After American’s earnings call on Thursday, in prepared remarkets to the airline’s employees as a ‘State of the Airline’ event (a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing), Isom brought up his pay package and fumbled through an explanation. And as they say, when you’re explaining you’re losing. He came across as defensive and unsure of himself.
An American Airlines passenger flying from Charlotte to Munich purchased a business class ticket that they say cost them $4,600. Once they boarded they discovered that their seat did not move. It did not recline. It did not turn into a bed. It was just a seat – not the thing they had purchased.
One of the more shocking things – beyond dirty seats – has been missing seat backs in first class, with seats taken out of service. The response from the airline (and some readers) has been that it’s better to fly planes in this condition than delay flights to address the problem. But I’ve always wondered, what are they doing when the planes aren’t flying to maintain the interiors so that this doesn’t happen so frequently?
You’re not allowed to bring bottles filled with water through airport security. Bottled water is often much more expensive at the airport. If you want to avoid the single use plastics, or just save money, airports frequently have filling stations.
At the Detroit airport these water filling machines solicit tips.
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.
Say that you want to do a once in a lifetime trip, which is expensive, and you’re taking a risk: what if you run into bad weather? Things may be great, but the whole trip might be ‘ruined’ or at least not what you expected. What if you wanted the option of a do-over?
Delta SkyMiles rarely have much value for international business class travel. They charge 4-6 times more than their partners do for the same flights. And flights to Asia are usually even more expensive than to Europe.
Right now, though, there is amazing business class availability on their Seattle – Taipei flight. You can get 9 or more passengers in business on many flights. And pricing starts at just 146,200 miles roundtrip.
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.
Yesterday American Airlines shared the news with customers who would become ConciergeKey members for the next year. AAdvantage members saw the status update in their account – as happens each year, before receiving an email and (for new members at least) receiving a phone call.
Concierge Key is the status that American Airlines gives to its top spending customers and top corporate travel influencers. It became legendary when George Clooney was portrayed as a Concierge Key member on a quest to earn 10 million miles in Up In The Air.
American Airlines is making changes to its international schedule, and they’re telling employees that it is because they’re having to plan for fewer widebody planes. Boeing delivery delays on the 787-9 aircraft that American has ordered mean they’re not going to be able to support the full schedule they’ve been selling.
As part of these changes, American is also making further adjustments to its network. This includes increasing service on some routes as well – so these changes aren’t entirely Boeing’s fault. Those service adjustments are being bundled in with bigger changes.
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 »
