From Fresh-Baked Cookies To Cheap Pretzels: How American Airlines’ Cost-Cutting Backfired, Killing Its Premium Edge

by Gary Leff

Jan 10 2025

The biggest problem with American Airlines management is that they focus on costs instead of revenue. They think on-time performance is all they need to accomplish in order to succeed, and that might be true with commodity products but we’re less and less in a commodity product airline world. Products are differentiated, customers now choose on more than schedule, price and reliability, and American Airlines as a high cost airline needs to earn a revenue premium in order to be profitable.

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What’s In My Wallet – My Credit Card Strategy (2024)

by Gary Leff

Jan 10 2025

I’ve cleaned out my wallet and I’m not carrying nearly as many credit cards on a daily basis any longer. Still, my wallet is a great window in the spending choices I make every day. What gets a wallet slot, and what cards I have but keep in a drawer, go a long way towards illustrating how I put my mileage and spending strategies into practice. Sharing this also adds a bit to my transparency as I cover credit card rewards.

Here’s a peek into what’s really going on behind the scenes of my daily spending life.

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After Two Bottles Of Liquor, American Airlines Passenger Assaults Flight Attendant: “Kind Gesture To Say, Thanks, Man”

by Gary Leff

Jan 10 2025

A retired firefighter traveling on American Airlines flight 167 from New York to Tokyo Haneda forced a diversion to Alaska on January 5 after the business class passenger struggled with a lavatory door, began banging it from inside, and got confused about how the handle worked.

When the man finally made it out, he’s alleged to have grabbed a flight attendant by the lapels, which the crewmember considered aggressive and he called a “kind gesture.”

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American Airlines Wifi Overhaul: Why You’ll Be Left Completely Offline On Some Flights For A Year

by Gary Leff

Jan 09 2025

I’m really looking forward to these planes having functional wifi. It won’t be as good as the Starlink that United will be installing, and offering to passengers for free, but it will solve a pain point that’s kept me mostly off of them. However I’m going to have them even more off of my ‘do not fly’ list until the process is completed because the chance of no internet at all is even worse than slow internet.

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