Oct 23 2015

In response to a question about ‘what comes next’ after the American Airlines reservation system integration, airline President Scott Kirby made two points. It’s telling that these are the two things he chose to highlight.

Scott said “more innovation within the frequent flyer program” and “doing more to disaggregate the product” and doing more to “offer fares that can compete with low cost carriers” that have “a suite of attributes that are appropriate to those prices.”

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Oct 23 2015

Here’s the list of changes and new features that are part of the AwardWallet new beta.

If you want in on the beta, first sign up for AwardWallet if you do not already have an account, and then use this upgrade link.

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Oct 22 2015

I spent a good bit of my work day on Saturday in the American Airlines club on the B concourse of the Phoenix airport.

The lounge is one floor up in the terminal between gates B5 and B7, and is one of three American clubs in Phoenix (the other two are on the A concourse, one of which is currently closed for renovations.

The staff were exceptionally friendly and welcoming. The only negative I’d offer is that as legacy US Airways employees they are working off of a much more automated version of the airline’s reservation system than some legacy American agents — so they may not be able to work some of the miracles during irregular operations that I’ve experienced in American clubs in the past.

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Oct 22 2015

This is credit to One Mile at a Time who points out that Etihad is opening 6 or more first class seats on most of its US departingi flights for next summer.

Etihad offers first class from New York JFK, San Francisco, Washington Dulles, Los Angeles, and Dallas.

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Oct 22 2015

Independent lounge networks, not affiliated with an airline, can be quite nice. Take the Airspace Lounge in San Diego or any of the Centurion lounges. Most contract lounges around the world though, not so much.

In the world of ‘not so much’ I think Phoenix’s The Club lounge is even ‘less so much’. Here’s why.

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Oct 22 2015

Passengers in the baggage claim area of the Lisbon airport early Monday morning were being shown something often restricted to pay per view (or the internet).

The television above one of the carousels was running porn.

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Oct 21 2015

Scott McCartney covers the new IdeaWorks study of hotel loyalty program value for the Wall Street Journal.

This effort seeks to determine the rebate value that your spend has with the largest hotel loyalty programs, and estimate the value of a hotel point.

They come close to offering reasonable estimates of the value of points from IHG Rewards Club, Hilton HHonors, Starwood, and Marriott (although they slightly overvalue those points).

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Oct 21 2015

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.

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Oct 21 2015

A flight was delayed 11 hours after a passenger became unruly, stripped naked, and requested sex from a flight attendant this past Saturday.

Rumor has it the passenger in question lacked elite status in the low cost carrier’s frequent flyer program and was thus requesting benefits he wasn’t entitled to without ancillary fees.

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Oct 21 2015

On Sunday a 24 year old attacked another passenger, was restrained, got sick and then died on an Aer Lingus flight from Lisbon to Dublin. The flight diverted to Cork, Ireland.

The most common reaction to the story was this was patient zero in the coming zombie apocalypse. We now know a lot more about what happened on that flight.

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