Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

In The Middle Of A Pandemic, American Airlines Changes Terminals In San Francisco

by Gary Leff

May 14 2020

On Tuesday American Airlines moved operations in San Francisco to the Harvey Milk Terminal, B side of terminal 1. This puts all of American Airlines in one terminal at the airport, instead of having the old US Airways gates a long walk away.

The new ticket counter location is between doors 3 and 4 of the terminal. Their gates are B22 – B27, which despite the move doesn’t give them room for growth. The opening date for the new Admirals Club, across from gate B13, hasn’t yet been announced.

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What Delta’s CEO Told Employees About Retiring Their Boeing 777s (And Refunding $1.2 Billion In Tickets)

by Gary Leff

May 14 2020

More than 650 of Delta’s planes are parked, but in another sign that airlines believe their future is going to be smaller than their past – at least for the foreseeable future – the airline has decided to retire its fleet of 18 Boeing 777s.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian sent a memo to the airline’s employees about the decision, and the internal document was shared with me by a source.

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American Airlines Failed To Pay A Lot Of Its Flight Attendants, Shorted Hours Or Delivered $0 Checks

by Gary Leff

May 13 2020

At American Airlines some of the required hours didn’t get paid during the mid-May pay cycle, and in fact many flight attendants whose scheduled flights were all cancelled received $0 checks. Others who got some pay appear to be missing hours. Many American Airlines employees will have to wait to get paid because the airline’s pay systems weren’t programmed to handle the way they’re currently paying employees.

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American Airlines Will Bring Parked Embraer Regional Jets Back Into Service By June 3

by Gary Leff

american eagle plane
May 13 2020

According to the Senior Vice President of Air Operations at the American Airlines wholly-owned regional carrier Envoy Air, “all of the E-175s and E-145s that we parked as a result of COVID-19 [are expected to be] returned to service by June 3.”

In addition all of the 20 Embraer 175 regional jets that had been operated by Compass are being brought into the Envoy Air fleet “over the next few months.” The first one, aircaft N208AN, was sent to Abilene for conformity checks by Eagle Aviation Services prior to entering revenue service.

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European Union Stands By Airline Refund Rules, Says Countries Should Make Vouchers More Attractive

by Gary Leff

klm planes
May 12 2020

The E.U. acknowledges that travel vouchers are a bad deal for customers. They might expire unused. Fares might go up. And airlines might go out of business. Individual airlines and governments should work to resolve these issues to make vouchers more attractive, and once that happens they think vouchers should be endorsed as an option. However the E.U. stands behind its requirement that cancelled flights entitle a customer to a refund.

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United’s New Refund Policy Is An “Unfair and Deceptive Practice’ Per DOT Guidance

by Gary Leff

May 12 2020

Airlines are required to provide a refund when they cancel a flight, or make a significant change to their schedule. Federal law does not define what either of these two things mean, so airlines can create their own definition as long as it’s reasonable. United has adopted an unreasonable interpretation.

However the Department of Transportation reminds that even that new interpretation cannot be applied retroactively to tickets that were purchased before it went into effect.

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