Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

American Airlines Will Introduce New Bedding, Amenity Kits, And Meals With New Business Class

by Gary Leff

Oct 23 2022

In September American Airlines unveiled their new business class suites that would go into Boeing 787-9, Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A321XLR aircraft. These won’t be flying until 2024. But at the same time they bring an elevated business class seat into the market, the airline also plans to introduce new inflight meal service, amenity kits, and bedding as well.

I had heard this project was underway, but a little more detail was shared in an internal employee question and answer session earlier this month, a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing.

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65% Of American AAdvantage Elites In New York Earning Status With Their Credit Card, Not By Flying

by Gary Leff

steward on plane
Oct 23 2022

At an internal employee meeting earlier in the month, a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing, Chief Commercial Offer Vasu Raja shared that Advantage enrollments in New York are outpacing nearly every other market in the system., and that more people are qualifying for status in New York than before “and 65% are doing it on the card.”

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My Experiences As An American Airlines ConciergeKey Member So Far

by Gary Leff

Oct 22 2022

I absolutely love ConciergeKey. I’m hoping that since it was granted over the summer, expiring March 2023, that it will be renewed for one more year – that when granted it’s for a ‘minimum of 12 months’ – because I can’t imagine I’ll ever be able to qualify again. I’ll never be in the league of those spending $50,000 – $60,000 on high yield tickets, and without a twice in a lifetime type of promotion like last December’s deal was I’m unlikely to ever generate 5 million AAdvantage miles in a year again either. I never thought I’d have this status, and I’ll miss it once it’s gone.

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Wide Open Transatlantic Business Class Awards For Whole Year, Up To 6 People

by Gary Leff

first class airline seat
Oct 21 2022

Singapore Airlines is one of the world’s best carriers. They don’t just fly to Singapore – they also operate ‘fifth freedom’ routes between the U.S. and Europe. Right now their New York JFK – Frankfurt flight has up to 6 business class award seats available most dates over the next year, and most credit card points transfer to book these.

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4 Changes To Rapid Rewards Including New Companion Pass Requirement

by Gary Leff

Oct 21 2022

Southwest Airlines made four announcements about the Rapid Rewards program today. The best change is announcing something that’s been in effect for two years – priority boarding for Companion Pass companions. The worst change is more points required to earn a Companion Pass, but that won’t apply to the airline’s credit card holders. On net these are good updates to know, but not ones to be concerned about.

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American Airlines CEO Trashes U.S. Visitor Visa System – And He’s Right

by Gary Leff

passport getting stamped
Oct 21 2022

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom is right – the U.S. visitor visa system is embarrassing, and it’s costing our economy. But more than that, it hurts our soft power and importance on the world stage.

On average visa wait times were reported last month to be an average of 247 days – a 14x increase over the 17 day average before the pandemic. It’s expected that visa wait times will cost the U.S. 6.6 million visitors in 2023. This is a huge failure of federal government competence.

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Nobody Minded A Six Hour Delay When This American Airlines Pilot Threw A Pizza Party

by Gary Leff

Oct 20 2022

Most passengers would have been beyond annoyed at the hassle, even though it was beyond the airline’s control. Yet the passengers on this flight were downright pleasant. And it’s because even though the delay wasn’t something American Airlines could prevent, how they managed the delay was in the very capable hands of the airline’s captain – who organized a pizza party for everyone on the plane.

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United Will No Longer Fly Its Old Business Class Seats On Its Longest Routes

by Gary Leff

Oct 20 2022

The airline took delivery of new Boeing 787-9 aircraft with the old seats, even after the start of the Polaris project. Seats can have a long lead time. However now, at the end of 2022, United has stopped operating 787-9s with old seats.

Just as United is preparing to decide on new business class seats, they’ll finish putting Polaris seats in the planes which operate their longest flights, like Sydney and Singapore.

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