I saw something happen on an American Airlines flight last night that I haven’t ever seen happen before: departing with an empty first class seat when passengers were on the upgrade list.
At the end of June I got a preview of Ameican’s new meal service which rolled out domestically August 1st.
The changes were a continuation of improvements that began May 1 when the airline introduced entree salads.
But why does meal service even matter on a plane, at least for relatively short domestic flights?
Making the most of Singapore Airlines and American Airlines miles, answering a reader question about including domestic flights as part of an international award and how to include stopovers to see more than one city along the way.
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“I’m getting ready to buy an engagement ring, which will be the largest purchase I’ve ever put on a credit card, and I’m looking for advice on how best to maximize point-earning.”
While the most obvious thing to do with Starwood points is use them for hotel stays, I think the most valuable thing to do with them is transfer them to airline miles.
The 20% bonus on transfers to American AAdvantage — every 20,000 Starpoints you transfer will get you 30,000 American miles — was supposed to end but has been extended through August 31.
American Express’ first ‘Centurion Studio’ opened a month ago at Seattle’s international airport, across from gate B3.
Overall it was a nice space, where I enjoyed spending a couple of hours. I definitely prefer it over the Alaska Airlines Boardroom (but no pancake machine) and over the United Club there. But make no mistake, it’s not a Centurion Lounge if you’ve been to one of those in another U.S. airport.
Several months ago the American Airlines website erroneously listed the miles required for top tier Executive Platinum status as 120,000 instead of 100,000. That was quickly corrected.
Yesterday an American AAdvantage member posted a message they received from AAdvantage Customer Service on Flyertalk with that same ‘mistake’.
A class action lawsuit against Southwest and Delta over checked bag fees has been certified.
The suit stems from Delta and Airtran both beginning to charge checked bag fees within weeks of each other. Those airlines were the two biggest in the Atlanta market, and of course Southwest subsequently acquired Airtran.
Several states allow credit card payments for child support through their official programs.
Some states limit acceptance to MasterCard and Discover, others to Visa and MasterCard. Apparently New Jersey stopped taking cards altogether. And I’m not aware of any that take American Express.
But let’s assume you want to pay with American Express, or to pay the other parent directly. Perhaps you need to build up miles because your ex-spouse took them all in the divorce.
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 »
