In May 1981 American AAdvantage and United Mileage Plus launched the modern era of frequent flyer programs. American was first out of the chute by a couple of days.
Now American is celebrating the 35th anniversary of the AAdvantage program with Miles for Milestone.
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.
B/E Aerospace was announced as the provider of American’s new premium economy seat and new domestic first class seat, and outed itself as the supplier for all 3 classes of service American’s Airbus A350s on order.
American has confirmed to me that B/E Aerospace will provide the new business class seats, not just on the Airbus A350s, and that the seat will be the Super Diamond which is a fantastic product.
American Express has its biggest-ever signup bonuses for its two Hilton HHonors credit cards and is running them through May 4.
The Surpass card which even comes with Hilton Gold status has a 100,000 point offer. The no annual fee card is up to 75,000 for the first time.
I walk through how to make the most of your points.
Rapper 50 Cent, more known these days for his body spray and condom endorsement deal than the music he pioneered with Eminem and Dr. Dre — as well as a pump and dump stock scheme and the excellent TV drama Power — videotaped himself mocking an airport employee that he assumed was high.
However the Cincinnati airport janitor is autistic and hearing impaired.
American dropped Zodiac as their seat supplier and went looking for a new business class seat.
The 777-200 retrofit project has been slow. Deliveries of the 787s had been delayed. And that’s long been thought to be the result of slow deliveries of seats from Zodiac. American cancelled their Zodiac contract, filed a lawsuit, and went looking for new seats.
A new study contends that resentment of first class leads to air rage in coach. I decided to spend the $10 for two days of access to the article so I could see what’s actually being claimed.
The authors here want to “posit that the modern airplane is a social microcosm of class-based society” and that “inequality can trigger antisocial behavior” and thus inequality is bad. Unfortunately they’re using travel for their own purposes, not really trying to understand travel.
Last week Matthew Vincett, CEO of LifeMiles, told me to expect a return of their 100% bonus on purchased miles May 3. And indeed it’s back. Go to the purchase miles page and log in. I’m actually offered up to a 125% bonus through May 31.
Vincett sees offering miles for sale inexpensively as win-win for the program and the consumer. Flexible consumers who can travel on award tickets gain access to travel less expensively than if they were buying tickets directly. And the program generates revenue that’s greater than its redemption cost.
I don’t believe IHG Rewards Club has announced this publicly yet, but they’ve updated their program terms and conditions to reference ‘member-exclusive rates’ at their hotels.
And these new rates are live.
Earlier today I wrote that American had eliminated its telephone booking fee for awards.
It turns out it was just a mistake with the wrong information loaded to American’s website.
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 »
