{"id":332597,"date":"2025-12-06T23:04:47","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T23:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/airline\/tsa-aa-want-your-money-cranky-flier\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T23:04:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T23:04:47","slug":"tsa-aa-want-your-money-cranky-flier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=332597","title":{"rendered":"TSA, AA Want Your Money \u2013 Cranky Flier"},"content":{"rendered":"


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When TSA Stops Being Polite and Starts Getting REAL<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The FAA, DOT, and TSA finally implemented their REAL ID requirements in May after literal decades of missed timelines, pushed back deadlines, and overall confusion over the program. But it\u2019s finally in place, and now the TSA will begin charging travelers<\/a> $45 if their IDs do not meet the updated standards, beginning February 1.<\/p>\n

Despite putting the system in place more than six months ago, the TSA has been issuing warnings to those without REAL IDs (which by the process of elimination would have to be considered FAKE IDs, we think) but letting them pass through following enhanced screening. That government mandated-pat down will remain, but you\u2019ll have to pay $45 for the privilege. <\/p>\n

One $45 payment will be valid for 10 days of travel, but at the end of 10 days, travelers will need to have obtained a REAL ID or they\u2019ll be forced to pay up again. A TSA spokesperson said, \u201cLook, I pay that much at Fantasy Castle for the same thing, but that only last a few minutes. This is a great deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

TSA says payment could take as long as 30 minutes, which in the grand scheme of air travel isn\u2019t all that bad. While not required, a tip of 20-25% will be expected by the TSA agent performing the pat down, or more \u2014 if you find it particularly enjoyable.<\/p>\n

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American Reveals Scam<\/del> AAdvantage Pass<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Sometimes, you have to wonder if there\u2019s staff at every airline loyalty department sitting around a room trying to come up with new ways to get customers (or Guests in some instances) to simply hand over their hard-earned money for the illusion of status. Well, American has a new one, announcing this week its AAdvantage Pass<\/a> which can be purchased for the low, low price of $5,000.<\/p>\n

What does one get for $5k? Let\u2019s start with what you don\u2019t get. You don\u2019t get AAdmirals Club Access, you don\u2019t get to sit in first clAAss anytime soon, in fact, you don\u2019t even get a seat on an airplane anywhere. What do you get? You get entry-level gold status, 100,000 AAdvantage miles, and 15,000 Loyalty Points. The most generous valuation of AAdvantage points comes in at about 1.5 cents each, and that\u2019s assuming you\u2019re using them wisely at maximum value, but for now, we\u2019ll call that $1,500. That leaves $3,500 to earn you gold status and 15k Loyalty Points. <\/p>\n

Is that worth it? Nope. But if you\u2019ve got $5k to burn and have always wanted to tell your relatives at your holiday celebrations that you finally achieved AAdvantage Gold, this could be just right. Chances are you could get a lot more value out of spending $5k on actuAAl flights, going somewhere, and earning that status the old-fashioned way, but who are we to decide how to spend your money?<\/p>\n

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Southwest Earns its Stripes<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Southwest Airlines has a new interline partner<\/a>, and it\u2019s a fun one \u2014 Condor, with its bright colors and leisure-focused route map will team up to provide its passengers with domestic connection options when connecting to a Southwest ticket upon arrival in Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle. <\/p>\n

Condor will be Southwest\u2019s first partner from mainland Europe, and makes five overseas partners for Southwest. Condor joins a club that includes China Airlines, EVA, Icelandair, and Philippine Airlines. The partnership became bookable on Monday, for travel beginning January 19. <\/p>\n

The agreement is only an interline partnership, as the German people are known to like to take things slowly in new relationships, but could one day lead to something more. Codesharing, hand holding, reciprocal loyalty benefits, a joint visit to Fantasy Castle, it\u2019s all on the table.<\/p>\n

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JetBlue Adds Five from San Juan and More<\/strong><\/strong> <\/h3>\n

JetBlue Airways will add five new destinations<\/a> from its focus city in San Juan, adding service to Buffalo, Jacksonville, Norfolk, Philadelphia, and Richmond in March. All five will operate year-round with PHL flying 1x daily, with the other four operating 3x weekly. <\/p>\n

These won\u2019t be the only routes launched by the carrier in March, as it will also bulk up<\/a> in upstate New York adding flights from Buffalo to Fort Myers and Syracuse to Fort Lauderdale, giving residents of south Florida greater access to the eye-popping, idyllic Finger Lakes region for part of the year alongside access to non-idyllic, Florida warmth for the frozen Finger Lakes residents the rest of the year.<\/p>\n

Lastly, the airline is adding a heap of spring break travel<\/a> from Fort Lauderdale including Bozeman, Dallas\/DFW, Denver, Jacksonville, Portland (ME), Reno, and Salt Lake City. All seven will operate in both directions, despite local objections.<\/p>\n

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Allegiant Continues to Find New Ways to Distract Itself from Its Strange Route Map<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n

As a reminder, Allegiant is not an airline, it\u2019s a travel company. And now that it\u2019s got its world-class Sunseeker Resort sold off to private equity, the travel company is now dipping its toe in the world of wine<\/a> because it\u2019s the next step in its natural progression from airline to wine distributor.<\/p>\n

Allegiant is the airline<\/del> travel company that flies two or three times a week between city pairs that mostly have no business having nonstop service between them. And now, it\u2019s launching Altus Sol, a wine it says is specifically crafted to drink at high altitudes. While the airline would not confirm, we have sources from Sonoma Bespoke, the winemaker, that it\u2019s even more innately crafted to drink when flying between Gulf Shores and Appleton or St. Petersburg\/Clearwater and Fargo \u2014 but only two or three times per week.<\/p>\n

The release brags that this is a first-of-its-kind partnership, which, yeah, that checks out. <\/p>\n

The carrier says it worked with Dr. Robert Pellegrino \u2014 seriously, he\u2019s real \u2014 a postdoctoral fellow at Monell Chemical Senses Center \u2014 that\u2019s real too \u2014 on the project. We presume that Rev. William Fiji, Joseph Dasani, Ph.D, and Ellie Aquafina, Esq. were unavailable to consult on this project.<\/p>\n

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