As of Friday, American Airlines and British Airways (and I suppose Iberia, too) finally made their membership in the oneworld alliance closer to equal footing: Prior to Friday, you couldn’t earn or spend AA miles on trans-Atlantic BA flights from the US. As of Friday, you can earn and burn AA on BA, which truly upgrades the alliance. But…

If you’re going to cash in your AA miles for a flight on BA, though, you’re going to pay through the nose. BA slaps fuel surcharges onto the base airfare, which are payable even on frequent flier tickets. Those fuel surcharges can run as high as $500 for a roundtrip ticket in a premium cabin, on top of the miles you cash in. What would cost you $150 cash or so on an AA flight will cost you 5 times as much if booked on BA metal. This is completely and utterly lame.

The logic (and legality) of these fees has always escaped me. When I buy a plane ticket, I’m buying transportation from point A to point B, and the on-ground and in-flight services associated with that transportation. Fuel is part of that transportation equation.

By backing out the “fuel surcharge,” airlines act as if the consumer is just renting space on the plane. But last time I checked, I wasn’t just renting a chair. I also paid for the the movement of that chair across the oceans.

AA has posted an FAQ page related to the changes. It’s worth reviewing. See also Gary’s Friday post on the issue.

Maybe I’m seeing the glass half empty here. I’ve spent much of the weekend (and all of today) in bed, sick as a dog, so I’ve had had plenty to time to get crabby. Yes, this is better than before. Yes, other airlines and airline alliances play similar games. But these discrepancies within an alliance defeat the spirit of cooperation. They insult and dispirit customers, and they embolden the critics who argue that miles are “worthless” because of airline shenanigans.

I am glad they did something to improve the alliance. But I still hoped for better.

Domestic lounges are generally nothing to get too excited about, but American Airlines is taking a step to raise the bar on its Admirals Clubs in the USA: They’re adding free cocktails.

Beginning Oct. 1, American Airlines is offering travelers another benefit of membership in its Admirals Club(R)lounges. American will offer alcoholic beverages, including wine, beer and spirits, free of charge to customers visiting any of its domestic clubs, in addition to complimentary coffee, tea, soft drinks and juices.
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Domestic clubs will offer well brand liquors, as well as beers and house wines as a complimentary service on Oct. 1. Premium liquors and wines and a selection of Amora(TM) fresh food items will be available for purchase in all U.S. Admirals Club lounges. Menu items vary by location, and include fresh salads, sandwiches, hot entrees and small bites. Seasonal and regional specialties are featured throughout the year, with special chef demonstrations offered at select clubs. All menu items are available to enjoy in the club or for carry-out. Customers visiting an international Admirals Club location will continue to enjoy complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages as they do today.

I understand that they don’t want to break out the single-malts at an open bar, but I hope that their well liquors are a step above Popov vodka.

Upgrading the snack selection without making them for-pay would have been nice, too, but that may be asking a bit much.

Regardless, a nice upgrade to the domestic airport lounge scene!

This week, our household received three credit card offers from Citibank, all for American Airlines AAdvantage credit cards. Each came with a different sum of bonus miles: 30,000, 50,000, and 75,000 miles. (Two of the envelopes were addressed to my wife, one to me.) Talk about mixed messages!

The 75K bonus (with $1,500 in purchases within 6 months) and a 100K bonus (with $10,000 in purchases within a year) first hit the inter-tubes about a month ago. I thought I had posted about it, but looking back, I didn’t. (Gary Leff was on the scene.)

This sort of deal usually doesn’t last long, but the fact that they’re sending it out to folks via snail mail (with an application deadline of October 31, 2010) and not just electronically suggests that it has some legs.

Some caveats/warnings: 1) If you can’t manage your credit, stay away from these cards. It’s not worth messing up your finances for a chunk of miles. 2) The cards have an annual fee, but it’s waived the first year. You can collect the bonus and cancel the card before the fee kicks in, but you’ll need to likely need to hold the card for 8 to 10 months after qualifying for the bonus in order to receive the miles. And 3) choose the right card. If you’re not going to spend $10,000 on a card in 12 months, don’t sign up for the 100K mile cards.

But, caveats aside, and in the interest of beefing up your mileage accounts, here are the links, via Gary.

75,000 miles after $1500 in purchases within 6 months, no fee the first year:

• 75,000 mile bonus: Visa
• 75,000 mile bonus: Visa Business
• 75,000 mile bonus: American Express (issued by Citi, not Amex)

100,000 miles: 50,000 miles after $750 in purchases within 4 months, and another 50,000 miles after $10,000 in purchases within 12 months, no fee the first year

• 100,000 mile bonus: Visa
• 100,000 mile bonus: Visa Business
• 100,000 mile bonus: American Express (issued by Citi, not Amex)

American Airlines is adopting another fee, which they’re calling “Express Seats.” If you’re willing to pony up $19 to $39, depending on length of flight, you too can sit in the front of the economy section, including bulkhead seats, without being an elite level frequent flier. The option is available only for U.S. domestic travel, and only from self-service airport kiosks.

Many airlines have been selling “premium” seats in the economy cabin for years. Northwest (pre-merger with Delta) started selling selected seats at the front of the economy section back in 2006. And United has sold Economy Plus upgrades for most of the past decade. (Though those seats have extra legroom, which is a bit more “premium.”) So selling seats isn’t entirely new.

The only real twist on existing “premium” seat reservations is that paying the new AA fee bumps you up to boarding group 1. You’ll not only sit toward the front of the bus, but you’ll be assured of space in the overhead bins and can be among the first to board and exit the plane. And that’s how the airline is spinning this: It’s a speed premium, not a comfort premium.

The real losers here are the elite-level AAdvantage members who used to be able to pre-reserve these seats for free. Those passengers will have to sit a little further back now. The airline promises to leave a similar number of seats available for the frequent fliers, but they just won’t be the same seats. If you were a gold, platinum or executive platinum AA flier and a fan of bulkheads, this is definitely a downgrade.

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Upgraded: Inflight wifi subscriptions
Gogo Inflight (aka Aircell) is making its monthly subscriptions for inflight wifi applicable across airlines — Air Canada, AirTran, American, Delta, US Airways, and Virgin America, to name a few. They’re also introducing discounts: For $19.95 in the first month and $34.95 each month thereafter, it’s all-you-can-surf pricing. I like. I like a lot.

Upgraded: Pilots on the edge
Upgraded: Headline writing
Great headline for a post: “United Pilot Loses Cool, Pants.” Poorly-played, trouser-dropping United pilot. Well-played, BlackBook!

Upgraded: Smaller airports near large cities
Downgraded: Methodology
CheapFlights has released their list of the “cheapest airports” in America, and some smaller airports near(ish) larger cities are on the list. Burbank, Long Beach, Bellingham… no huge surprises. But these lists are perpetually flawed… who edited this thing? Chicago-Midway, Chicago-O’Hare, and Chicago-All Airports on the same list?! The “CHI” code doesn’t really count, guys…

Downgraded: Travel insurance in the UK
If you’re planning to buy travel insurance in the UK, prepare to pay an “ash tax.” Yes, a surcharge to cover prospective volcano ash delays and cancellations.

Upgraded: The ubiquity of opaque bookings
Expedia, which owns Hotwire, will be integrating Hotwire’s opaque (i.e., unnamed until purchase completed) hotel supply into the regular Expedia sales channel. Travelocity added “top secret hotels” back in March. I guess it’s Orbitz’ turn next?…

Upgraded: Yada, yada, yada
Remember the “YADA,” the roving check-in unit being tested by American Airlines last year? It’s coming to LAX.

I sure didn’t see this one coming… American and Jet Blue have signed and interline agreement and will cross-sell each other’s flights in and out of Boston and New York-JFK. Notably, the airlines are not codesharing, and it’s a northeast operation, with no love for California or Florida.

The relevant quotes from the release:

The partnership will focus on routes into and out of JFK and Boston Logan International Airport that extend and complement each others’ networks. For example, it would provide seamless service for customers who wish to fly nonstop from Nantucket to JFK on JetBlue and from there to London on American. Likewise, customers can board American from Paris to JFK and connect to a nonstop flight on JetBlue to Burlington, Vt. JetBlue customers will be able to effortlessly connect on flights to 12 of American’s international destinations from JFK and Boston including Barcelona, Spain; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Tokyo, Japan.
[...]
Customers of both airlines are expected to benefit from improved connections, while each airline will see additional customers fed into their networks. None of the routes on which the airlines will cooperate overlap current flights served by the other. The agreement will provide connections for more passengers at JFK and Boston to American’s international destinations in Europe, Asia, and South America. It also will generate more traffic and support for American’s planned joint business with oneworld partners British Airways and Iberia between North America and Europe, and with Japan Airlines between North America and Asia.

What makes this especially unexpected is JetBlue’s recent moves toward Lufthansa (which is a part-owner of JetBlue) and AerLingus.

It appears that my early thinking — that JetBlue would start moving toward bigger partnerships and perhaps even alliance membership — may be wrong. It looks like JetBlue is willing to make ad hoc agreements with anyone, but it’s clear that they’re branching out to create more of a global network.

Will JetBlue flights count toward AAdvantage? Vice versa? If so, it will be an interesting question how the programs, which function very differently, reconcile.

Stay tuned.

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