Tag Archives for american airlines.
The new American Airlines elite status-earning system going into effect next year makes it super easy to keep elite status if you engage with the program across a variety of earning streams, rather than just by flying. Here are 10 takeaways on what’s going on with the new program.
The new American Airlines elite status-earning program that goes into effect next year is going to make some flyers very happy. Anyone who can spend a lot on credit cards is going to find status-earning much easier. In fact, you can earn Executive Platinum status with $200,000 in spend alone.
It turns out that in addition to having a longer period in which to do credit card spend, you don’t even need to spend as much next year.
American Airlines stock has gone up substantially more than airline peers over the last 12 months.
CEO Doug Parker highlighted this in an employee meeting following the carrier’s third quarter earnings call on Thursday. However rather than being a testament to the airline’s good works as he suggests, there’s a simple reason for the growth in share price.
American Airlines passengers are complaining about the hotel room that American Airlines assigned to them for an overnight mechanical delay (and also about getting rebooked to a different city than their destination). It seems three people were given just one room, leaving one person on the floor.
Prior to the merger with US Airways, American Airlines crew would generally stay together on a trip and even stay on the same aircraft. When a flight delayed, it was only that flight and crew which were affected (and subsequent flights scheduled with the same aircraft).
US Airways management took over and eliminated this practice. When a plane lands at a hub, crew disperse on separate journeys. When a flight delays, that means each flight attendant and pilot going their own way delays a flight. There’s a cascading effect on the operation.
American Airlines has a private check-in for top customers at facility at Chicago O’Hare, LAX, London Heathrow, Miami and New York JFK called Flagship First Check-in. But because this is an airline, the rules around who can use it are complicated.
As President Robert Isom explained it to flight attendants in an internal meeting this week, American Airlines would like to modify Airbus A319s and add more first class seats. Just 8 seats up front isn’t enough to sell on many of the routes where the aircraft gets deployed. He’d also like to add bigger overhead bins. A decision point may come next year.
Brady Byrnes, who is American’s Vice President of Inflight, explained at an internal meeting this week (a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing) that the carrier is prioritizing which flights get basic amenities.
ConciergeKey is American’s revenue-based top level, given to very high revenue customers and those who influence significant business for the airline.
They got priority for upgrades and other waitlists and have myriad other benefits including use of the airline’s business class Flagship lounges when flying domestically and are again being given tokens to visit American’s exclusive Flagship First Dining, too.
At a town hall event in Miami on Thursday, American Airlines President Robert Isom took questions from employees. If video of the event was posted internally, it was apparently taken down quickly. However I’ve been able to review the discussion, and every single question and challenge was on the pending vaccination requirement for employees of federal contractors.
My impression watching Isom matches what I’ve heard elsewhere: that management is clearly scared for their operation, knowing that they have so many thousands of unvaccinated employees and that passions are running so hot.
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 »
