Category Archives for Airlines.
When change fees were $200, a lot of customers didn’t bother using their credits. You might think that’s better for an airline but it’s not. The customer probably resented the airline they gave money to and got nothing in return (other than the right to fly on the itinerary they purchased – but that’s not usually how the customer sees it).
There’s the obvious way in which eliminating change fees fosters loyalty, and a less obvious way.
American Airlines’ own data shows that following devaluations of the AAdvantage program elite members moved flying away from the program. AAdvantage itself generated more revenue, because its credit card deals became more lucrative. That earn-burn program grew, while the most engaged members stepped back.
That may even be the right business decision! Flying has frequently been unprofitable for American while net revenue has been driven by selling miles to banks. Maybe they should reward flying less if they’re not making money on it.
American and its pilots union have been in negotiations over a new contract. The latest company offer is for a raise of roughly 17% by the end of 2024. The union’s new President says they knew their members are going to get paid – the real negotiations are over work rules and quality of life issues.
Their negotiating strategy seems to be to trash the airline in the media, with a mix of charges that have a grain of truth combined with nonsense.
About a month ago I came up with 6 reasons to fly American Airlines rather than Qatar Airways on the New York JFK – Doha route, now that American serves the routes. Fly America Act – government travel and you have to stick with a U.S. carrier Price – American is cheaper for a given trip Your corporate deal requires it – what are you going to do? To use systemwide upgrades – better to fly American business than Qatar economy American has premium economy – a great option for passengers not in a position to fly business There’s sometimes semi-decent web saver award pricing on American, useful for times when Qatar redemptions aren’t available Qatar Airways is so obviously the better experience on average, but I thought that there were also edge cases worth…
Attorney Jordan Acker took to social media to complain about his Detroit – London Heathrow flight on Delta. But it wasn’t one of the usual complaints – delays, long telephone hold times, lost or damaged bags – the seven and a half hour Airbus A330 flight, he said, lacked water. According to crew on the aircraft, water had been an ongoing issue with the aircraft, though Delta did not confirm this.
Air Canada is selling points with a 100% bonus and that brings down the price low enough where some of you will decide this makes sense. You can buy miles at 1.4 cents apiece and I believe they’re worth that.
Back in March American Airlines named Julie Rath to head the AAdvantage program or at least the customer-facing parts of it. This is the shortest tenure at the helm of AAdvantage that I’m aware of.
ASMALLWORLD is supposed to be a networking organization for ‘the elite’ but I don’t know anyone that’s ever found it to be useful. They have a 75 euro membership, with free trial but their membership is also a way to buy a lot of frequent flyer miles and elite status thrown in at a higher price point.
Normally their 5200 euro membership comes with 250,000 Lufthansa Miles & More miles, but they’re currently offering 20% more, 300,000 miles. And that’s in addition to hotel and rental car elite status.
A year ago Emirates introduced the ability to book award travel on JetBlue. Awards could be booked online, and over the phone they’d even put award space on hold for you to transfer points. And all the major credit card currencies transfer into Emirates Skywards plus they have their own U.S. credit card.
The pricing was good – cheaper, for instance, than using American AAdvantage miles on JetBlue. Routes like New York JFK – Los Angeles (or LA-Miami or Boston – San Francisco) ran 52,000 miles each way, while New York JFK – Aruba would be 40,000 miles.
Scandinavian, or SAS, the Swedish-Danish-Norwegian Star Alliance carrier headquartered in Stockholm, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. following the start of a pilots strike that the carrier expects will cancel half of its flights.
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 »
