Skift Take

American's got a new premium economy cabin that it's flying domestically for the next few months. Let's see if it turns into a viable product.

What to Know Now

This past week, American Airlines finally put its 787-9 Dreamliner into service and with it, the domestic airline industry’s first bona fide premium economy cabin.

With the launch, American becomes the first domestic carrier to operate a Premium Economy cabin, though details are still a bit unclear on how the cabin will be sold (and upgraded). For now, American sells the cabin as economy, so if you’re lucky you can book a cheap ticket and get a great seat.

American also plans to fly the aircraft domestically for the first few months before pushing the aircraft out to international routes. On Flyertalk, the community has even located some of the domestic routes on sale for $111.

Gary over at View from the Wing has a great gallery of the maiden flight last week. Check it out here.

Social Quote of the Day

Dull seats, dull cabin sorry. Good pics tho.

Leo @ VFTW

Airbnb and Qantas partnership announcement. Photo James Horan

Airlines

Investors Fret as European Airlines Lower Their Fares: These are the very best of times for European air passengers, but for airline investors it’s hard to imagine how things could possibly be worse. Read more at Skift

Airbnb Teams Up With Qantas for a Major Loyalty Play: Members of Qantas Frequent Flyer’s program now have another way to earn Qantas Points when they travel. Read more at Skift

Norwegian Air CEO Interview: Regulators and Airlines Are Afraid of Us: Few competitors concern legacy U.S. airlines and their employee unions as much as Norwegian Air, a low cost carrier flying Boeing 787s across the Atlantic, connecting cities like New York and London and Los Angeles and Stockholm. Read more at Skift

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Airports

What Will It Take to Make U.S. Airports More Competitive? It’s the one opinion that Donald Trump and his opponents seem to share: America’s airports are so bad, it’s like “they’re from a third world country,” as Trump said in the first debate. Vice President Joe Biden used the same phrase to describe New York’s LaGuardia two years ago. Much of the flying public seems to roughly agree. Read more at Skift

TSA administrator ‘a huge fan’ of third-party canine cargo screening: US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) head Peter Neffenger expressed support for using third-party canines to inspect air cargo for explosives: Read more at ATW Online

Dubai International Airport on Track to Be World’s Busiest by 2020: Dubai International Airport expects to become the world’s busiest within this decade, overtaking Beijing and Atlanta, spurred on by the expansion of Emirates airline. Read more at Skift

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Tech

Booking.com in Reversal as it Launches Loyalty Program for Business Travelers: A half a year ago, Priceline Group CFO Daniel Finnegan was telling investors at a retail tech conference that loyalty programs can be a source of consumer frustration and costly so the company would rather focus on improving the user experience. But a lot has changed since then. Read more at Skift

AT&T halting Samsung Galaxy Note 7 sales following multiple fires with replacement phones: AT&T is discontinuing all sales and exchanges of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones following a number of fires caused by supposedly “safe” phones that had been replaced under recall. Read more at The Verge

Boeing CEO Vows to Be a Leader in Space Tourism: Boeing Co. once helped the U.S. beat the Soviet Union in the race to the moon. Now the company intends to go toe-to-toe with newcomers such as billionaire Elon Musk in the next era of space exploration and commerce. Read more at Skift

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Hotels

Melia Hotels Says the Lower Pound Is Driving Americans to the UK: Travelers from the U.S. are taking advantage of the pound’s plunge to its cheapest level in three decades to book more trips to London, said the head of Europe’s second-largest hotel operator. Read more at Skift

A Better Look at Airbnb’s New City Hosts Program for Next-Gen Tours and Activities: In the lead up to its annual hosting conference in November, Airbnb has expanded its new, “still under wraps,” City Hosts program for offering local tours, activities, and experiences. Read more at Skift

Wyndham Rewards Tops Another List of Loyalty Program Rankings: For the second time this year, Wyndham Rewards has come out on top in a hotel-loyalty program ranking. Read more at Skift

The Hotel Lab in Hong Kong Training Future Hospitality Leaders: Owned by Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hotel ICON operates as a research and training facility for the School and Hotel of Tourism Management (SHTM) in Hong Kong. Read more at Skift

Your Turn

Cole Rise has a nice photographic journey through the Etihad Flying Apartment experience over on Medium. Give it a look.

Tips and Comments

Can be sent to gm[at]skift[dot]com or to @grantkmartin

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Photo credit: American Airline's Main Cabin Extra. This is not the new premium economy seating, but the actual availability is on so few flights, this is the likely service most will receive. American Airlines

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