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Great American Airlines First Class Award Space West Coast – Europe Without Fuel Surcharges

flight chart
Jun 03 2019

West Coast – Europe award travel is tough, getting premium cabin to Europe on American Airlines (and thus not paying surcharges) is tougher still. This is definitely worth taking ‘AAdvantage’ of. And if you have a stash of Etihad Guest miles, ring up about your preferred itinerary to see if they can book for 50,000 miles each way in business (vs. 57,500 from American) or 62,500 in first.

However if there was any doubt that American’s married segment award availability logic was in play for premium cabin awards now (and with ensuing negative consequences for making changes to awards) this should illustrate the extension beyond coach — and is a part of dynamic availability if not pricing.

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Passengers Accidentally Skip Immigration at O’Hare, Government Tells Them No Worries Just Go Home

passport getting stamped
May 31 2019

Passengers off of flight AY9 “walked to an exit, and followed a TSA Agent through the door leading outside.” One passenger reports realizing the mistake and finding “he went to an agent in the Customs and Border Control (CBP) office [who] told him to not worry and “just go ahead.”

CBP blames Finnair because “it’s up to the airlines to make sure passengers go from an arrival gate to customs” while TSA “says it’s CBP’s responsibility.”

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IATA Says Boeing 737 MAX Won’t Fly Until August, While Boeing’s CEO Apologizes to Victims’ Families

plane tv
May 29 2019

Last week I wrote that the FAA would be trying to convince the world’s regulators to re-certify the Boeing 737 MAX. American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said he expects the plane to fly in ‘weeks, not months’ but that the FAA would want a critical mass of other world regulators to sign off on the plane as well as part of convincing the public that it’s safe to fly — however several countries would likely be recalcitrant for political reasons.

Now the head of standards-setting trade group the International Air Transport Association says he expects the Boeing 737 MAX to return in 10 to 12 weeks – at the earliest..

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Regional Jets Are Going to Get Faster 5G Inflight Internet

american eagle plane
May 29 2019

Regional jets have been stuck with slower internet speeds. In particular, they cannot be upgraded to Gogo’s 2Ku satellite system, the internet provider tells me, because “the radome is too large.” Still there’s a need to improve the inflight experience on regional jets.

Gogo announced today that it “will build a 5G network for aviation.” This is a new air-to-ground network regional jets and smaller mainline jets operating in the US and Canada, and for business jets.

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American’s Joint Venture With LATAM Rejected By Chile’s Supreme Court

plane on tarmac
May 28 2019

Several South American countries have approved the American Airlines joint venture with LATAM, and American has expected to receive approval from the U.S. In a surprising move, the Chilean Supreme Court has overturned the country’s regulatory anti-trust approval of the deal citing limited competition and barriers to entry. Presumably with US regulatory approval American and LATAM will move forward with their joint venture excluding US-Chile from the arrangement.

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