American Announces Schedule for International Premium Economy — Skift Business Traveler

What to Know Now

International Premium Economy is officially on the way from American Airlines. The initial routes will be operated on the airline's new 787-900 aircraft on two routes between Dallas and Madrid and Dallas and São Paulo. Over the next few years, the cabin will be integrated into the wider international fleet.

Now, the airline and its customers need to figure out how booking and upgrades are going to work. Currently, top elite members in American's AAdvantage loyalty program are given system wide upgrades with which they can upgrade from economy to business -- space permitting. With a new class in between economy and business, however, many fear that the value of those upgrades is going to precipitously fall. This after American eviscerated its loyalty program earlier this year.

The small silver lining is that until the process is in place, premium economy is going to be billed as Main Cabin Extra and bookable as such -- that is, free for elites. Hold your breath for when the official upgrade pathway is announced.

Social Quote of the Day

Five people around me are playing Pokemon Go, and I feel like this is what the world would look like if everyone joined a cult.

- @hannahbsampson | Hannah Sampson, Associate editor, @Skift

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Your Turn

Barely weeks after Luke Bujarski, Skift's head of research started, he's already on the lookout for a Travel Research Analyst. Read more about the role here.

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

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