Airline deals, new flights and more style — even caviar — await summer travelers
A record number of Floridians will travel at least 50 miles from home over the coming Memorial Day weekend, echoing a trend expected across the nation with more than 45 million taking advantage of the holiday, AAA estimates.
But the three-day weekend is also the unofficial start of summer and a time for airlines to offer new promotions, flights or amenities. Even Spirit Airlines is getting into the, shall we say spirit, by announcing plans to offer more legroom.
AAdvantage miles
American Airlines, Miami International Airport's most important carrier, has a promotion making it easier to use your frequent flier miles.
The airline is selling more than one million main cabin seats on domestic flights — excluding Hawaii and Alaska — for 5,000 AAdvantage miles one-way. Trans-Atlantic flights one-way cost 15,000 miles. This is for travel in August and September.
The promotion goes until May 28, 2025. There are no blackout dates, so you can book travel for any day of the week.
Destinations in the U.S. include Miami, Chicago, Las Vegas and Orlando. And internationally, the deal covers Cancun, London and Rome. You have to be a member of American's AAdvantage program, but that's easy to join. And availability is first-come, first-served.
The promotion has been going on for about one week. On Wednesday afternoon, for example, the American Airlines website listed one-way tickets in August available for 5,000 miles plus $5.60 in fees from Miami to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth and Phoenix.
NFL and NCAA
American Airlines is also adding flights and seats to existing ones for the upcoming college and pro football seasons. That comes after January's Orange Bowl, which also served as the College Football Playoff Semifinal at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, when the carrier added flights for Notre Dame and Penn State fans heading to MIA.
American, with a hub at MIA, is adding more than 22,000 additional seats to take fans to games, 'the largest ever schedule it has flown during football season,' the airline said in a statement. About half of the seats will be for NFL games.
The carrier is adding flights for 28 NFL games plus all Green Bay Packer home games. They include three Miami Dolphins home games:
▪ Baltimore at Miami, Oct. 30
▪ Buffalo at Miami, Nov. 9
▪ Cincinnati at Miami, Dec. 21
In November, AA is adding an additional nonstop flight between MIA Miami and Madrid. That's for the Week 11 game on Nov. 16 between the Dolphins and Washington Commanders. Miami will play host in the NFL's first game ever at Bernabéu Stadium, home of European soccer juggernaut Real Madrid.
Flights will be added for another six games featuring at least one AFC East team.
American will also add more than 11,000 seats for college games, including two University of Miami Hurricanes games. Those are:
▪ Notre Dame vs UM, Aug. 31,
▪ University of Florida vs UM, Sep. 20
Family reunions
Sports isn't the only catalyst for air travel. So is increased tourism and family visits between South Florida and Latin America.
Starting May 10, Colombia's Avianca Airlines added non-stop flights between MIA and Guatemala City and between FLL and Managua. You can now also connect to San José, Costa Rica and San Salvador.
Avianca now has 40 direct routes between the U.S. and Latin America and plans to add Chicago O'Hare to San Salvador, Dallas to Bogotá and from Bogotá to Córdoba, Argentina this year.
Meanwhile, Chilean carrier LATAM said it will resume non-stop daily flights between MIA and Buenos Aires, starting Dec. 1.
Partner Delta Air Lines will have a peak of 35 daily departures from MIA this summer, up by one from summer 2024. They're mostly in the U.S. Some large carriers lack a big presence in South Florida but are improving their service.
United
United Airlines is expanding United Polaris and adding eight seats in the first row of each business class section. The seats will lie flat and are 25% larger than typical United Polaris seats. They come with privacy doors, an extra ottoman seat, exclusive entrée options and an Ossetra caviar amuse-bouche service, the company said.
But you'll have to travel to the West Coast to experience that. The carrier says it'll debut the new service in 2026 on its San Francisco to Singapore flight and San Francisco to London.
Eventually though, all of its future 787's will come with the extras. United expects to have 30 such planes by 2027.
Spirit
Closer to home, Broward-based Spirit Airlines said in May that for travel starting July 9, planes will start to come with an enhanced premium section featuring four extra inches of legroom and new loyalty program benefits, including upgrades.
MORE: Spirit Airlines just added several new 'comfy' benefits for travelers
Whether you'll be tail-gating before kickoff, reuniting with family, or are just curious about the extra legroom, enjoy the weekend and the summer.
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