Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for September 2020.

Federal Government Admits It’s Too Incompetent To Know Who Should Get Global Entry, Who Shouldn’t

passport
Sep 10 2020

The federal government submitted false statements in court to defend terminating global entry applications for New Yorkers. Now the government said they just didn’t know what they were talking about when making the claims, rather than intentionally lying.

The real question here is whether’s it’s a bigger problem if the federal government lies to the courts, or if the people responsible for trusted traveler programs do not know what information they’re receiving, or what information they need, in order to determine eligibility?

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Southwest Airlines Will Have An Advantage Over Legacy Carriers Even As They ‘Eliminate Change Fees’

Sep 10 2020

The popular narrative seems to be that United, Delta, and American ‘eliminating change fees’ hurts Southwest Airlines. Southwest hasn’t had change fees, and this takes away one of Southwest’s advantages.

Other airlines still have their advantages over Southwest, from premium cabins to lounges, but those are the same as before. What’s different in the new environment is a growing cost advantage for Southwest, and most people misunderstand what ‘no change fees’ on United, Delta, and American means anyway.

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American Airlines Plans Executive Platinum Upgrades On British Airways, Japan Airlines, Qantas And More

airplane cabin
Sep 09 2020

Senior Vice President Vasu Raja told an investor conference that since American is shrinking he “envision[s] a more seamless experience across partners” both with new partners Alaska and JetBlue and with “longstanding” partners IAG (British Airways, Iberia and others), Japan Airlines, and Qantas.

He notes that while American will “be a smaller airline” the networks of partners are “strong in major business travel markets,” and so it makes sense to offer a “seamless benefit for Executive Platinums [in the form of] upgrades across the global network.”

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American Airlines Took Full Ticket Rules Off Its Website. The DOT May Investigate Why

Sep 09 2020

A formal Department of Transportation complaint has been filed (.pdf) against American Airlines over the removal of their general tariff from their website in June.

American used to have its full ‘terms and conditions’ available online. They’ve removed the legalese entirely from their website and now offer a plain language FAQ-style conditions of carriage page. However there’s still a general tariff, and customers effectively agree to it when they buy a ticket. They just can’t see it or read it.

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United Airlines Offers 30 Clues For New Routes They’ll Be Announcing Tomorrow

Sep 08 2020

At 10 a.m. Central time (11 a.m. Eastern) on Wednesday United is making a big route announcement, and they’re dropping hints – they say there are 30 clues – in a video posted to social media.

Here’s the video, and some of the hints they’re dropping. There’ll almost certainly be new transatlantic service from Washington Dulles, Newark, and Chicago. A Boeing 767-300ER is involved. And there’s a new ultra-long haul route with a Boeing 787-9, could United actually fly to Bangkok?

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Man Pleads Guilty In American Airlines Gift Card Scam

american airlines planes
Sep 08 2020

A man pled guilty today and is expected to get probation after scamming American Airlines out of $160,000 in tickets paid for with gift cards.

Billy Schwarze booked travel for friends and family. He bought gift cards to pay for the tickets, and then refunded the tickets – to his own credit card. This cost American $160,000 “and his friends and associates..$20,000.”

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