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American, though, didn’t just take away benefits from their most loyal (lifetime) customers. They took away travel benefits from legacy American Airlines retirees, too. Retiree travel priority changed in September 2014.
Under the new regime whether it bolts down onto the plane or not it’s for sale and nothing’s free. American has changed their policy, and effective August 30 full fare customers and AAnytime awards no longer receive complimentary Main Cabin Extra and they no longer receive complimentary preferred seats either.
No free extra legroom, no free seats closer to the front of the plane. Buy up, sit in back, or take what’s left.
United sent an email to elite frequent flyers that can be translated as, “Customer who fly 100,000 miles a year and spend perhaps $30,000 aren’t worth giving an advance seat assignment to unless they cough up an extra $20 on their trip.”
American slightly exceeded Wall Street expectations with its second quarter results earning pre-tax profit of $1.3 billion.
They’re touting the increase in non-GAAP accounting earnings per share year-over-year but of course that’s largely driven by having fewer shares (they’ve been using profits to buy back shares). Profits are actually down compared to the second quarter of last year.
Alaska Airlines has launched 20 new routes in the last 9 months, and says 15 are already profitable. They’re planning 30 new routes in the next 6 months.
IdeaWorks has put out a new study on airline ancillary fees (.pdf). They rank the airlines earning the most in ancillary fees, and explain where the money comes from.
I’m not going to focus on the ultra low cost carriers around the world although the data there is interesting. Instead my interest is piqued looking at the major US airlines and the contribution of their frequent flyer programs to ‘other income’ at each.
Online travel agency sites have a role to play because as poor as most of them are, they do a better job displaying a broader range of choices than just Hilton, just Marriott, or just Hyatt. In other words they actually add value to consumers.
The problem is that Expedia, in my view, is terrible.
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.
United’s management thinking is now America West-turned-American Airlines management thinking since United brought ex-US Airways leadership of American over to run the business.
Today United announced that latest way they plan to follow in American’s footsteps: re-banking hubs beginning with Houston effective October 29.
At the American Airlines annual stockholders meeting yesterday, airline Chairman and CEO Doug Parker noted that they earn less revenue for flying similar distances than their two largest competitors. That means, he suggests, they have low hanging fruit to improve their financial performance. All they have to do is catch up.
That’s why, he says, they’re moving from a strategy of producing the most available seat miles at the lowest possible cost to one where they earn a revenue premium by investing in their product.
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 »
