American Airlines – AAdvantage – LoyaltyLobby

American Airlines AAdvantage 2024 Program Update

John Ollila — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 18:10:49 +0000

Today, American Airlines announced some minor benefits changes to the AAdvantage program that will be rolled out in 2024.

There is a new Loyalty Points choice at 15,000 points, you can earn miles (and likely Loyalty Points) on paid upgrades, and you can use miles for upgrades on select not yet disclosed partners.

You can access AA here.

AA’s Update:

Conclusion

There are some minor changes here, and let’s see how and when using Systemwide Upgrades is automated so that you don’t need to ring the EXP desk to process them.

I guess that we all hope that AA won’t touch the AAdvantage partner award rates that are good, although I still miss those fantastic around-the-world awards.

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American Airlines & Philippines Airlines Launch Limited Codeshare Agreement (No Frequent Flier Benefits)

John Ollila — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 21:00:15 +0000

American Airlines and Philippine Airlines have launched a limited codeshare agreement that doesn’t come with frequent flier benefits such as redeeming miles or lounge access.

American Airlines will codeshare Philippine Airlines flights from Tokyo, Honolulu, and Guam to Manila and Cebu. Philippine Airlines will place its code to select American Airlines flights from Los Angeles to Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Orlando, and Washington, D.C.

You can access American Airlines here and Philippine Airlines here.

American Airlines Announcement:

Philippine Airlines and American Airlines launch new codeshare partnership

Travelers gain seamless connections between the Philippines and the United States

MANILA, Philippines & FORT WORTH, Texas — Philippine Airlines and American Airlines have launched a codeshare partnership that introduces the first marketed flights by a Philippine carrier to several U.S. destinations and allows American’s customers to travel to the Pearl of the Orient, Manila, and the beautiful beaches of Cebu.

American’s customers are now able to book tickets on aa.com for codeshare flights operated by Philippine Airlines to Manila and Cebu via Tokyo. Additionally, customers will be able to fly to Manila from Honolulu and Guam.

“We are excited to partner with Philippine Airlines, which will provide our customers seamless connections to Manila, the capital and economic hub of the region, and Cebu, the gateway to countless tropical islands with pristine beaches,” said Anmol Bhargava, American’s Vice President of Global Alliances and Partnerships. “The Philippines is one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, and we look forward to continuing to enhance our partnership with Philippine Airlines.”

Philippine Airlines has placed its “PR” code on American’s flights between Los Angeles and seven U.S. cities: Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Orlando and Washington, D.C., enabling excellent connectivity with PAL’s trans-Pacific service.

“This partnership with American Airlines unlocks more options for customers traveling between Asia and the United States,” said Eric David Anderson, PAL’s Chief Commercial Officer. “We are delighted to deliver on our long-term strategy of continuing to build our global reach. We look forward to creating more opportunities for travelers to discover the wonders of the Philippines.”

Philippine Airlines operates twice-daily nonstop flights to Los Angeles, daily flights to San Francisco and multiple weekly flights to New York, Honolulu and Guam.

Conclusion

This is a very limited codeshare agreement, and you won’t earn AAdvantage miles for Philippine Airlines flights unless they are AA-coded.

But, perhaps if this works out well for both, they might consider a proper frequent flier partnership that would be a logical next step.

Philippine Airlines sometimes has reasonable fares, but I have had trouble booking them as there is no other airline to credit them to than ANA.

Source

American Airlines AAdvantage & Aer Lingus: Reciprocal Points Earning Now Live Effective December 5, 2023

Sebastian Powell — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 14:02:45 +0000

American Airlines & Aer Lingus just deepened their partnership, and effective today, December 5th, 2023, they allow reciprocal mileage earning between the programs of both carriers.

It’s interesting that this mileage-earning capability kicks in just now as both airlines have longstanding cooperation, including codesharing, already but never got around to implementing reciprocal agreements to earn miles.

The codeshare agreement was announced in January of 2022 so that’s almost two full years that passengers were able to fly on either of the two carriers but they just now got around to putting this new option in place.

To remind everyone, here the announcement from January 11, 2022:

Traveling between the United States and Ireland, also known as the Emerald Isle, will be simple, easy and more convenient for customers as American Airlines and Aer Lingus launch their codeshare agreement this week.

To increase connectivity between the U.S and Europe for customers, American will place its code on Aer Lingus flights between London Heathrow (LHR) and Dublin (DUB). Customers can also book codeshare flights on Aer Lingus from DUB to Amsterdam (AMS); Birmingham, UK (BHX); London Gatwick (LGW) and Manchester, UK (MAN); and from LHR to Belfast City, Northern Ireland (BHD); Cork, Ireland (ORK) and Shannon, Ireland (SNN).

“We are excited to extend our relationship with our newest joint business partner, Aer Lingus, with this codeshare agreement,” said Anmol Bhargava, American’s vice president of Alliances. “Through our trans-Atlantic joint business, customers have more choices to key destinations in Europe and now, Ireland.”

Additionally, customers traveling with Aer Lingus will now be able to book codeshare travel on American Airlines flights from Chicago O’Hare (ORD) to Albuquerque, New Mexico, (ABQ); Nashville, Tennessee (BNA); Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW); Los Angeles (LAX); Seattle (SEA); San Francisco (SFO); San Jose, California (SJC) and Tucson, Arizona (TUS).

Further expansion of the codeshare is also planned in the near future. …

Additional flight options are always great, but keep in mind that flying Aer Lingus isn’t really a full-service carrier experience even compared to American Airlines, so one would have to tamper down expectations.

I remember 15 years ago, a friend who worked for a large pharmaceutical company in Los Angeles frequently traveled between L.A. and Dublin, but since they always booked paid First Class, he flew either Lufthansa via Frankfurt or American Airlines via London. Needless to say, he was Senator and ExecPlat within just a few months. But he said Aer Lingus is really the only option for last resort.

Here is the new AAdvantage earning chart for Aer Lingus flights:

Earn miles

You can earn AAdvantage^® miles when you fly on Aer Lingus marketed and operated flights. Flights operated by Aer Lingus affiliate airline Emerald will also be eligible to earn AAdvantage^® miles.

Here’s how:

Buy an eligible published fare ticket in an eligible booking code

Fly an eligible route

When you earn eligible AAdvantage^® miles for travel on Aer Lingus, you’ll also earn Loyalty Points that count toward AAdvantage^® status.

Calculating miles based on ticket price

For travel on Aer Lingus marketed and operated flights, miles are earned based on ticket price (includes base fare plus carrier-imposed fees; excludes government-imposed taxes and fees). The more you spend, and the higher your AAdvantage^® status, the more you’ll earn.

AAdvantage^® member – 5 miles for every U.S. dollar

AAdvantage Gold^® member – 40% bonus

AAdvantage Platinum^® member – 60% bonus

AAdvantage Platinum Pro^® member – 80% bonus

AAdvantage Executive Platinum^® member – 120% bonus

Mind you, this is for Aer Lingus sold/marketed flights on their own flight number. You would have to be in one of the following booking classes in order for eligible flights to be credited to the account properly:

Travel ticketed as an American Airlines marketed flight (having a flight number beginning with ‘AA’) and operated by Aer Lingus will earn AAdvantage^® miles and Loyalty Points according to the American mileage accrual chart.

Aer Lingus AerClub members can also earn Avios on American Airlines flights. However, the best approach to that (in my opinion) would be to better collect on British Airways Executive Club.

What’s extremely interesting is that Aer Lingus now has partnerships with United Airlines and American Airlines. That’s truly unique. They also started one with Alaska Airlines in 2018.

Conclusion

Almost two years after plenty of codeshare options were announced, American Airlines AAdvantage and Air Lingus AerClub now made it possible to collect miles on each other’s services and be booked under the carrier’s original code, not just the codeshare flight number of the partner.

Personally, I don’t see too many people taking advantage of that partnership, although Aer Lingus had a couple of interesting premium fares over the last year or so. As mentioned above. I’d suggest keeping expectations to a minimum as far as onboard service on EI is concerned.

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American Airlines Buy AAdvantage Miles Up To 50% Off Sale Through November 27, 2023

John Ollila — Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:31:26 +0000

American Airlines has launched a Black Friday sale for buying AAdvantage miles at its highest discount offered in 2023 through November 27.

During this sale, AAdvantage members can buy 150,000 to 350,000 miles at a 50% discount. The account that purchases or receives the miles must have been open for at least 30 days.

You can access this offer on AA’s website here.

Here’s the discount table:

The price of 350,000 miles at 50% off:

The price of a mile, purchased at 50% off under this offer, is 1.88 cents each, the lowest price in 2023 and 2022.

The lowest price for AAdvantage miles sold in 2020 was 1.72 cents, in 2021 1.77 cents, and in 2022 1.88 cents.

Conclusion

This is the lowest price for AAdvantage miles, so now would be the right time if you have been contemplating buying them.

I have found AAdvantage miles to be quite valuable for partner awards in premium cabins, and I have one booked in business from Osaka to Papeete in Air Tahiti Nui this coming January,

Terms and conditions of this offer:

AAdvantage^® members must purchase at least 2,000 AAdvantage^® miles or more in a single transaction from the Buy or Gift Miles program from 12:00:00am CT November 24, 2023, to 11:59:59pm CT November 27, 2023, to be eligible for a discount. Offers to eligible members may vary and are subject to change by American without notice. AAdvantage^® miles purchased through Buy or Gift Miles program are bonus miles and not eligible to earn Loyalty Points.

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Airfare of the Day -Business Class- AMERICAN AIRLINES Munich to San Francisco from 1,881€

Freddo Zabaleta — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 14:44:26 +0000

Today’s Airfare of the Day goes to American Airlines and their business class non-discountable fares valid for round trip travel departing from Munich (MUC), Germany to San Francisco (SFO), United States.

Photo: Pixabay

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fare: American (AA) INN8T1S4 MUC to SFO

TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS: no travel restrictions apply.
SALES RESTRICTIONS: no sales restrictions apply.
AVAILABILITY: from January 2024 onwards.

Booking class: I
Price: from 1,881€ (1,719€ base fare + taxes & surcharges).
Day/time restrictions: -/-
Advanced reservation/ticketing restrictions: reservations are required at least 28 days before departure.
Minimum stay: until the first Sunday after arrival at turnaround (min. 24 hours)
Maximum stay: 12 months.
Stopovers: 1 stopover permitted in each direction in the United States at 600€ each.
Cancellations: ticket is non-refundable in case of cancel/no-show/refund.
Changes: changes permitted for reissue/revalidation.

IATA’S COVID19 REGULATIONS MAP

Routing examples

Price comparison

Booking examples

This fare can be booked on American Airlines:

Fare rules

Download (DOCX, 29KB)

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American Airlines Status Match For United & Delta Elites

John Ollila — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 13:17:21 +0000

American Airlines has launched an elite status match offer, called Instant Status Pass, for United Delta Platinum and higher members.

American will match your status instantly to Platinum Pro or Executive Platinum for four months, during which you need to collect Loyalty Points to retain it for another four.

You can access this offer on AA’s website here.

Match Matrix

American matches United and Delta Platinums to AAdvantage Platinum Pro and United 1K and Delta Diamond members to Executive Platinum.

AAdvantage Platinum Pro & Executive Platinum Benefits

American Airlines somehow forgets to mention that both Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum map to Oneworld Emerald status, which allows you to check in to a flight at the First Class counter and enter First Class lounges, where available (there are exclusions for lounge access in the US), but it works well with international partners.

Match Requirements:

Delta SkyMiles

Send us a screenshot from your SkyMiles® account, including:

Your first and last name

SkyMiles overview, including current status and status tracker wheels

2022 account activity with MQMs, MQSs and MQDs earned

Plus, send a screenshot of your current membership card with an expiration date of January 31, 2024, or January 31, 2025.

United Airlines

Send us a screenshot from your MileagePlus® account, including:

Your first and last name

2022 year-end snapshot

2023 Premier progress

Plus, send a screenshot of your current membership card with an expiration date of January 31, 2024, or January 31, 2025.

Match Qualification

Your status after four months is dependent on the number of Loyalty Points collected:

13,000 Loyalty Points = AAdvantage Gold
25,000 Loyalty Points = AAdvantage Platinum
42,000 Loyalty Points = AAdvantage Platinum Pro
67,000 Loyalty Points = AAdvantage Executive Platinum

Conclusion

It seems to be a season of status match offers from most airlines mainly geared towards Delta Medallions due to Delta’s misguided effort to significantly raise tier qualification requirements that backfired, and they had to partially walk it back.

The issue with most of these US and other revenue-based programs is that unless you fly on very expensive economy fares or buy business, it is difficult to qualify for a reasonable status. If you need to purchase business to enjoy the status benefits, it is essentially a lose-lose situation because status benefits are most valuable for economy cabin flyers.

There is also the issue with these American matches that they now only match for a brief period, which likely won’t work if you have any advance tickets purchased on other airlines. However, America counts a wide variety of AAdvantage transactions as Loyalty Points qualifying.

Oneworld Alliance is superior to SkyTeam and slightly better or even with Star Alliance, and I have status with all of them.

Terms and Conditions of this offer:

To be considered for a status match via the American Airlines Instant Status Pass™ promotion, please complete the linked form. If approved, the member will automatically be registered for the Instant Status Pass™ promotion and enjoy 4 months of status with American Airlines while meeting a Loyalty Point goal every 4 months to keep status and move on to the next phase.

Once registered, the member must earn at least 13,000 Loyalty Points in the first 4 months of the promotion to continue with AAdvantage Gold® benefits, 25,000 Loyalty Points to continue with AAdvantage Platinum® benefits, 42,000 to continue with AAdvantage Platinum Pro® benefits, or 67,000 Loyalty Points to continue with AAdvantage Executive Platinum® benefits.

Members who have registered for the Instant Status Pass™ promotion in the last two years are not eligible for this offer. Members who already hold the equivalent or higher AAdvantage® status are not eligible for this offer.

Please allow at least 4 weeks for AAdvantage® Customer Service to review your submission.

This offer is open for a limited amount of time. American Airlines may, at any time and without notice, change, stop, or end this promotion in part or in full.

American Airlines, in its sole discretion, will determine if the submitted documentation is acceptable and may deny any submission requests for any reason. American Airlines reserves the right to request additional documentation from the member to verify status match eligibility.

Submission of fraudulent or forged documentation may result in termination of your AAdvantage® account.

To be eligible for the status match promotion, the applicant must be a current AAdvantage® member in good standing and a current Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Medallion or Diamond Medallion status holder or a United MileagePlus® Premier Platinum or Premier 1K status member.

The first and last name on the Delta SkyMiles® or United MileagePlus® membership card and the AAdvantage® account must match.

This offer is only valid for Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Medallion or Diamond Medallion members or United MileagePlus® Premier Platinum or Premier 1K members who met the full status qualification requirements. Matched, transferred, lifetime, or promotional status holders are not eligible for this offer.

Additional terms and conditions apply for the American Airlines Instant Status Pass® promotion which will be made available to the member in their AAdvantage® account and the email associated with the account upon successful verification of the provided documentation. Upon successful verification of the documentation, the member will be automatically registered for the Instant Status Pass promotion and their 4-month status period will begin immediately.

Promotions are subject to the AAdvantage® program terms and conditions.

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American Airlines Discontinues Business ExtrAA Program, More Changes To Go Into Effect From December 15, 2023

Sebastian Powell — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 14:14:22 +0000

American Airlines has a longstanding program for small businesses, called Business ExtrAA that allows them to earn points for travel by their employees that can be later turned into awards, but there will be substantial changes going forward.

American has announced in the past that Business ExtrAA will be discontinued, and the new AAdvantage Business™ program will have a different structure, which is starting to kick in from December 15th of this year.

The first time AA announced changes was in October 2021, and signups under the old program stopped while existing members were grandfathered in for a specific period of time.

Here’s the email they sent in October 2021:

Requirements under the new program were much stricter compared to the old Business ExtrAA and what made it even more difficult for SME’s is that American also discontinued the AAirpass program.

American’s new AAdvantage Business program can be found here with details about the new timelines outlined.

So what are the next steps and changes here?

A company needs a minimum of 5 ACTIVE registered flyers -> Previously, Business ExtrAA had a minimum of 3 registered travelers and $5,000 of min spend in the preceding 12 months (all pre-existing accounts were grandfathered in until January 1, 2023)
$5,000 minimum spend requirement to REDEEM miles, (employees can EARN right away)
Spend requirement is waived for those members with the CitiBusiness AAdvantage credit card

They are definitely tightening the screws on this program. In the past small companies just enrolled a couple people, some of which were probably not even employees of the company, and were able to earn points.

Back in the day I stopped using Business ExtrAA after less than a year because whenever it was booked right away with a Business ExtrAA number attached, even the Executive Platinum desk wouldn’t take care of any booking related matter and turn you over to the “Meeting Services” desk. I decided a few side rewards aren’t worth the aggravation.

I also noticed that existing balances of BusinessExtrAA points will NOT be converted to the new currency scheme. You can still redeem under the current award chart until December 15, 2023. After that (until January 31, 2024) you’re able to redeem redeem the points for MILES. If you don’t do anything with them then the points go poof on February 1st. Just like your e500 upgrades in last year.

Unfortunately certain attractive awards that used to be part of Business ExtrAA will no longer be available. Status upgrades, Admirals Club memberships etc that carry real value can no longer be redeemed and that’s definitely a downgrade of the program.

All you earn are essentially miles – the same miles as common AAdvantage miles in the members own account and with the devaluation of AAdvantage awards these aren’t exactly attractive anymore.

Conclusion

American Airlines is proceeding – as previously announced – with the conversion of the Business ExtrAA program to AAdvantage Business. This mean tightening of the rules, changing the earning structure and the removal of previously attractive rewards choices.

It’s really a shame that this program now goes down the drain as well but the writing was on the wall. Just like the discontinuation of the AAirpass, this is a pretty big blow to SME’s for which the program really made sense in the past.

Nowadays more than ever I feel it’s best to become a free agent and book best price in the best cabin. You don’t need any status and have all the amenities when you sit in First Class. Loyalty programs were great in the past but I think companies realized that they also represent an expensive liability for them. The game goes two ways, however.

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Airfare of the Day -Business Class- AMERICAN AIRLINES Paris to New York from 1,834€

Freddo Zabaleta — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 10:57:24 +0000

Today’s Airfare of the Day goes to American Airlines and their business class non-discountable fares valid for round trip travel departing from Paris (CDG), France to New York (JFK), United States.

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

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Airfare of the Day -Premium Economy- AMERICAN AIRLINES Los Angeles to Tokyo from $1,367

Freddo Zabaleta — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 13:51:03 +0000

Today’s Airfare of the Day goes to American Airlines and their basic season midweek premium economy excursion fares valid for one way travel departing from Los Angeles (LAX), United States to Tokyo (HND), Japan on their nonstop service.

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Hyatt & American Airlines Reciprocal Elite Fast Track Offers Fall 2023

John Ollila — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 05:07:52 +0000

Hyatt and American Airlines launched a partnership back in 2019 (read more here) that allows World of Hyatt and AAdvantage members to earn both points and miles for hotel stays and flights if they hold elite status.

Part of the program is a yearly status fast-track offer that allows Hyatt members to accelerate their status with AAdvantage and for AAdvantage elite members to get status with Hyatt. New offers have just gone live.

You can access this offer on Hyatt’s website here and access AA here.

Hyatt Status Offer For American Airlines:

AAdvantage Gold and Platinum members get Explorist status for 90 days and can keep it through early 2025 by consuming 10 nights within 90 days.

AAdvantage Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum members get Explorist status for 90 days and can keep it through early 2025 by consuming 10 nights within 90 days or get a Globalist status if they stay 20.

AAdvantage Elite Status for World of Hyatt Members:

There appear to be offers for Platinum and Platinum Pro tiers for Globalist members, and you can sign up by going to Promotions in the AA app.

You get the status for 4 months and can extend it by collecting a specified number of Loyalty Points: 42,000 for Platinum Pro and 25,000 for Platinum.

Conclusion

The AAdvantage Platinum Pro status is quite worthwhile, as it maps to Oneworld Emerald, which allows first-class check-in, first-class lounge access (not AA lounges when flying domestically), and airport priority services when flying on Alliance airlines.

The Globalist is the only World of Hyatt status that has any meaningful benefits. You must consume 20 nights within 90 days to get it from this “challenge.”

This is not really an exclusive offer because every Hyatt’s sales department can sign you up for it.

Terms and conditions of AAdvantage Gold and Platinum Hyatt fast track offer:

To qualify for this offer, you must be an AAdvantage® Gold or Platinum member who has already successfully linked your AAdvantage® account to your World of Hyatt® account (“Eligible Member”). To participate in this offer, Eligible Members must register between September 12 and November 30, 2023, through the dedicated offer registration page provided by Hyatt.

Upon registration, the Eligible Member will receive a trial upgrade to Explorist status for 90 days (“Explorist Trial Period”). The trial will provide the member with the benefits of Explorist status, as set forth in the World of Hyatt program terms, provided that the member will not receive any Club Lounge Access Awards (as defined in the World of Hyatt program terms). To maintain Explorist status through February 2025, the member must complete ten (10) Tier-Qualifying Nights (as defined in the World of Hyatt program terms) at any participating Hyatt hotels and resorts worldwide, participating MGM Resort destinations, Small Luxury Hotels of the World (“SLH”) hotels, and Lindblad Expeditions.

Only Tier-Qualifying Nights completed by the member during the member’s Trial Explorist Period will count toward this offer. Stays completed by the member prior to the start of their Trial Explorist Period will not count towards this offer (even if any night stayed otherwise qualifies as a Tier-Qualifying Night). Further, in order for Tier-Qualifying Nights completed during the member’s Explorist Trial Period to count toward this offer, the member must check out of their reservation during their Explorist Trial Period. If member checks into a reservation during their Explorist Period, but does not check out until after the Explorist Trial Period has ended, no nights stayed as part of that reservation will count toward this offer. Explorist Trial Period begins at registration and may not be extended. World of Hyatt Credit Card night credits do not qualify as Tier-Qualifying Nights.

If the member earns Explorist status through February, 2025 by completing the criteria above, their new status will be applied within 7 business days of checkout of the stay during which they complete the applicable requirement.

Limit one such offer each calendar year per Eligible Member except as otherwise provided. Hyatt reserves the right to alter or withdraw this offer at any time without notice. This offer is subject to the complete terms and conditions of the World of Hyatt program, available at worldofhyatt.com/terms. Additional American Airlines terms and conditions apply, including the AAdvantage® terms and conditions and American Airlines’ terms and conditions relating to the AAdvantage® and World of Hyatt promotion.

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DOT Fines American Airlines Unlawfully Not Allowing Passengers Deplane In Case Of Long Delays

John Ollila — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 14:41:12 +0000

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has today fined American Airlines for unlawfully not allowing passengers to deplane in case of extended tarmac delays.

Although the fine is the largest DOT has issued for similar delays previously, it is still an utterly irrelevant amount for a business the size of American Airlines.

DOT’s Announcement:

DOT Fines American Airlines $4.1 Million for Unlawfully Keeping Thousands of Passengers on the Tarmac for Hours

Largest Fine Against a Carrier for Violating the Tarmac Delay Rule After DOT Investigation Uncovers Dozens of Violations

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today fined American Airlines $4.1 million for violating federal statutes and the Department’s rule prohibiting tarmac delays of three hours or more on domestic flights without providing passengers an opportunity to deplane. DOT’s investigation found that American kept dozens of flights stuck on the tarmac for long periods of time without letting passengers off. DOT is ordering American to pay the largest fine ever issued for tarmac delay violations and cease and desist from violating the law. This fine is part of DOT’s unprecedented effort to ensure the traveling public is protected, including returning more than $2.5 billion in refunds to travelers.

“This is the latest action in our continued drive to enforce the rights of airline passengers,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “Whether the issue is extreme tarmac delays or problems getting refunds, DOT will continue to protect consumers and hold airlines accountable.”

An extensive investigation by the Department’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (OACP) found that between 2018 and 2021, American allowed 43 domestic flights to remain on the tarmac for lengthy periods without providing passengers an opportunity to deplane in violation of the Department’s tarmac delay rule. DOT found that none of the exceptions to the tarmac delay rule, including the safety and security exceptions, applied to those flights. In addition, on one of the 43 flights, passengers were not provided with food and water as required. Most of the delays occurred at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. The tarmac delays affected a total of 5,821 passengers.

The $4.1 million fine is the largest civil penalty that the Department has ever assessed for violating the DOT’s tarmac delay rule. Of the $4.1 million assessed, $2.05 million will be credited to the airline for compensation provided to passengers on the affected flights. DOT encourages airlines to compensate passengers by providing these credits so that a portion of the civil penalties that would have been paid to the Federal Treasury is instead used to compensate the affected passengers.

DOT’s Consent Order:

Download (PDF, 275KB)

Conclusion

The DOT might be able to change these airlines’ actions IF they add two or three zeros to these penalties because a $2M fine for American Airlines is basically nothing and won’t change their behavior.

I am unsure if passengers have any other option than to dial 911 if they are trapped inside a plane for more than three hours and the airline doesn’t allow them to deplane.

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American Airlines Sues Hidden City Deals Website Skiplagged Over “Unauthorized Ticket Sales”

Sebastian Powell — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 17:17:20 +0000

American Airlines is the latest carrier that has called on the courts to battle the website “Skiplagged” which they claim costs them revenue and in this particular suit acts as an unauthorized agent.

The websites hallmark is to publish fares that present the cheapest option between two city pairs but where the final destination is another city that would require a connection flight after reaching the passengers desired destination.

To simplify, a customer would book a flight Los Angeles-Washington DC-Charlotte but hop off in Washington DC, not taking the additional flight. In this hypothetical example, the flight to DC alone would be $110 more expensive than the flight to Charlotte and that’s not a far fetched scenario.

One would think “why not” as on the first look nobody loses out and you paid for the seat anyway, right!?

Well, that’s not exactly like the airlines see it. They want passengers to fly off the ticket exactly as booked and even mandate it in their contract of carriage.

Sure, passengers miss their flights all the time for legitimate reasons but airlines have started to track passengers who make it a habit of “missing” their connection flights simply to save money. It’s not illegal per law but violating the conditions of carriage can have other negative consequences.

Skiplagged provides a great service for people who want to save a few bucks and they aren’t shy about telling people exactly what they’re getting into:

Realistically nothing will happen if this happens once or a FEW times but if there is a pattern then airlines will take notice. It’s very easy for airlines to track which of their tickets still have open coupons (unused segments attached to the ticket). If a particular name pops up many times it’s pretty much proof the passenger does this intentionally.

The airline can then do a few things. Notify the passenger in writing or in person at the airport that this behavior isn’t acceptable (to them) and put him “on notice”. More drastic steps would include to ban the customer from the airline and put him on a No-Fly list as well as terminate the frequent flyer account with that particular airline. That’s as far as the customers are concerned who could have booked this in any way possible.

As the AP reports, American has now sued Skiplagged in a Texas court claiming the site isn’t authorized to sell tickets.

American Airlines is suing a travel website that sells tickets that let people save money by exploiting a quirk in airline pricing.

American sued Skiplagged Inc. in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, this week, accusing the website of deception. It threatened to cancel every ticket that Skiplagged has sold.

In a practice called skiplagging and hidden-city ticketing, travelers book a flight that includes at least one stop, but they leave the plane during a layover. Generally skiplagging is not illegal, but airlines claim that it violates their policies.

Last month, American booted a 17-year-old from a flight and banned him for three years when he tried to use the tactic to fly from Gainesville, Florida, to Charlotte, North Carolina, on a ticket that listed New York City as his destination. For the teen, that was cheaper than booking a flight directly to Charlotte.

In the lawsuit, American accused Skiplagged of tricking consumers into believing they can tap “some kind of secret ‘loophole.’” American said the website poses as an ordinary consumer to buy tickets, and warns its customers not to tip off the airline about the arrangement.

American said Skiplagged has never been authorized to resell the airline’s tickets.

“Skiplagged’s conduct is deceptive and abusive,” the airline said in the lawsuit. “Skiplagged deceives the public into believing that, even though it has no authority to form and issue a contract on American’s behalf, somehow it can still issue a completely valid ticket. It cannot. Every ‘ticket’ issued by Skiplagged is at risk of being invalidated.”

United Airlines and online travel agency Orbitz accused Aktarer Zaman, who was in his early 20s when he started Skiplagged around 2014, of touting “prohibited forms of travel.” Zaman started a GoFundMe to pay his legal costs. He settled with Orbitz, and the United lawsuit was dismissed. …

The main thing we should focus on right now is the argument AA makes about the company not being able to sell tickets.

Here is the docket of the court filing:

Download (PDF, 1.62MB)

I have looked at the Skiplagged site in detail including going through a few booking steps and I’m unable to identify who the “booking partner” as they call it is, as annotated in the cancellation FAQ.

To cancel or change your flight, you will need to check your confirmation email. Contact information for the airline or 3rd-party travel company you are booked with will be listed there (phone number and/or website link).

For flights booked directly with the airline, there will be an airline link to manage your booking online and a phone number that you can call the airline if you need to cancel or change.

For flights booked via our booking partner on our website, you have 2 options for canceling your flight.

If you see a red “Cancel Booking” button and it is still within 24 hours of purchase, you can cancel your booking by clicking that button. Make sure you check that you received a cancellation email afterward which will confirm it was successful. …

There needs to be an infrastructure such as OTA’s (Orbitz, Expedia) have in place to complete flight reservations, issue tickets and process payment. Such an infrastructure requires to be authorized by the travel partner (airlines, hotels, rental cars).

Again, I’m not sure who runs this booking engine for Skiplagged. The lawsuit could have merit by saying the site isn’t authorized to sell or resell tickets but to definitively say that one would need to know exactly what process Skiplagged is using here. They even give reward dollars so there must be a way for them to collect a commission on their sales.

I like sites like this and have done hidden city ticketing and skiplaggint myself on occasion. Usually I buy tickets from a random OTA for this. But I wouldn’t make it a habit to risk being blacklisted by an airline.

Conclusion

Flight deals website Skiplagged is making headlines again and just like in past years it has to do with legal troubles. This time they’re being sued by American Airlines, the carrier claiming that the site isn’t authorize to market airline tickets.

The company got sued by multiple airlines and OTA’s in the past as mentioned in the AP article but these lawsuits were either dismissed or settled out of court.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see where this goes. Keep in mind you can buy these flights anywhere but if you plan on becoming a notorious “skiplagger” then you shouldn’t use a frequent flyer program of that exact airline and be prepared to be shut down by them sometime down the road. Savings should be substantial before it’s worthwhile to be blacklisted by an airline.

Source

American Airlines AAdvantage Earnings On British Airways & Iberia Move Revenue Based From October 18, 2023

John Ollila — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 22:06:34 +0000

American Airlines is changing how AAdvantage members earn miles on flights marketed by British Airways and Iberia from October 18, 2023.

The number of AAdvantage miles earned from that date forward is based on the ticket price, including fuel surcharges, instead of booking class and miles flown.

You can access AA’s page for partners here.

AAdvantage Member Earnings:

Base: 5 miles per USD
Gold: 5 miles per USD + 40% bonus
Platinum: 5 miles per USD + 60% bonus
Platinum Pro: 5 miles per USD + 80% bonus
Executive Platinum: 5 miles per USD + 120% bonus

The same table applies to BA and Iberia-marketed flights from October 18, 2023, as AA’s own.

British Airways AAdvantage Earnings From October 18, 2023:

British Airways AAdvantage Earnings Until October 18, 2023:

Iberia AAdvantage Earnings Earnings From October 18, 2023:

Iberia AAdvantage Earnings Earnings Until October 18, 2023:

Conclusion

Coincidentally, October 18, 2023, is also the date when British Airways Executive Club members will earn Avios based on the ticket price and not the miles flown (read more here).

This change will benefit those that fly on expensive short or long-haul tickets, and everyone else is a loser.

The bigger losers are those that fly on discounted premium class tickets that will see their AAdvantage earnings decimated on British Airways and Iberia-marketed flights.

For now, I advise getting those long-haul flights, if available, ticketed under the Finnair code that continues to earn based on the fare class and not the ticket price.

Source

Airfare of the Day -Premium Economy- BRITISH AIRWAYS London to Toronto from £742

Freddo Zabaleta — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 14:01:23 +0000

Today’s Airfare of the Day goes to American Airlines and their basic season midweek premium economy sell-up non-refundable fares valid for round trip travel departing from London (LHR), United Kingdom to Toronto (YYZ), Canada, in flights operated by British Airways.

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