Jaunted - Tag: american airlines

Soon, You'll Be Able to Check In via iPad on These Airlines

kjb — 2010-03-18T12:37:18-05:00

This might become the year for electronic boarding passes. Sure, there have been plenty of airlines offering airplane access via smartphone for some time, but it’s no longer just for elite flyers leaving from some of the nation’s busiest airports. Especially now that United Airlines is the latest to ditch the paper and head to the promised land.

Last week United starting using mobile boarding passes at Chicago's O’Hare International Airport, and they've quickly expanded their offerings to other major markets including Denver, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Francisco—among a few other locations. As long as everything works out well, they plan to be in about 30 different cities by this summer, so maybe you can flash that new iPad to board the plane as you begin your summer vacation.

Airline Strike Watch: British Airways and American on the Ropes

Omri — 2010-03-09T16:03:57-05:00

It's turning into a pretty rough month for the oneworld alliance. Founding members American Airlines and British Airways are both locked in labor disputes that threaten to escalate into full-blown airline strikes, with unions demanding benefits and managements insisting that the money just isn't there. In both cases it's pretty obvious that employees are playing a weak hand: what are they going to do, devastate the company and put themselves permanently out of work? But in both cases the unions seem intent on going right to the line of mutually assured destruction, which means lots of uncertainty for lots more time.

As if American Airlines wasn't having enough problems with their flight attendants threatening a walkout, now they've got to deal with a potential pilot strike. The money quote being run this morning is that they're "far apart" on a new contract, with the pilots asking to have their purchasing power restored to 1992 levels. The airline insists that's a no-go since their labor costs are already higher than the industry average. A federal mediator is trying to bring the two sides together, which distinguishes this dispute in no way from the negotiations between American and its flight attendants. Or between American and its ground operators. Lots of fun for everyone.

Strike Watch: American Airlines Flight Attendants Set To Walk Out

Omri — 2010-03-05T14:45:00-05:00

Why should Europe have all the fun? As of this week American Airlines, Continental, United, US Airways and Southwest are all engaged in contentious contract negotiations with any number of unions. But while most of those airlines are in tussles with their pilots, American is facing a walkout by its flight attendants. Negotiations between the airline and the union broke down Wednesday, setting up the conditions for an airline strike. Union officials now need to go to federal officials and ask them to start the clock running on a 30-day waiting period. At the end of that month a full-blown strike becomes permissible. Tick tock:

The two sides are fighting over wages and other items. The union, which represents about 18,000 flight attendants, wants raises to offset pay and benefit cuts that workers accepted in 2003, when American was close to bankruptcy. The company, which lost $3.6 billion in the last two years, says it spends more per employee on flight attendants than Delta, United, Continental and US Airways and must cut labor costs.

Port-au-Prince: American Airlines Resumes Regular Flights to Haiti, But Who's Going?

JetSetCD — 2010-02-22T10:40:21-05:00

January 12. That was the day that Haiti suffered the devastating 7.0 earthquake and the day that American Airlines ceased their commercial flights to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti's capital, on account of the damage to the airport and the country in general. But now, over a month later, the airline is the first to resume their flights, after resuming abbreviated service last Friday.

Actually, American never stopped flying between the US and Haiti during the last month plus; instead of carrying paying passengers however, the flights continued packed with supplies and air workers.

So how much does it cost to fly there this week?

Richard Branson is Super Pissed Over the Proposed American and British Airways Partnership

Omri — 2010-02-16T16:00:18-05:00

Fresh off their victory over Delta in the battle over Japan Airlines, American Airlines is shifting back into offense and turning eastward. The world's second largest airline is applying for permission to more closely cooperate with oneworld partner British Airways, the intention being to cut redundant routes and streamline costs. Everyone agrees that the venture would increase prices by a solid 15%, but nonetheless it looks like the Department of Transportation is ready to sign off on the deal.

There's a good argument to be made that American and BA are just getting priveleges that have already been extended to other airline alliances. Delta and Air France already coordinate closely under the SkyTeam umbrella, while Star Alliance has all kinds of cooperation between Continental, United, US Airways, and Lufthansa. And geez is Virgin's Richard Branson pissed over all this. He's been harping about the possibility of American/BA collusion for a while, but the most recent DOT decision sent him ballistic.

We're going to give you two paragraphs from the press release that Virgin issued almost immediately, subtly titled "BA/AA is a Kick In the Teeth For Consumers." It was impossible to choose just one, so delicious were both:

American Eliminates Standby, Unveils Shiny New Mandatory $50 Change Fee

Omri — 2010-02-12T08:35:59-05:00

It was a good idea by American Airlines to drop a bunch of new fees all in one week. There's no reason to extend the frustrated coverage, which is what stretching out the announcements would have done. It's just the airlines' bad luck that the week they chose ended up being one where half the country is functionally shut down, leaving us with little to do but detail each and every one of their new charges. On Monday it was $8 blankets. Now let us introduce you to the $50 standby fee.

To be totally technical it's not so much a standby fee as much as it is the elimination of a standby option. It used to be the case that, having bought a coach seat and missed your flight, you could hang out next to the gate hoping for a flight with open seats. We always thought that was a bad idea - better to just pay the change fee and get a confirmed middle seat on what was gauranteed to be a miserable flight - but apparently some people were exploiting the "free loophole."

So It's Come To This: American Charging $8 For Blankets

Omri — 2010-02-09T15:30:14-05:00

Earlier this morning, American Airlines announced that they're going to start charging $8 per blanket on any domestic flight over two hours. Ditto for any flight to Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America. On domestic flights lasting two hours or less, blankets will be totally eliminated. Under the new policy passengers on those flights will be warmed by sunbeams, glitter, and the glowing thoughts of puppy kisses. Awww, puppy kisses!

Actually we kind of appreciate this change. It was only a matter of time before the very idea of mere comfort became just another opaque airline fee. In the past that's only been an implicit part of civilian aviation. The conceit has always been that coach provides a basic and decent level of comfort, and that higher booking classes are extra luxury. Now that we're tacking on $8 fees for rolls of lint that do little except provide opportunities for gross in-flight behavior—well, at least they're being honest.