American and JetBlue Move Relationship to Next Level
American and JetBlue announced the next phase of their Northeast Alliance — despite the DOJ’s ongoing lawsuit regarding the tie up — as the two carriers launch reciprocal elite perks with award redemptions to follow soon.
Reciprocal points earning began this past spring, and now elite fliers of both loyalty programs will receive perks when flying the other airline to include:
- Priority check-in
- Up to two free checked bags, weighing up to 50 pounds each
- Priority baggage handling, which on AA means your bag might make it to its destination
- Priority security
- Priority boarding (with JetBlue’s Mosaic elite passengers on JetBlue flights, and with Group 4 on American which is actually the 11th of 43 boarding groups)
- Free same day flight changes (Mosaic flying American only)
What’s missing? Complimentary access to upgraded economy (Main Cabin Extra on AA and Even More Space on JetBlue), free alcoholic drinks in economy (each airline offers this to their own elites), and the holy grail: premium class upgrades. Surprisingly, all three of these missing benefits are available to any fliers on either airline who present a DOJ badge, but neither airline would confirm it had any correlation with the pending lawsuit.
Reciprocal award redemptions are expected to begin next month once JetBlue figures out how to redeem AAdvantage miles for anything other than an economy flight from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Wichita.
Delta Earnings Report Reveals Profitable Third Quarter
Delta Air Lines held its third quarter earnings call today, and announced the carrier turned a profit for the three months ending in September, its second profitable quarter since the pandemic and its first when not accounting for federal aid.
Delta turned a profit of $1.2 billion, down 19% from the third quarter in 2019, on gross revenues of $9.15 billion. The revenue figure beat analysts expectation of $8.4 billion as the carrier made more than predicted due to actually flying the flights it listed on its schedule.
American Express was a key driver in Delta’s profit as the carrier brought in just over $1 billion from Amex, through the sale of SkyMiles, revenue split on co-branded credit cards, and one-time payment to the airline in exchange for Delta agreeing not to expose Amex’s secret that its platinum credit cards aren’t really made of platinum.
Delta ended September with $15.8 billion liquidity including cash, cash equivalents, Biscoff reserves, and money owed to it from other airlines for transporting their passengers during all the operational meltdowns all summer.
United Gives Employees $1,000 Bonus
United Airlines is giving all of its active employees $1,000 in hazard pay bonus checks to note the gratitude the carrier has for their hard work during the pandemic. United typically recognizes 100 employees each year with cash bonuses and its United 100 award but instead awarded it to everyone this year.
A plane has been painted in a special livery to recognize the dedication of UA employees, and the carrier guaranteed it would not ever fly it to Newark as to not sully the unique aircraft. United has about 80,000 full-time employees, leading to a bill of $80 million for the airline, or roughly what it spends on compensation vouchers on one foggy morning in San Francisco.
- Aegean Airlines plans to add ATR72s to its fleet early next year.
- Air Belgium entered into an agreement with Rolls Royce to handle maintenance and repair on its A330neo engines.
- Bluebird Nordic added a B737-700 (BCF) aircraft.
- Etihad raised $1.2 billion in a sustainability-linked loan to help outfit its cabins with more bling.
- Fly Sky airlines will continue to fly airplanes in the sky despite rebranding itself as Rom Cargo.
- Flyr agrd to lease six new B737-8 arcrft to be delvrd next year.
- GlobalX, an airline that doesn’t yet fly was allocated 508 slots to fly airplanes to Havana.
- Lufthansa repaid €1.5 billion back to the German government earlier than previously scheduled.
- Middle East Airlines is running a 2-month trial offering live television onboard its A321LR fleet.
- Ryanair will open a new Manchester, UK base before the end of the year.
- Volaris El Salvador now plans to begin U.S. service in March.
What kind of shoes does a lazy person wear? Loafers.