Category Archives for Airlines.
Alaska Airlines sent out a program update to Mileage Plan members informing that “Beginning April 1, 2021, Emirates will no longer allow partner access to First Class award bookings.”
It’s possible that this restriction – no first class awards with partner miles – is for Alaska Airlines only. However that’s not what this update says.
Every year, for many years – perhaps two decades – American Airlines offers the opportunity to buy status to members who haven’t quite requalified, and in recent years has offered an opportunity to buy up to the next level as well.
The offer is back this year, at around the same time, but just feels different. Didn’t requalifying for status based on your flying this year? Your status is being extended anyway. So the only relevant question is whether you want to buy up to a higher level.
Andrew Kunesh writes at The Points Guy website that a second airline bailout may mean frequent flyer program devaluations, and calls for legislation providing for the bailout to require airlines “not to devalue their loyalty programs until government funds are paid back.”
However there’s no fundamental reason that a bailout means loyalty program devaluation, any such restrictions are likely to be toothless in any case, and aren’t going to make it to the top of any legislator’s or regulator’s agenda.
Publicly the flight attendants union has been saying no to concessions, and also implies to members that the airline won’t go through with furloughs – that WARN Act notices will be nothing to worry about. That’s a dangerous position. It suggests Southwest is bluffing and will pay to remain fully overstaffed, while its competitors have succeeded in downsizing and when the airline has publicly told investors they’re unable to do that.
American’s oneworld partner Finnair is offering up to a 100% bonus on purchased points and will give you elite qualifying miles equal to 25% of the miles you buy, too. What’s more, the Finnair Plus program lets you convert miles into elite qualifying miles as well. As a result you can buy that mid-tier elite status easily and access American’s lounges, or even buy top tier oneworld emerald status.
In 1996 California voters adopted proposition 209 which provided that “the State shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.” It banned affirmative action.
Today California voters consider proposition 16, to repeal that affirmative action ban. United Airlines weighed in, and they want to see affirmative action in California.
I’ve written that in the U.S. the major airlines at the most risk are American Airlines (by a wide margin) followed by United. American is likely to end the pandemic with over $45 billion in debt to service, far more than their next-closest competitor. And they underperformed the industry financially to begin with. Unsecured American Airlines debt is a risky bet over the coming years.
Looking at “liquidity, solvency, profitability, leverage and recent financial performance” Bloomberg ranked the 8 biggest airline insolvency risks. After significant subsidies, no U.S. or European airline makes the list.
Beginning today, and expected to last for at least a week, United Airlines has stopped overnighting flight crew at downtown hotels in several cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, Portland, and Seattle.
The Chicago-based carrier, which has also moved its flight operations out of downtown Chicago to an alternate location, is making preparations for “potential election unrest.”
A first generation vaccine, unless it turns out to be both highly effective and widely taken, won’t end the pandemic on its own. I wrote back in early summer that a first generation vaccine, on its own, probably wouldn’t get us out of the pandemic but combined with other measures would make life – and travel – more normal than it used to be. We now have a new study, with new math, backing up this view.
How effective these first vaccines turn out to be, combined with how many people take them, will drive when mask mandates go away. A ‘vaccine only’ isn’t going to do it. We’re going to be stuck wearing masks on planes for some time.
The subject of Steenland’s addition to the American Airlines board came up at the end of the carrier’s ‘State of the Airline’ question and answer session with employees following their third quarter earnings call, and Parker explained that Steenland was added for his airline experience – something the board previously lacked – and not for a 15-month mechanics strike where he called management and replacement workers “the dream team” of maintenance groups.
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 »
