Jun 17 2016

In March American changed the minimum check-in time to 45 minutes prior to flight, from 30 minutes. The airline did not notify customers of this change at the time — no emails, no banners at AA.com, just different information on its website. Neither Delta nor United require this.

It’s part of American’s obsession with “D0” — cajoling employees and inconveniencing customers by making every operational decision not based on precision or rule but based on anything that will promote pushing back exactly at the proscribed minute in the schedule.

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Jun 16 2016

Saudia’s flight SV21 from Jeddah to New York JFK yesterday declared an emergency as it was about to head out over the Atlantic Ocean. It dumped fuel and then turned around for London Heathrow because a female passenger was going into childbirth.

No doctors had been onboard the flight, so flight attendants helped with the delivering “after arranging a discreet corner in the plane.”

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Jun 16 2016

Saudia’s current first class product on their Boeing 777s is an antiquated six seats across, but with a huge cabin of 24 seats.

Their business class on that aircraft is angled. It’s not terrible as far as such things go on a dry airline, but hardly a modern product.

Fortunately…

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Jun 16 2016

American Express Plenti is a ‘coalition rewards program’ that lets you earn points for doing business with a variety of merchants. They’re the rewards program businesses like ExxonMobil, Macy’s and Hulu.

Since its launch a little over a year ago, the only big addition to Plenti’s stable of partners has been… Chili’s. That’s not American Express’ hoped-for growth.

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Jun 16 2016

A surviving victim of the shooting massacre in Orlando had rented a car from Enterprise and drove it to the Pulse night club.

Pulse was a crime scene, the FBI kept the scene intact including some vehicles on the scene. The man had his clothes removed and was taken to the hospital naked. So he didn’t have the key to the rental car on him.

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Jun 16 2016

Alaska Airlines made a deal to acquire Virgin America back in April, beating out JetBlue which was also bidding. It was judged almost a foregone conclusion that the Virgin America brand would disappear.

Nonetheless Alaska Airlines CEO Brad Tilden now says that the Virgin brand could be retained.

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Jun 15 2016

Earning American AAdvantage elite status is going to require minimum spending next year in addition to miles flown.

Like Delta, they are making it possible to earn qualifying dollars when flying on partner airlines. American will not get the data on the fare for each segment if the flight doesn’t have an American Airlines code on it, so they’re going to award qualifying dollars based on distance and fare class.

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Jun 15 2016

I have a basic framework for how each of the three major US airlines operates today. The variance between them is shrinking, as Delta is the best-run overall of the three and the most admired. Both United and American executives have spoken glowingly of their rival, and clearly want to be more like them.

This framework is useful to me as I see news about an airline. Every item gets processed alongside a context for who the airline is, what’s in its DNA. That news either comports with my pre-existing model, or conflicts and requires updating the model.

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Jun 15 2016

This morning word leaked that Singapore Airlines would be announcing non-stop service between San Francisco and Singapore with an Airbus A350. That’s true.

But there are several new details that are known, and even the launch of an additional new route — and a route that’s losing the Airbus A380 in the process.

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Jun 15 2016

The no annual fee Fidelity® Rewards Visa Signature® Card which is a 2% cash back card now has a signup bonus through December 31 of $100 after $1000 spend within 90 days.

This is gold standard for cash back, but you can get a much higher effective rate of return for a Visa, MasterCard, or American Express. Here’s how.

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