Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for May 2020.

United Airlines: No Plan For Bankruptcy, Will Use MileagePlus To Raise Cash

by Gary Leff

united plane
May 28 2020

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby spoke at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference and spoke confidently about shedding costs and preparing for a rebound in air travel. He offered that bankruptcy isn’t a strategic option, that airlines are foolish to retire fleets too quickly, and that MileagePlus is going to be a great source of cash – whether by selling a ton of miles or borrowing against the program.

Overall (9) claims Kirby made seemed both new, compared to previous statements, and struck me as noteworthy.

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American’s Full Message To Managers About 30% Layoffs

by Gary Leff

May 28 2020

Last night I broke the news exclusively that American Airlines would shed at least 30% of management and support staff, and I outlined the two voluntary packages being offered to most employees and what the involuntary package would look like.

A couple of correspondents – a throwaway account on Twitter, an anonymous email – complained to me that the airline had to move up their notice to employees because I had the scoop. They weren’t going to inform staff of the layoffs last night.

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American Airlines Will Terminate At Least 30% Of Management And Support Staff

by Gary Leff

May 27 2020

American Airlines is about to inform management and support staff that they expect at least 30% to be let go, according to internal documents reviewed by View From The Wing. The airline wants some of these layoffs to be voluntary, and they’re taking both a carrot and stick approach.

One of the enticements being offered is 250,000 to 350,000 American AAdvantage miles.

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NYT: Let’s Accept Tracking Our Movements In Order To Improve Airline Marketing

by Gary Leff

May 27 2020

Ultimately “ask[ing] the Departments of Transportation and Homeland Security to come up with new protocols for security, boarding and other routines to minimize risk” will be health security theater, more designed to make people feel like the government is doing something to protect them than actually doing something to protect them, an airline marketing expense as it were.

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New American Airlines Change Fee Waiver Suggests Leisure Travel May Return Soon

by Gary Leff

May 27 2020

American Airlines is extending its change fee waiver for tickets purchased in June – but only for itineraries to travel by end of September.

American seems to be saying that the lull in travel, while to some extent long lasting, is likely to bounce back. That’s at least true for leisure travel, since business travel wouldn’t be booking past September anyway. At a minimum there’s some chance that they won’t need to offer flexibility indefinitely into the future, so they’d rather offer this a little bit at a time. That makes sense, from a certain point of view.

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