Nov 04 2015

American Airlines and Qantas became joint venture partners in 2011. That means they’re allowed to coordinate schedule and pricing. These arrangements also frequently include revenue-sharing. Competitors Delta and Virgin Australia are also joint venture partners.

American and Qantas are entering into a new, tighter arrangement that’s making possible American’s Sydney flight and Qantas’ San Francisco service – plus possible new service by American to Auckland. The first flight starts December 17. But the Department of Transportation may not give the go-ahead.

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Nov 04 2015

American — after getting the DOT to take slots away from Delta — is finally publishing its schedule for Los Angeles – Tokyo Haneda flights. They’ll begin selling seats this Sunday for service which starts in February.

Here’s what you need to know about the new service, about which Delta has recently lodged new complaints with the Department of Transportation… and what you need to know about booking Japan awards through American AAdvantage.

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Nov 04 2015

I’ve been a strong critic of Delta SkyMiles. Theirs are one of my least-preferred currencies. I’d much rather have miles with United, American, or Alaska. I’d much rather have miles with Aeroplan, Singapore, or Japan Airlines. I’d much rather have miles with Korean Air in Skyteam.

Yet right now availability for summer business class travel to Europe is quite good at least on some routes. So redeem those Delta SkyMiles now for 62,500 miles each way.

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Nov 03 2015

A Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 freighter (Singapore has no more 747s in passenger service) flying from Adelaide, Australia to Kuala Lumpur was forced to make an emergency landing in Bali due to smoke alarms — which went off because of “exhaust gasses and manure produced by the sheep.”

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Nov 03 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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Nov 03 2015

Seven African American passengers were kicked off of a Spirit Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Dallas yesterday. The passengers say it was discrimination. The flight attendant says they were disruptive. Either way the situation got out of control.

I’m more interested in what happens when you’re being removed from a flight? What do you do?

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Nov 03 2015

It’s easy to forget that prior to their merger with Continental Airlines, United really was a broken carrier. Instead of investing in their product, they would give out passenger compensation liberally. United knew their planes were in disrepair, and flight attendants were armed with cards they could hand out for easy compensation. These were known as ‘Skykits’ and later “Please Accept Our Apology cards.”

United has a new compensation program that started yesterday proactively giving out up to $125 to passengers who are disserved or who go out of their way to be helpful.

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Nov 03 2015

Washington DC’s airports have made ridesharing services legal and what that largely means is they’re now extracting money from Uber and Lyft (and more than taxis are charged).

The money funds fantastic advice to passengers, like the airports authority releasing a statement that passengers should 1. “Contact the provider through its app to arrange the ride.” and then 2. “ask to be dropped off at the publicly accessible curb closest to their airline’s ticket counter.”

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Nov 03 2015

In late September American accidentally published new, reduced mileage-earning rates for discounted British Airways and Iberia tickets on their foreign websites. The changes were supposedly going into effect February 1.

I didn’t sound the alarm at the time, because I checked with American and was told the new earning rates were published in error. And I was told that if they did something like that, it would be with more advance notice. We now have that advance notice.

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Nov 02 2015

American’s flight attendants threw in with US Airways in its attempt to take over American in bankruptcy.

Both airlines’ flight attendants agreed on a dollar value for their contract as part of that arrangement. In other words, they set a minimum amount that the airline would spend on raises for flight attendants if the merger went through. They’d negotiate a contract, but if negotiations fell through there was an agreed-upon floor.

They got $81 million more than that, even after they rejected their more-generous contract. And they still think they’re getting hosed.

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