Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for April 2020.

Why Airlines Will Have to Keep Waiving Change Fees For The Foreseeable Future

by Gary Leff

Apr 11 2020

Major U.S. airlines have waived change fees for new ticket purchases, to encourage customers to spend money in a world of uncertainty. You won’t be penalized for changing plans if you buy a new ticket now and need to change it later – you’ll retain a travel credit for future purchases with the airline.

They’ve been extending the policy little-by-little, ostensibly because it might only be necessary for a short time. It won’t be. These change fee waivers on ticket purchases are going to need to continue for many months, perhaps through the end of the year. That’s not just for the convenience of passengers, but so that people will be willing to buy tickets at all.

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What The Government Wants, In Exchange For Airline Payroll Grants

by Gary Leff

Apr 10 2020

The way the law was written the administration doesn’t have to just give away all the money. While the industry and Democratic senators (at the behest of airline unions) have argued that the money shouldn’t come with requirements, the Treasury Secretary reportedly placed a call to airline CEOs laying out the requirements for the $25 billion in payroll grants.

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One U.S. Airline Now Makes Passengers Certify Their Health Before Flying

by Gary Leff

frontier plane docked
Apr 10 2020

On April 1 the President said that “they’re doing tests on airlines – very strong tests – for getting on, getting off.” It’s possible he was referring to taking passenger temperatures rather than administering COVID-19 tests. However even that isn’t happening broadly either.

Frontier doesn’t plan to start. Instead they’re making passengers promise to take their own temperatures and to wash their hands. And they’re asking flight crew to do the same.

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Delta Wants Employees To Keep Virus Test Results Secret, While American Crew Raid Planes For PPE

by Gary Leff

Apr 10 2020

Delta Air Lines has instructed flight attendants testing positive for COVID-19 to “refrain from notifying” people they’ve worked with, and not to post to social media about it. Now they say they won’t punish anyone who violates their directive.

Meanwhile American Airlines flight attendants are reportedly resorting to raiding catering carts and emergency kits for masks and gloves.

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United Airlines Pilot: I Brought Coronavirus To The U.S. Before Health Authorities Say This Started

by Gary Leff

united plane
Apr 10 2020

On January 14 the World Health Organization parroted China that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus. The next day the U.S. had its first identified case but we wouldn’t know it for six more days. New York didn’t confirm it had a case until the end of February.

Vaughn Cordle was a United Airlines Boeing 787 pilot, flying out of Beijing several times a month. He noticed an uptick in sick passengers on his flights between China and Washington Dulles as far back as December, including a co-pilot making Beijing roundtrips. He fell ill in mid-January.

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