Beachy News

American Airlines unfurls summer travel deals — can you say Miami

Miami skyline says come visit me now.

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The coronavirus may still be among us, but that will not stop us from getting to the beach. American Airlines to the rescue with a new promotion called Summer of Deals, with crazy discounts on travel between now and August 15.

They're grouping it under two categories: Florida beaches, starting at $109 one way, and U.S. destinations, starting at $49 one way.

Details:

Flights to Florida are available now through June 14, starting as low as $109 each way, including flights to Miami, Tampa, and Sarasota.
Flights around other US cities are available for as low as $49 one-way. A one-way ticket from Houston to Miami is as low as $58. DFW to Los Angeles starts at $56, and a one-way trip from DFW to San Diego is $38! Crazy. These rates are for travel from July 7-August 15.

The airline is also giving AAdvantage members double miles for flights booked through June 30 for travel by September 30, up to a total of 10,000 bonus miles.

They have discounts and bonus miles on vacation packages as well.

Note: American currently has a change fee waiver in place for all tickets, for travel through September 30.

This is all going down while the restrictions due COVID-19 are in place. American will continue to limit the number of customers on each aircraft. And customer service agents may reassign seats to create more space between customers or to accommodate families who need to be seated together.

Once boarding is complete, customers can move to another seat subject to availability. But no coach to first class! That is never allowed.

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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.

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