Category Archives for Airlines.
The cheapest way for many people to get access to American Airlines clubs is with the premium Citibank co-brand AAdvantage Executive card. It has a $450 annual fee and comes with membership. What’s more, additional cardholders have no fee and can use the card for entry including inviting two guests. You can get 10 additional cards, so with a total of 11 cards that’s 33 total admits.
But there’s a cheaper way, even, to get this card.
The value of frequent flyer miles is something I’ve been calculating for years. I think what makes my approach different is I lay out the theory behind my valuations, I explain a lot of the moving pieces, and I present a comparison between my valuations and the valuations others are giving. I first laid this out the value of frequent flyer miles in 2014 and then updated values in 2016, 2017 and 2019. I skipped 2020 due to the pandemic but a tremendous amount has changed. Air Canada launched a new program with the same name (raising redemption prices but eliminating fuel surcharges), Delta and United devalued partner awards more than once, Capital One launched transferrable points mostly at 1:1, and new program Bilt entered the transferable points space – to name just a few…
Southwest passengers arriving in Phoenix were greeted by a serenading gate agent, caught on video and shared to social media. Sound on, “Going through corona is so dang cruel, seems like a time that we made a change, ya I’m feeling the strain…Give me airline with heart and soul, one that takes some time to sing some rock ‘n roll…”
“Drift Away” has been covered by Michael Bolton and Uncle Kracker, but this Southwest gate agent is the airline’s Weird Al Yankovic and parodies songs with his own airline-related lyrics.
American Airlines melted down at the end of October without enough cabin crew to work flight. This followed a meltdown in June caused by not having enough Boeing 737 pilots. United Airlines sent an email to all its customers throwing shade at them, and suggesting they book United for the holidays.
In order to prevent a repeat of the October flight attendant debacle, American Airlines is throwing money at the problem (err, at the flight attendants).
American Airlines customers may find themselves on a regional jet with rows of seats missing. Here’s the front of the cabin of an American Eagle Embraer ERJ-175, registration N502SY, operated by SkyWest. This is a new aircraft, just delivered in August 2021.
Delta is gutting confirmed international upgrades awarded to top elite customers. Top tier SkyMiles Diamond members can select confirmed global upgrades as a ‘choice benefit’. These have moved a customer on a coach ticket to business class on any Delta flight where upgrade space is available.
However starting February 1, 2022 that’s changing.
Delta’s operation melted down over last year’s holidays. Southwest has melted down over lack of crew. American melted down over the summer without enough pilots and then at the end of October without enough flight attendants. And now everyone’s worried about holiday travel with the government requiring airlines to have their employees vaccinated – with deadlines coming up.
United Airlines sent out a remarkable email, both for its candor and effectiveness but also for the way it brutally subtweeted these competitors. Under CEO Scott Kirby’s signature, United obliquely references news of airline meltdowns and says in effect ‘this won’t happen to us.’
Prompted by my writing about wide open availability for two first class Suites awards on the Singapore Airlines New York JFK – Frankfurt flight, a reader asks about other ‘fifth freedom routes’ between the U.S. and Europe.
They wanted to fly between the U.S. and Europe on an Asian or Middle Eastern carrier and wanted to know what their options looked like using miles for the best seats possible.
American Airlines has been promising that it would bring back hot meals to domestic first class. The timeline for this has been fall 2021, with a slow rollout across various routes blamed on supply chain challenges.
It looks like this is all finally starting to come together.
American Airlines is sending out apology e-mails to customers explaining how they made the right decision in cancelling so many flights, and they won’t do it again because they’re staffing up.
But the message fails loyalty marketing 101.
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 »
