Category Archives for Airlines.
During the pandemic Virgin Atlantic’s frequent flyer program broadened out to become a coalition loyalty program called Virgin Red. That means more points-earning options and more points-redemption options, most of which haven’t been super appealing (although some people do like using their points for sausage rolls).
Now Virgin Red itself has officially launched in the U.S. and its app is now available.
During the pandemic American Airlines reduced the number of flight attendants working on Boeing 787, Boeing 777, and premium cross country Airbus A321T aircraft.
Now that travel demand has returned, the airline is keeping these lower staffing levels. And the airline is beginning to restore inflight service.
At an employee “Crew News” question and answer session this week American Airlines explained why Africa flying isn’t on their radar any time soon. A recording of the discussion was reviewed by View From The Wing.
For April, July, August, and September 2022 there are plenty of dates with availability for two passengers on the Dallas – Hong Kong flight in first class at 84,000 AAdvantage miles apiece. Next year there may be hope of visiting Hong Kong, or of using this flight to connect onward in Asia on American’s partner Cathay Pacific.
Availability on American’s Dallas flight is great because it’s a useful connecting point for most of the country.
Air Canada was one of the worst offenders during the pandemic for keeping customers’ money even when they cancelled flights. This is clearly against U.S. law and Air Canada will pay the largest-ever consumer protection fine assessed by the Department of Transportation.
Make the currency worth less, consumers chase it less at some margin. Reduced consumer interest is bad for the long run proposition of the currency, which is bad for the price of financial instruments derived from that currency. Now that airlines have issued upwards of $30 billion in debt backed by their loyalty programs, this is a new issue for them to manage.
The U.S. federal government sets a minimum number of flight attendants on an aircraft for safety (generally, one per 50 passengers). But while many flight attendants announce that they are there “primarily for your safety” (don’t expect more than that!) they’re also the people in most direct contact with customers delivering an airline’s service.
So-called ‘full service’ airlines have historically staffed flights with more than the legal minimum. That started changing even before the pandemic, but accelerated when they weren’t providing much service at all.
American Airlines is looking to fast track business travelers to elite status. There’s no registration required, all you need to do is book your tickets including your AAdvantage number and either a Business ExtrAA (small business program) account number or corporate travel program identifier.
The new Alitalia is handing out elite status to most anyone that wants it. Meanwhile Emirates is aggressively status matching anyone who reports living in Italy, in their Skywards account and to StatusMatch.com in their latest promotion.
American Airlines and the Austin airport are announcing plans for a new Admirals Club near gate 14 that’s twice the size of the current club.
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 »
