Tag Archives for american airlines.
Alaska Airlines flight attendants have just voted down the contract their union negotiated. It would have given them an immediate 18% raise and then 3% raises in subsequent years. They’d receive boarding pass and retro pay back to 2022. The vote wasn’t close – 68 to 32 against.
Starting today, American’s Gold members and above receive free checked bags when flying Gol. Each bag may be up to 50 pounds. One companion on the same reservation is entitled to a single complimentary checked bag as well.
Upgrades are tough out there. First class doesn’t cost as much as it used to when airlines sold only about 10% of the seats up front. Planes are full and plenty of people have status. They’re more likely to pay for first class outright. And airlines sell first class upgrades aggressively. There are far fewer leftover seats available complimentary to those with airline status.
Now, at least, American Airlines will reward you when you buy a coach ticket and take their paid offer for an upgrade.
Qatar Airways has had great award pricing for short-distance travel on American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. What’s more, their points are easy to come by. Unfortunately, Qatar has devalued these redemptions without notice.
An American Airlines passenger was supposed to fly from Albuquerque to New Orleans in June, but wasn’t permitted to travel. They say they’d been added to the airline’s banned customer list for past behavior.
There are a number of issues that flight attendants are unhappy with in the new contract their union negotiated with American. The last time cabin crew voted on a contract, they voted it down. The union is doing a good job selling it, in my opinion, but the membership is clearly divided – and their powerful LAX base president has given new voice to the opposition.
It’s interesting to look at what American Airlines flight attendants didn’t get in their negotiations. They’re going to get boarding pay – they’ll be paid for the time spent boarding an aircraft – but that doesn’t start until six months after the contract is ratified. They’re going to get higher 401(k) contributions, but that doesn’t start until 2025. They aren’t going to get higher staffing levels. They won’t even get pre-pandemic staffing levels restored.
At the end of May, American Airlines announced the departure of Chief Commercial Officer Vasu Raja, and downgraded earnings projections, as business and managed travel revenue dropped off amidst a cost-cutting campaign that pushed those customers and resellers to move their interactions with the airline online.
He’s still being paid through January and isn’t going to speak too much out of turn. But he’s giving his first interviews since the split.
In a rare move, American Airlines American Airlines diverted a domestic flight to a foreign country and passengers are calling themselves illegal immigrants to the Bahamas.
American Airlines flight 2421 from San Juan to Miami wound up in Nassau on Saturday. Passengers couldn’t leave the terminal. Most weren’t carrying passports. “It’s like The Terminal with Tom Hanks” said one viewer of video on social media.
Even with Delta’s CrowdStrike meltdown in July, it still had better on-time arrivals performance for the month than American. The latter was certainly more impacted by weather, but the results are still striking.
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 »
