A Fort Lauderdale woman was heading home from a weekend trip in Houston when she – and her wig – encountered the TSA. She was asked to remove her cap, but the cap was attached to the wing. And she dubbed the ensuing video “When TSA stops you from being fabulous.” Oh, and the cap says “Bad Hair Day” on it.
The federal government just extended its public transportation mask mandate two weeks ago, to run through September 13th. Yet today the CDC announced that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks.
Leisure travel isn’t just vacation, it’s also “visiting friends and relatives” or ‘VFR’ for short. And those passengers tend to check a lot of luggage. What’s more, the mix of passengers traveling has changed. Business travelers don’t tend to check nearly as much luggage. So the same number of passengers as before on a plane comes with more luggage now than it used to.
American Airlines has adjusted some baggage fees in the Mexico, Caribbean, and Latin America market, perhaps most notably increasing third checked bag fees to $200.
A week ago I wrote about why codeshares are great for airlines, not customers, and why you should almost never book one. There are edge cases, but in general they’re a hassle – whether because you need to get rebooked due to a schedule change or even just have a seat assigned.
What prompted me to write about this is that American Airlines, despite its close alliance with JetBlue in the Northeast, is unable to assign seats on JetBlue flights. American’s workaround wasn’t working, so now there’s a new one.
U.S. airlines may need to start weighing passengers in order to comply with FAA rules. For safety reasons, carriers need to calculate an aircraft’s weight and balance, and it has to be within allowable limits for the plane. However the assumptions they’ve been using for passengers are outdated. Americans are getting fatter, and the federal government wants airlines to find out how much fatter their passengers have gotten, at least for smaller aircraft.
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The good news is Boston and New York – Madrid remain 34,000 miles each way in business class. Iberia Plus is a transfer partner of both Chase and American Express, and members with Iberia Plus accounts with activity can move their British Airways points over. This can be desirable because Iberia’s transatlantic awards on their own planes are so inexpensive and fuel surcharges aren’t significant.
On Wednesday’s United Airlines Houston – Mexico City flight UA1060, a passenger reported that the man she was sitting next to was adjusting himself. Actress Shalita Grant, known for appearing as Special Agent Sonja Percy in NCIS: New Orleans tweeted her encounter on the flight. And she took video of the alleged deed.
United Airlines is bringing back meals to domestic first class flights over 1500 miles as well as flights between the airline’s hubs that are 800 miles or more. There will be a choice of entree, side dish, and a dessert served wrapped on a tray and this will replace the airline’s hot sandwiches and snack boxes.
U.S. travel policies have not kept up with world events, or even the science of Covid-19.
The U.S. should drop its ban on travel from areas with less Covid-19 than the United States. And it should drop its requirement for a Covid-19 test for those that have been vaccinated.
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 »
