American Express Will Now Give You a Warning If You’re Not Eligible for an Initial Bonus

by Gary Leff

credit cards
Jun 13 2018

Lifetime means as long as American Express sees you as having had a card in the past. Often that seems to be around seven years. You can ask American Express what cards you’ve had in the past and they’ll tell.

There’s no more guessing, because American Express has a new popup when you submit an application — before they pull your credit — noting you’ve had the card in the past (or currently have it) and therefore aren’t eligible for a bonus. You can proceed with the application if you wish, or stop the process.

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3 Notable Experiences Flying American Airlines on Monday

by Gary Leff

airline food
Jun 13 2018

American’s food service in its clubs has really been boosted, and perceptions of their club experience should be upgraded as a result. Onboard I got a predeparture beverage, and that’s actually notable. And I tried a special meal at breakfast for the first time, unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be the passport to a great inflight meal the way it is at lunch and dinner.

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American Express Shares New Details on the Upcoming LAX Centurion Lounge

by Gary Leff

bradley international
Jun 12 2018

In April word leaked that LAX would be getting a Centurion lounge finally. We should expect this lounge to open in 2019.

The lounge will be located in the in the Tom Bradley International terminal, and not where it was originally expected between terminals six and seven. It will be 13,693 square feet, 10% larger than the expanded Centurion lounge they’re building in Dallas.

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Daily Show Mocks American Airlines New Miserable Lavatories

by Gary Leff

lavatory
Jun 11 2018

American’s new Boeing 737 MAX interior has seats with less space between them than ever before, less recline, and no seat back entertainment. They are installing satellite wifi and bigger overhead bins, but to squeeze in even more seats — they’ve gone from 150 seats to 172 seats on this size aircraft in just four years — they’re shrinking the bathrooms onboard.

One American Airlines pilot describes these lavatories as the most miserable experience in the world. He says he’ll refuse to deadhead on the aircraft to get to his duty assignment.

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Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses at Newark and Washington Dulles Now Open to Priority Pass Cardholders

by Gary Leff

lounge
Jun 11 2018

Back in the fall Priority Pass added access to the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at LAX. That seemed fantastic, and it is — finally a Priority Pass-accessible lounge at LAX terminal 2. However it wasn’t exciting as it seemed at first blush. Hours are limited to when Virgin Atlantic’s own passengers aren’t there. Initially the LAX lounge was open 5 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. That’s been cut back to 10:45 a.m. Since they’re not servicing Virgin’s customers they don’t offer the extensive food service Virgin customers are used to. Credit: Virgin Atlantic Credit: Virgin Atlantic They’ve apparently extended the model of generating revenue for otherwise-unused lounge space, getting Virgin Atlantic lounges to open earlier in exchange for that sweet, sweet bank cash funneled through Collinson Group. Priority Pass cardmembers now have access to Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses…

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American Will No Longer Be As Flexible With Same Day Changes When You Call Reservations

by Gary Leff

american airlines promo
Jun 11 2018

American Airlines is already a lot stricter with same day confirmed changes than their competitors are.

Consistent with the American’s overall move to limit agent flexibility they’ve changed how reservations agents process same day standby.

There is no de jure change here, but a de facto change in what reservations agents will be able to do for customers. They’ll no longer be able to ignore other business rules when E inventory is available

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