American Airlines to start selling basic economy fares

AMERICAN Airlines (Nasdaq:AAL) has announced it will begin selling Basic Economy fares in addition to the wide range of Main Cabin fares currently offered.

Basic Economy fares will go on sale in February in 10 select markets, with the first flights occurring shortly thereafter and expansion to additional markets expected later this year. Not every American Airlines flight will offer Basic Economy fares.

“American Airlines now has something to offer every customer, from those who want simple, low-price travel to those who want an ultra-premium experience via First Class,” said American Airlines President Robert Isom. “Importantly, this new fare product also gives American the ability to compete more effectively with the growing number of ultra low-cost carriers."

American Airlines and American Eagle offer an average of nearly 6,700 flights per day to nearly 350 destinations in more than 50 countries. American has hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C.

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Up in the air . . .

AMERICAN AIRLINES is to put #Belize on the map for UK visitors. From November, Brits will be able to fly return to Belize City without an overnight stop in the US or Mexico. 

Launching on November 4, in conjunction with the start of Belize’s high visitor season, out-bound flights will operate four days a week on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday while in-bound flights will operate daily. Both will fly all year round. 

American Airlines will introduce afternoon outbound flights from London Heathrow, with a few hours’ connection in Miami onto Belize City, plus morning and mid-day in-bound flights, again connecting for just a few hours in Miami.

In 2015, Belize had 12,650 UK visitors – an 11.4 percent increase on the 2014 total.

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Up in the air . . .

AMERICAN AIRLINES customers will get an upgraded travel experience when the carrier introduces the latest addition to its fleet – the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner –- into service from the UK’s Manchester Airport to Chicago. 

The Dreamliner has 28 fully lie-flat business class seats, and an additional 55 main cabin seats with extra legroom. Every seat has a touchscreen monitor loaded with up to 260 movies, 240 TV shows, 13 radio channels, 350 albums, and 20 games.

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US-Australia flights stepped up

AMERICAN AIRLINES and #QantasAirways plan to expand their joint business by adding services between the US and Australia. Starting in December, there will be flights between Los Angeles and Sydney, operated by #AmericanAirlines, and Qantas flights between San Francisco and Sydney.

Services will initially operate on peak days and ramp up to six times a week in January 2016.

Passengers travelling from Australia can access more than 150 destinations throughout North America on American's extensive network from Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, while those travelling from North America have access to almost 60 additional destinations in Australia and New Zealand when connecting from Qantas trans-Pacific routes from Sydney.

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/44259454@N00/14263618827">Opera House</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)

Travel facts …

COMPLAINTS against #US airlines in the first quarter of 2015 are up by 15% over the same period in 2014. 

More than one-third of consumer complaints about US airlines stemmed from flight problems, including cancellations, delays, and missed connections.

Among the carriers facing the largest number of flight-problem complaints were American Airlines, United Airlines, Frontier Airlines, and Spirit Airlines.

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More flights from New York to Havana

CUBA TRAVEL SERVICES, an authorized carrier service with offices in California, New York, and Florida, will soon be offering a second direct flight from New York JFK airport to Havana, Cuba.

Cuba Travel Services currently arranges flights operated by American Airlines and Sun Country Airlines to popular destinations including Havana, Cienfuegos, Camaguey, Santa Clara, Holguin, and Santiago de Cuba. Adding a second rotation on Fridays with JetBlue to its existing Tuesday flight with Sun Country will provide more flexibility for passengers.

Said Michael Zuccato, general manager at Cuba Travel Services: ‘A second JFK rotation will provide additional options for travellers in the Tri-State area as well as those connecting passengers who prefer a New York gateway to Cuba.

Cuba Travel Services' charter flight will use JetBlue's Airbus A320 aircraft for the three-hour, 20 minute flight.

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Picture Credit: Hotel nacional habana Licensed under CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons 

Accolade for Virgin America

FOR the third consecutive year, Virgin America has been recognized as the number one carrier in the Airline Quality Rating (AQR) report, an annual study of US domestic airline performance conducted by professors at Wichita State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

The rating provides a comparative ranking based on key airline metrics important to air travellers: on-time performance, customer complaints, denied boarding, and mishandled bags.

Since its 2007 launch, Virgin America has created more than 2,800 jobs and expanded its network to include Austin, Boston, Cancun, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Newark, New York, Orlando, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C.

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Up in the air …

POTENTIAL pilots with no flying experience ... are being offered the chance to train to fly Virgin Atlantic long-haul aircraft. An 18-month pilot training programme has been launched by the airline in conjunction with Southampton-based training firm CTC Aviation. Would-be pilots will undergo pre-flight training and flight deck simulation in Southampton and flight training in Phoenix, Arizona. The course leads to the Civil Aviation Authority's multi pilot licence and a position as a Virgin Atlantic co-pilot on Airbus A330s. Applicants are required to have a minimum of five GCSEs or equivalent including maths, science and English.

AER LINGUS passengers flying from Bristol to Washington DC are being given the option to fast-track their journey via Dublin. Pre-clearance at Dublin Airport by US Customs and Border staff means travellers from south-west England will be able to avoid delays of up to two hours at security checks on entry to America. The service is being introduced as a result of a link by Aer Lingus Regional from Bristol to Dublin, which will connect to Aer Lingus’s new four-times-a-week Dublin to Washington-Dulles service from May next year.

EASYJET is to start direct scheduled flights between Bristol and Gibraltar next year, making it the only airline to serve the route. The year-round service will take off from Bristol on its inaugural flight on April 19, flying up to three times a week. More than 19,000 seats are available on the new flights for the summer from April 19 to September 6. The Bristol-Gibraltar flights are on sale now at www.easyjet.com.

BRITISH AIRWAYS has announced an additional flight from London to Tobago from spring next year.

The route will be operated with a stop in Antigua, but the airline said it would be interested in offering a non-stop operation.




AMERICAN AIRLINES is increasing its daily Heathrow-LA flights from three to four, as from next March.




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Picture Credit: 'Boeing 747-400 Simulator' by NASA Ames Research Center - Human Systems Integration Division (nasaimages.org) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons; "HalfPennyBridge" via Wikimedia Commons; "Rock of Gibraltar seen from Punta Carnero" via Wikimedia Commons; Pidgeon Point, Tobago: "Boccoo2-2005" by Reinhard Jahn via Wikimedia Commons; "LA Skyline Mountains2" by Nserrano via Wikimedia Commons

New routes to the States …

FOLLOWING the merger agreement between American Airlines and US Airways last year,   the combined airline is launching a number of new routes this month (May).

On May 23, it starts a daily service from Manchester to Charlotte, North Carolina, giving passengers convenient access to the airline’s East Coast shuttle – an almost hourly service connecting major cities on America’s eastern seaboard.

There will also be new services from Lisbon, Barcelona and Brussels to North Carolina. 

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