Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

Why Travel May Not Recover At All This Year (And Tests And Masks Could Remain A Way Of Life)

by Gary Leff

Feb 14 2021

Confirmed cases, hospitalizations, and deaths from Covid-19 are declining. Vaccine supplies in the U.S. are growing. Though more infectious strains of the virus are spreading, we may be entering a lull in the virus due to seasonality. Summer was a peak in the U.S., but in areas where it gets hot and people head indoors, and the U.S. population hadn’t been exposed to the virus before so there wasn’t much background immunity.

We should be on the cusp of beating the pandemic, with enough vaccines for everyone in the country (there should even be approved this fall for tweens and teens). It’s time to get excited about a return to normal life, right? Not so fast.

Continue Reading »

Does The End Of Middle Seat Blocking Mean Passengers Don’t Value Covid Safety?

by Gary Leff

Feb 12 2021

Does airlines moving away from blocked middle seats mean people don’t really value Covid safety? If we did, it would be profitable for airlines to continue limiting capacity.

Different airlines take different approaches to seat blocking, and each seems rational from their own perspective. Delta may be benefiting now from it since they’re the only one left really doing it. However as air travel recovers the cost of maintaining blocked middle seats rises, so it won’t last, because customers don’t seem to value it enough to cover this cost.

Continue Reading »

United Airlines Not Returning To New York JFK In February After All

by Gary Leff

Feb 11 2021

United Airlines admits it made a mistake leaving New York JFK six years ago. They’ve been trying to get back in, and the pandemic gave them a chance. They announced service but delayed it last month. Now they’re delaying it again, and scaling back their initial flying to both San Francisco and Los Angeles to less than daily. There’s no word yet on whether they’ve found permanent flying rights from the airport, either.

Continue Reading »

American Airlines Flight Attendants Need 50 Years With The Company To Get A Schedule Out Of Phoenix

by Gary Leff

Feb 10 2021

American Airlines isn’t operating as many flights as it used to. They’ve downsized their Phoenix flight attendant base as well. US Airways needed a large contingent out of Phoenix before merging with American, because it was the airline’s only hub west of Charlotte. That’s no longer the case.

Many flight attendants who weren’t furloughed back in the fall have transferred to other cities. Those that remain are only getting assigned to flight schedules right now, versus working reserve, if they’ve been with the company for fifty years. You’d need a start date in the summer of 1971 to avoid working reserve right now.

Continue Reading »

Why Requiring Covid Testing For Domestic Travel Could Cost More Lives Than It Saves

by Gary Leff

Feb 10 2021

For the past few weeks the Biden administration has considered requiring a negative Covid test in order to take a domestic flight. However air travel restrictions may actually compromise public health, rather than contributing to it or even being neutral.

If air travel is more costly and comes with greater hassle, people may drive instead of fly, and driving is less safe. More people may die on the roads.

Continue Reading »