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.
Airline upgrades are almost exclusively done by formula, with little discretion allowed to gate or check-in counter agents.
The only time there may be wiggle room is when a flight is oversold, and while elite frequent flyers may get preference for moving up to a premium cabin, the most important priority is getting a flight out on time. Other than these “operational upgrades” though, upgrades are going to be based on published criteria – not who is nicest, who dresses best, or who asks.
I recently wrote about the workaround for American Airlines’ maddening policy of not allowing customers to through check luggage on separate tickets.
How to pull this off was confusing to several readers so here’s a more specific, detailed explanation.
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.
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.
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.
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 »
