Category Archives for Airlines.
Last month American Airlines fired their Cleveland airport General Manager for using his security badge to bypass TSA screening and board a flight, and having someone else skip security to bring him his laptop charger.
Recently American reminded all of its employees not to skip TSA screening checkpoints when traveling. But the requirement for vetted people to go through regular security is dumb.
The only way to have a mask mandate is for the mandate to apply to everyone, and that mandate is in many cases the only alternative to stricter measures. Whether you agree with that scientifically or not you need to at least acknowledge that as the political reality. And that’s why an anti-masker should, I think, support mask wearing because it’s less intrusive than the policies that would happen otherwise.
Delta Air Lines is now doing temperature checks of passengers at LAX. Anyone departing from their terminal 2 (but not those making a domestic connection) will have their temperature scanned via thermal imaging camera. This is a test that Delta could roll out across other airports.
If the airport were doing this, it would be illegal. And it does very little to catch anyone with Covid-19. There are better alternatives.
Why are airlines calling for a ‘clean extension’ of payroll support? It’s the most expensive unemployment program there is. While Congress and the President wrangle over how much to cover in additional unemployment for laid off workers, airline workers would get 100% of salary not to work and the government would effectively be paying airlines a 100% premium to do it.
It wasn’t enough just to ask customers to wear masks. Part of the reason is how political masks have become, although I wonder if they’re getting less so as people become used to the requirement, the President wears one in public, and Red States are requiring them too.
There are subtleties in airline mask policies, but largely there’s been a six-part progression to airline rules. The latest is to define what kind of mask is acceptable. There’s an exception to the ‘no masks with valve’ rule, though.
Aeroplan is offering 2500 miles for new members after first activity in the account. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but because of a quirk in Aeroplan’s program that can be leveraged into 20,000 miles worth of travel.
It’s been clear for months that airlines need to continue waiving change fees in order to convince customers to buy tickets. Otherwise their plans are just too uncertain to pull the trigger on travel.
American’s policy has been extended, applies to award travel even next year, and the airline will allow name changes on business travel tickets.
For several years gun crimes have been a major concern in the U.S. except when they’re happening in Chicago. A couple of things have changed, though. And protests and riots in downtown Chicago have prompted the airline based there to move operations to the suburbs and layover flight crew at airport hotels.
Air Canada has announced the details of their new frequent flyer program that will launch November 8th. I’ve had a chance to dive into the minutiae and speak with executives. Here’s your complete guide for what to expect.
This is a really thoughtful program, attractive for both casual users transferring points – because of the flexibility of redemptions and elimination of fuel surcharges – and for their most loyal customers. I especially love top elites conferring ‘status for a day’ on friends and colleagues, and earning 50% discounts on award redemption up to 11 times a year.
United’s top elite tier is Global Services. There’s no published criteria for achieving this status.
Right now though they’re offering it to targeted members for a certain amount of spending on flights within 90 days, and letting members choose the challenge period (even retroactively).
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 »
