American Airlines recently had their first media and investor day since the merger with U.S. Airways. USA Today is reporting two pieces of information that I thought readers would be particularly interested in:
- They will add free in flight texting. Delta just announced this as well, American Airlines currently charges $5 where available. No timeline was given apart from this happening “soon”.
- They will boost the availability of frequent flier seats at their lowest award levels. I assume they are talking about saver space. This is a must do because the American Airlines program has become a joke with the lack of saver space, customers are starting to push back and this is clearly evident on any American Airlines post on this site with the majority of comments complaining about the lack of this award space.
Personally I’ll believe the increased award space when I see it.
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Last time I tried to book a flight using AA miles they charged me $75 "Award redemption Fee" WTF ?
I canceled and booked SW.
They charge that if you're within 21 days of departure. It's ridiculous.
It's actually worse. With AA, you CAN find lots of award availability -- WITHING 3 weeks of the flight you have in mind. (and of course, they add $75 to each ticket) Yup, tis the 'merikin way.
(one of the few virtues of Delta is that they don't pull such..... close-in fare "stuff.")
"Merikin way" too much.
Bit Delta porks you many other ways
I guess United is last to add free in flight WiFi. Ever since they got Scott Kirby, everything about he airline has gone to the dumps. United Basic Economy is a disgrace and I hope they keep losing money because of it. $60 upcharge on a $100 ticket...
Scott Kirby ruins airlines.
High time Scott Kirby ran for election :)
Long time ago we switched from AA to AS & WN. And used all our AA miles on the last chance of 67500 first class to HK, LOL. It's funny to see the AA Elite line is longer than regular passeger's line at DFW.
Well if you see ZERO before and then suddenly see one or two then I guess it’s an increase
er, as the ole Billy Preston one sang it, "nutin from nutin leaves nutin...." (you gotta have sometin if ya wanna get my interest)
Ah,stick with Oral Roberts, "expect a miracle."
alas, all sarcasm towards "American" airlines "richly" deserved. If they wanna be "great again," maybe they should change their name -- say, to Southwest, or JetBlue....
Dude, you made my night with the sarcasism.
Believe it when I see it group here as well!
Increased award availability could mean 1 seat added. So it's just a meaningless talking point. Congress really needs to enact law that ensures there are at least a few saver seats on every flight - not just on weird flights at horrible times with 57 stop overs that waste your time.
I'm usually a supporter of more government regulation, but I think in this case the market will work to force American Airlines to increase award inventory.
it wont. market or rather shareholders in this case demand higher profits qtr after qtr. there's literally no reason (cept liability off their books) to rls saaver space when they can fill their planes w/rev customers. otoh, anecdotally we've heard/seen lots of planes primo cabins flying empty - which is beyond stupid & ridiculous on AAs part. you'd think they'd wanna control outstanding miles currency out in the wild, and have folks 'cash' em out asap.
but either way, not expecting anything from Doug 'Dumbass' Parker and co. plus I too am against more govt regulations. it's a slippery slope in this case & will most likely lead to worse off consequences no matter how good the intentions are at the onset. why? because companies always look to offset cost of doing business - guess who ultimately pays for it in the end, in every sense of the word? the customer.
> there’s literally no reason (cept liability off their books) to rls saaver space
Of course there's a reason to rise saaver space. As mentioned in the post AA miles are getting a bad rep for being unusable at those levels and I suspect it's hurting their ability to sell miles in bulk lots to card issuers and other major partners. The trick is finding the sweet spot between having some availability but not too much.
Seriously? You want more government in our lives? No way.
I will believe it when I see it! (saver award availability)
American used to be my favorite airline, but then.....
— they changed the earning formula for frequent flyer miles
— they increased the redemption prices for award tickets
— they made the seats smaller and tighter
— they stopped flying to Europe from Washington Dulles
When did AA fly to Europe from IAD?