How Doug Parker Sees His Legacy at American Airlines

by Gary Leff

man speaking on microphone
Jun 27 2019

This spring American Airlines CEO Doug Parker told employees in Phoenix at a Crew News session that he only sought to merge US Airways with another carrier when it became necessary to survive since United and Continental had merged and Delta and Northwest had merged. He said that doing so was always about how to create an airline that would always be there for employees, and not for himself.

That was in response to an employee who asked Parker about his legacy and how he’d want to be remembered.

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FAA Discovers Flaw in How Boeing 737 MAX Pilots are Supposed to Respond to MCAS Problems

by Gary Leff

plane tv
Jun 26 2019

The FAA has been trying to get other countries on board with re-certifying the Boeing 737 MAX. Some industry leaders, such as American Airlines CEO Doug Parker, are so confident and ready to see the plane back in the skies that they attribute delay to political gamesmanship.

However one new wrinkle has been uncovered in Boeing’s quest to have the aircraft re-certified.

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How Bad Was American’s Operation Last Week?

by Gary Leff

american airline plane
Jun 26 2019

For the week of June 7 – 13, despite a company-wide push for exact on time departures for years and operational changes meant to improve the airline’s reliability they only managed to hit D0 57.8% of the time. That to me is horrible, even if their goal was only 64.2% (‘the soft bigotry of low expectations’).

The airline told employees that the week of June 14 – 20 “was equally as challenging as” the prior week.

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IHG’s New Most Expensive Awards May Be 100,000 Points Per Night

by Gary Leff

IHG's New Most Expensive Awards May Be 100,000 Points Per Night
Jun 26 2019

On the one hand a new highest price is always concerning, since it creates a path for other hotels to creep up in price as well. On the other hand these properties aren’t ‘really’ part of IHG, and perhaps the agreement that brought them into the chain just makes them expensive (IHG has to overpay to get these redemption nights, and is charging members accordingly).

Nonetheless prices of 75,000 and 100,000 points per night are concerning to say the least.

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Use Chase Points to Qualify for Top Tier Hyatt Status in as Few as 10 Nights

by Gary Leff

Infinity Pool Sunrise
Jun 25 2019

Hyatt is offering double elite qualifying night credit at Hyatt Ziva and Hyatt Zilara-branded all-inclusive resort properties when you stay and check out between August 1 and November 23, 2019.

That new offer has been shared fairly broadly, but I was waiting to cover it while I got something confirmed. First let me offer two points that may be obvious but are worth reminding, and then a more interesting and less obvious point.

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