Tag Archives for aadvantage.
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.
There’s an upper bound to what banks can possibly pay to reward customers. That’s based on their revenue which comes from interchange (merchant swipe fees when using the card to pay) and revolve (APR when customers don’t pay off their cards each month).
And we’re pretty much at a place where banks are paying as much as they possibly can at current rates for the rewards and benefits they’re handing out.
Qatar has the best business class product in the world in its new ‘QSuites’. To be sure even their older Airbus A350 business class is very good, a B/E Aerospace Super Diamond seat and a phenomenal soft product. But QSuites are revolutionary suites with doors and moveable partitions that allow two and even four passengers to travel together in their own space.
Currently they fly the product to New York JFK, Washington Dulles, and starting Saturday to Chicago.
Yesterday I received a nice box with a thank you note inside and a book 1000 Places to See Before You Die with my name inscribed onto the cover.
I reached out to Barclays to see what’s going on with this and they shared:
There’s a smattering of New York JFK – London Heathrow award availability for two passengers in three-cabin first class on American Airlines in April and May. There’s a smattering of Dallas Fort-Worth – Hong Kong availability for two passengers in three-cabin first class on American Airlines May through July. And a smattering of Los Angeles – Hong Kong availability for two passengers in three-cabin first class on American Airlines April, May and July through September.
However where space is absolutely best right now is:
I’m a curmudgeon. I refuse to adapt to the language of the day. I almost always refer to “Hyatt top tier elite status” and refuse to type the words “World of Hyatt Globalist status.” Because that’s just dumb.
I hate losing the second ‘H’ in HHonors though I suppose Hilton gets to say what the name of their program is.
American is investing in the domestic fleet, adding seat power and bigger overhead bins and high speed internet even as they’re cramming in more seats. AAdvantage has been devalued, but so have most of their competitor frequent flyer programs. There are a lot of things that the airline really has going for itself. There are fantastic assets and improvements that shouldn’t be overlooked, and should even be celebrated.
Let’s look at what American Airlines thinks about its loyalty program. In written Q&A with employees, who listen to customer complaints about AAdvantage devaluation, here’s how American responds:
A woman was told she had 50,000 American AAdvantage miles expiring but she could extend them for a year for $100, payable by credit card over the phone.
Now, when you extend the validity of American Airlines AAdvantage miles they’re good for an additional year — not 18 months. And aside from AAdvantage not generally calling you about expiring miles, this person hasn’t had activity with American since 2010. Their miles are long gone.
United’s President doesn’t believe you know the difference between high and low value credit cards. You’ll get the United credit card if you like travel and you live in a city where United offers the most service.
I’ve argued that’s wrong, and American Airlines identified the reason why to the SEC.
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 »
