As the only U.S. carrier offering international first class and on a limited number of aircraft, there’s potential to make it work. There’s even less competition among foreign carriers for the market. American just hasn’t made the investment to do so.
American has the potential to offer a really competitive product. Already they have several of the pieces.
The pandemic kept kept much of Qantas grounded. Their Airbus A380 wasn’t supposed to return until June 2023 “at the earliest.” But the Australian government allowing its citizens to again leave the country, and residents to return, led to a re-start of the airline’s international route network and a planned return of the world’s largest passenger jet on the Los Angeles – Sydney route in July 2022. And then moved the re-introduction date up to March.
Now, because of increased coronavirus precautions rather than re-opening, the airline will again move up the A380 jumbo jet’s return to just two weeks from now on January 11.
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.
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.
On a Tampa to Atlanta flight on Thursday a Delta Air Lines passenger was “acting belligerent with an older flight attendant” according to a passenger on board. That’s when another passenger “intervened and things escalated really quickly.”
The incident with the flight attendant had been calming down, it seems, but the man’s intervention created a whole new drama between the two passengers. That’s when “the two of them started going at it and …the woman started screaming and then she yelled in the grinch [redacted] and got in the guy’s face.”
A brawl broke out on Delta flight 1136 from LAX to Memphis as a man – whom an eyewitness said “appeared to be drinking” upset other passengers by being loud and “not keeping his mask on.”
This prompted another passenger to get snarky with the man, and this escalated into a fight. Which escalated into a bigger fight. And soon several people were involved ostensibly to break up the fight by fighting themselves.
Amy Craven, the Director of Brand & Global Advertising recently spoke about the airline’s brand purpose. She gives a nice pitch for it, but I think she misses the mark (because the airline does). “Caring for people on life’s journey” doesn’t do for American what it needs to do.
I’m going to ignore the math here and just say I don’t need the free night and I’ll enjoy the possible upgrade more if it comes through. In other words I’m going to waste money, perhaps frivolously, on something I’ll enjoy.
Why is it a waste? Because I’m probably better off taking the free night, saving $240 in cash I’d otherwise spend on a room, and using that cash for a better room on another stay or indeed on something other than a Marriott upgrade I’ll enjoy more. I’m going to do the thing that’s irrational because I’m rational enough to know that I’ll enjoy the irrationality.
Delta Air Lines wants to know if they can save money staffing check-in counters with agents for elite travelers. For years they’ve pushed general passengers to self-service kiosks, while maintaining full service especially for their most frequent customers.
They’re surveying their customer focus group, made up generally of a group of elite customers, about whether they use kiosks in areas outside of air travel, what features they want from kiosks, and whether the pandemic has made them more open to a shift to kiosks (less human interaction).
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.
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 »
