Tag Archives for american airlines.
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.
American Airlines seemingly spends an awful lot of time talking to employees about my blog posts whether it’s Vasu Raja responding to what I write about New York JFK or Doug Parker getting defensive about the 737 MAX.
The airline is clear in its financials though that they lose money flying planes and all their profit is accounted for by the sale of frequent flyer miles. American is telling their employees not to worry though despite the way “some online commenters have tried to oversimplify” the airline’s financial results.
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.
When American Airlines introduced Basic Economy fares — new restrictions on the cheapest tickets that prevented customers from upgrading, making itinerary changes, or even getting a seat assignment at booking — they offered the ability to ‘buy up’ to the regular economy fare.
That way if someone realized they had purchased such a restrictive fare in error, they still had a do-over possibility by giving the airline more money.
American and Hyatt have announced a partnership. It doesn’t yet appear to have a name, but it’s similar to what Starwood executives built for Crossover Rewards, and Hyatt’s loyalty program is now largely run by ex-Starwood executives.
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.
In late 2017 American Airlines rolled out a new coach product. It featured less space than ever between seats (not just in coach, but less space for extra legroom coach and even for first class). There was less recline, too, and no seat back video. They found space for more seats by squeezing inches out of the lavatories. And they found space by taking padding out of the seats.
Not only was this new interior what’s going into their new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, but they’ve been taking more comfortable Boeing 737-800s and ripping out those interiors to match what I’ve sometimes called “Torquemada configuration.”
For many years there’s something that’s been referred to in airline parlance as the ‘flat tire rule’ — if you show up too late to get on your flight, your airline will put you on the next one without a penalty. After all, you may have had a flat tire on your way to the airport, why punish you further? Little is free in today’s airline world any more. In fact “standby” or wait listed travel is no longer free at most US airlines (and not all international ones offer it to begin with). At American Airlines only full fare passengers and elites can stand by for free, and that’s generally only for US travel — otherwise it costs $75 to stand by for an earlier flight. But what about when you miss your flight?…
It used to be that an airline would focus more on getting each flight to its destination as quickly as possible, believing it’s better to get passengers and aircraft where they’re going than cancel flights and let passengers off. That equilibrium was shifted in law, and airlines are now supposed to let passengers off of planes rather than holding them on the aircraft — even though it may mean more flight cancellations and mean people don’t get where they’re going as quickly.
American Airlines Vice President – Planning Vasu Raja says they’re considering flying to India — perhaps from Philadelphia. But airfares are too low, their Boeing 787-9s are slated to replace existing aircraft not to fuel growth, and the airline lacks a partner in India.
Oh, they’re also saying they plan to fly to Africa too.
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 »
