american airlines

Tag Archives for american airlines.

Carry On Won’t Fit In The Bag Sizer? American Will Now Charge You To Check It

Apr 26 2021

From now on when American Airlines takes your carry on bag at the gate and requires you to check it, you can expect to pay for the privilege – unless you’re entitled to free checked bags with a premium cabin ticket, AAdvantage elite status, or co-brand credit card.

Frequently customers bring more carry on bags than they’re allowed, or bags that are bigger than what’s permitted. Gate agents are supposed to insist that the passenger checks the bag. They used to do this for free, but according to a new American Airlines “Airport Excellence Advisory” agents are now supposed to collect a checked bag fee.

Continue Reading »

What Happened To The Sign From Gate 35X, And Other American Airlines Construction Projects

gate number
Apr 25 2021

Washington National airport built an entire new concourse to replace one miserable gate. Gate 35X was a bus gate that served 14 remote stands for 50 seat regional jets. The new concourse, in contrast, supports 14 large regional jets.

Just after the opening of this new concourse for American Airlines flights, which will also feature an Admirals Club, American Airlines shared some construction updates with employees as part of a question and answer session on earnings call day last week.

Continue Reading »

Upgrades On American When Traveling With A Baby Just Got Cheaper

Apr 24 2021

When parents travel with a child under two years old, the child doesn’t need their own seat. A so-called ‘lap infant’ travels free when flying domestically. In general for international travel the lap infant will need a ticket, and so the parents have to purchase an ‘infant fare’.

Fortunately as of April 23, 2021 American Airlines no longer requires customers to pay more for their infant ticket when they upgrade which can mean a savings of hundreds of dollars – and a lot of headaches since the process used to be confusing.

Continue Reading »

American Airlines Is A Marketing Company That Flies Planes, What Should Change From That Insight?

Apr 23 2021

Before the pandemic American Airlines was losing money flying planes – the sale of frequent flyer miles accounted for its profit.

During the American Airlines first quarter earnings call Stifel analyst Joe DeNardi asked CEO Doug Parker whether he realized how profitable the AAdvantage program is, and why he doesn’t devote more time during the earnings call to discuss it?

He offered that “in 2019, your loyalty program generated roughly the same amount of EBITDA as Marriott did” and wondered “”why don’t you allocate 40% of the time on these calls to the loyalty program” given its importance?

Continue Reading »

American Airlines Mocks United Adding Video Screens At Seats As “Prettying Up Old Planes”

airline cabin
Apr 23 2021

Reminiscent of Qatar Airways CEO declaring that ‘Delta flies crap plans’ Chief Customer Officer Alison Taylor suggested United is adding seat back video to older aircraft “to pretty up old planes, and we should be proud about our new planes and aircraft.”

CEO Doug Parker explained they’re removing video at passenger seats because that’s what passengers want.

Continue Reading »

Don’t Buy Airline Tickets Too Far In Advance Right Now

british tail plane
Apr 22 2021

During the American Airlines first quarter earnings call, the airline’s Chief Revenue Officer Vasu Raja dropped a hint about finding the best airfares. The landscape booking airline tickets is changing rapidly and they’re afraid of selling future flights too cheap. They’re keeping prices high for late 2021 holiday travel on purpose so that people don’t buy their travel yet.

In response to a question by CNBC journalist Leslie Josephs, Raju explained that ticket sales are up in the near term but looking further out where bookings are falling, it’s because of a conscious decision by the airline “so that we don’t sell out Thanksgiving too soon” – they are keeping prices high so they don’t fill up planes too cheaply.

Continue Reading »

Why What American’s CEO Thinks His Airline Does Best Is So Disappointing

Apr 22 2021

In a meeting last week with pilots, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker was asked what the airline is doing better than competitors, in particular Delta and United. And Parker’s immediate response was, “at the moment..?

Then he offered a discussion which, I think, really points to what Parker sees as the most important thing for an airline: it’s schedule.

Continue Reading »