Did you know that eight years into the American Airlines-US Airways merger, not all work groups were on a single system, and the merger wasn’t ‘complete’?
American was one airline to passengers long before it was a single airline to employees. The airline’s systems for tracking aircraft maintenance were still separate – until last week.
How about this for worst timing ever? Right at the start of the pandemic Star Alliance airline TAP Air Portugal launched a huge marketing campaign for its 75th anniversary, to make their frequent flyer program relevant for Americans. They offered miles for sale at less than a penny each and an elite status match program.
Members who took them up on the status match, fortunately, had that status extended. And it turns out that the status match offer is still available.
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.
Delta has serious staff shortages. Telephone calls from their best customers are taking up to 41 hours to answer. Now it seems they can’t get anyone to clean their lounges, so they asked various work groups to volunteer as cleaners.
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.
The American Express Black Card (Centurion Card) has a $5000 annual fee and you pay a $7500 initiation fee your first year as a cardmember, too.
They send cardmembers occasional gifts. How about a $500 gift card to use, because you’re rich and can afford an expensive credit card?
Video has surfaced showing a JetBlue Airbus A320 running over a tug that was pulling it at LAX.
It appears that Delta’s top elite frequent flyers have been waiting on hold up to 41 hours to get their phone calls answered. Delta offers to call you back if you don’t want to wait on hold, but customers who wait 6 or more hours to get a call back report still waiting more than half an hour on hold when the airline calls them back.
American is working through whether it’s feasible to operate large widebody aircraft – Boeing 777s – from other hubs on their flights to Charlotte. They’d gas up the 777s, which can fly to Asia, with full tanks of fuel in places like Dallas. Then they’d siphon out the gas for flights that need to depart from Charlotte.
Russian hacking group DarkSide appears to be responsible for the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack which caused the shut down of the pipeline which supplies over 2.5 million barrels per day of oil to the Southeast especially but also to the northeast.
We are already seeing scheduled re-fueling stops for the longest flights out of Charlotte. American Airlines has scheduled its Charlotte – Honolulu and Charlotte – London flights with fuel stops for Tuesday.
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 »
