United’s President spoke yesterday at the Morgan Stanley 6th Annual Laguna Conference. It’s always interesting to listen to him, he lays out his thinking more clearly and candidly than most airline executives.
One thing pointed out is that “in the last 30 years airline revenue as a percentage or GDP has gone to about .6 from about 1.2%.” The conclusion he draws is that airfares should double, “we are under pricing our product by 50%.”
We thought US airlines were done complaining about competition when Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar settled complaints this year. But American is back at it — now complaining about a European airline that’s part-owned by a Gulf carrier.
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker is worried about airline jobs when airline employment is at a peak and when his own flight attendants and mechanics unions are furious at him. Although it’s a well-worn strategy to blame foreigners as a distraction for problems at home. It’s even more ironic though because he did this in a speech where he also talked about inclusion.
I’ve gotten value from Thanks Again earning miles for years, just a few at a time. They started out with brick and mortar retailers and I’d earn points when I least expected it. Then they pivoted to focus largely on airports.
When you go through the airport you’re the airline’s customer, and the airport rarely knows who you are. But the airport makes money when you spend money at retailers there. So by rewarding that spend they learn about who their best customers are can provide even greater rewards.
Airlines have taken that knowledge, that business travel booking engines will filter out basic economy options, and used it as ‘the new Saturday night stay’ — the means to differentiate pricing for leisure travelers and business travelers.
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Multiple readers reached out to me about delayed transfers of Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Singapore Airlines Krisflyer. They made transfers and those points did not post. This seems to be for transfers originating around September 4 onward.
In late August I wrote that Chase was about to introduce their new Sapphire Banking product — but not to sign up right away because a bonus would be on its way that you should wait for. They’ve now shared what that bonus will be.
It’s been five years since Hyatt last devalued, introducing a new category 7 and raising the price of many awards. The best hotels became more expensive, suite redemptions became more expensive, but overall the weighted average of free night award prices went up just 4%.
Since that time there have been remarkably few changes to the earn and burn side of the Hyatt program. Even the total revamp and introduction of ‘World of Hyatt’ nearly two years ago was a change only to the elite program.
JetBlue flight 1151 from Tampa to San Juan was delayed yesterday, and one passenger just wasn’t going to take it. He “took down his pants.”
The passenger, who had a “rottweiler mix service dog” with him, “threatened to kill a gate agent” and assaulted a police officer — all over a 53 minute delay.
American Airlines gave employees across the board raises without insisting that the pay changes be part of a contract. The airline says that’s made it harder to get mechanics to agree to a contract. American mechanics have already gotten much of the money they’re going to get with a new contract, so there’s less incentive for employees to agree to rules changes the airline wants.
American has asked for a federal mediator to get involved and wrap up a contract with mechanics. Here’s the airline’s letter to employees about the move:
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 »
