american airlines

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Delta Celebrates One Delta Diamond Family’s “Double Qualification” In The Atlanta Sky Club

by Gary Leff

Jan 27 2022

In the fictional book Up in the Air Great West Airlines counted all miles towards lifetime status and Ryan Bingham was on a quest for 1 million miles. He was being tracked by the airline along his quest and they celebrated his achievement when he reached it.

In the film version, George Clooney’s Bingham was an American Airlines flyer and on a quest for 10 million miles. Here he describes that when you hit 10 million “lifetime executive status, you get to meet the chief pilot Maynard Finch, and they put your name on the side of a plane.” Sadly none of that is true, but celebration moments do happen.

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American Airlines Inflight Service Cuts Are Everything That’s Wrong With American Society

by Gary Leff

Jan 26 2022

When I covered cuts in inflight service at the behest of its flight attendants union I pointed out all of the elements of hypocrisy and how this makes the American Airlines product worse.

In some sense American had no choice as a result of broader cultural issues we’re grappling with as we transition from the pandemic to endemic phase of dealing with Covid-19.

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Here’s Why American Airlines Has Such Long Hold Times, And When It Will Get Better

by Gary Leff

Jan 24 2022

If you call a U.S. airline expect to wait on hold. And depending on what’s happening that day, the wait can be hours. When you need help the most, because your flight was cancelled or you’re going to miss a connection, that’s when the hold times are likely to be longest – because everyone else probably needs help at the same time for the same reason.

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What Lawsuits Between The Points Guy And American Airlines Are All About

by Gary Leff

Jan 24 2022

TPG isn’t on the side of angels here, they’re both fighting over consumer eyeballs, but the service that others like TPG are providing can be a net positive. And unquestionably companies have taken enforcement of computer access laws way too far.

What American should have done was insist on a stake in the product. Award Wallet, for instance, has hundreds of thousands of airline elite customers in their database….. including the customers of American’s competitors. The smart move would be to market to those competitors’ customers, negotiated in exchange for access.

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Passenger Violates American Airlines Rules By Wearing A Space Helmet

by Gary Leff

Jan 23 2022

A woman sitting at near gate E6 for American Airlines flight AA6151 from Charlotte to Fayetteville, North Carolina on Tuesday was wearing a ‘space helmet’ over her mask. Since there don’t appear to be ear loops on the mask, it looks like an N95. That won’t be comfortable on a Piedmont Airlines Embraer ERJ-145 50 seat jet, but it’s just a 118 mile flight. It’s unclear where she may have been connecting from.

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Business Travel Won’t Return Until Mask Mandates No Longer Needed

by Gary Leff

Jan 22 2022

Outgoing American Airlines CEO Doug Parker made a point in his opening remarks to employees after completing the carrier’s fourth quarter earnings call this past Thursday. His remarks suggested that masks are an impediment to the return of business travel. The full return to normal is therefore going to necessarily involve lifting masking requirements.

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After Kicking Off Maskless 2 Year Old, American Flight Attendant Threatens Complaining Passenger

by Gary Leff

Jan 22 2022

On Wednesday’s American Airlines flight AA3573 from Key West to Miami, passengers missed connections after a 40 minute delay caused by a flight attendant kicking off a mother and her crying two year old who wouldn’t keep their mask on.

The whole planeload of passengers was offloaded, and when another passenger expressed frustration the flight attendant threatened to have her kicked off too for ‘smelling like alcohol’. On a 7 a.m. flight. Where both that passenger and flight attendant were wearing masks. The American Airlines slogan is caring for people on life’s journey.

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