Category Archives for Airlines.
Federal mask rules mean more loopholes to avoid wearing a mask inflight, not more masks. That can’t be called an unintended consequence because it’s been obvious for months this would be the result.
United Airlines has shared that it now has a mask avoidance process, too, although they haven’t put out a press release on it. Those who are looking to skip mask wearing for medical reasons should contact United directly in advance.
American Airlines has updated its mask rules to conform with CDC guidance in accordance with President Biden’s executive order on masks. And the result is mask exemptions, not stricter requirements.
At an employee event this past week American Airlines CEO Doug Parker was asked about the Black Lives Matter wristband he was wearing and he offered, “I understand it’s somewhat controversial because of the organization but the words are what I care about and I’ve been wearing it since the murder of George Floyd.”
JetBlue just introduced its new Mint (business class) seat, which will roll out on Airbus A321LRs that will begin flying to London this summer. Some A321neos will get the product, too, so it will eventually be available on certain domestic flights as well.
They’ve selected the Thompson Aero’s VantageSolo seat for their new business class Mint Suite. In addition there will be a row of two seats at the front of the plane they call the Mint Studio (reminiscent of Etihad’s Business Studio) featuring a larger screen, extra side table, and a guest seat so that passengers can dine together. JetBlue claims it will offer more space than any other US airline premium product, and the largest lie flat bed offered by a US airline.
Norwegian has shut down its transatlantic operations. Several subsidiaries are in bankruptcy reorganization. They plan to focus only on domestic and intra-European flying, with another subsidy from the government of Norway.
Now they’ve temporarily suspended their loyalty program.
Update: This was caused by a data matching error at Capital One Kyetra Bryant flew American Airlines from Charlotte to Denver over Thanksgiving. She and her companion checked in at a kiosk and paid a checked bag fee. She says the charge appeared on her bank statement as “African American, African service charge.” Hey @AmericanAir What is an African American African service charge??!?!? pic.twitter.com/UmR0sBGLPT — A Simp Named Slickback (@___seeryandavis) January 29, 2021 At first it seemed like perhaps a ‘rogue kiosk’ is at fault (because while American is unable to manage processing confirmed upgrades online, they have rogue AI kiosks) or… American Airlines appears to blame Mastercard, The customer alerted American to the offensively labeled baggage fee on her bank statement in mid-December. We were disturbed by what we saw and immediately launched an…
If there’s a chance customers might choose another airline because they can be confident that airline’s employees have been vaccinated against Covid-19, American would be forced to do the same thing in order to stay competitive according to the carrier’s CEO.
A CDC official has said that the Biden Administration is actively considering requiring a negative Covid-19 test for domestic flights and not just for international flights to the U.S. which is now in place.
However American Airlines CEO Doug Parker made clear to employees that this ‘rumor’ has ‘no basis in reality.’
During American’s “State of the Airline” presentation and question and answer with employees, Managing Director of Flight Service Brady Byrnes explained that they’re working through what’s next for meals and are talking with the flight attendants union “about what is the right timing both from a customer and from a crewmember perspective.”
The purpose of American’s current Charlotte meals test is to “kind of understand when we do reintroduce full service, what products we should be offering, kind of streamlining the service for our flight attendants and really making sure that our customers enjoy it.” The return to service is going to be streamlined.
China’s HNA Group began with Hainan Airlines and then acquired brands like Radisson Hotels; airline caterer Gate Gourmet; 25% of Hilton; nearly 10% of Deutsche Bank; and 29% of NH Hotels. They acquired stakes in Red Lion Hotels; Virgin Australia; TAP Air Portugal: South Africa’s Comair; Azul Brazil and much more. The company’s corporate structure sometimes makes it difficult to discern what they own, what they’ve sold off, and what they’ve merely sold to themselves.
Before the pandemic they worked to reduce a debt load that exceeded $100 billion by selling off assets, but continued to face problems paying for fuel, problems paying employees, and problems paying investors. HNA even offered investors airline airline tickets in lieu of interest payments.
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 »
