SEC Filings Reveal Data Behind American’s Frequent Flyer Program

by Gary Leff

Apr 26 2015

American Airlines has consistently revealed key metrics for the AAdvantage frequent flyer program in their 10-K SEC filings. And that let me build a spreadsheet showing how many members of the program there are, how many miles outstanding and redeemed for a given year, and what percentage of miles were accrued through partners rather than from flying.

What we see in the numbers is that American has had success in printing miles, selling them to partners, but also redeeming them. And the number of miles outstanding really hasn’t grown especially quickly over the years. So there’s not a situation of ‘too many miles chasing too few seats’ though if anything at the moment it’s ‘too few seats’.

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Now You Can Order Your Sandwich When You Hit the Tarmac at O’Hare. And That’s a Good Thing.

by Gary Leff

Apr 25 2015

The single greatest sandwich at any airport can be found at Tortas Frontera, at Chicago O’Hare (terminals 1, 3, and 5).

The only downside is that they make the sandwiches fresh, and while they’re generally ready in about 10 minutes I’ve turned up.. had to wait in line.. and been told to expect a 15 minute wait once I’ve been able to order. That can make things dicey on a quick connection – a choice between a delicious choriqueso and risking having to gate check a bag.

Now you no longer need to make that tradeoff…

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How to Handle Flight Delays and Checked Bags When Traveling on Separate Tickets

by Gary Leff

Apr 25 2015

Traveling on separate tickets is sometimes necessary to save money, or to put together award travel. But it presents risks.

If you’re connecting on different airlines with separate tickets, neither airline may be responsible for getting you to your final destination if things go awry. And you may not even be able to check your bags all the way through, either.

Here’s how different US airlines approach the problem, and what you can do to protect yourself.

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Sorry, Phoenix. This is How Airlines Choose International Routes.

by Gary Leff

Apr 25 2015

Size of a city alone isn’t enough to support international air service. Size of the metro area, primary destinations from that area, available aircraft, and concentration of business are much more important. And that’s why Phoenix – the 6th largest city in the US – gets only a single transatlantic flight (and a marginal one for British Airways at that).

Here are key factors airlines use in choosing international flying. And it’s why even when the idea comes up for Phoenix, it gets rejected…

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IHG Rewards Club Comes Clean, Reveals List of Hotels Changing Award Pricing Next Week

by Gary Leff

Apr 24 2015

Last week I wrote “No, I Do Not Trust IHG Rewards Club.”

IHG Rewards Club is the loyalty program for Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, and related brands. And my ire was prompted by their announcement that they would be changing the redemption categories of a subset of their hotels, but weren’t telling us which ones.

They were doing this at the same time they were announcing there would be changes to their elite program — most of which they wouldn’t tell us until later, but we should trust them those changes will be good — and they announced that points will begin to expire after 12 months of inactivity when in the past IHG Rewards Club points did not expire.

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