Category Archives for Airlines.
American Airlines just boosted the amount they are borrowing against the AAdvantage program to a record-breaking $10 billion.
The blended average rate on this debt is 5.575%, paid by three subsidiaries that now make up AAdvantage based in the Cayman Islands. When the pandemic is over I’m encouraging American to throw a Members Only Party on board several flights to Grand Cayman where we can all visit our miles.
Make no mistake: nursing your nuts is no longer an excuse to go maskless on board an aircraft. Put your mask back on between bits or sips if it’s going to be more than a couple of seconds.
Congress passed the American Rescue Plan which includes $14 billion for commercial airlines, and requires them not to furlough workers through September 30.
Previous bailouts included $50 billion in the CARES Act ($25 billion in payroll support and $25 billion in subsidized loans) plus suspension of the domestic air travel excise tax for 2020 and then an additional $15 billion in December 2020. This brings total commercial airline subsidies to $79 billion, separate from funds for airports, airline contractors, and cargo carriers.
American Airlines is refinancing the mortgage it took on its frequent flyer program with the U.S. Treasury by raising $7.5 billion against AAdvantage in private financial markets.
As part of these efforts they had to make a ton of information public about AAdvantage in an SEC 8-K filing. Here are 14 interesting things that they had to share with investors and the SEC.
When Air Canada relaunched the Aeroplan frequent flyer program – an American Express transfer partner, and soon to have a Chase co-brand credit card, so highly relevant to Americans – they committed to an award chart.
Right now though partner award pricing isn’t sticking to the chart. That means some awards are pricing higher than they should, and others are pricing for fewer miles.
About 50 minutes prior to touchdown, the pilot got up to use the first class lavatory. A passenger seated up front got up to use the lav. The flight attendant working the forward galley should be blocking the path between the cabin and the cockpit. But that didn’t happen here. And this failing turned into a brawl between the pilot and flight attendant.
American Airlines is alone in pledging their frequent flyer program to the federal government as collateral for a subsidized CARES Act loan. Delta and United raised money against their programs on the private market, while Southwest pre-sold points to Chase.
Now American has created a Cayman Islands subsidiary to refinance its AAdvantage mortgage.
Dallas will actually have flights to more international destinations this month than it did two years ago (56 vs. 52), thanks to American Airlines destinations that have been added to Mexico and Central America offsetting losses in long haul.
But the flight that’s most striking to me is the addition of Dallas – Fort Worth to Nagoya, Japan. It’s striking to see a new destination in Asia, a previously unflown route, and while Japan is closed to most U.S. visitors. And it’s surprising to see the flight so full.
American Airlines is offering employees who get vaccinated an extra vacation day and $50 in rewards. Here’s the employee message from CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom about the incentive – something that will become increasingly important as supplies become more abundant and we need to convince vaccine hesitant people to help us stop the pandemic.
Usually it’s fairly cut-and-dried, people don’t dispute the facts or there is a contemporaneous incident with witnesses. Here there doesn’t appear to have been a social media maelstrom, and the family says this came out of the blue. There’s no due process involved. Someone could easily be banned by mistake, maybe a cabin crew member writes down the wrong row number by mistake or the wrong seats (right row, seats across the aisle).
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 »
