Category Archives for Airlines.
American Airlines has only been offering hot meals in premium cabins on cross country flights and international flights of sufficient distance. However in a sign that nature is healing, they’ll begin returning meal service to domestic first class cabins next week – Wednesday, February 16.
The truth is that even Aeromexico has sweet spots especially when you can just book award travel on their own flights. Reader Bill C. emails to let me know he used the Amex transfer bonus with great success.
Covid-19 notwithstanding many of us have come to focus on cleanliness in our lives, and prefer to associate with brands who share the same values. And at the very lease airlines that aren’t doing thorough cleans between flights need to stop implying that they are – because it just calls attention to the disconnect when passengers board the plane.
Spirit Airlines is being taken over by Frontier. The two large ultra low cost carriers in the U.S. are merging, if the U.S. government allows it, bringing together the primary drivers of lower fares and disaggregated service in the domestic market.
This morning’s Frontier Airlines operational meltdown – on the day of the merger announcement – may not be a good omen.
Southwest Airlines filed its 10-K with the SEC and as always it’s a treasure trove of information not just about the airline, but also about the Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program.
American Airlines has completed its $200 million investment in Gol for 22.2 million preferred shares (representing 5.2% ownership stake), and now American is announcing that “American’s AAdvantage® and GOL’s SMILES loyalty programs will [together] create the largest joint frequent flyer program in the Americas with enhanced benefits for customers.”
Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines have announced that they are merging. Combined they’ll offer 1000 daily flights and serve 145 destinations in the U.S., Caribbean, and Latin America and the transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2022.
This is effectively Frontier taking over Spirit for three reasons.
Concierge Key is the status that American Airlines gives to its top spending customers and top corporate travel influencers. It became legendary when George Clooney was portrayed as a Concierge Key member on a quest to earn 10 million miles in Up In The Air.
American usually sends chocolates each year to Concierge Key members. This year’s package is better. A reader generously shared photos.
The value of a currency is based on trust – how well it will hold value. So it makes me downgrade how much I value an Alaska mile. Although seeing the direction of award pricing with new partners I’ve begun to do that anyway, since they clearly appear to be on a downward trajectory (as I predicted would be the case as part of joining oneworld), and I tend to expect that as bilateral contracts for award redemption get renegotiated we’ll see more increases even for legacy partners
Nearly 40% of the American Airlines schedule was cancelled on Friday. Thirty percent of its schedule was cancelled on Saturday. And that shouldn’t come as any surprise. Texas experienced a severe ice storm, and American Airlines is headquartered at Dallas – Fort Worth airport.
The problem isn’t just that they couldn’t take off and land on ice Thursday, or through continued challenging conditions on Friday. It’s that the airline doesn’t recover well.
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 »
