, United, and American to limit consumer flight choices and raise prices by enacting protectionist policies against Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar went nowhere with the Obama administration.
However the Trump administration now includes “nationalists pushing for aggressive trade restrictions” according to Politico. And action in response to lobbying from Delta, United, and American is now under consideration.
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.
American Airlines filed updated fleet projections with the SEC today.
They show, quarter-by-quarter, the size of each aircraft family in their fleet. I’ve highlighted aircraft totals as of June 30th and also where they project to end 2017.
Since I’ve seen a couple of references this week to the opening of the Philadelphia American Express Centurion Lounge this week ‘in early August’ (at The Points Guy) and ‘Aug 2017’ (at The Derp Report) I thought I’d clarify that the new Philadelphia lounge does not open in August.
I’m not prepared to say that “absolutely no one” should get the card and that it’s “a bad deal.” I think that’s wrong. But it’s useful only for a limited set of people.
A man checked a single can of beer as his only luggage onboard Saturday’s Qantas flight QF777 from Melbourne to Perth. Melbourne – Perth is a cross country flight in Australia, about the distance of New York – Denver.
Hotels.com is pricing a Conrad Suite at the Conrad Bali hotel in Indonesia at just $49 per night at least over the next couple of months.
The CEO of Qatar Airways made misogynistic remarks about US airline flight attendants. He suggested that at ‘crap US airlines’ customers would always be served by ‘grandmothers’.
Akbar al-Baker is his own worst enemy, calling out Delta for flying ‘crap airplanes’ and describing his business strategy as starting routes to ‘rub salt in the wounds’ of his competitors.
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 »
