American’s Loyalty Points Are Live, Here’s When The Site Will Be Fixed

by Gary Leff

Mar 01 2022

Now that it’s March 1 and Loyalty Points are the new way status is earned, the American Airlines AAdvantage account site has been updated.

However they aren’t yet showing how many Loyalty Points you’ve earned so far in 2022. Some members report that some transactions are showing in their total. In my account I show zero. Worse yet, the page listing activity no longer shows full details. You need to click through each transaction one by one rather than seeing everything in a list on a single screen.

Continue Reading »

American AAdvantage Improves Mileage Expiration Policy

by Gary Leff

Mar 01 2022

American Airlines on the other hand has maintained an 18 month expiration policy. Any activity in the account extends out expiration to 18 months in the future. During the pandemic, with younger leisure travelers making up a disproportionate amount of flying, American updated this to no expiration for members under 21 years old.

Now they’ve offered two further improvements: mileage expiration is now after 24 months of activity and Citi and Barclays co-brand cardmembers won’t have miles expire as long as their accounts are open.

Continue Reading »

Capital One Adds Virgin Red As New Mileage Transfer Partner

by Gary Leff

virgin atlantic
Mar 01 2022

Capital One is adding a new 1:1 mileage transfer partner “in the coming weeks.” Virgin Red.

Chase, American Express, Citi and Bilt all transfer to Virgin Atlantic. Virgin Red is the multibrand Virgin loyalty currency that includes Virgin Atlantic. So this gives Capital One Virgin, too, while also allowing them to say they’re “the first US credit card issuer to partner with Virgin Red.”

Continue Reading »

Russian Airlines Face Repossession Of Half Their Planes, As Aeroflot Flight Ignores Airspace Ban

by Gary Leff

flight attendant
Feb 28 2022

Sunday night’s Aeroflot 124 Moscow – New York flight turned around midflight. The U.S. hasn’t banned Russian aircraft from its airspace, but it’s tough for them to get here without overflying EU and Canadian airspace. They flew 8 hours and wound up where they started.

At the same time Aeroflot 111 from Miami to Moscow made it to its destination, violating airspace restrictions. They’re accused of lying claiming that this was a humanitarian flight, rather than a standard commercial flight.

Continue Reading »

American Refuses To Honor Award Tickets On Joint Venture Partners When Exiting Routes

by Gary Leff

Feb 27 2022

An American spokesperson told me they’d only honor business class awards in their original class of service if Qantas had business class award space available. Since of course they do not, American will only rebook in coach. And, “you can have your miles reinstated or rebook to travel once we begin offering service between LAX-SYD again in November.”

The notion that when American exits a market it will not honor reservations in their ticketed class of service on a joint venture partner has important implications, I think, for the notion of consumer benefit that they are claiming as they defend a government lawsuit against their JetBlue joint venture.

Continue Reading »

What We Can Say Now About The Future Of Business Travel After The Pandemic

by Gary Leff

Feb 27 2022

This 1990 United Airlines commercial really nailed why business travel will return in some form, how a ‘phone call and a fax’ doesn’t replace face-to-face business meetings. And yet business travel will be forever changed.

There are trips that used to happen that won’t, trips that do happen with fewer people on them, and the trips that happen won’t happen on the same days or necessarily for as long.

Continue Reading »