PointsHoarder 37: Better late than never

Sorry we’re a little late to publish this time around; I blame the Hilton Garden Inn – Chelsea and their crappy internet connection for making the editing more work than usual. And now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, on to the details behind Episode 37 of the PointsHoarder podcast.

• American Airlines is launching a couple new routes to Asia in 2014 from DFW, including finally getting their own metal in to Hong Kong. They’re also cutting service from JFK to Haneda because they cannot make money on the route. They blame the cruddy time slots for the troubles on that front. Also, they’ve started sharing details on other routes where the 77W will operate, including MIA-LHR and MIA-GRU. The Haneda cut comes in December; the other are all happening in 2014.
  

  American will begin operating the 777-300ER on one of its two daily flights from Miami to London Heathrow (LHR) in January, and one of its four daily flights from Miami to Sao Paulo (GRU) in November 2014. American will also operate an additional 777-300ER between New York JFK and London Heathrow in March. By the end of 2014, American will have 16 of the 20 777-300ER aircraft it has on order deployed throughout its network.

• AmEx opened their Centurion Lounge at DFW earlier this week. Mommy Points went for a visit. And San Francisco is rumored as the next location at some point in 2014.
• A bunch of people thought they came up with a way to get free flights on United. The tickets were apparently not issued, however, so most aren’t flying. Many are whining about that.
• United also has apparently recently made serious changes to the number of stops allowed on award trips. That’s bad for most folks.
• It is becoming clear now that Delta’s partnership in Seattle with Alaska Airlines was actually mostly just using the smaller carrier to build up critical mass in the new trans-Pacific hub and then taking over all the other feed routes they want rather than continuing to work as a solid partner. Sucks to be the little guy.
• JetBlue is launching service from Boston to Detroit. That should piss Delta off something special.
• Alaska Airlines now allows partner award bookings via their app and mobile website. That’s good for travelers.
• There are few promos open for registration now:
  • Southwest Double Points
  • Hilton Q4 promo
  • AmEx Membership Rewards bonus on transfers to Virgin Atlantic and British Airways.

I’m sure we talked about other stuff, too, but I don’t really remember much more.

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