Airlines Information

COMPANY OVERVIEW

As a member of one of the world's largest airline companies, American Airlines Vacations is a trusted resource for travel packages that combine non-published rates on flights with hotels, rental cars and activities for significant savings.

American Airlines Vacations offers a choice of more than 10,000 hotels and resorts in over 320 cities across the globe.

Customers who book vacations online at AAVacations.com earn AAdvantage® bonus miles with every booking. American Airlines Vacations lets customers use AAdvantage® miles to pay for their vacation.

Telephone: 1-800-321-2121

Web site: http://www.aavacations.com

PACKAGES: American Airlines Vacations provides discounts and values on travel packages thanks to its unique access to non-published, discounted rates on American Airlines flights, combined with specially negotiated rates at hotels, rental car companies and activity providers.

All vacation elements are offered as components, so customers can design the trip that suits their interests. Choose a complete package or only certain elements, such as a hotel and rental car.

Through partnerships with tourism boards and associations around the globe, AAVacations is able to offer special packages in many destinations directly to consumers.

SERVICES: Customers may book entire vacation packages or hotels, rental cars, airport transfers, activities, theme park tickets, show tickets and tours online at AAVacations.com. Customers may also call a Reservations Specialist at 1-800-321-2121 to design a customized vacation package.

American Airlines Vacations offers customer support before, during and after vacations. Customers may call a Reservation Specialist while on vacation to handle any issues that arise instead of dealing with hotels directly.

AAVacations.com also features helpful information on a wide range of destinations to aid in travel planning, along with a selection of virtual brochures.

AIR MILES: American Airlines Vacations participates in the American Airlines AAdvantage® program. Every booking made online at AAVacations.com earns AAdvantage bonus miles. American Airlines Vacations is also the only travel company that allows customers to pay for all or part of their vacation with AAdvantage miles.

PASSENGER CHANGE DETAILS: Customers can change hotel accommodations, add AAdvantage numbers to flights, update reservations, change seat assignments and more by calling 1-800-321-2121.

EMAIL NEWSLETTER: American Airlines Vacations publishes two weekly email newsletters that highlight vacation specials and exclusive offers. One is for customers and the other is for travel agents.

Customers may subscribe here.
Travel agents may subscribe here.

Unite, the trade union that represents the majority of British Airways (BA) cabin crew, has announced that its strike ballot has closed with a vote in favour of industrial action.

The outcome of the ballot is very disappointing and brings a renewed threat of industrial action, which is completely unjustified.

In the weeks before and during the ballot period, Unite claimed that we had breached individual crew members’ contracts by making modest changes to onboard crew numbers on flights from Heathrow. We have always said this claim was false, and it was rejected by the High Court three days ago.

The vast majority of crew who voted in this ballot will have done so before the High Court decision. We hope Unite will bear this fact in mind as it considers its next steps.

We believe some progress has been made in recent talks under the auspices of the TUC and we reiterate our wish to resolve the issues between us in the interests of our customers and all our staff.

However, we will not allow Unite to ruin this company. Should a strike take place, we will do everything we can to protect your travel plans as far as possible.

We would like to reassure you that all of our flights are continuing to operate as normal at this time.

If strike dates are announced

All BA CityFlyer, codeshare and franchise flights will continue to operate as normal.

If strike dates are announced we will put contingency plans in place and communicate them as soon as possible.

You will be able to rebook, free of charge and subject to availability, onto other British Airways flights outside of the strike period for up to 355 days from the original date of travel.

Refunds will only be available if flights are actually cancelled or if the original booking conditions allow.


In the event that cancellations are made due to strike action

You will be able to:

* Rebook onto another British Airways flight to the same destination within 355 days of the original date of travel
* Rebook onto another British Airways flight to/from the nearest alternative airport (for example, if booked to/from Boston you could rebook to/from Philadelphia or New York)
* Cancel your booking and get a refund.

All rebooking options will be subject to availability.

More detailed information about rebooking options, including specific dates covered by these guidelines will be made available if a strike is announced.

Normal Conditions of Carriage will apply for any flights that are cancelled outside of the strike period.

British Airways Executive Club members will continue to earn Tier Points and BA Miles for flights cancelled due to any strike action.


Update your contact details

If you are affected it is our intention to inform you directly if we have your email address or by SMS text if we have your mobile phone number.

We will use the contact details supplied at the time of booking, so please ensure these are correct and up-to-date:

Update your contact details in Manage My Booking

Check-in
Online check-in is available from 24 hours until 90 minutes before the scheduled flight departure. For airport check-in, desks close 30 minutes before departure for domestic travel and 60 minutes before departure for international travel. Exceptions are when departing from the following airports, when passengers with bags must complete check-in hours before the departure time: Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Maui, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Washington (Dulles).


Baggage

Carry-on: One item plus one personal item which includes a purse, briefcase, laptop, or diaper bag. Items must fit in the overhead compartment or under your seat and cannot exceed linear dimensions of 51 in (length + height + width), or 45in on express flights.

Checked: Two items that cannot exceed 50lbs each or a total linear dimension of 62in.If you’re checking your bags at the airport, the first bag costs $20 ($15 if you check it online) and the second costs $30 ($25 if you check it online). You can check up to nine bags, but the third-ninth will cost $100 each.

Excess: Overweight bags range from $70-$200, depending on how many bags you’re taking, and how much each one weighs. No bags over 100 lbs will be accepted. Oversized bags (63-80 inches) charge a $100 fee.


Legroom
Seat pitch: 32 inches.


Pre-assigned Seating
Can be booked online or at check-in.


Passenger Change Details
Changes can be made online. No administrative fee is due if the original ticket was an unrestricted fare. Non-refundable tickets can be altered for the first 24 hours after booking. After that, penalty fees will apply. Name changes cannot be made, but the ticket can be altered for a standby flight on the same day for $25. Tickets can also be cancelled any time before or on the day of travel. The cost of the ticket can be used to book another non-refundable ticket with a departure date within a year, but an administrative fee of $100 will be charged.


Child Fares
Infants under two years of age travel for free on an adult's lap (the adult must be over 15 years old). Reservations for infants cannot me made online, but must be made at the reservations number (listed below). All other children up to the age of 12 will travel for the appropriate fare. Children's fares are available on some routes.


Senior Fares
Discounts for travelers 62+ have recently been phased out and replaced with the AARP savers discount program.


Pets
The number of pets that may be carried in each cabin is limited and you must make your reservations on flights with cabin pet space available to allow your pet to travel with you. There is an $80 fee each way to transport a small cat or dog. One exception: US Airways will not accept pets for travel to and from Hawaii.


Carrying Musical Instruments
Musical instruments are allowed as hand luggage as long as they do not exceed 45 linear inches. If the instrument is too large, an additional seat must be purchased.


In-flight Service
Deli-style meals are available to buy in-flight. Drinks services depend on how far you are flying. A full service is available for flights of 400 miles or more, a limited beverage service on flights between 225 and 399 miles and no beverage service on flights less than 224 miles. Films and TV programs are available.


Air Miles
Dividend Miles, the frequent flyer program for US Airways allows you to earn miles when you fly with US Airways, members of the Star Alliance, as well other partners: Bahamas Air, Caribbean Star Airlines, Caribbean Sun Airlines and Qantas.

Airline Food Link
There’s nothing like heading up in the skies to work up an appetite. Check out the airline’s menu before you fly so you can decide if you need to bring any extras. See US Airways' Web site for the meal plan, or see photographs taken by fellow flyers of meals they’ve been served and read reviews at AirlineMeals.net.




In-flight Magazine
Moby Dick, War and Peace, Leaves of Grass… Do you need to pack a weighty tome or will the in-flight magazine keep you happily occupied for the duration of the flight? US Airways Magazine is published monthly and is available on every flight. The magazine features celebrity interviews and destination information along with an in-flight guide. Read a preview online

Welcome to the Flight Messaging section. Here you will find the documentation and resources needed to implement flight alert solutions using the Flight Segment Messaging APIs and the Itinerary Monitoring & Messaging APIs. These two sets of services are closely related, but significantly different both in terms of what's required to implement a solution and the capabilities provided. This overview document should help you gain a good high-level understanding of both solutions.

* Flight Segment Event Messaging System (EMS)
o Message Events
o Message Formats
o Implementation Options
* Itinerary Monitoring and Messaging
o Message Events
o Message Formats
o Profile System
o FlightStats Attendant
o Implementation Options

Flight Segment Event Messaging System (EMS)

Segment-based messaging is the simpler of our messaging services to implement and provides a very powerful messaging solution for many applications. It is recommended for flight alert solutions based on single flight segments - ideal for mobile solutions, ground transportation companies, websites and any other solution where a travelers itinerary is not available.

Refer to the following White Paper for a good overview of how the system works, implementation options and benefits accrued.

Real-time Flight Status Monitoring and Notification White Paper (PDF)
Enhanced Service at Reduced Cost

Also, you can find a reference implementation of a flight alert system built using these services on the FlightStats.com website. This is a fairly simple implementation that doesn't take advantage of all capabilities, but it does provide an example of a working system.

Setup a Flight Alert on FlightStats.com

Message Events

The FlightStats EMS system has the ability to trigger messages based on a variety of flight events and to have scheduled events trigger messages. The events offered includes status changes (departed, landed, cancelled, and diverted), time changes, delays, and gate changes. Typically, only a subset of events are used in an implementation since triggering on all events may overwhelm a user with too much information.

Message Formats

Triggered messages can be delivered in the following formats:

* HTML Email (can be customized and branded)
* Long Text Email (can be customized and branded)
* Short Text Email
* SOAP
* XML over HTTP

Implementation Options

The Flight Segment EMS system offers at least three approaches to implementing such a system. Each of these approaches has tradeoffs in terms of flexibility and integration with other systems versus implementation costs and schedule.

* QuickStart - The FlightStats QuickStart option provides the fastest time-to-market and lowest implementation cost. Branded notification email messages, created from a simple template, are delivered based on rules and recipients defined through a simple web user interface. Email messages can be generated in multiple languages and custom email template design services are available. Short text emails or SMS formats are also supported in QuickStart.
* Third-Party Message Delivery - FlightStats customers can also choose to integrate the FlightStats notification system with a third-party message delivery platform. These third-party platforms offer message delivery to a wide variety of devices, including enhanced email capabilities, voice messaging, and wireless devices. They also typically include sophisticated logic that allows messages to be delivered to multiple devices or recipients based on user-defined rules.
* XML Integration - The FlightStats product has native XML input and output interfaces to set rules and generate messaging events. In situations where a customer needs tight integration with existing systems or where an internal messaging system already exists, the FlightStats XML interface provides ultimate flexibility for integration. The customer system creates an XML message to setup a rule for message delivery. When an event occurs that matches a pre-defined rule, FlightStats generates another XML message that describes the event. FlightStats can also be configured to send an event email in addition to the XML output.

Learn more about Flight Segment Messaging.

Itinerary Monitoring and Messaging

Our itinerary-based messaging and monitoring solution is both more powerful and more complex in terms of implementation. This is a second-generation solution that takes Flight Messaging to another level. The biggest advance in FlightStats technology over first generation notification systems is the ability to monitor a complete itinerary instead of just individual segments. By monitoring a complete itinerary, the FlightStats system offers relevant high-value information throughout the lifecycle of the travel experience.

Refer to the following White Paper for a more in-depth discussion of how the system works, implementation options and benefits accrued.

Intelligent Itinerary Monitoring White Paper (PDF)
The Next Step in Travel Service

The powerful advantages of Itinerary Monitoring are nowhere more apparent than at the critical point of flight connections in a multi-segment itinerary. First generation status notification systems simply notify the traveler if a flight segment is delayed or cancelled. However, these systems have no way to know whether the delayed segment impacts a connection that will affect the remainder of the itinerary.

With Itinerary Monitoring, the FlightStats system can send a message to the traveler, indicating not only that a flight segment is late, but also that the delay will (or may) cause a missed connection. The message might include a list of alternate flights to replace the missed segment with phone numbers for the airline or travel agency to handle re-accommodation or re-booking.

Message Events

Itinerary Monitoring allows for three categories of events to be monitored and messaged on. The first, flight segment events, allows for monitoring on all segments in the itinerary. The events offered includes status changes (departed, landed, cancelled, and diverted), time changes, delays, and gate changes.

The second category includes events that watch connections between flight segments. FlightStats offers three types of connection monitoring. The first provides a message upon landing of the inbound segment. The second watches for estimated connection problems (i.e. it considers estimated times), and the third operates only on actual connection times.

The third category of monitoring applies to Itinerary Legs – collections of flights that make up a portion of the overall travel trip. An example of an itinerary leg would be the outbound or return portion of the trip. It watches primarily the first and last segment of the itinerary leg.

Typically, only a subset of events are used in an implementation since triggering on all events may overwhelm a user with too much information.

Message Formats

Triggered messages can be delivered in the following formats:

* HTML Email (can be customized and branded)
* Long Text Email (can be customized and branded)
* Short Text Email
* SOAP
* XML over HTTP

Profile System

Many agencies and airlines already have some type of traveler profile system, so the FlightStats system can be configured to use the customer's profile system for message delivery options. However, if the customer does not have a profile system or the system does not accommodate messaging preferences, the FlightStats system offers a traveler profile system for messaging options. Information can even be combined between partial profiles stored in the customer system and additional message delivery profile data stored in the FlightStats profile system.

FlightStats Attendant

The FlightStats Attendant product offers a powerful tool for managing multiple itineraries and offering proactive service to travelers. Travel agents, corporate travel managers, risk management or security advisors, or anyone else responsible for monitoring a collection of travelers can use Attendant to quickly assess the status of an entire group of itineraries in a single screen and receive exception messages when a problem with one or more passenger’s itineraries arise.

Learn more about Attendant.

Implementation Options

To implement a solution based on our Itinerary Monitoring and Messaging services, the system must have access to the traveler’s itinerary. Fortunately, there are a variety of ways for FlightStats to capture itineraries for monitoring:

* GDS Queue Monitoring – FlightStats can obtain itineraries and schedule changes by accessing a GDS queue on behalf of the travel agency.
* Cornerstone iBank Adapter – FlightStats offers an iBank adapter for companies that use the iBank reporting system. There is no additional fee for iBank customers to push data to FlightStats.
* Web Service Interface – The FlightStats system also offers a Web Services interface that allows agencies to securely transmit itineraries to the FlightStats system for monitoring. SOAP, XML over HTTP and REST protocols are supported.
* Custom Adapters - Please contact FlightStats if you are a software developer who would like to provide a custom adapter.