Category Archives for Airlines.
A person in Lansing, Michigan tested positive for COVID-19 and decided to go to the airport anyway. They were under a quarantine order but “attempted to board a plane” but were stopped “after local health officials issued a cease-and-desist order.”
It takes a lot to get people out of the habit of staying in, and overcoming the fear that’s been built up about regular activities like haircuts, let alone travel. Six weeks ago I wrote that airlines are going to have to extend flexible booking policies or customers won’t have the confidence to buy travel in the face of uncertainty.
We’re now seeing policies become even more generous, and more flexible.
The cockpit crew had aborted the flight’s approach to the Karachi airport with landing gear issues, performed a go around, but then declared a Mayday reporting that they had lost both of the plane’s engines. The Airbus A320 crashed into a residential neighborhood.
It may be a good idea to mandate passengers wear masks, and to take their temperatures as they arrive at the airport. However it’s a bad idea for government to charge TSA with taking temperatures of passengers who are already inside the airport at security checkpoints.
Airlines have lobbied for TSA to do this, and TSA has prepared to do it, however Aviation Policy News points out that neither the FAA nor TSA have the legal authority to mandate masks or take temperatures.
The late co-founder of the airline Herb Kelleher wrote in 2011 about the airline’s legacy of never having to furlough an employee, saying it was because their employees work hard and never forget the customers paying the bills. In the early 1970s they had to return one of their Boeing 737s due to financial challenges, but they kept their employees on.
Of course we’ve never seen travel demand collapse the way we have with the coronavirus pandemic though Southwest Airlines is actually well-positioned relative to its peers to recover.
Without people traveling, and with fewer immediate opportunities to spend accumulated miles, the airline has a challenge with its co-brand credit cards. They earn around $3 billion a year in revenue through their partnerships with Citibank and Barclays, but spending is going to fall both because of less travel and also because of the economy in recession.
The airline has an interesting approach to this, encouraging spend on their cards between May 1 and December 31, 2020. Spending on their Citibank and Barclays cards will earn credit towards lifetime elite status. Here are answers to questions not available in American’s original release.
Flight attendants and even passengers are now expected to wear face masks when flying. But what about face shields? Some airlines are outfitting their cabin crew in full personal protective equipment. That provides a consistent look for the airline.
What about a flight attendant taking it upon themselves to wear a face shield, when that’s not something the airline allows? Is it alright during the pandemic, or something the airline should be able to ban?
While U.S. airlines are going to great length to clean their aircraft, lavatories are shared spaces that don’t get cleaned during the flight. One airline though is going to begin sanitizing their lavatories every 45 minutes – something that’s crucial on a long haul flight.
Delta is capping all flights at 60% of capacity through June 30. To maintain that commitment they’re adding flights “to give confidence” to customers. Even if Delta is able to sell 60% and eventually 75% of seats on planes, we can expect them to then add flights and seats which will continue to put downward pressure on prices. And of course as other airlines as seats that’ll push pricing down even further.
Many airlines are no longer shipping pets but apparently parents are still sending their kids on flights as unaccompanied minors.
In fact American Airlines has a new warning parents booking their children to fly solo in the age of corona.
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 »
