American Airlines has previously said they’ve lost about $580 million from the grounding of the MAX. I actually don’t believe they’ve lost anything close to that since they’ve largely cut what they believe are the biggest money losing flights.
However the fact that American is saying they’ll contribute an additional $30 million to employee profit sharing gives us some indication of the value of the settlement.
Alaska Airlines partners with Singapore Airlines. Alaska has access to more award space than other Singapore Airlines partners. Usually partner airlines, like fellow Star Alliance members United and Avianca, cannot book business or first class long haul awards on Singapore Airlines at all.
Alaska not only is able to book premium cabin awards between the U.S. and Asia on Singapore Airlines but Alaska seems to show availability soemtimes when Singapore isn’t offering the space to its own Krisflyer members.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Alaska Airlines is offering double miles when crediting paid Fiji Airways travel to Mileage Plan. Registration required. Tickets must be booked by February 29 for travel between February 1 and June 30.
And they’re also running a discount of up to 50% on Fiji Airways award redemption through February 29.
Hyatt’s Alila Villas brand is developing a new resort in the Maldives, expected to open this fall. That means a new place where we can burn Hyatt points – and of course Hyatt points are easy to get because Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer instantly.
An internal United Airlines memo details that the carrier will no longer automatically send out vouchers to passengers on flights that are delayed less than 6 hours.
Cathay Pacific is offering a 10% bonus transferring credit card points to Asia Miles in January (registration required). This is a bonus offered by Cathay itself, rather than by the bank, so you won’t see it on the Membership Rewards or Citi Thank You Rewards websites.
The old “The Club” lounge space at the Phoenix airport has been renovated and enlarged and is now two separate lounges with a shared entrance and separate reception spaces. It is an American Express Centurion Lounge and also an Escape Lounge. And they’re both now open.
Air Canada Jazz flight 8684 from Montreal to Bagotville in Quebec lost a wheel during takeoff on Friday. The Dash 8-300 had 49 passengers and 3 crew on board. The “inboard left main wheel began to glow orange.” The wheel came off the gear strut and fell off the aircraft.
On Thursday Air India’s flight AI865 from Delhi to Mumbai was delayed 7 hours prior to finally departing. However while the plane taxied out, it returned to the gate with another issue.
Passengers had had all they could stand, and they couldn’t stands no more. Unfortunately instead of eating spinach they erupted in other, less productive ways.
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 »
