Alaska Airlines fast tracked to join Oneworld in 2020

In some good news for the aviation sector, Alaska Airlines is set to announce that it will join Oneworld much earlier than anticipated, by the end of 2020. The airline is expected to join the alliance six months ahead of schedule; a rarity in aviation terms.

This is great news for Oneworld frequent flyers, who can access sooner an array of benefits when flying under Alaska.

Oneworld Emerald and Sapphire status-holders will have access to the Alaska lounge network  as well as associated perks such as increased checked baggage allowance and priority check-in-in and boarding.

The addition of Alaska Airlines to Oneworld comes after the recent inclusion of Royal Air Maroc in April 2020.

 

Qantas gives bonus status lifeline to tiered customers

Coronavirus has grounded many frequent flyers travel plans, especially in Australia where citizens can’t take flight for overseas due to Australian Government restrictions. There’s some rare welcome news from Qantas today with the airline announcing that it will be gifting bonus status credits to its tiered frequent flyers.

The move follows Qantas’ previous 12 month status extension for all elite frequent flyers. All tiered members will get at least 50% of the status credits needed to retain their tier with the number of status credits you’ll receive is dependant on the expiry date of your current status.

Qantas Frequent Flyer Silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum One cardholders whose status expires between March 2021 and February 2022 will receive 50% of the status credits needed to retain their tier.

Members whose status expires between March and June 2021 will receive this bonus within the next 72 hours whilst those with expires between July 2021 and February 2022 will receive the bonus in the first month of their new membership year.

The bonus status credits will also count towards achieving lifetime status. Not bad for what is technically status for nothing, especially if you cannot meet the required status credits at the end of your membership year!

In addition, Qantas Frequent Flyer members with a status expiry date of March through to August 2021 will earn additional status credits per month. The following tiers will earn the respective status credits:

• 5 monthly for Silver cardholders
• 15 monthly for Gold-grade members
• 50 monthly for Platinum frequent flyers
• 150 monthly for Platinum One members

Qantas has also announced that until December 31 2021, any status credits earned via loyalty bonuses will also count towards reaching and retaining Platinum One.

On paper, the news from Qantas is much needed and welcomed. Like many Qantas frequent flyers I was concerned how I was going to retain Platinum status under the current climate. The status credit bonus will go a long way to helping me retain it!

Lufthansa A380s and B747s fall victim to Coronavirus

The impacts of the Coronavirus keeps going from bad to worse for the aviation sector. This time the national carrier for Germany, Lufthansa, has announced that it will sadly will retire around half of its Airbus A380s and Boeing 747 fleet due to the falling numbers in flying passengers.  The airline cited that the damage caused by the Coronavirus will take years to repair, let alone the fact travel restrictions on global travel may not be lifted til later this year.

Six of Lufthansa’s 14 Airbus A380s, 13 Boeing 747-400s, and seven of the 17 Airbus A340-600s will be retired. It’s also understood a number of A320s could be set to be removed in a bid to reduce the Lufthansa fleet.

On a side note despite this sad news, it’s heartwarming (despite the circumstances it’s being flown under) to see five A380s and a number of B747s being flown to Auckland and Christchurch in New Zealand respectively to bring home a number of European citizens left in the kiwi nation. This is a rarity in Southern Hemisphere skies around Australia and New Zealand as the German carrier does not fly to either country.

 

All Tiger Airways Pilots to be made redundant

It’s been a tough time for the industry and as I watch it slowly unravel I hope that the worst will bottom out soon so that the industry can heal and take off again.

This week Virgin Australia made the decision to make all pilots at its budget airline Tiger Airways redundant as part of a round of layoffs. All 220 pilot will get their marching orders at the end of April as the airline struggles to keep afloat.

The airline stood down 8000 of its 10,000 workers as it slashed domestic flight capacity by 90 per cent. In addition the CEO has noted 1000 of those workers would lose their jobs permanently as the coronavirus pandemic continues to linger and destroy the aviation sector.

It’s expected that Virgin will consolidate the brands into a single workforce of pilots across both airlines.

 

AMERICAN AIRLINES FLAGSHIP MIAMI (USA) LOUNGE: REVIEW

Alliance: Oneworld

Location: Miami Airport (MIA), Concourse D

Lounge Rating: 4.5 Stars

American airport lounges to put in a word are ‘dull’. Unlike their European, Middle East and Asia-Pacific counterparts, the lounges are uninspired, tired and generally basic. Sometimes it is better for a traveller to find food and drink in the terminal than rely on the lacklustre options that await in the lounge buffet.

Over the last couple of years United and American have (in part) re-inspired the lounge for American standards with their premium lounge products, Polaris and Flagship respectively. American has slowly rolled out its Flagship product for First/ top premium flying customers and the lounges despite being rolled out ever so slowly, have so far have been a success. Having visited the Dallas and New York lounges, TAT went to check into its Miami counterpart to see if it stacked up.

Lounge access options

• Passengers travelling on qualifying oneworld longhaul international first and business class flights same day
• Passengers travelling in first class and business class on American’s premium transcontinental routes, including from New York to Los Angeles and New York to San Francisco
• American Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro, and Platinum members travelling on a qualifying oneworld international flights, regardless of the class of service
• All non-American AAdvantage oneworld Emerald and Sapphire members travelling on any oneworld flight

 

Lounge location and opening hours

The American Flagship Lounge Miami is open daily from 4:30AM until 10:30PM. The lounge is located near gate D30, not far from the middle of the American concourse in Miami Airport.

Ambience

One thing that is notable upon entry is the sheer size. American’s Flagship Lounge Miami is about 29,000 square feet –  that’s huge in terms of lounge space and scale. The lounge as a result has numerous communal and dining spaces sprinkled throughout the area. The decor whilst generic is clean and crisp and well appointed with an abundance of natural light pouring into the lounge which in turn offers lounge lizards some quite wonderful runway views.

There’s a main dining/ buffet area, a media room, self serve wine bar and American’s Flagship First Dining (off limits to those not flying American first). One thing that I did love was the daybed section. The beds looked very comfortable and were tucked away in a quiet part of the lounge. However some privacy screens would be welcome there as I for one don’t like getting shut eye on display in front of strangers.

The bathrooms/ restrooms are nicely designed, if a tad beige in terms of colour tone. There are six lounge suites in this lounge which all come with two showerheads and Bigelow amenities. Having needed a shower prior to my flight from Miami to Los Angeles, the water temperature was perfect and I found I didn’t have to wait long for a shower suite either (a rarity in lounges such as this).

Bread and butter (food and drink)

The lounge offering in Flagship is head and shoulders above anything served in the Admirals Lounge.  A large buffet style dining area dominates the rear of the lounge with cold and hot selections. Among the dishes was a delish crayfish roll,  charcuterie board and handmade ravioli. The presentation was impressive and wait staff were always on hand to quickly change over any dishes that became empty quickly.

Drinks wise, it is all self serve. Whilst this is fine for the champagne, beer and wine, it’s a shame the coffee option isn’t barista made. There’s also a number of soft drink machines and cold bottled beverages lined up in the fridges.

Verdict

As far as American lounges go, this is by far one of the best (not really hard to achieve on general American standards). The layout whilst overly large offers a large amount of space and quiet for those wishing to work. The dining and drink options is fairly strong although the champagne option was poor in comparison. Having originally served Bollinger in this lounge 18 months ago, it’s disappointing the quality has collapsed to Bessarat.

Admittedly I use to dread MIA Airport. Now with the addition of the American Flagship Lounge I feel this airport in the US has quickly become one of my favourites. This lounge is definitely worth a visit if you have access rights to it.

Comments

Have you experienced the American Flagship lounge at MIA Airport? Love to hear from you about your time in lounge – did it shine or were you expecting something better?