Monthly Archives for August 2020.
In Baldanza’s Forbes piece he laid out reasons he thought bailing out the airlines were a good idea. He argued that robust airlines are important for economic recovery.
In his response to what I wrote, though, he collapses back to the argument that the money is largely going to benefit employees and not airlines (or airline investors) – and that’s not where his original argument was strongest.
The White House Chief of Staff has reportedly reached out to Senate Democrats to restart talks over a new coronavirus package, including a big new airline bailout aimed at avoiding job losses. And as leverage, he says that President Donald Trump “is weighing executive action to avoid massive layoffs” basically giving the cash to airlines himself if Democrats don’t get on board.
It’s not clear how that would even be possible.
Details on Hilton’s fall “Double Rewards” promotion are out: double points and double elite status credits, which help you to status this year faster or will roll over to help you earn status next year.
American wanted to shed its flight attendant workforce by 12,600 (or 47% of flight attendants). They couldn’t have done that right away because they only sent out 9950 WARN Act notices. Leaves and voluntary quits did not – as promised – trade off with threatened layoffs, but were used to increase the number of flight attendants who won’t be working for the airline October 1.
One lawyer who has practically made a career out of enforcing airline rules in court has filed a lawsuit against an airline to get them to pay the cost of a private jet for his client after an overbooking caused the passenger to be denied boarding. The jet was the only way to make it to their destination on the same day.
Hotels made money overall last month and into the start of this month though that may be a high water mark. Cutting costs on the back of guest experience is making hotel stays less fun, and eliminating key points of difference with Airbnb.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Air Canada, which serves more U.S. cities than any foreign airline, is running an incredible fare to Tokyo that’s available from October 2020 through April 2021, excluding the Christmas holidays.
You can fly one-stop via Montreal from Pittsburgh; Raleigh; Cleveland; Cincinnati; and Fort Lauderdale to Tokyo and prices start at $162 roundtrip.
Virgin Atlantic has raised $525 million in cash via three new loans, and creditors have agreed to take a hair cut. 42.5% comes from a hedge fund, 50% of the loan comes from Virgin Group, and the remaining 7.5% from a new loan against an aircraft engine.
Delta and Virgin Group get preferred stock as a swap against payments they’re owed by the airline. And the airline is reducing its aircraft lease obligations.
In the fourth quarter, after CARES Act payroll restrictions lift and airlines can furlough employees, American Airlines plans to operate less than 50% 2019 flying and just 25% of international. They simply have too many people for so few flights, because there isn’t nearly as much demand for air travel.
The airline has calculated that they need 40,000 fewer employees compared to a year ago in order to operate this fall. And they’ve worked out the number of furloughs to take place October 1, detailing them by work group.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
