As should be clear by now, I'm a pretty dedicated AAdvantage member. [It's not that I necessarily believe that AAdvantage is the best program for everyone (or that AA is the best airline). It's just that AA was the best program for me.] I'm also stuck with just one airline. I fly enough to have achieved top-tier status on American, and not enough to get status with anyone else. And while I'm glad to do a MR or two here or there to earn miles and perks on my airline of choice, I ...

In a previous post, I shared my thoughts on whether or not I should get myself a membership to AA's Admirals Club lounges. So now for part two: How shall I pay for this AC membership?

As I see it, I have three options:

1. Business Extraa points. When I was last on the UPGRD podcast (episode no. 18), I discussed AA's Business Extraa program. Basically, the program allows businesses to earn points above and beyond the miles earned by their traveling employees. You get a ...

Let this be a lesson to you.

Start a spreadsheet right now. On the top row, put in the amount of EQMs you have right now. Then, in subsequent rows, list flights you plan to take (broken up into segments), along with the mileage you'll earn for each segment. Include mileage from double EQM promos and class-of-service bonuses.

What happens if you don't do that? You end up 134 miles short.

I flew a ton in the last month or so, during which time AA was running a double-EQM ...

I'm currently reading an interesting book by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. It's called Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. The book is basically about the ways that we can "nudge" people to make good decisions without eliminating their freedom of choice. For example, workers in a school cafeteria can "nudge" students to make healthier choices by giving prime placement to healthy foods. Kids can still choose junk food, but the ...

...That is the question.

Right now I'm an AAdvantage Platinum (PLT) member. In a few weeks, I'll be EXP (Executive Platinum, the highest level in American's program).

I am not currently a member of the Admirals Club, American's lounges. But I'm thinking about it. There are two issues here. First, is membership even worth it? Second, if membership is in fact worth it, how should I acquire said membership? I'm going to deal with the first question below, and the ...

American Airlines announced recently that it was severely cutting flights at STL, Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, which is effectively ending STL's standing as an AA hub.

The move makes perfect sense. American inherited the hub from TWA, which left it with three hubs in the central time zone, and two within 300 miles of each other. Having hubs at both ORD and STL is just wasteful, and it came as no surprise to American customers that the bulk of STL's flight load was ...