American debuts luxury lounge
Airline offers elite retreat and fine dining options to stand out from other domestic carriers.
To compete for the travel dollars of big-spending fliers, American Airlines recently unveiled two ways to pamper its most elite fliers.
The Fort Worth-based carrier, the world’s largest, opened a new lounge at Los Angeles International Airport last month that includes all the luxuries of a buffet restaurant and bar, plus a counter where fliers can make Bloody Mary drinks with crispy strips of bacon.
American Airlines already operates three Admirals Club lounges at LAX that offer free snacks and self-serve bars. Those lounges are open to any AAdvantage frequent flier member who buys an annual pass or any traveler who pays $59 for a daily pass.
But the Flagship Lounge in Terminal 4 is reserved for first- or business-class passengers who are flying on international flights or transcontinental flights to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Elite members of the airline’s AAdvantage frequent flier program also get access.
The lounge offers free food from hot and cold buffets, a station with a chef who makes custom dishes and a self-service wine and champagne bar. Showers and a quiet room for naps are nearby.
But for the super-elite flier who wants to enjoy a restaurant-style sit-down meal, American Airlines has also added a 59-seat restaurant called Flagship First Dining, reserved only for first-class passengers on certain flights.
During a recent visit, the menu included New York strip steak, tagliatelle pasta and a burger made with Japanese Wagyu beef.
“We want to differentiate ourselves from other domestic carriers,” said Suzanne Boda, American Airlines’ senior vice president for Los Angeles.
American operates four Flagship Lounges in the U.S., but only three have a Flagship First Dining restaurant attached.
Another last for Virgin America
The slow disappearing act of Virgin America has completed a crucial step: The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a license that allows Virgin America and Alaska Airlines to operate as one.
The “single operating certificate,” issued Thursday, sets the stage for Alaska Air Group to finish consolidating Burlingame, Calif.-based Virgin America with Seattle-based Alaska Airlines, forming the fifthlargest carrier in the United States, behind American, Delta, United and Southwest airlines.
Alaska Air Group paid $2.6 billion in 2016 to acquire Virgin America and announced plans to retire the brand by 2019.
Travelers can continue to make reservations on Virgin America’s website until the two are consolidated in April.
Virgin America’s loyalty program has already been integrated into the Alaska Airlines program, and the payroll and benefits programs for employees of the two carriers have been merged.
Alaska Air Group expects to complete painting the fleet of nearly 70 Virgin America planes with the Alaska Airlines colors and logo by the end of 2019, according to an Alaska Airlines spokesman.
Combined with the Virgin America fleet, Alaska Airlines has more than 220 passenger and cargo airplanes. Too much travel takes a heavy toll
If you are a business traveler who has to be away from home more than two weeks a month, no one has to tell you that this much travel can wear you down.
But a study from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health confirms that people who travel for business two weeks or more a month are more likely to report symptoms of anxiety, depression and trouble sleeping than those who travel less than one week a month.
And if you drink, extensive travel is likely to lead to alcohol dependence, the study found.
The study was based on the health records of 18,328 employees who underwent checkups in 2015.
The Columbia University study is only the latest to confirm that a schedule of heavy business travel can have various negative health effects, including the threat of deep vein thrombosis, jet lag and exposure to radiation on a commercial plane.
“Employers should provide employees who travel for business with accommodations that have access to physical activity facilities and healthy food options,” said professor Andrew Rundle.
His earlier studies found a tie between extensive business travel and obesity and high blood pressure.
The latest study appeared in the December edition of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.