Delta and Alaska offer free inflight messaging, you don’t have to buy internet. Days after Delta announced it in September of last year, American announced that they would do it also. Yesterday I got an admission from American that they were walking away from their promise to offer free inflight messaging.
It turns out that Southwest is rolling free messaging too. That’ll leave only major U.S. airlines that have been run by Scott Kirby not offering it.
Singapore’s Los Angeles – Tokyo flight is wide open with saver award availability for two passengers in first class.
The best availability seems to be May onward although you’ll find space at other times as well.
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Earlier in the month when American Airlines promoted that they had added live TV to over 100 planes I pointed out that they still hadn’t added free inflight texting the way they had promised one year ago and which Delta and Alaska already offer.
American had announced free texting right after Delta made their announcement. But American didn’t follow through. They aren’t saying never, but will no longer even say it’s coming.
Here are the results from a survey of Berlusconi Market, Dream Market, and Olympus Market. Where they present more than one data point I average them for this chart. It’s important to note that these are asking prices. The people selling miles may or may not have a good idea of what they’re worth, and in some cases may be looking for a sucker (buying 500 Expedia points?).
Hyatt used to be super generous with elite status matches. If you had a pulse they’d give you 90 days of Diamond status including confirmed suite upgrades, and an expedited path to keep that status.
No doubt they brought over a lot of great members with the offer, but they also picked up plenty of people who just wanted to have that one special trip (honeymoon, anniversary) but transferring in Chase points, booking a cash and points redemption, and applying a suite upgrade to it. Probably at the Andaz Maui or Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris.
American has announced four changes to its AAdvantage program. All are fairly minor and fall into the ‘good to know’ category that can make award booking easier, cancelling a little more cumbersome, and one redemption more expensive.
Airlines have an easier time delivering consistent benefits than hotel chains do. Occasionally gate agents do not do their jobs correctly but for the most part airlines are able to follow their own rules for delivering elite benefits.
Hotel chains rarely own the hotels themselves any longer. And in some cases they do not even manage the hotels.
China is the next big thing. That was true 15 years ago, and may still be true 15 years from now (without ever actually becoming).
American carriers used to operate two-thirds of the flights between the U.S. and China, and now that’s flipped. And to hear Dr. Zhihang Chi, Vice President and General Manager of Air China North America, tell it “the US carriers are losing interest in the China market.”
Atlanta airport is the world’s busiest. When you look at the number of flights many of the other busiest airports drop down in the rankings, major international airports often have large widebodies dominating but fewer flights. Atlanta certainly sees its share of widebodies but is also a major domestic hub with narrowbodies and regional jets.
It turns out that Chicago O’Hare isn’t that far behind Atlanta when ranked by number of flights. And each airport’s construction plans tell us that the busiest title may be about the flip in the new few years.
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 »
