Premium cabin award space between the West Coast of the US and Europe is much tougher than non-stop space to the East Coast. Folks in the West generally need a domestic connection, then, to reach their international gateway city.
So I thought it was notable enough to pass on non-stop first class award space from several cities out West to Europe.
Booking Qantas first class awards but not being able to find American Airlines space Austin – Dallas to connect to it reminded me that it’s worth reminding you of why this can be a huge headache when you travel (and not just because you have to buy a domestic flight when booking a ticket with miles) — but that there’s also something you can do to get around the hassle.
American Airlines has what I think is the single most consumer-unfriendly policy in travel. They won’t through-check bags on separate tickets.
Three years ago there were rumblings about American flying to Abu Dhabi and two years ago service to India.
But now both are off the table. Here’s why.
Back in November I flew American’s inaugural Boeing 737 MAX flight. The plane has American’s new interior that’s been controversial, offering less legroom than ever before. It’s the new standard domestic product for American.
American’s CEO Doug Parker thinks it’s weird that I broke the news he told employees in a closed session that he hasn’t flown the new 737 MAX even though it’s the carrier’s new standard domestic product for the whole fleet. Months later he still won’t say that he’s been on it.
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At the beginning of the year Delta and then United announced new guidelines meant to restrict passengers from bringing on unnecessary emotional support animals who behave badly onboard.
This week American announced their own new policy which seems to go even farther.
Hotel chains want you to book directly through them because it costs them less to make a reservation themselves than it does to pay a commission to Expedia or other online travel sites (or travel agents).
Hyatt has a new attempt at this you need to know about — a 15% discount — but beware.
One of my cousins in Sydney is getting married. I just put a couple of Dallas – Sydney Qantas A380 first class award seats on hold. There are two points about this award booking that are worth passing along as you think about booking your own award travel using AAdvantage miles.
A couple of days ago I wrote about American President Robert Isom’s comments in an off the record employee Q&A about New York JFK. He talked about the challenges of being in a different terminal from their transatlantic joint venture partner British Airways at both New York JFK and London Heathrow.
Together they’re running what they consider to be a New York – London shuttle, but it’s not convenient because it’s a split operation, and he hints that they may have a solution to that.
The first meeting of Conquistadores del Cielo was a weekend at an Arizona ranch in 1937 at the invitation of TWA President Jack Frye and Vice President John Walker.
It’s a secret society complete with rituals, and several big deals in the industry have been hatched there — and laws have apparently even been broken.
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 »
