Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

No New Crackdown on American Airlines Inflight Credit Card Marketing After All

by Gary Leff

steward on plane
Dec 12 2019

Earlier today I noted Lewis Lazare‘s Chicago Business Journal story that a new American Airlines memo to flight attendants was aiming to rein in their inflight credit card marketing.

The piece said American was telling flight attendants not to market the card when passengers are trying to sleep, or during emergencies, and to read the card announcement script verbatim. However an American Airlines spokesperson tells me that Lazare got it wrong, he didn’t have a new memo to flight attendants, just their standard training.

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Emirates Will Introduce a New Cocktail Bar In Business Class

by Gary Leff

private airplane bar
Dec 11 2019

Dubai-based Emirates Airlines was the first airline in the world to put showers in international first class. Even though Etihad, whose home airport is a mere 72 miles away in Abu Dhabi, added showers to their Airbus A380s the Emirates shower suite remains the gold standard.

They also installed a bar at the back of business class. They’re hardly the first airline to do this, but they dedicated significant real estate to the bar. It’s tended throughout the flight, there are snacks and good libations on offer.

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Cathay Pacific Asia Miles Improves Miles Expiration Policy, Becomes a Better Place to Move Credit Card Points

by Gary Leff

first class cabin
Dec 10 2019

Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles is a transfer partner of American Express, Citibank, and Capital One. Up until now it hasn’t been a great store of value, a place to transfer points and hold them, because Asia Miles expired after 36 months – this didn’t get extended with more activity in your account.

The good news is that this is changing – effective January 1, 2020 you can extend the life of your miles with any activity in your account every 18 months. Earning any miles, or redeeming any miles will extend validity.

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American Airlines Adds Big New Routes to Austin and Several One Off Event Flights

by Gary Leff

austin airport food court
Dec 10 2019

American Airlines announced this morning several new routes, the biggest of which are from my home airport in Austin. They also announced several one-off services to major events like the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting and Augusta National Masters Golf Tournament.

The Austin flights in particular are exciting because they’re a departure from American’s usual strategy. These are point-to-point flights that don’t touch hubs, instead they’re aggressively competing with new flights between Delta focus cities.

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Town Of Burien, Washington Stops FAA From Sending Flights Over Its Skies

by Gary Leff

man expressing stress and noise at the airport
Dec 10 2019

When residents complain about airport noise I’m not usually sympathetic, the airport was there before you were and planes aren’t as noisy as they used to be. And when you see thousands of noise complaints about an airport it’s frequently just one to three residents making them all believe it or not (the complaints process has been automated).

But what about when the FAA redirects air traffic overhead?

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