8 Things I Just Learned About American Airlines Plans for Routes and Passenger Experience

by Gary Leff

graph
Aug 22 2018

After each earnings call American Airlines hosts a ‘state of the airline’ meeting with employees. Not everyone gets to ask all of their questions live, so the airline collects additional questions and follows up with answers.

Those responses tend to be much more anodyne that the live ones given by top executives. Nonetheless they can sometimes reveal useful tidbits that either confirm things I thought I knew or tell me something I wasn’t already aware of. Here are some of the things that were shared with me and seemed worth passing on.

Continue Reading »

United Airlines Will Put Lie Flat Seats on Boeing 737s

by Gary Leff

airline cabin with bed
Aug 22 2018

United Airlines President spoke at the Boyd Aviation Forecast Summit and shared that they’re planning to offer lie flat seats on new Boeing 737 MAX 10s.

United would use these planes to replace the current Boeing 757s operating domestically with lie flat seats which are deployed on routes like Newark – Los Angeles and San Francisco, and also to expand the number of domestic routes offering a premium service.

Continue Reading »

American is Redesigning the Appearance of the Upgrade List

by Gary Leff

airline cabin
Aug 21 2018

The airline has shared with employees that they “are currently collaborating with various teams to redesign the customer-facing upgrade list.” To be clear this does not sound like any change to upgrades, just to how the upgrade list appears to the customer. This change seems to focus on “which product/cabin each person is waiting for and who has been cleared.”

Continue Reading »

Many Of You Can Buy United and American Miles For Less Than 1.4 Cents Apiece

by Gary Leff

house made of money in hand isolated on white background
Aug 21 2018

One month into writing this blog, back in June 2002, I explained how you could fly Concorde for $1258.95 by earning miles for magazine purchases. Your cost would be even lower, of course, if you donated the magazines to a non-profit and took a tax deduction.

That deal is long gone, but you can still buy magazines, earn lots of miles, and even potentially donate them for a tax deduction (provided it still makes sense for you to itemize under last year’s tax reform).

Continue Reading »

American Airlines Has Started Contacting Passengers in Advance About Overbooked Flights

by Gary Leff

people waiting to board airplane
Aug 21 2018

What I don’t like in this document is that it suggests customers will be reassured their existing itineraries will still be honored if they actually ask. I can certainly see the ‘87% of passengers’ American says fly at most once a year not understanding this and not explicitly asking, agreeing to be moved to a less desirable itinerary thinking they have no choice.

Continue Reading »

Marriott Starting to Allow Members to Combine Accounts. Here’s How it Works.

by Gary Leff

rewards vs spg
Aug 20 2018

When Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood first closed, they immediately allowed you to link accounts. That gave you the ability to status match and it gave you the ability to move points between accounts at a ratio of 1 Starpoint to 3 Marriott points. Linking accounts does not and will not ever automatically combine them.

Marriott tells me they are “now rolling out [the ability to combine accounts] in batches to our members through tomorrow. As a result, when members log in and see the prompt they will have the opportunity to combine their accounts.”

Continue Reading »