It’s been over 3 years since I wrote about American’s ‘Goldilocks Problem’ boarding planes too early (before stated boarding time on boarding passes) and updating customers about delays too late.
I find that American won’t post flight delays until boarding time for an aircraft, even when those delays are blindingly obvious. And they won’t update delays until revised departure times have passed. Even when fuel is spilling onto the tarmac.
Former American Airlines CEO Bob Crandall thinks that the airline industry should never have been deregulated (1978) and the recent round of airline mergers (2008-2013) should never have been allowed.
Crandall is wrong on both counts.
American’s CEO Doug Parker and Delta’s CEO Ed Bastian agreed to sit in coach in the back of a Boeing 777-200 and talk about their coach products.
When it comes to domestic awards airlines are rarely going to give you 2 cents a point in value. And you’re still stuck hunting and pecking for award space rather than taking the flights you want.
As award charts devalue, and airlines charge more and more points for awards (especially when saver seats aren’t available) while paid tickets have often gotten cheaper using points to directly pay for travel makes more and more sense. In an era of regular $300-$400 roundtrips to Europe it can still make sense to pay for travel with credit card points even when it no longer makes sense to do so with airline miles.
Loyalty programs are having a hard time delivering cherished upgrades to elites, they’re monetizing premium cabins more than ever before, so what does the future look like for the all-important recognition component of airline elite status?
American Airlines is surveying elites with these questions to help them decide.
I’ve been using an HP Spectre X360 and I think it’s great. A couple of months ago I asked for reader advice on getting a new laptop. I use one machine so it has to be able to function at home and on the road, for work and for watching movies on planes.
Battery life matters a lot, I carry it everywhere, and I want to be able to open it and even use it in coach.
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.
Delta is running an award sale they seem to have changed from offering a set of routes at a discount each month to each week.
Salt Lake City – Tampa is a deal or discount at ‘just’ 26,000 miles roundtrip. So much for the 25,000 mile award.
premium business for American airlines is increasingly centered around LA rather than New York, which is what happens when you scale back in what’s perhaps the most important air market in the world.
The airline’s Vice President – Planning Vasu Raja suggests they don’t have a lot more opportunity today for extra premium domestic flying any plans for lie flat 757s domestically notwithstanding.
If passengers hadn’t recorded video of Dr. David Dao being dragged off a United flight, and also of his bloody return, do you think United would have ever changed its story from ‘apologizing for having to re-accommodate passengers’ to declaring the events truly horrific?
The widespread use of cell phone video has become important to document events and create proof when bad things happen.
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 »
