Last week an American Airlines employee asked CEO Doug Parker what he has sacrificed. First Parker tried to change the subject. Then he acknowledged, “I’ve had a really great life and I’m really happy about it.” And then he went on to explain how he wants to help employees have the same thing.
GHA Discovery is the loyalty program for Omni hotels, Rydges, Alila (part of Two Roads Hospitality, which is being acquired by Hyatt), Kempinski, Anantara, Pan Pacific and more — 33 brands in total.
Discovery is an experiences program, not an earn and burn program. It’s all about status and recognition. Right now their top tier of elite status — Black — is available free on a trial basis. The offer may be restricted to cardholders in Middle East and Asia Pacific but I’ve already gotten 5000 American AAdvantage miles just by bouncing around and getting transferred a bit asking.
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.
Perhaps the fact that all of the focus for years on D0 not actually generating strong on time performance has sunk in. Perhaps it’s the poor financial performance with premium customers not booking American.
Hopefully American will align the resources with the operation and put the customer at the center of their thinking in order to run an on-time operation that delivers value to passengers. If American Airlines President Robert Isom re-watches his answer to this question, it could actually happen.
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.
Here’s what it’s like not to have elite status on American Airlines. This is a two hour flight. In order to avoid paying extra for seats on top of their fare, and avoid a middle seat, these passengers are able to book something only in the last two rows of the aircraft.
It taught me something about basic economy — and why it is going to perform worse for American as they make the travel experience worse — and I noticed another big failure during the booking process as well.
After American’s earnings call senior executives took questions from employees at their State of the Airline event.
Kurt Stache, American’s Senior Vice President Marketing, Loyalty & Sales, was asked 3 questions about American’s inflight entertainment and wifi products.
One American Airlines route stands out to be as an aberration: Meridian, Mississippi to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. That’s a flight of just 69 miles, and it’s operated once daily in both directions with a Bombardier CRJ-200 50 seat regional jet.
To get a quick understanding for why this route exists — and persists under current management — Glazer’s law helps do some of the lifting.
After American’s third quarter earnings call late in the week, executives gathered for their internal ‘State of the Airline’ comments to employees along with question and answer session. Vice President – Planning Vasu Raja answered questions about the airline’s route plans in a “network speed round.”
Here are key takeaways:
In August United Airlines President Scott Kirby explains all of their fees and charges as being what you’d expect from a concert, implying it’s not reasonable for people to be frustrated with how airlines charge for things like seats.
In March American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said his airline’s tickets are flexible compared to buying a seat at a sporting event.
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 »
