american airlines

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American Is Now Retrofitting 737s AGAIN To Fix Poorly Thought Out First Class Cabin

by Gary Leff

Jan 09 2020

American created ‘Project Kodiak’ to tweak first class: Fixing row 1’s legroom, fixing underseat storage, improving separation between first and coach, and adding tablet holders and USB power to first class.

Kodiak retrofits are underway. One surprise is that it appears there’s a plane with seat back video in for retrofit, ripping out TV screens. American had previously said that these planes would receive their retrofits last so that customers could keep screens as long as possible. That appears not to have been accurate.

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Customer Missed Birth Of Their Child After Being Downgraded By American Airlines

by Gary Leff

american airlines planes
Jan 09 2020

n America Airlines passenger tells the story about buying a paid transpacific business class ticket on American Airlines but being downgraded for their Chicago – Tokyo flight a few weeks ago when their inbound Boston – Chicago flight was delayed.

The passenger says their Boston – Chicago flight was running late due to crew availability (a flight attendant “had woken up late and was on her way”) and that meant arriving into Chicago 45 minutes late. They had to run to their connecting gate, but they made it while the Tokyo flight was still boarding.

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How Much Is Boeing Paying American Airlines To Settle 737 MAX Claims?

by Gary Leff

Jan 07 2020

American Airlines has previously said they’ve lost about $580 million from the grounding of the MAX. I actually don’t believe they’ve lost anything close to that since they’ve largely cut what they believe are the biggest money losing flights.

However the fact that American is saying they’ll contribute an additional $30 million to employee profit sharing gives us some indication of the value of the settlement.

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The Post-David Dao Era – and the $10,000 Bump Voucher – Is Ending

by Gary Leff

airline ticket
Jan 05 2020

Airlines are tightening their belts, trying to cut what it costs them to give out denied boarding compensation to passengers when they overbook a flight. Both United and American have copied Delta in soliciting ‘bids’ from customers for what compensation they’d accept, hoping to avoid bidding wars at the gate.

In the wake of United’s April 2017 passenger dragging incident – where David Dao was told to give up his seat for two crewmembers and refused, winding up bloodied by airport – there was a huge public backlash against bumping passengers off of overbooked flights. And airlines started paying out far more compensation to avoid involuntarily denying boarding to passengers.

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American Airlines is Being Sued for “Trafficking” the Havana Airport

by Gary Leff

capital building
Jan 02 2020

The plaintiff says his father owned the Havana airport when it was taken by the Cuban government during the 1959 revolution. He purchased what was then Rancho Boyeros Airport seven years earlier from Pan Am and made investments to “modernize[.] and improve[.] it by extending the runway and building a new terminal building.”

It was taken during the Cuban Revolution and he’s suing American Airlines (and LATAM) under the Helms-Burton Act.

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Former ‘Bachelor’ Producer Took An American Airlines Mileage Run And Wound Up In A Mexican Prison

by Gary Leff

Jan 01 2020

Andrew Kimmel arrived home in Los Angeles after his last trip of the year to find that he had over 125,000 qualifying miles with American Airlines – but was still about $250 short of the 15,000 qualifying dollars needed for Executive Platinum status.

American will let you ‘buy up’ or ‘buy back’ your status, but Kimmel – a producer for The Bachelor & The Bachelorette between 2012 and 2015, and before that a field producer for Dancing With The Stars – reports that they wanted $1875 for him to keep his status. So he embarked on a mileage run that led to a Mexican prison instead.

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American Airlines Experimenting With More Flexible Approach to Same Day Flight Changes

by Gary Leff

american plane
Dec 30 2019

American Airlines offers same day changes for $75, waived for Platinum Pro (75,000 mile) elite members and higher. The rules for these changes are more restrictive than United’s or Delta’s though.

Fortunately American appears to be experimenting with a more liberal approach to same day confirmed changes, specifically making more inventory available on certain flights to test if that’s something they’re willing to move forward with.

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