Category Archives for Airlines.
Compensation may not be gone for good. The airline appears to be surveying what sort of compensation they should be offering. The new options aren’t likely to incur liability on the airline’s books – although they may add crowding to the start of the boarding process, and to the airline’s lounges, at precisely the time when the airline’s best customers will value distancing most.
Sometimes I depart the U.S. flying an airline that doesn’t participate in PreCheck. And when I do, I still ‘opt out’ of these nude-o-scopes on principle. Maybe I’m the last person that does.
I take a pat down instead of going through the machine. The screener will tell me what to expect, saying to me that they’re going to ‘run their hand up my leg until they meet resistance’ and they’ll ask if I have any sensitive areas. “Only where you meet resistance” I’ve offered, a hundred times. Covid changes all of this.
The Singapore government, Cathay Pacific’s engineering firm, and a wine distributor all got federal CARES Act subsidies. And there’s still $2 billion undistributed.
The novel coronavirus has cast a shadow on the whole world since January, though not everyone realized it until late February or early March. It’s led to a deeper recession than we’ve seen in any of our lifetimes, and one of the industries hit the absolute hardest has been travel.
The good news, though, is that we’re not that far away from a real recovery – in travel and for the world.
When the Treasury Department first reported on airline subsidy payouts under the CARES Act I was shocked to learn that 96 airlines were receiving payroll support grants. Who knew there were 96 airlines?
The Treasury Department wasn’t done yet, and there were still a couple of billion dollars to hand out. This week they updated their report, and they’ve committed $24,157,445,417 out of an appropriated $25 billion in payroll support grants, and funds are going to 287 airlines. Who knew there were 287 airlines?
Republic Airways flies for American Airlines, Delta, and United. The federal government agreed to provide Republic with $206 million in CARES Act payroll subsidies.
Airlines taking these funds can not furlough any employees through September 30. They’ve reportedly done it anyway.
Air Canada, along with other Canadian airlines, hasn’t been refunding tickets when they cancel flights. The Canadian government has backed them, though for flights to or from the U.S. it’s a clear violation of U.S. law.
Telling customers they can only have a voucher, to use later, is effectively an interest-free loan (they hold onto the money until they earn it later) and a risky one (risk that the customer will have an opportunity to fly, and that the airline will still be in business).
No shows have been huge throughout the pandemic, which is odd, especially during challenging economic times you’d think people would cancel their trips to retain flight credit.
Interestingly one airline is doing something about no shows, by taking a detour to the past. For tickets booked before June 10, for travel July 1 – September 15, passengers have to contact Emirates to reconfirm their flight 21 days prior to departure.
As airlines move away from inflight alcohol to save money, soft drink selection takes on greater importance.
For domestic flights and for international flights departing the U.S. there appear to be ‘supply chain issues’. Flight attendants have been told that while “[o]n June 1, we began transitioning from Sierra Mist to Sprite” individual flights now may have either one but not both. And Sprite Zero may be replaced with Sprite.
Air Canada Aeroplan is offerings a 50% rebate on redemptions of Canadian domestic flights and between the U.S. and Canada booked by July 1 for travel between July 1 and October 15, 2020.
Even though the ‘border closure’ has been extended, that actually doesn’t prevent Canadians from flying to the U.S. and of course restrictions on travel could be lifted come late July or beyond. You may think booking an award ticket to Canada now is speculative but that’s fine because Aeroplan rewards are cancellable free through August 31.
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 »
