Category Archives for Airlines.
Here are the results from a survey of Berlusconi Market, Dream Market, and Olympus Market. Where they present more than one data point I average them for this chart. It’s important to note that these are asking prices. The people selling miles may or may not have a good idea of what they’re worth, and in some cases may be looking for a sucker (buying 500 Expedia points?).
American has announced four changes to its AAdvantage program. All are fairly minor and fall into the ‘good to know’ category that can make award booking easier, cancelling a little more cumbersome, and one redemption more expensive.
China is the next big thing. That was true 15 years ago, and may still be true 15 years from now (without ever actually becoming).
American carriers used to operate two-thirds of the flights between the U.S. and China, and now that’s flipped. And to hear Dr. Zhihang Chi, Vice President and General Manager of Air China North America, tell it “the US carriers are losing interest in the China market.”
I flew American Airlines for the first time on one of their Boeing 737-800s that’s been converted to a “Project Oasis” interior — meaning it’s been retrofit to have the same lack of legroom and smaller lavatories (but larger overhead bins) as their new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
I wrote only days ago that these are planes to avoid but right now it’s really difficult to do so. You book a flight on a 737, and there aren’t enough ‘new’ 172 seat 737s to know consistently where these torture tubes are going to turn up. If you get one of the torture tubes, your seat assignments may wind up messed up, too.
While I don’t know any plans to improve the efforts of American’s Integrated Operations Center to prioritize better departure time expectations, there is a new effort to improve communications between different parts of the airline to better deal with delays, and hopefully reduce them as well. It’s called ConnectMe, and here’s how it’s being described to employees.
When frequent flyer programs launched award tickets were supposed to be a reward for loyalty, and award customers were expected to be treated better than paying customers. There are often steep change fees on award tickets now, but mileage awards are for the most part still cancellable with points redeposited into an account. In other words even after myriad rule changes over the years, inventory issues aside, they’re still more flexible than paid tickets.
Miles aren’t just an alternative currency used to purchase travel or services from an airline, they are a thank you for your business, and redeeming miles should feel like a reward and not a punishment. Delta got this one right.
New Jersey is considering raising aviation fuel taxes — but only on United Airlines. Currently New Jersey taxes fuel burned during taxi and takeoff. A bill under consideration would extend that to all fuel that United burns (since it applies only to airlines carrying over 8 million passengers per year out of the state).
United’s position “the tax is enacted, she said United might have to consider transferring the bulk of its operations to one of the other hubs.” The extra cost to United is expected to be $20 million. United will not abandon its Newark hub over $20 million.
United’s President spoke yesterday at the Morgan Stanley 6th Annual Laguna Conference. It’s always interesting to listen to him, he lays out his thinking more clearly and candidly than most airline executives.
One thing pointed out is that “in the last 30 years airline revenue as a percentage or GDP has gone to about .6 from about 1.2%.” The conclusion he draws is that airfares should double, “we are under pricing our product by 50%.”
We thought US airlines were done complaining about competition when Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar settled complaints this year. But American is back at it — now complaining about a European airline that’s part-owned by a Gulf carrier.
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker is worried about airline jobs when airline employment is at a peak and when his own flight attendants and mechanics unions are furious at him. Although it’s a well-worn strategy to blame foreigners as a distraction for problems at home. It’s even more ironic though because he did this in a speech where he also talked about inclusion.
Multiple readers reached out to me about delayed transfers of Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Singapore Airlines Krisflyer. They made transfers and those points did not post. This seems to be for transfers originating around September 4 onward.
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 »
