Archive for the ‘Frequent Flier News’ Category

Thanks to TICKET reader JK for sharing an image of his very special new Diamond Medallion bag tags sent to him by Delta this month. (If you’ve got a better image, please send it along to us and we’ll get it posted here!)

Diamond Medallion status is Delta’s new super-elite tier. Members must earn at least 125,000 MQMs with Delta to get  one of these cards. With it comes free membership to Delta’s Sky Clubs, 125% mileage bonuses, confirmed day-of-travel upgrades, and baggage fee waivers. Apparently Delta bag handlers have been told to look for these super special Diamond tags and get them off the plane and to baggage claim first.

But for some the BEST part about having a DIAMOND medallion tag is to have it dangle from your bag in the overhead bin to the awe of other, more lowly metallic medallions. “Brag tags” is the current lingo for this phenomenon.

While JK is pleased with his new Diamond status, he says that he preferred the more discreet look of his black platinum medallion credentials from ‘08. (see below) What to you think?

P.S.: Mar 3: Delta emailed us to add: “Actually, our employees have been (and continue to be) trained to watch for bags checked with our yellow priority bag flag that is affixed to their baggage claim tag at the time of check-in. This is a SkyTeam benefit (described here) and something that we have put a renewed focus on since January 2010. It is really starting to be noticed by our most frequent travelers.”

Can anyone out there send us an image of a yellow priority bag flag? We’ll post it here!

WARNING: PAY SKYMILES CREDIT CARD BILL ON TIME. Or lose your miles. Starting this month, Delta/Amex/SkyMiles credit card holders who pay their bills late will forfeit miles earned during the pay period. To reinstate those miles, you’ll have to pay a $29 fee. (This policy has long been in effect on standard American Express cards, but it’s now imposed on co-branded cards, too.)

NEW SKYMILES CREDENTIALS AND MILEAGE ROLLOVER COMING. If you recently qualified for Medallion status for 2010, your shiny new credentials should be in your mailbox soon. Also, if you qualified for Medallion last year, but continued to earn MQM miles, those extra miles should have “rolled-over” into your account this month, giving you a nice head start of getting Medallion again next year. Other changes that come as part of the 2010 Medallion program go into effect on March 1.

SKYMILES MARKETPLACE. Tired of trying to unload miles for flights? Delta would like you to try to unload miles for other things, like hotel and car rental bookings, electronics, clothing and luggage at its new SkyMiles Marketplace. As usual with these merchandise-for-miles schemes, the prices seem very high compared to street prices, or when compared to the enormous value of a free round trip. For example, a Flip MinoHD Video camera is featured on the opening page of the marketplace for 38,200 miles. A frequent flyer mile is generally thought to be worth about 1.5 cents, so you’d be paying the equivalent of $573 for a camera that costs about $200 at Best Buy. A first class round trip award to Hawaii starts at 37,500 miles, and this $200 camera is going for MORE than that? I dunno…I think I’d stick with redeeming miles for award flights. It’s a value that can’t be beat (at least when you can find the award seats you want…) What do you think? Is the Marketplace worth it for you?? Leave your comments below.

BEST WESTERN MATCHING ELITE STATUS. Everyone knows about how airlines will match elite level status to poach frequent travelers from competitors. Now hotels are getting into the act as well. Just this week, Best Western announced that it would give elite status in the Best Western Rewards program to anyone who sends them their elite level credentials from another chain. Elite membership in the BW program offers members room upgrades, early/late check in/out, and earning bonuses. Details here: www.bestwesternstatusmatch.com (Disclosure: I write a blog for Best Western’s youmustbetrippin.com site.)

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The older I get, the more I’m affected by jet lag, which is not a good thing for someone who makes his living in the travel industry.

Over the years, I’ve tried every drug from Ambien to Xanax; gone the homeopathic route with melatonin and herbs; tried starving myself, avoided alcohol, and experimented with caffeine. I’ve tried sleeping with hotel room drapes open and taking long walks in the sunshine upon arriving. I even tested an oversized visor with a battery-operated light under the bill that was supposed to offer some sort of “light therapy.”

The sad news is that none of them really worked. I still get that prickly, woozy, sweaty feeling on my first few days overseas. I sleep soundly for an hour or so, then lie awake in bed for the rest of the night, and then feel sorta hollow the next day. YUCK!

So every time I hear about a new substance or practice (other than denial) that might help ease the pain of jetlag, I’m eager to learn more.

There was much talk among the international travel crowd this month when the New York Times ran a story about a new jetlag drug called Nuvigil, on the market since last June.

Nuvigil is not a sleeping pill. Instead, it is a stimulant that travelers can take to treat the daytime sleepiness associated with jetlag—it does NOT help shift the body’s clock to a new time zone. (Nuvigil and its precursor, Provigil, are frequently used by people who suffer from narcolepsy and sleep apnea.)

Nuvigil’s maker, Cephalon, has plans to sell the drug to frequent business travelers—those who might pop over to Europe for a couple of days of meetings and then return. The Times article reports that in clinical trials among adults flying to Paris from the east coast, those who took Nuvigil did not nod off during the day as quickly as those who took a placebo.

I asked Atlanta physician Jim Braude, who travels to Europe several times each year, for some insight and he said, “These drugs work by somehow stimulating the brain (although the mechanism is not clearly defined), and can cause heart palpitations and raise blood pressure. So as much as I personally want to eliminate jet lag, I’m not ready to try these given the risk/benefit formula.”

Hmmm. I’d still like to try Nuvigil, but I think I’d experiment first on a trip that did NOT include an important meeting.

How about YOU? How do you deal with jetlag?

Please leave your comments below!

SO LONG DC-9s. One of the scariest things about Delta’s merger with Northwest is that it inherited a fleet of nearly 60 ancient Northwest DC-9s, (average age, according to Delta’s own web site it 36.2 years!) At a recent investors conference, Delta president Ed Bastian that that Delta would start phasing out those creaky old DC-9’s over the next year. (Delta retired its original fleet of DC-9’s back in 1993.)

DELTA WI-FI UPDATE: According to the latest from Delta, it’s got Wi-Fi on 325 planes now: ALL MD88 and MD90 aircraft. It’s on 116 of 180 B-757’s. And you can log-on on 66 of its 80 B737’s. It’s still a toss up on all other aircraft.

PAY UP OR LOSE MILES. Starting this month, if you pay your Delta SkyMiles credit card late, you will forfeit your bonus SkyMiles and must pay a $29 fee to recover them. (American Express has long applied this rule to its standard issue cards earning Membership Rewards points, and is now applying it to its co-brand cards.)

UNITED ORDERS NEW PLANES. While they won’t be touching down at an airport near you until at least 2016, United recently announced that it’s placed orders for 50 new wide-body aircraft. It split the order 50/50 between the Boeing 787 “Dreamliner” and the Airbus A350. Both are about the size of current Boeing 767 or 777 aircraft and will eventually replace them.

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NOT SO DREAMY. We’ve got an issue with the whole “Dreamliner” name… and get irritated when we see reporters get all wistful and dreamy-eyed thinking that everyone’s going to get a massage and a flat bed for sleeping (and dreaming) on every flight. Sorry folks—the plane is a dream to the airline, because it purportedly uses about 20% less fuel. But it’s not so dreamy for passengers sitting in coach– it’s just another twin-aisle, wide-body plane…okay, with bigger windows, but still….

BEST ON TIME PERFORMANCE IN THREE YEARS. Yep, it’s true. Flightstats.com reports that US airlines achieved their best on-time performance in three years in November delivering just over 87% of their flights to the gate within 15 minutes of schedule. This compares with 77.4% in October and 85.53% in September and 82.1% in November ‘08.According to the DOT, United was on time 91% of the time this past November, its best performance since the government starting tracking it in 1987. How did this happen? It’s all about the money according to gadling.com. Since last winter, United has offered all employees a $100 bonus each month the airline tops the DOT on-time ranking. They get $65 for second place.

FLOWN LOW COST LATELY? Did you know that just 10 years ago, 90% of all air travel in the U.S. was on so-called “legacy carriers” like United, Continental, Delta, etc. Only 10% was on low cost carriers such as Southwest, AirTran or JetBlue. Well, what a difference a decade makes. Legacy dominance has declined to just 74% of the market this year…low-cost carriers have 26% of the market and low-cost giant Southwest owns 64% of that market.

SEAT BACK ADS ON AIRTRAN. This month, AirTran will add seatback advertising on all its 138 jets. The ads will run in a clear plastic 2.5”x9” panel affixed to the underside of each tray table (visible only when the tray is upright). Don’t think for a minute that the seatback is going to be the only place you’ll see onboard advertising in the future— soon the inside of the airplane (of any airline) could look like the inside of a MARTA train— ads could appear on overhead bins, wall panels, bulkhead walls, and even in lavatories according to illustrations on the website of the Atlanta-based company producing the ads.

NO CASH ONBOARD DELTA MAINLINE JETS. Following in the footsteps of archrival AirTran, Delta has eliminated the unwieldy task of accepting cash (and making change) for onboard purchases. Flight attendants will use wireless handheld devices to ring up bills for food, booze or other items. While it might be slightly inconvenient to a few folks, we think that this is a very smart move that helps streamline serving and relieves overtaxed flight crews with the hassle of making change. And who doesn’t travel without a charge card these days anyway? Important note: As of now, this only applies to Delta mainline jets and NOT on flights operated by regional Delta connection partners, which still accept only cash. And you can still use either cash or credit on Delta international flights.

GOT QUESTIONS ABOUT SKYMILES MEDALLION CHANGES FOR 2010? Delta’s got answers. It recently posted a very helpful FAQ page on the SkyMiles website covering new benefits such as Rollover Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs), the new Diamond Medallion status, new “select benefits” for Platinums and Diamonds, no award ticketing fees for Gold, Platinum and Diamond members.

GOOD COFFEE ON THE ROAD. Tired of the brown water? AirTran just added a new canned premium coffee to its inflight drink menu: illy issimo Latte Macchiato. It’s free for business class passengers and $4 for those in coach. Speaking of coffee: Starbuck’s has made the world a better place by introducing a new line of instant coffee called VIA Ready Brew. (It’s packed in handy travel size packs about the size of a pack of sugar.) The taste test at my neighborhood Starbucks convinced me to change my ways. So now, whether I’m on a plane or at a roadside diner, I just order a cup of hot water, add a pack of VIA and voila – real coffee!

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TIME TO SKI: Have you seen the snow in Colorado? That photo was taken in Crested Butte last week! Most slopes don’t open ’til the end of November, but Delta’s reduced fares on its nonstop B737 flight between ATL and Steamboat Springs/Hayden, Colo., for this winter. If you travel off peak in January, you can fly for just $258 round trip. That’s a remarkable deal for a flight that does NOT require a stop in Denver and then a drive up to the mountains. You land, get off the plane and you are there. (Compare that to ATL-Vail nonstops currently going for $350 roundtrip. Even Salt Lake is pricey in Jan…when we checked fares were close to $400 roundtrip. Denver’s running about $284 round trip.)

DELTA-AMEX CREDIT CARD NEWS: American Express is removing the 60,000-mile earnings cap on its regular Delta SkyMiles card, and the 100,000 Gold Skymiles card cap effective in February. (Platinums never had a limit.) That’s good news for those who are frequent flyers AND frequent spenders with accounts that could easily exceed 60,000 or 100,000 miles in a year. Speaking of Amex, have you heard about its new Premier Rewards Gold card? This is a great card for folks who spread their biz among several airlines (probably best stick with Delta SkyMiles card if you are Delta heavy). Anyway, the Premier Rewards card offers triple Membership Rewards points for every dollar spent on airlines, double points for gas and groceries, one point for everything else. Plus, you get a 15,000 point bonus for the first $1000 spend, and then another 15,000 bonus if you spend $30,000 in a calendar year. You can then turn around and convert those points into miles with Delta or 16 other airlines. Or, you can “pay with points” for a ticket on ANY airline, any time with no blackouts. Fee is $175, but waived for first year. Not bad! (Disclosure: We are engaged in a consulting project with American Express.)

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BEFUDDLED BY THE BLACKBERRY? While your TICKET editor has moved along from a long string of Blackberries to the new T-Mobile MyTouch (the “Google phone”), I recall how good it felt to learn a new Blackberry trick, like clicking the N button to go to the next email, or preventing pocket-dialing with standby mode…Anyway, USA Today put together a really helpful article offering up some smart shortcuts. Be sure to see the tips offered up by readers in the article’s comments box. (Thanks to my travel blogger buddy JohnnyJet for sending this my way!)

SO LONG FSB. We’ve long enjoyed reading FSB-Fortune Small Business magazine (and actually did some freelance writing for it for many years) and were saddened to learn that Time Inc decided to shut it down last week. FSB was distributed for free to American Express Small Business cardholders and not sold in newsstands or by subscription.

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CALL ME! This week Expedia eliminated the $25 fee it charged to speak to a human travel agent. All major airlines charge a $25 fee when you call, speak to a human, and this human actually books your trip. This means that if you’d like to call in your travel reservations instead of doing it online, it makes more sense to call Expedia (1-800-EXPEDIA) than to call the airlines. Go figure.

THEFT OF CHECKED BAGS. Now that airlines are charging us up to $100 round trip for the honor of checking out bags with them….this happens: Last week authorities in Phoenix busted a husband and wife team who would drive to the airport with a horse trailer, spend the day stealing bags off the luggage carousels and storing them on the trailer, then taking the hocked bags back to their house and selling the contents at weekend garage sales! Remember when airlines used to have guards stationed at baggage claim who matched bags with tags? That service was eliminated in airline cost cutting measures nearly a decade ago. Now that airlines are making tidy profits from their bag fees, they need to bring back the tag matchers…do you agree?

TINY NEW AIRLINE. Did you know that there’s a new airline flying between ATL, Macon and Athens? Each leg is just $39. Check out the Georgia Skies website here: .

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STOCKHOLM. Delta will eliminate nonstops between ATL and Stockholm in March, but will still offer one-stop flights via JFK

MORE FREE WI-FI. This is getting crazy! Here’s yet another way to get free in-flight internet this winter: Now through Dec 31, all AirTran passengers that buy one in-flight Wi-Fi session will get their second Wi-Fi session free.

GO GREYHOUND. The bus is learning from the plane….did you know that Greyhound now offers bus passengers the option of paying a $5 fee to board the bus first and not have to wait in line with others? And on some routes in the Northeast, it’s offering free onboard wi-fi.

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AIRTRAN’S DARK ‘N STORMY LOOK. AirTran is flexing its sports marketing muscle with special new paint jobs sporting the logos of the Atlanta Falcons and the Baltimore Ravens. (AirTran picked up the Falcons sponsorship this year when Delta bowed out.) We are so used to seeing AirTran’s bright white and teal that these mostly black planes really stand out—looking classy and sorta dangerous…but in a good way. What do you think? Leave your comments in the space provided below.

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OCT 29 BULLETIN: TRAVELING TO SAN FRANCISCO? Take note. The Bay Bridge that connects San Francisco to Oakland has been shut down due to unexpected structural issues. This is causing huge traffic headaches in the region, so expect traffic on nearly all freeways and a longer than expected commute from airport to city. No word yet from California’s transportation department about when it might open up again. Check in with SFGate for updates.

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HOW DOES DELTA SAY SORRY? Delta’s issued an apology to all the passengers aboard the flight from San Diego that overshot the airport in Minneapolis. (In a nutshell, each passenger got a $500 credit for future Delta flights.)  The apology letter is published in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The latest in this saga: the FAA says that pilots flew “carelessly and recklessly” during a “frolic” (full story from Bloomberg). Delta also provided $500 credits to those on the flight from Rio that landed on a taxiway instead of a runway at ATL.

See post below for tips on getting FREE wi-fi on AirTran, Delta and other carriers this winter.

SO LONG CONTINENTAL. What do Delta/SkyTeam flyers have to lose with Continental’s recent departure into the loving arms of United and the Star Alliance? Not a whole lot. Continental offered flights to a lot of smaller cities in Central and South America via its Houston hub—along with opportunities to earn and burn SkyMiles. There were a handful of Presidents Clubs in cities where Delta has no Sky Clubs. On the upside, there will be 40 million fewer OnePass members crowding airport clubs and vying for those award seats and upgrades. So overall, not much impact. Are we wrong? Will you miss the alliance with Continental? LET US KNOW! Leave your comments below.

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Super Cool! Delta 747 in Tokyo

DELTA JIGGERS INTERNATIONAL ROUTES. Delta’s made a few changes to its international schedules, which will go into effect next summer. Most of these won’t have a huge impact on those flying to/from Atlanta because of the plethora of non-stops from here. But there are some new opportunities for one stop routings. For example, Delta will offer nonstops from Seattle to Beijing and Osaka. It will bring back nonstops between Salt Lake and Tokyo. From Detroit, it will add nonstops to both Hong Kong and Seoul, and increase frequencies to Shanghai. It will add new nonstops from New York to Copenhagen and Stockholm (using 757’s). Delta will add one new nonstop between Atlanta and Accra, Ghana, and will resume summer season nonstops between Atlanta, Athens and Venice.

STILL HURTS. BUT NOT AS MUCH. Revenue from passengers on U.S. airlines was down a painful 19 percent in September year- over-year—the tenth consecutive month of declines. On the positive side, the number of passengers carried in the month declined only 2 percent compared to last September…that’s an improvement over August’s 5 percent decline. Business Travel News reports that, “American Express reported $3.5 billion in corporate travel sales in the third quarter, a figure 31 percent lower than the $5.1 billion logged in the third quarter of 2008 but on par with the $3.4 billion and $3.6 billion figures reported in the first and second quarters of 2009, respectively. Though American Express’ 2009 business travel sales have remained largely flat through the first three quarters, chairman and CEO Kenneth Chenault said there are ‘indications that spending by corporate cardmembers is beginning to pick up.’”

BUSINESS ELITE SEATS ON DOMESTIC TRANSCONS. You won’t get this flying out of ATL, but if you ever find yourself flying Delta between New York JFK and SFO or LAX, Delta’s got some nice internationally configured business class seats on its 757’s for ya. Check out Delta’s video on this here.

DELTA AND MINNEAPOLIS. Having lost their hometown carrier to the slick widget from The South, the sturdy midwestern folk of Minnesota seem to be taking the loss in stride, and even focusing in the bright side. Here’s a quote that sums up that spirit in an insightful article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune: “The quality of the first-class cabin has increased a lot under Delta. The seats have been leatherized, the food is a notch better. … I know things are going to be good…” (We agree. Delta’s got to be a big breath of fresh air for long suffering frequent NWA flyers from MSP.)

AIRTRAN AND ORLANDO. Most folks may not realize that AirTran’s home base is actually Orlando (not Atlanta), but the carrier is starting to make some overtures to the locals there—who may not be feeling the love.  In her Orlando Sentinel column about AirTran’s recent signing of an exclusive advertising deal with the Orlando Magic, Beth Kassab writes, “It’s about time. For years AirTran has dipped a toe in Orlando — where it maintains its technical corporate headquarters — while most of its operations, employees and community outreach have been firmly planted in Atlanta.” The deal means that the JetBlue Crew at Magic games will be shown the door. It just so happens that JetBlue is currently considering making Orlando its hometown, too, in an effort to escape the sky-high costs of basing its business in New York.

BIGGEST PROGRAM IN THE WORLD. Despite the fact that Delta and Northwest will continue to operate as two separate entities through next year, SkyMiles and WorldPerks have completed their merger, making the new SkyMiles program the largest in the world, by far, with 70 million members!

YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! We are loving all the prattle and snippets about the upcoming movie, “Up in the Air” about a mileage obsessed frequent flyer played by George Clooney. Here’a a classic scene that should hit home with many TICKET readers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCCx9CfwARc

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MORE GOOD NEWS. SORTA. Worldwide airline passenger traffic dipped just 1 percent in August compared to the same month last year. That’s the smallest year-over-year drop in 2009, says the International Air Transport Association. The biggest decline this year was in March, when traffic dipped 11 percent year-over-year. Despite the recent improvements, airlines are still having a very tough time withpricing—economy class ticket prices are down 18 percent; first and business class fares are down 22 percent.

AIRLINES BAGGING BIG BUCKS. Those irksome new baggage fees are helping to keep a lot of airlines afloat in these lean times. According to the DOT, it’s the low-cost carriers that are bagging the most fees as a percentage of their overall revenues .The top four fee earners in q2 are (in descending order) Spirit, Allegiant, AirTran and Frontier. Nearly 9 percent of Spirit’s revenue was baggage fees. AirTran earned 7 percent of its revenue that way. Delta came in at 3 percent. Southwest, which does not charge for the first two checked bags, bagged less than one percent of its revenue that way.

FULL NAME AND BIRTHDATE, PLEASE. The TSA now requires airlines to book your ticket under the EXACT name as it appears on the ID you will be using to check in for your flight. IMPORTANT: Check your online booking profiles to be sure that your profile name matches your ID and modify it if necessary.  Airlines are also now required obtain your birth date. Why? Supposedly this should help folks mistakenly placed on terror watch lists.

ALASKA AIR ARRIVES AT ATL. It’s been a while since Atlanta welcomed a new airline. On Oct 23 Alaska Airlines arrives from Seattle, into a market already crowded by AirTran and Delta flights. (Look for the friendly Eskimo face on the tail!) The two-class Boeing 737 flight departs Atlanta at 6:10 p.m. and arrives SEA at 8:35 p.m. Coming back, you leave SEA at 9:10 a.m. and arrive ATL at 5:10 p.m. Introductory fares are currently running about $240 roundtrip. Good: You can earn Delta SkyMiles on Alaska Air flights.

BUSINESS TRAVEL DECLINE BOTTOMING OUT? Every year at about this time American Express peers into the coming year with its Global Business Travel Forecast. (Last year, it had to postpone this annual release because, due to the uncertainty brought on by the financial system meltdown.) Anyway, things are looking brighter this time around with pent up demand for business travel expected to drive up prices slightly in the second half of the year. The cost of an average domestic business trip will rise only about $5 to $1,108. Airfares will rise 2-7 percent. However, mid and upper tier hotel rates will continue to decline anywhere from one to six percent. Car rental rates are expected to remain mostly flat.

AIRTRAN WI-FI PRICES: Hoping to determine the optimal price point, AirTran has been testing wi-fi pricing over the last month, trying a $6 fee per flight regardless of device or flight length. It was also testing a fee as low as $2.95 for shorter flights, and $10 for longer flights. Stay tuned for the outcome. In case you missed it in the previous issue, AirTran now offers in-flight wi-fi on 100% of its flights. We’ve tried it and we REALLY like it, especially on flights longer than 2 hours.

$100 FLIGHT CREDIT. Renew your AirTran/Barclay’s bank card and you’ll get two $50 discount certificates for use on future AirTran flights.

SILVER MEDALLION: SORRY NO WAIVERS. Adding fuel to our view that the most you can expect from your Delta Silver Medallion status is early boarding, we have learned this: Delta does not waive its fee for same day flight changes for Silvers. (We thought the fee was waived for all Medallions, but Delta tells us that Silver medallions have never had it waived.) We have also learned that Delta has INCREASED that fee from $25 to $50. (Gold and platinum members still can still confirm same day changes with out a fee.)

DELTA MOTHERHOOD STATEMENT REVISED. Delta has revised its “motherhood statement” which is always attached at the end of every press release. It illustrates how Delta wants to be perceived by the public. “Delta Air Lines is the world’s No. 1 airline. From its hubs in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-JFK, Salt Lake City, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam and Tokyo-Narita, Delta, its Northwest subsidiary and Delta Connection carriers offer service to 355 destinations in 64 countries and serve more than 170 million passengers each year. Delta’s marketing alliances allow customers to earn and redeem either SkyMiles or WorldPerks on more than 16,000 daily flights offered by SkyTeam and other partners. Delta’s more than 70,000 employees worldwide are reshaping the aviation industry as the only U.S. airline to offer a full global network. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes, check bags and flight status at delta.com.”

GET COZY WITH AIRTRAN. Starting Oct 1, AirTran will offer Swiss Miss hot chocolate on all flights. Minute Maid lemonade will take a break over the winter. Speaking of in-flight bevs, Bud Light Lime has replaced Bud Select on all AirTran flights.

KEY WEST JETS. You may have read in last month’s issue about AirTran’s new flights between ATL and Key West—touting it as the only full size jet flights between the two cities. Well, that made Delta stand up and take notice, it will add a mainline B737 to its mix of mostly ASA RJ flights in Dec 18.

WSJ: DELTA STINGIEST WITH INTERNATIONAL UPGRADES. The Wall Street Journal’s Scott McCartney recently compared travelers’ ability to upgrade on international flights. It’s not news to frequent Delta flyers that getting international upgrades is tough. But the article brings to light how Delta stands out among its peers for being the toughest. It also points out Delta’s frustrating practice of enticing travelers to buy more expensive tickets for the CHANCE of using their miles for an upgrade, versus other airlines fairer approach of requiring a co-pay of a few hundred dollars, but making some sort of guarantee they you’ll get a cushy seat up front if you pay it.

DELTA ADDS DOMESTIC BIZ ELITE. Delta is now flying 757’s equipped with international business class “cradle” seats on all nonstops between Los Angeles and and New York-JFK. By the end of October, the cradles will be on all JFK-San Francisco flights. Big seats are a nice addition and should do well competing against similar internationally configured nonstops from American and United as well as the swanky first class on Virgin America. Bad news is that chances of upgrades in DL flights are now slimmer— previously, the 757’s had 24-26 first class seats while the new ones will have only 16 business class cradles. (Sure would be nice to see these planes on ATL long hauls…)

AA SHRINKAGE: Ever since American bought TWA, folks in St Louis have worried that their airport would lose flights. Looks like that worry is a new reality: American will soon cut its daily departures from Lambert in half. And even though Raleigh-Durham’s got a nice new airport, it’s not enough to keep American from dumping nine flights there.

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