Category Archives for Airlines.
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.
Yesterday American Airlines decommissioned their old award calendar. The airline confirmed to me that it was supposed to be gone for good.
However there’s still a way to access this tool that lets you display award availability across a month by award type, something the new calendar does not offer.
A year and a half ago American Airlines launched a new award search tool clearly geared towards dynamic pricing of redemptions.
While many readers preferred the old award calendar, which lets you show availability by award type (special, saver, standard) and not just the single lowest price on a given day for each cabin, it was clear that the airline was investing only in the new tool moving forward.
In order to lay off pilots, United’s union contract requires them to remove seats from regional jets. They’re preparing the engineering work now in order to have seats out of planes by October 1.
While they expect to be a smaller airline, and for leisure travel to come back before business travel, they see opportunity to encourage existing co-brand credit card customers to spend more on their cards and are preparing new promotions to encourage that.
Airline CFO Derek Kerr offered that the appraised value of the program is between $18 and $30 billion. And he confirmed that the program is expected to be used as collateral for a federally subsidized CARES Act loan. The “deal is not done yet with the government, [but we] fully expect it to be [by the] end of the second quarter.”
Chit chat while being towed doesn’t actually violate the U.S. sterile cockpit rule that only activities necessary for safe operation of the aircraft can be carried out when below 10,000 feet (technically, during critical phases of flight). However they’re being recorded.
What’s unusual is standing in the cockpit for takeoff. U.S. rules are clear that pilots must be belted in at the controls, and everyone else has to be belted in for takeoff and landing. There is no standing in the cockpit.
With air travel down over 90% since the start of the pandemic you might expect that flying is a primary mechanism for transmitting the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It’s not.
Two months ago I wrote that it’s safer to travel than you think. I wasn’t telling you to travel, and older people with pre-existing conditions I think probably shouldn’t. However actual risk of travel differs greatly from the perceived risk. That’s been borne out by research, and now endorsed by research experts as well.
According to financial markets, the major U.S. airline most likely to wind up in bankruptcy is American, followed by United.
At this point the big airlines talk about how much cash they have to make it through this year. But that’s not the issue. After $58 billion in subsidies allocated to commercial airlines, airlines will make it through 2020. The question is what happens in 2021.
Thai Airways is majority government-owned, and a government panel has recommended that the airline restructure in bankruptcy. The Thai cabinet will consider bankruptcy for the airline on Tuesday.
Thai has lost money every year since 2013, in some of the very best times for the airline industry. It doesn’t just need a cash bridge to survive until the pandemic passes.
Qatar Airways has a really interesting status match opportunity. I flag this because mid- and top-tier elite members of Qatar Airways Privilege Club do not just get American Airlines Admirals Club access even on domestic itineraries, they receive access to American’s Flagship lounges, too (once those re-open of course).
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 »
