Category Archives for Airlines.
American Airlines, like other major carriers, cut first class meal service early in the pandemic and largely eliminated drink service from coach. American brought back coach buy on board as first class food, and has always offered at least drinks on request up front. However on most domestic flights there’s still not a formal drink service.
That appears to be about to change, though apparently some flight attendants aren’t happy about it.
American Airlines now offers pre-flight rapid Covid-19 tests for passengers flying from Dallas Fort-Worth to both Honolulu and Maui. This allows passengers testing negative to skip quarantine on arrival.
But what happens if you test positive at the airport? American Airlines put out an internal memo on Wednesday explaining.
After bringing American Airlines to its operational knees last summer, the airline’s mechanics won a generous contract right before the pandemic hit – a deal they would never get today.
Nonetheless AMFA, the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, has been trying to ‘raid’ American Airlines and seek to take away representation of the mechanics.
This is an exceptionally interesting development, if true, both for the recovery in travel but also beyond that for understanding how the U.S. is responding to the Covid-19 epidemic as it progresses.
During Thursday morning’s United Airlines third quarter earnings call, airline CEO Scott Kirby reiterated his view that we won’t see full recovery of air travel until there’s a widely available vaccine, which he anticipates in the second half of 2021. However the airline also said that there appears to be a decoupling of travel bookings from the course of the virus.
While there are huge limits on international travel, domestic travel in China is now back to pre-pandemic levels. In fact there are now more domestic flights than there were a year ago, and passenger volumes are back up too.
HEPA air filtration seems to be one of the reasons that Covid-19 doesn’t appear to spread very much on planes.
Many smaller planes, including 50 seat regional jets, do not usually have HEPA air filtration. That’s one reason why I’ve suggested staying away from small planes during the pandemic. However Piedmont Airlines, a regional carrier owned by American Airlines, now has FAA permission to change that.
On August 30 someone in a jetpack was reported by pilots of an American Airlines flight near LAX. Now it’s happened again. China Airlines flight 215 crew inbound from Taipei reported another man in jetpack at LAX Wednesday afternoon.
At first they flagged a “flying object” but wasn’t sure if it was “a UAV or was it a jet pack?” It was a man in a jetpack flying at 6000 feet over Century City.
WestJet says customers will get travel credits, and since it may be years before they return to a customer’s city they “will extend the travel credit expiry date” beyond 24 months. WestJet may never return to some cities, may never return with service that works for a customer, and years into the future the name of the game is breakage. Indeed, customers may actually die while waiting to use their WestJet credits.
Yet the airline “notes the Canadian Transportation Agency has deemed acceptable given the realities of COVID-19” to offer flight credits and not refunds. Perhaps this brazen move will challenge that earlier guidance.
New video circulating on social media appears to show an African American Trump supporter kicked off of a Southwest Airlines flight for taking down his mask ‘while eating’. The suggestion is that he’s really being kicked off for being a Trump supporter while following the rules.
What the video really shows is anti-mask protestors on a plane who don’t understand what it means to be a conservative.
American Airlines announced that earning next year’s status – normally from travel in 2021 for status valid the rest of the year and all of the following year (through January 2023) – will have lower requirements to earn, and members can get started earning now. Travel in October 2020 through December 2020 will count twice: towards earning status this year, and towards earning status next year.
In addition, American will waive the reduced spending requirements for elite status up to Platinum Pro for members spending $30,000 on cobrand cards next years. Members earning Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum status will get new choice benefits.
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 »
