American AAdvantage miles are tough to use for actually flying American. That’s changed somewhat over the past 9 months as American has opened up greater connecting availability in coach and also loosened its routing rules for domestic awards. But premium cabin international travel on American’s own flights remains challenging.
That’s why I highlight when even modest international business class award space opens up. When it does, it’s time to jump.
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.
Air Canada spun off its frequent flyer program Aeroplan into a separate company. Aimia owns Aeroplan along with other loyalty programs including a 49% stake in Aeromexico’s Club Premier.
Last year Air Canada announced they weren’t going to renew their exclusive partnership with Aeroplan after their 15 year deal expires at the end of June 2020. Now Aeroplan is confirming partnership discussions with oneworld .
CNN is reporting on TSA documents for a proposal eliminating “passenger screening at more than 150 small and medium-sized airports across the US.”
The two things to know are (1) there are actually pretty good arguments for this, and (2) it isn’t being seriously discussed — as in considered for implementation — this is never going to happen.
Australia is one of the toughest frequent flyer awards, at least in premium cabins. In order to fly business or first class between the US and Australia you often have to connect in Asia.
However Qantas premium cabin awards are easier to book than you think, because American AAdvantage hides the seats from their members. Here’s when they’re available and how to book them.
Self-upgrading to business class has never been considered okay. It also rarely ever works. I’ve seen people try it and they’re always sent back to coach. Usually they’re a bit sheepish as they head back, sometimes offering some innocent-sounding explanation about how they thought it was the same cabin (no they didn’t!) and the seat was empty.
Passengers who refuse to move get the David Dao treatment.
A Ryanair flight from Barcelona to Ibiza had just pushed back Tuesday late afternoon when a passenger’s cell phone which was being charged by an external battery, caught fire. Everyone was evacuated down emergency slides and onto the tarmac.
The only injuries were incurred on the slide with passengers falling over each other to get out and incurring burns from friction across the slide. Here’s video.
Elite earn at 500 more hotels is potentially very useful for a chain that today has only 700 of its own hotels compared to Marriott’s 6500.
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.
Avoid pickups at arrivals altogether especially in the evening and get picked up at departures instead. There are few evening departures from Austin, so the upstairs departures level is mostly empty.
And this is permitted, too. Electronic signs beneath the names of airline names in front of the terminal read “DROP OFF PICKUP ONLY.” The airport officially encourages upstairs pickups! I’ve also never had an Uber driver refuse an upstairs pickup. You have to specify a pickup location at arrivals, but I then immediately send a pickup message asking for upstairs pickup. The driver almost always thanks me (and this is probably why my Uber rating has climbed to nearly 4.9).
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 »
