Category Archives for Airlines.
If you think that masks are a good idea then of course you think they should be mandated on airplanes by the federal government, right? Wrong. Airlines already mandate masks, so a federal rule would be duplicative – but likely weaker than what we have today, and tough to ever get rid of.
Since American Airlines only performs electrostatic spraying every 7 days a persistent chemical application is needed (in contrast to other airlines striving to spray between every flight). SurfaceWise 2 will kill viruses for at least a week.
The EPA has approved use of the chemical – but only for application in Texas airports and for flights departing Texas.
Last summer a Southwest Airlines flight attendant greeted boarding passengers from inside a bin, scaring some of them, with a video that was posted to Facebook. But surprising passengers in an overhead bin is one thing – you climb up on a seat back and stuff yourself in. What this flight attendant is able to do is truly next level.
Airline catering suppliers are facing tremendous amounts of stock just sitting in warehouses. Some will sell you their meals to eat at home. American Airlines stopped buying first class nuts, so those are sitting in Dallas and are now for sale online. And, it turns out, British Airways 100th anniversary gin is being offloaded at a discount, too.
Pickering’s Gin has a case of British Airways gin miniatures marked down 62%.
The C.D.C. though has finally recognized we’re no longer in the containment stage of the pandemic, where the virus might sneak into the country from abroad. So they’ve quietly lifted their recommendation that any travelers entering the U.S. quarantine for 14 days.
After all, unless passengers are coming from Chile, Peru, Brazil, India and a few other places they’re much less likely to be carrying the virus than people who are already here.
Right now airlines will take any money they can, and employees may be looking for metrics and wins to justify their jobs, so it doesn’t surprise me – whether corporate policy or individual initiative – to see the airline going after violations that can extract incremental revenue, and to do it in a way that maximizes likelihood of payment.
Delta has confirmed banning Robert O’Neill, the Navy SEAL who was part of the raid at Abbottabad and claims credit for shooting Osama bin Laden, over his refusal to wear a mask inflight (and bragging about it on social media, putting down others who wore masks).
He’s expressed the opinion online that as a hero he should be exempt from rules – and, in a now-deleted tweet, offers this put-down of Delta for requiring masks in the first place,. Delta is acting more like the Naval Special Warfare Development Group than he even realized.
Regular readers might imagine that I’m not the most popular guy at American Airlines, and certainly not the most popular in Corporate Communications. And despite all our ups and downs one person I’ve come to respect a great deal is Ross Feinstein who leaves the airline this week. There are two things about Ross that make him an outstanding communications professional.
Ross Feinstein will be missed at American Airlines. Selfishly I hope his next role is in the travel industry. For his sake, I hope it isn’t.
Star Alliance member Air Canada has a limited partnership with oneworld member Cathay Pacific. Brand new today, it’s now possible to redeem Air Canada Aeroplan miles for Cathay Pacific flights online. And best of all, you can easily combine Cathay Pacific flights with other flights.
Nine years, seven months, and 20 days after the September 11th attacks that took 2977 American lives, United States Navy SEALs of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group (“Seal Team Six”) executed Operation Neptune Spear, along with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and the CIA’s Special Activities Division, raided Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
During that raid, bin Laden was killed. Now, nearly a decade later, the member of the SEAL team on that raid who says he’s the one that pulled the trigger refuses to wear a mask on a Delta flight, posts to social media about it, and gets banned.
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 »
