American is losing partnerships, they’re more restrictive offering award space than ever, and they’re wondering why it’s so hard to convince people to earn their miles rather than a competitor’s. They need to consider doing this that actually benefit their members rather than worry that members might find a way to get value from the program.
Six weeks ago we learned about a 71 year old man who reported being shoved to the ground by a United customer service employee in Houston. There was video showing the incident.
There’s now a new twist to the story: that United employee is suing for $1 million.
I don’t remember the last double diversion I noticed, it’s rare and unfortunate for all the passengers on the flight. But when you’ve got a medical emergency that takes precedence, and on ultra long haul flights you can easily face crew limits which are regulations in place for safety. So an airline makes the best decision possible when faced with tough choices, and this one is tough to second guess.
Ultimately an airline-paid hotel room in Hawaii is a better place to spend the night than inside the terminal in Shanghai.
Twitter noticed last night that Boeing had filed an unusual flight plan to test a 787. The plan was to fly from Boeing Field… to Boeing Field.. after a long flight over the middle of the country. They’re showing off the range capabilities of the plane, without leaving U.S. airspace while perhaps conducting other tests.
According to The Onion American Airlines is installing two way mirrors so that passengers can watch and enjoy the misery of passengers in the gate area.
Marriott has regularly offered points for linking your social media accounts. Three years ago they let you earn up to 2000 points per month via social.
In 2016 they gave out 84,000,000 points to 73,000 members (1150 points per member). Now they’re rebooting social earning, renaming #MRPoints to #RewardsPoints and will allow earning up to 45,000 points per year — which can transfer to 15,000 Starwood Starpoints.
When airline employees flaunt airline and FAA rules regarding pets, you really can’t blame passengers who do so.
American has been consistently lowering the price that they will sell miles for. After the merger with US Airways they took the Dividend Miles approach of putting miles on sale three fourths of the year. The only purpose that ‘regular price’ serves is to be a reference point that allows them to announce a huge (always on) sale.
A week and a half ago we learned that the federal government planned to ban US citizens from traveling to North Korea.
Today the State Department’s notice on “United States Passports Invalid for Travel to, in, or Through the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” was published in the Federal Register.
Qatar Airways would love to work more closely with a US partner to feed its flights. They’d love to solve political problems in the US where Delta, American, and United are trying to get the government to shut down their flights. Tensions in the Gulf region mean they cannot even work with the UAE on that effort. Indeed, they’d love the help of the United States to reduce those tensions.
A bid to purchase a stake in American Airlines seemed like a way to move the ball on all of those objectives, much like their major ownership position in British Airways and Iberia parent IAG has benefited them.
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 »
