Dec 09 2015

Two weeks ago I wrote that American was considering introducing a premium economy cabin. This morning American has announced they’ll be the first US airline to offer a premium economy cabin on most of their widebody international fleet.

Overall I’m a big fan of premium economy (in much the way that I’m a fan of JetBlue’s Mint), a premium product that’s within reach of more passengers. However it raises concern for frequent flyers looking to upgrade. The sections will be small (so upgrades to premium economy could be tough) and airlines with premium economy may not offer upgrades from economy to business class. Will the upgrade experience be diminished as a result of this new offering?

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Dec 09 2015

American Express Membership Rewards transfers to Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles receive a 25% bonus through December 21.

Now that you can no longer use American AAdvantage miles to fly between the mainland and Hawaii and indeed flying from the mainland to Hawaii and then beyond on Hawaiian Airlines is charged as two separate awards by American, using the HawaiianMiles program for Hawaii and South Pacific travel can be strategically useful.

Although HawaiianMiles doesn’t qualify as one of the Top 5 Deals to Hawaii with Miles or Money.

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Dec 08 2015

American’s revenue management has been notoriously stingy about releasing seats for premium cabin international travel — over the past three years to Europe, and over the past 18 months or so even to Latin America and Asia.

When American releases premium cabin awards on their own flights, that’s notable (and means no fuel surcharges).

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Dec 08 2015

JonNYC just tweeted that there’s a new ‘third region exception’ as part of American AAdvantage’s unpublished award rules. Here’s what’s changed.

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Dec 08 2015

Malaysia Airports (Sepang) Sdn Bhd, which operates Kuala Lumpur International Airport, took out an ad looking for the owner of 3 Boeing 747-200 freighters that have been left at the airport.

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Dec 08 2015

Three years ago American Airlines introduced pre-order meals. Premium cabin customers can pre-select their meal choice either online or over the phone within 30 days of (and up to 24 hours prior to) travel.

In mid-September American took this functionality down off their website. But it turns out there’s a website ‘hack’ to let you pre-order your meal.

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Dec 08 2015

“Get 50 percent off first class seats or main cabin select seats, which comes with priority security screening and boarding, two checked bags (a true luxury these days), in-flight Wi-Fi, Dean and Deluca snacks, and a massive selection of on-demand entertainment.”

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Dec 08 2015

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.

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Dec 07 2015

Expert Flyer is a pay site, though they offer free 5 day trials and free alerts when the seat you want on a flight opens up.

I find it invaluable. Historically it has been a must for any American AAdvantage member since it’s been one of the only sources for real-time availability of American Airlines flight inventory and because it also displays confirmable upgrade availability for American’s flights.

They’ve now added a ton of Star Alliance airlines to their award search feature, which means you can get email alerts for when the space you want opens up.

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Dec 07 2015

I’m not an expert on guns. I don’t even own one. For this post I do not want to get into the question of which sorts of regulations of guns are reasonable or constitutional.

I do see a lot of very weak arguments being used in current debates. I’ll focus just on the very concerning one that the No Fly List ought to be used to deny substantive rights beyond flying. It’s a shoddy list as it is and raises significant concerns in the travel context. The last thing we should do is expand its use.

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