Last week American Airlines introduced Dynamic Air Awards where elite members of AAdvantage have access to discounted economy class mileage awards for travel in the contiguous United States. Based on published fare levels, the amount of miles varies, but are below the AAnytime award level of 50,000 miles for a roundtrip ticket. These awards are…
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US Airways sues pilots, mechanic steals; new airline routes; GDS extensions and profits galore
In other airline, hotel and travel industry news this week… Late last Friday US Airways filed a lawsuit against… its own pilots. Upset with what they’re calling an “illegal slowdown” by some East (read: US Airways) pilots, the carrier claims their West (read: America West) pilots are far more efficient in minimizing delays that impact…
Vintage Airline Seat Map: Midway Airlines DC-9-10
Midway Airlines was founded in 1976 but began operations in 1979 as one of the first low-cost airlines compliments of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. Based out of Chicago’s Midway Airport, the airline had a modest start with DC-9 aircraft purchased from TWA and served Cleveland, Detroit and Kansas City. During its heyday in…
Instant Hilton HHonors Gold plus free night and bonus miles for airline elites
Last Friday I received a letter co-branded with the Hilton HHonors and United Airlines Mileage Plus logos stating, “We’ve opened the doors to Gold status just for you.†Thanks, Hilton, I’m already a Gold and you’ve just opened up a brand new account and sent me a new card. Reading on, though, it’s a targeted…
Testing airline response times and accuracy to question submitted online
A couple of weeks ago I decided to pose the same question to a number of airlines to see how quickly & accurately they would respond with an answer. While many airlines don’t publish an email for general questions, they do have online forms available to reach customer service or other departments with questions. I…
My travel experiences flying American Airlines vs. United Airlines
I’ve now taken a dozen domestic American Airlines flights since the end of May in both first class and coach and offer my opinions below as compared to my 62 flights on United Airlines this year. I’m a top-tier elite in Mileage Plus with United and only just Saturday rolled over to Platinum in AAdvantage…
American, Qantas, Southwest make cuts, hotel fierceness and promos, Chicago’s on top, and jet passes plus Visa cards
In other airline, hotel and travel industry news this week… A survey of the 50 most popular U.S. destinations conducted by the Global Business Travel Association found Chicago to be the city charging the highest total taxes for travelers. Not to worry, New York was number two so don’t get your hopes up for an…
Vintage Airline Seat Map: American Airlines Boeing 747-100
It’s time for another edition of Vintage Airline Seat Maps and I’ve selected the American Airlines Boeing 747-100 appearing below. This map was published in 1977 and shows the reconfigured layout after American took out the piano bar and lounge in coach. Seating a total of 396 passengers with 66 seats in first class and…
The politics behind funding the FAA
Politicians disgust me. The idealism of the democratic process our nation runs on is a lovely principle in theory, but in practice it’s just ridiculous. I used to expend energy on being an active engaging citizen, but I gave up that position years ago. Yes I still vote, but I absolutely cannot be entertained into…
Trip Report: United Airlines inaugural 777 flight DEN-ORD June 7, 1995
I was going through my photos yesterday and came across the batch of pictures I took when I flew on the inaugural United Airlines Boeing 777 flight from Denver to Chicago on June 7, 1995. Knowing there are a ton of aviation geeks out there like me, I figured it would be worth it to…