I attended the breakfast at the Marriott this morning...
A little discussion re: integrating elite status with Delta (priority check-in and boarding available now with seat selection coming shortly). Brief discussion on Continental ending their partnership.
New wait list upgrade program went into effect about a month ago...AS will no longer hold out first class seats waiting for walk-up full fare purchasers.
Potential codeshare with Icelandic Air (whoopee) and Kenmore Air Service. Kenmore flies a bunch of Beavers and Otters on floats out of Kenmore Air Harbor in Seattle.
In flight Wi-Fi is still being implemeted, taking longer than expected.
Last phase of "My Wallet" program should be in place by end of year, i.e., unused ticket values can be deposited into your wallet or even another persons wallet.
No public announcement on third tier elite program...my take is that if and when such a tier is implemented it will be more of a MVP Gold+ rather than a full blown Platinum Level. Reassurance was given that current MVPG benefits will not be diluted, intent is to recognize the very top level of Golds somehow.
They are offering 13 months for both new and renewed annual Board Room memberships (in the past they only offered the bonus month for new accounts). My current membership is up in November so it was a no-brainer for me.
Q&A...
complaints about equipment swap out from full size to combi's and automatic rebooking to bulkhead row which is not really the prefered row on a combi (exits to the rear)
I made a comment re: starting the boarding procedure on 800's and 900's 40 or 45 minutes before departure instead of posted 30 minutes. If it's going to be general policy than boarding passes should reflect correct boarding time.
I also inquired about the possibility of getting the Digi Players refreshed more frequently. There is the potential for upgraded Digi Players that are used on the Hawaii flights to be deployed fleet wide. AS is also looking at integrating Wi-Fi / streaming content in the future.
Thanks for posting and attending ^
Sounds about what I was expecting... how was parking?
