Category Archives for Airlines.
The effort to keep employees in the face of a vaccine mandate has gone even farther, paying out incentives for employees to get exempted from the requirement. As a note confirming exemption explains, such employees get an extra day of vacation as well as $50 in company scrip for their successful exemption.
Singapore Airlines moved its non-stop New York flight, the longest in the world, from Newark to New York JFK. Then as they rebuilt their schedules for a world where Covid-19 becomes endemic, they announced the return of their New York JFK – Frankfurt – Singapore service.
However that’s not the end of the story.
Stay at the Burj al Arab, often described as ‘the world’s only 7 star hotel’. Or enjoy a special Marriott redemption at the incredible Al Maha Desert resort, where meals and activities are included and all accommodations are standalone Bedouin villas with their own private pools overlooking the desert. Use a trip to Dubai to visit the Mideast, or as a jumping off point for the Maldives or other destinations in the region.
Right now there’s fantastic first class award space for two passengers on the Washington Dulles – Dubai, Houston – Dubai, and San Francisco – Dubai routes from August through November.
United Airlines says that 3000 of its employees currently have Covid-19. The real number is probably higher than this, since the airline probably knows relatively few asymptomatic cases and only a portion of subclinical ones. However CEO Scott Kirby believes that the airline’s vaccine mandate has already saved the lives of 8-10 of his employees, and not a single one of its employees is currently hospitalized for Covid.
We were supposed to see improvements this fall. They put their boxed meals on trays to prepare for the return. And while pilots have started seeing hot meals, customers on domestic flights – other than premium cross country flights – have not.
But that, apparently, is about to finally change.
I wrote on Friday that Virgin Atlantic was expected to launch Austin – London Heathrow as its new U.S. route. Virgin is part of the joint venture across the Atlantic with Delta and Air France KLM. This is now confirmed. But they’ll be at a huge competitive disadvantage relative to British Airways on the route.
Starting January 17, unvaccinated American Airlines employees – whether they have an approved vaccine exemption or not – will face new protocols.
For unvaccinated employees working in offices it’s effectively a masking requirement. For unvaccinated employees who work in airports and on planes this amounts to completing a ‘well for work’ survey once a week. They currently have to mask under federal rules anyway.
A frequent flyer shared their amazement that the purchase of 127 bonsai trees could earn them Executive Platinum status. But it’s actually much easier – and cheaper – than that.
Air India, which is owned by the government but due to be privatized this month in a sale to Tata Group, pulled all of its inventory from global distribution systems briefly at the end of the year – where more than half of the airline’s ticket sales occur – as a court ordered all of its funds held by IATA for settlement impounded.
On October 29 American Airlines sent an eight year old Boeing 777-300ER to their Tulsa maintenance facility for insect abatement.
A couple of weeks later the plane was out and back in service – but it flew a single Miami to Dallas – Fort Worth segment before returning to Tulsa on November 14. Aircraft N724AN was still on the ground in Tulsa when I wrote about it in early December. It is now finally flying again. Here’s where it’s going.
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 »
