A Sublime Experience at the New Dallas Fort-Worth Centurion Lounge

by Gary Leff

Dec 22 2018

Five years ago American Express opened their second Centurion lounge at the Dallas Fort-Worth airport. I was impressed. It was stylish. The food and drinks were good. There was even a spa.

It didn’t stay a secret for long and quickly eligible travelers began flocking to it and spending more time than anyone would have imagined, even factoring in knowing that people will spend more time than you expect in a lounge that’s actually nice.

A year ago American Express announced they were building a new Centurion lounge at DFW that’s about one-third larger than the old one.

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United’s New Bonus Plan for Employees Promises More, Will Deliver Less

by Gary Leff

united-plane
Dec 22 2018

In March United Airlines told employees that instead of receiving quarterly bonuses they would all be entered in a lottery if the airline met certain performance metrics. While individual employees could win a Cadillac Eldorado or a set of steak knives up to $100,000, most would get nothing.

There was tremendous backlash at the pay cuts, and the airline put off changes. They still planned to change their incentive structure but went on a listening tour to figure out how.

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If You Got a Year-End Email From American Airlines I Hope You Didn’t Share It to Social Media

by Gary Leff

american airlines planes
Dec 21 2018

Yesterday American Airlines sent end of year review emails. I wrote about how few miles I earned from flying 100,000 miles and how scarce complimentary upgrades have become for someone like me. The airline encouraged members to share their activity via social media, embedding links to do so.

Members who took them up on this also posted their frequent flyer number and e-mail address. Oops. American is now telling members they need to delete those posts and monitor their accounts in case all their miles are stolen.

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Could Norwegian Air Be Days Away From Collapse?

by Gary Leff

plane on runway
Dec 21 2018

A report from Denmark’s Danske Bank says that Norwegian Air, the largest of the transatlantic discounters, could breach conditions of its debt if it doesn’t raise fresh capital by the end of the year.

Low cost transatlantic competitors Wow Air is teetering, and Primera has gone out of business. Norwegian operates both long haul and within Europe and is struggling through the most challenging time of year for a carrier in this hemisphere. How that will change the airline going forward remains to be seen.

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Why I’m Getting Fewer Upgrades (And How You Can Up Your Odds)

by Gary Leff

airline cabin
Dec 21 2018

Years later when I started traveling for work midweek transcons in coach were nearly $2000 round trip The idea of paying for first was beyond my comprehension.

The cost of coach trips has come down, and in percentage terms the cost of flying first has come down even more. Part of that is a change in airline pricing philosophy, and part is a change in technology. Instead of just having full fare first class and possibly a discount fare bucket, airlines can price first as a specific upcharge to the prevailing coach rate.

That’s helped them sell more seats up front — Delta sells about 60% of its first class seats, American is closer to 50%. It used to be more like one in ten.

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Delta CEO Ed Bastian’s Op-Ed: Government Should Pick Your Pockets, Give Him the Money

by Gary Leff

Dec 21 2018

It isn’t Italy’s subsidies for Alitalia that Delta is complaining about. Since Delta benefits from an anti-trust immunized revenue-sharing joint venture with Alitalia, those subsidies are met with silence.

Instead Delta’s CEO has an op-ed this morning complaining about the smaller Air Italy which is 49% owned by Qatar Airways. And since he has no legitimate complaint that Air Italy, or Qatar, is acting against US law or policy he has to resort to deceptive and disingenuous claims in calling for “the Trump Administration to examine this situation and send a strong message to the Qatari government.”

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This Man Says He’ll Never Fly American Airlines Again. Of Course He Will!

by Gary Leff

Dec 21 2018

Ken Wimberly, who describes himself as Chief Visionary Officer for a commercial real estate firm in the Dallas area, says he’ll never fly American Airlines again.

He usually flies Southwest. He wanted first class tickets for his family of five, so he bought them from American. Then he needed to change the travel date for one member of the family.

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