This is disgusting. The flight was on Thursday, and charges were filed Monday.
Let’s not get into the particulars of what happened on the flight. Really, let’s not get into those. There are two uniquely striking things about this case, however.
Delta business class saver awards between the US and Europe were 62,500 miles each way. That’s the price from the no-notice devaluation for travel June 2014 onward.
Now, for travel January 1 onward, US-Europe will be 70,000 miles each way at the saver level. There was no notice given for this change, it’s simply in effect. That’s an increase of 15,000 miles roundtrip.
Delta and Alaska were once close partners. In fact, at one point it was expected that their partnership could grow to exclude American (which also partners with Alaska).
Instead Delta has built up a hub operation in Seattle — first for transpacific flights, and then feeding those flights with its own domestic route network rather than transferring passengers on its partner Alaska.
And there have been fantastic offers ever since…
A little over a week ago I wrote about a no-notice change that American AAdvantage made to their program: different AAnytime award prices for different flights on the same day.
While American acknowledged that the screen shots I was providing were not a glitch, they haven’t offered comment on these changes which went into effect without any notice to members. I dug into this a bit more and think I know what American is doing, and it’s neither as technology sophisticated nor as insidious as I’d have feared.
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.
Former US Airways President Scott Kirby left as President of American Airlines yesterday to become President of United.
American sent out their press release about elevating Chief Operating Officer Robert Isom to President and explained that Scott Kirby was leaving immediately. It didn’t mention anything about United, and it didn’t say anything about spending more time with his family. Instead, it explained the decision that American couldn’t retain all of their executive talent so Kirby was out.
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.
American Airlines sent out a press release announcing that its President Scott Kirby is leaving American Airlines “effective immediately.” And there was no mention of where he was going or why.
United sent out its concurrent release announcing Kirby as its new President.
Marriott is back with MegaBonus and new and existing members of Marriott Rewards can choose their promotion starting September 1. Here are the offers, how valuable they are, and how they compare to other chain promotions.
American flies to two destinations in the ‘South Pacific’ — Sydney and Auckland — and award seats on those flights are tough to get. American has made AAnytime awards much more expensive over the past couple of years, and they’re tweaking the price of these specific flights higher again.
Starting in “late September” American will start charging higher prices than their current unpublished one-way prices on certain dates.
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 »
