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Category Archives for General.

The End of Getting Real Help From AAngels in American Airlines Clubs?

Oct 20 2016

As someone who flies American Airlines regularly, I place a high value on lounge access. It’s the people who keep me going especially during irregular operations, going above and beyond to get me to my destination.

American’s premium services agents, who (among other things) staff the Admirals Clubs, used to work from a command line in the Sabre reservations system but are being transitioned to a graphical overlay that restricts what they’re able to do.

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Expert Flyer Just Got Better: Get Email Alerts for Award Space Across All SkyTeam Airlines

Oct 19 2016

A couple of weeks ago I outlined what sites and tools you can use to find frequent flyer award seats.

You almost always want to do the research to find award space yourself and then set up the award (online, if your mileage program offers all partners on its website, or over the phone).

One key tool I mentioned was Expert Flyer which I said had the most limited coverage of airlines but is indispensable for American flyers (because it has upgrade space) and because you can set it up to keep searching for space and email you when it opens up.

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ACT FAST: Business Class Award Availability With American Miles for the Whole Family, No Fuel Surcharges!

Oct 18 2016

Booking Europe awards with American miles can be tough. American releases very little space on its own flights, and their primary transatlantic partner is British Airways — and British Airways fuel surcharges can be truly choke-worthy.

Right now though there’s something of a unicorn: amazing award space for the whole family on American’s oneworld partner Finnair. That means great saver pricing and no fuel surcharges.

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United’s 3rd Quarter Revenue Call: Oscar Munoz Has a Plan, But It’s a Secret Plan

Oct 18 2016

United held its quarterly call on financial results this morning. And the consistent message throughout the call was that they’re going to do a lot of things differently, they just won’t tell us what yet.

They’re want to talk about things like basic economy fares and about new IT investments. They’re going to talk about how they’re forecasting revenue. But over and over they punted to say they’d talk about those things at next month’s investor day… Here’s what Oscar Munoz’s office looked like after the call:

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What’s Really Standing in the Way of Finalizing the Alaska-Virgin America Merger

Oct 18 2016

Alaska Airlines won the frenzied bidding war to acquire Virgin America. They likely overpaid, but saw Virgin America — barely profitable even with low fuel prices — as the only opportunity to pick up gates at congested airports.

The combination makes for the biggest West Coast airline, and buys them a San Francisco hub to diversify away from the intense competition they face from Delta in Seattle.

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