Skift Take

American was the last legacy carrier in the U.S. to add the revenue component. While some regular flyers will be upset, it was inevitable.

What to Know Now

Everyone expected American to fall in line with Delta and United on new revenue requirements for elite status, and now the other shoe has finally dropped. Earlier this week American finally announced plans for its AAdvantage loyalty program through the rest of the year and next year.

Starting on August 1, passengers will earn award miles based on the cost of the ticket rather than the distance flown. Elite qualifying miles will stay based on distance flown through this year and 2017, though next year, American is adding a revenue component to elite status. Like Delta and United, each level of status will soon have a minimum amount of revenue attached — from $3,000 at Gold to $12,000 at Executive Platinum.

Though nearly everything in the new AAdvantage loyalty program is in line with the other legacy carriers, many of American’s long time customers feel betrayed. One Mile at a Time came up with 10 reasons why they may break up with American while in smaller communities like Flyertalk and Facebook, elites are hitting the roof. Lucky for American, there’s nowhere else for disaffected elites to take their business.

Social Quote of the Day

American Airlines (whose flight I am sitting on now) is shifting frequent flyer rewards to its richer clientele

– ‏@AlexCKaufman | Alex Kaufman, Senior Business Editor @HuffingtonPost

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Airlines

Delta Air Lines Mulls How to Increase Revenues as Fuel Costs Rise: Delta Air Lines continues to face a “very challenging revenue environment” with more last-minute business travelers buying unusually cheap fares, but the carrier’s top finance executive said Wednesday that Delta will still announce an “impressive” second quarter operating margin next month. Read more at Skift

U.S. Airlines Match JetBlue Fare Hike as Carriers Try To Reverse Revenue Per Seat Drop: U.S. airlines’ efforts to increase fares are meeting with more success this year than during the previous three, JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Tuesday. Airline shares rose the most in eight months. Read more at Skift

$1,200 for Coach? How to Beat the New Airfare Rules: A few months ago, the nation’s three major airlines quietly tweaked their fare rules. The result? Travelers encountered notably higher prices for certain multicity round-trips (visiting several cities by plane) and open-jaw trips (flying into one city, traveling to another by, say, car or train, then flying home from that city). Read more at The New York Times

Delta CEO Is Trying to Figure Out How to Attract Millennials: Delta Air Lines is posting record profits and is generally envied by the rest of the industry, due largely to its success in catering to high-paying business passengers. Read more at Skift

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Airports

Even Inspector General Thinks TSA Making Progress, Lines are Shorter: Significant progress has been made on shortening screening lines since earlier this spring when airlines reported thousands of frustrated passengers were missing flights, the head of the Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday. Read more at Skift

American and Delta Are Squabbling Over a New Los Angeles-Beijing Flight: Delta Air Lines and American Airlines are sniping at each other over which carrier is most fit to fly a new nonstop route between Los Angeles and Beijing. Read more at Skift

Carlson Rezidor Loyalty Program Members Can Soon Trade Points for TSA PreCheck: Beginning July 1, members of Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group’s rewards program, Club Carlson, will be able to redeem points for TSA PreCheck membership, making Carlson Rezidor the first hotel company to offer the perk to its guests. Read more at Skift

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Tech

You Can Now Make an Airbnb Booking for Someone Else at Your Company: Airbnb will roll out enhanced functionality for business travelers today, allowing coworkers to book Airbnb stays for each other. Read more at Skift

Why Hotwire Loves It When Airbnb Puts Pressure on Hotels: Hotwire, which offers discounted hotel rooms and car rentals to consumers without revealing the identity of the brands, stands to gain from the increased pressure that the sharing economy is placing upon hotels and car rental companies. Read more at Skift

The Sharing Economy Has Yet to Catch on in Extended Stay Business Travel: Most business travelers who are on the road for long periods of time prefer to book their own accommodations and have yet to turn to the sharing economy or serviced rentals en masse. Read more at Skift

Membership-Based Apps Try to Make Their Marks in Travel Booking: Booking travel feels old-school, no matter how you spin it: Such sites as Expedia and Orbitz have barely updated their layouts since 1999, and dialing a travel agent hardly feels appropriate in the age of Uber. Read more at Skift

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Hotels

Swire Hotels Opens East Miami, Its First Property Outside of China: Miami has long been a popular destination for affluent Chinese travelers, and now they have a China-bred luxury hospitality brand to add to their itinerary. Read more at Skift

Wyndham Is Repositioning All 16 of Its Brands to Appeal to Anyone and Everyone: Wyndham Hotel Group is reinventing itself with a brand-new repositioning of all of its 16 economy, midscale, and upscale brands, designed to appeal to all travelers, regardless of their budgets. Read more at Skift

Trump Hotels Will Avoid the Trump Name With New Lifestyle Brand: Trump Hotels held an event in New York City last night to to say the company is planning to launch a brand-new, as-yet un-named lifestyle hotel brand that is a “response to the to the massive growth of the technology-centric ‘we’-economy.’” Read more at Skift

Marriott CEO Interview: Speaking Up on Social Issues and Building a Huge Brand: Arne Sorenson is a busy man these days. Not only is he busy serving as the president and CEO of Marriott International, but he’s also in the midst of closing one of the biggest — and arguably one of the more dramatic — deals to ever take place in hospitality history: the more than $12 billion acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Read more at Skift

Your Turn

The notorious Brian Sumers has joined Skift as of this week. Welcome to the team Brian.

Tips and Comments

Can be sent to gm[at]skift[dot]com or to @grantkmartin

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Photo credit: Interior of an economy cabin on American Airlines. American Airlines

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