Cranky on the Web: American’s Preferred, Frontier’s Quick Change, Earnings Begin

Some American Airlines Flyers Won’t Earn Miles for Flights Starting Next Month – Fodor’s
The deadline is fast approaching for American to decide which travel agencies will be considered “preferred.” Those that aren’t will not be able to sell fares that earn miles at all. It’s been a frustrating process all around.

Frontier Airlines cancels new Cleveland to Jamaica route — just one month after it started – Cleveland.com
Frontier does not waste time deciding if a route will work or not. And this one apparently did not.

In case you missed it, Brian and I delve into the financial results of the two star performers in the US: Delta and United.

Brett

7 responses to “Cranky on the Web: American’s Preferred, Frontier’s Quick Change, Earnings Begin”

Desmond Dekker

Apr 20, 2024

Dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail (A Shanty Town)
Dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail (A Shanty Town)
Dem rude boys deh pon probation (A Shanty Town)
Them a rude boy a bomb up the town (A Shanty Town)

Reply
Jonathan Nicholson

Apr 20, 2024

The solution here is just get American One World customers to collect points with Alaska which is a far better program. I gave up AA and moved to AS a long time ago. AA is being a total bully here and i think it will bite them as revenue through agencies tends to be higher yield

Reply
1. David M
  
  Apr 20, 2024
  
  American will penalize those customers a different way. I have a coworker who replaced his AAdvantage number with his Mileage Plan number on a recent trip and was pushed back two boarding groups. Perhaps they treat Oneworld elites more equally than AAdvantage elites, but non-elite members are forced to board later.
  
  Reply
Not an AA fan

Apr 20, 2024

It seems like American plans on being a wonderful partner to Alaska and pushing as much loyalty to them as possible. Corporate travelers are gossips. They are also forced to use tools like Concur for booking travel. If the agency tied to their booking (there always is one) doesn’t allow them to receive credit with American, it will not take long for mota travelers to figure out Alaska does give them status credit.

Reply
1. Bill from DC (aka Cranky Gazelle?)
  
  Apr 20, 2024
  
  Can you get mileage plan miles on all American flights?
  
  Reply
Mike Petro

Apr 21, 2024

Having experienced the marvelous customer service of Frontier during a trip between Cleveland and San Diego, they probably notified the passengers who had flights on the canceled route by greeting them with an abandoned check-in desk and nary an agent to be found.

Reply
Kilroy

Apr 22, 2024

Regarding the Delta brand, as mentioned on the podcast, I have a quick anecdote…

My parents are retired and live in FL. They mostly fly Southwest and Allegiant (with many add-ons, such as for bags and seats) for domestic travel to visit family, and aren’t what I would consider “premium” travelers at all when it comes to air travel, as they have flown coach multiple times for trans-Atlantic trips, so I was surprised to hear my mother mention Delta One as an option for their upcoming trip to Europe.

When they were discussing the potential trip with friends and getting ideas, literally six or seven different couples my parents know from different social groups insisted that my parents simply HAD to fly Delta One (not Delta, not Delta business class, but **specifically** Delta One). It wasn’t only that everyone raved about their experiences on Delta One, it was the sense of peer pressure pushing Delta One as a sort of status symbol of comfort, convenience, and mark of a good trip. Even now, when my mother is telling me of her friends’ trips, she always starts out by saying things things like, “So-and-so had a great time on their trip to [international destination]. They flew Delta One, which is crazy expensive, and they saw [major attraction in destination].” The order of that is very telling and shows me how people my parents know are thinking of (and bragging about) their trips to each other; it’s almost as though flying Delta One is as (or more important) than what one actually DOES in a destination.

My parents somewhat more price-sensitive than many of their friends and Delta One would have doubled or tripled the cost of their trip, so they ultimately didn’t book Delta One (I think they wound up with more of a premium economy product), but the fact they even considered it for a moment was quite surprising for me. I’m not a huge huge Delta fan boy (though I will pay a small premium to fly DL over other airlines), and doubt I will ever fly Delta One, but it was very interesting to hear that in my parents’ social set of retirees with some money (but not “charter a Gulfstream” money), Delta One is THE product to use and to brag about using. That’s EXACTLY what Delta’s marketing team is hoping for.

Reply