Tag Archives for american.
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.
Qatar Airways owns a 49% stake in Air Italy and is attempting to revive what was once Meridiana into the dominant airline in Italy. With Delta partner Alitalia struggling, that seems possible. Although given Alitalia’s challenges, draining subsidies from Air France and then Etihad and the government of Italy the Italian aviation market isn’t a place that’s likely to produce profits. Delta sniffed around looking to invest in Alitalia, but no deal has been done.
US airlines don’t want to compete with Air Italy, though. They don’t want to compete with anyone, and there’s always a chance to go to the administration and complain about foreigners.
When American Airlines launched their ‘web specials’ they were discounted awards, for less than the cost of a saver award. These awards allow no changes versus traditional awards which permit date changes free of charge and routing changes for a fee.
Now though these non-changeable web specials appear to be offering fully dynamic pricing.
American Airlines, in a letter to employees, announced this morning that they had extended their grounding of the aircraft through August 19th.
They were explicit, though, that they believe the plane will be flying before then – and that an earlier return to service will mean using the MAX as spare aircraft to help during peak summer travel.
Both American and Delta have invested heavily in truly usable internet, which distinguishes them both from United whose internet rarely works when I fly them.
American says they are now 95% done with their project to install satellite wifi in their aircraft, and that they will complete the project by May. What that means is that if you’re flying an Airbus narrowbody (A319/A320/A321) or a Boeing 737 you should have fast internet on board.
American Airlines executives have come to love DFW, because they say it’s in their top tier of profitable hubs. They are the dominant carrier by far, and have incredible scale. They’re on their way to operating 900 flights a day from the airport. And with that many flights adding a new city is easy to make profitable as a result of connecting feed from all over the world.
The future of the airport is being hashed out now. Next year the airport’s 10-year use agreement is up, and a new deal is being negotiated. That’s where the broad plan for the future of the airport gets set — what is the airport going to invest in, how much will airlines pay for the space. The biggest airlines get the biggest say. American Airlines is in the driver’s seat.
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.
I’m not looking forward to this, but I’m hopeful that partner award prices don’t change for awhile and that perhaps American (and United) can be convinced to be transparent about partner pricing going forward even as they price their own flights dynamically.
That is of course where the best value lies today from both programs.
A month ago I wrote that American would be introducing ‘seat coupons’. Presumably this means that non-elites may be able to earn preferred seat assignments on American Airlines.
Apparently the functionality is now live.
An American Airlines flight attendant shares her Phoenix – Dallas story. The airline’s CEO Doug Parker was on the flight. She was serving predeparture beverages – sparkling water, gin and tonics – when her drink tray went flying.
However she had “a tray of about 8 drinks on it” when a passenger right in front of her “stops in the aisle and backs up,” they “hit[..] the tray and the drinks go flying.” And they went all over… CEO Doug Parker!
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 »
