What to Know Now

As numerous sources leaked last week, American Airlines followed through and rocked AAdvantage, its loyalty program this week. To be fair, the changes could be worse. Elite status will still earned by miles-flown without a revenue component, though earned miles will switch to that mechanism at the end of the year. Reward tiers are also changing, mostly in a negative way, while elite upgrades instruments are shrinking in scope.

A full rundown of all of the changes is available over on American’s website.

In general, this means that people are going to earn a lot fewer miles in the future and it’s going to be harder to redeem them. Road warriors worried about elite status though may have dodged a bullet.

Social Quote of the Day

American highlighting how they are still better than United and Delta is like Vladimir Putin saying he’s better than Stalin and Lenin. That may be true, but you’re just talking about different shades of terrible…

Nick Ewen on The Points Guy

 

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Airlines

Delta Is Making It Harder Than Ever to Upgrade Into Premium Economy: It used to be that Premium Economy on domestic U.S. routes was considered as a bonus for lucky economy passengers.Elite passengers flying in coach could pick up the premium seats upon booking and enjoy a bit of extra leg room, while regular passengers could either pay for the extra space or roll the dice to find a seat at checkin. New changes coming to the way that Delta markets its Comfort+ seats, however, spell the end of its Premium Economy as we know it. Read more at Skift

Airline Passengers in Asia Dislike Flying for Reasons of Their Own: Overall passenger satisfaction in Asia is lower than expected, but the causes of dissatisfaction among Asian travelers differ dramatically from those in the other leading aviation markets, North America and Europe. Read more at Skift

American Airlines’ New Loyalty Program Makes Big Changes to AAdvantage: American Airlines announced today that it would re-invent its AAdvantage loyalty program to offer passengers a hybrid system that rewards loyalty and offers redemption based on both miles flown and the cost of tickets. Read more at Skift

Delta planes line up at their gates while on the tarmac of Salt Lake City International Airport in Utah

Airports

10 Airports to Avoid for Thanksgiving Travel: Air travel and Thanksgiving. Three words that strike fear in the hearts of even the most intrepid flyers. Read more at Frequent Flier

Finding Cheap Flights and More on Black Friday: As every American knows, after the turkey comes the shopping. And not just for clothes and toys. In the days following Thanksgiving (Black Friday and especially Cyber Monday), scores of travel companies offer discounted hotel rooms, vacation packages, rail passes, rental cars, cruises and flights. Read more at The New York Times

Delta Launches New Service from Los Angeles: Delta announced this morning that they would launching new non-stop service between Los Angeles and Denver, starting June 1, 2016 onboard their CRJ-900 aircraft. Read more at Points, Miles and Martinis

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Tech

Jetsetter Outsources Hotel Flash Sales to Secret Escapes: U.S.-based Jetsetter, which TripAdvisor acquired from Gilt Groupe in 2013, agreed to outsource its flash sales to a competitor, the UK’s Secret Escapes. Read more at Skift

Marriott CEO Promises ‘Hugely Positive’ Loyalty Program With No Specifics: Marriott International Inc. Chief Executive Officer Arne Sorenson said hotel customers would get “more and more points” as a result of its $12.2 billion acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. Read more at Skift

Stop Worrying About Revenue-Based Earning of Miles. Start Worrying about Fare-Based Redemptions: By now, you’ve probably heard that American Airlines will be joining Delta and United in giving you redeemable miles based on what you spend and your elite status. Read more at InsideFlyer

Andaz Palm Springs

Hotels

Who Owns What: Making Sense of the Hotel Chains and Their Brands: A handful of companies hold the keys to millions of hotel rooms globally, but the list of hotel brands that those companies own is legion. Marriott owns Fairfield, TownePlace and Moxy; Hilton owns Curio, DoubleTree and Hampton; Intercontinental owns Holiday Inn, Candlewood and Hotel Indigo, to name a few. With a $12.2 billion merger of Marriott and Starwood in the works, here’s a brief rundown, in order of total rooms controlled, of who owns what. Read more at Skift

Can Guests Tell a Difference Among the Glut of Hotel Brands? Choosing among hotel chains is like walking down the cereal aisle. The variety is almost overwhelming. In the end, what’s really the difference? Read more at Skift

Andaz Hotels’ Development Pipeline Kicks Into Overdrive: Andaz Hotels is scheduled to open nine new properties by 2018, basically doubling its global portfolio. Read more at Skift

Marriott’s Starwood Buy Is Likely Signal of More Industry Consolidation: Marriott International Inc.’s agreement to buy Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. in a $12.2 billion deal, creating the world’s largest lodging company, signals more consolidation to come as hotel operators find being bigger is better to compete with each other and such upstarts as Airbnb Inc. Read more at Skift

Your Turn

Thoughts, prayers, hashtags — do what you need to do to pay homage to the French this week. Follow Stephen Colbert for guidance.

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Photo credit: American Air employees in Dallas. American Airlines

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