Airline News

American Airlines postpones international flights into summer and fall

This plane is definitely not headed for Auckland, New Zealand.

Photo courtesy of Barber Shop Marketing

Fort Worth-based American Airlines is re-adjusting its schedule for the summer, and winter as well, to address what a release describes as record low customer demand due to the coronavirus.

The airline will make a series of capacity cuts that include:

Suspend more than 60 percent of international capacity for the peak summer travel season.
Delay the launch of new winter seasonal service to New Zealand from both Los Angeles and Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Auckland (AKL) until winter 2021.
Suspend 25 total summer seasonal flights until summer 2021.

Summer and winter capacity will be also reduced.

The release says that the changes are due to decreased customer demand as well as government travel restrictions. The schedule changes will be reflected on aa.com starting April 5.

Service from DFW to Auckland, New Zealand, was originally supposed to start in October 2020; it'll now launch in winter 2021, instead.

Service from DFW to Tel Aviv (TLV) will begin in September 2021.

A full list of changes is as follows:

DFW to Auckland (AKL) service will debut in winter 2021.
DFW to Hong Kong (HKG) resumes July 7.
DFW to Tokyo-Haneda (HND) resumes July 7.
DFW to Seoul (ICN) resumes July 7.
DFW to Beijing (PEK) resumes October 25.
DFW to Shanghai (PVG) resumes October 25.
DFW to Buenos Aires (EZE) resumes October 25.
DFW to São Paulo (GRU) resumes July 7.
DFW to Lima resumes July 7.
DFW to Santiago (SCL) resumes October 25.
DFW to Amsterdam resumes June 4.
DFW to Dublin resumes July 7.
DFW to Frankfurt (FRA) resumes June 4.

DFW summer service to Rome and Munich have been canceled entirely.

health transportation

Holiday News

American Airlines expects record-setting travel on Thanksgiving 2024

Photo courtesy of American Airlines

American Airlines ready for takeoff.

The holidays are looming and American Airlines is ramping up. Over the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend, the Fort Worth-based airline expects to process nearly 8.3 million customers across more than 77,000 flights.

According to a statement from American's COO David Seymour, the airline is having a good fall season and canceled fewer flights than its peers during October.

“Thanks to the hard work of our 130,000 team members, we canceled fewer flights than any of our major competitors this October and beat our own records for on-time departures and arrivals,” Seymour says.

That's surely good news. One hates to rain on their parade, but in June 2024, the only flight I booked this year, my flight was canceled less than 24 hours before take-off. I had made hotel reservations, scheduled a pet sitter, planned events, and arranged for a friend to pick me up at the destination airport. One employee speculated that it may have been "insufficient crew." Their only solution offered was: Feel free to reschedule your flight.

Thanksgiving facts and figures
The travel window runs from November 21 to December 3, and the airline expects to carry more than 500,000 more customers than it did last year.

The most-traveled day will be Sunday, December 1. The second most-traveled day will be Monday, December 2.

The peak of peak: 1,035 mainline and regional aircraft will be enroute at 10:45 am on Sunday, December 1 — the highest number of flights handled at any given time during American’s travel period.

The airline expects to serve more than 6.8 million Biscoff cookies on board from November 21 to December 3.

Travel tips
Download the American Airlines app and check in for your flight, noting added any bags to your trip. This will save you time at the airport.

If traveling internationally, download the Mobile Passport Control app, which can speed up your entry into the U.S. Global Entry members can download the Global Entry app, which allows you to submit your entry and go straight to the officer.

Upon arrival at the airport lobby, scan your mobile boarding pass to print bag tags quickly at a kiosk. If you’re not checking bags, go straight to TSA security with your mobile boarding pass.

holidays