Category Archives for Airlines.
American AAdvantage miles are tough to use for actually flying American. That’s changed somewhat over the past 9 months as American has opened up greater connecting availability in coach and also loosened its routing rules for domestic awards. But premium cabin international travel on American’s own flights remains challenging.
That’s why I highlight when even modest international business class award space opens up. When it does, it’s time to jump.
Air Canada spun off its frequent flyer program Aeroplan into a separate company. Aimia owns Aeroplan along with other loyalty programs including a 49% stake in Aeromexico’s Club Premier.
Last year Air Canada announced they weren’t going to renew their exclusive partnership with Aeroplan after their 15 year deal expires at the end of June 2020. Now Aeroplan is confirming partnership discussions with oneworld .
Australia is one of the toughest frequent flyer awards, at least in premium cabins. In order to fly business or first class between the US and Australia you often have to connect in Asia.
However Qantas premium cabin awards are easier to book than you think, because American AAdvantage hides the seats from their members. Here’s when they’re available and how to book them.
Via Air moved from public charter operations to running commercial Essential Air Service subsidized flights out of Beckley and Parkersburg, West Virginia to Charlotte in 2014. They also ran unsubsidized flights from Beckley and Parkersburg to St. Augustine, Florida.
The Florida-based carrier has since expanded operations and has a fleet of 6 fifty seat Embraer ERJ-145s and 4 thirty seat EMB-120 Brasilia turboprops.
At the end of June American Airlines CEO Doug Parker told employees, “We’re not going through the whole fleet and adding a bunch of seats to airplanes or taking out larger bathrooms and putting in smaller ones.”
Of course that isn’t true.
oint ventures seek anti-trust immunity to allow airlines to work together on schedules and pricing, and to split up the revenue they earn together on designated routes.
Proponents argue that they’re a second-best workaround to limits on foreign ownership of airlines. However joint ventures remove competitors from the field. Foreign ownership could increase competition, bringing more capital, while these joint ventures reduce competitors.
Delta and United rescinded their group discount offer for NRA members. United is based in Chicago and everyone expects gun violence there. Delta took a lot of heat for their position and tried to walk it back claiming they weren’t really taking a position on the issue.
The state legislature dropped an attempt to repeat the jet fuel tax that would have been a big subsidy for Delta. This was signaling to GOP primary voters.
Korean Air has eliminated the ability to put award tickets on hold, with or without points in your account. This applies to awards for Korean Air travel (which could generally be held a month, and used to be able to be held nearly indefinitely) as well as to partner awards (which could be held ~ 5 days).
JetBlue has been in the news for making a jilted bridesmaid whole after she bailed on the wedding (for which she had already invested a lot).
Some customers have taken to social media with unreasonable – nae, impossible – requests which underscore some things just aren’t an airline’s fault
In the Alaska Airlines second quarter earnings call on Thursday Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Harrison noted that award redemptions spiked after combining Alaska and Virgin America into a single airline,. He reported total “redemptions grew by 22%” and saver redemptions were up 40%.
American AAdvantage members gobbled up the inventory.
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 »
