Category Archives for Airlines.
By now most people who pay attention to travel, or who are traveling, know that U.S. airlines by and large require passengers to wear masks. Allegiant is an exception.
Here’s an observation, though: they do not provide much guidance on what constitutes a mask. They also do not provide much guidance on how you’re required to wear the mask. And some passengers see a loophole.
British Airways boss Alex Cruz penned a rather remarkable piece in response to criticism in the U.K. over plans to renege on labor deals, firing everyone and rehiring a portion of staff at lower pay. He declares that the business is facing challenges, and that they will do the bare minimum legally required of them.
There are reports across social media of flights where the majority of passengers aren’t wearing masks, even though masks are ostensibly required by nearly all U.S. airlines. It isn’t just people forgetting, or not bothering, there are many people voicing strong objection online to be required to don a mask. And I’d like to better understand the reasons why.
You’re going to take the mask off to eat and drink, but why not put it back on when you aren’t doing those things? What’s the actual reason, and why is that reason more compelling than potentially reducing the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus? I appreciate comments, especially from those who are opposed to mask wearing on planes.
One woman reportedly pocketed $423,000 making bookings during bad weather events, choosing flights that had histories of delays. She’d buy the insurance and pocket the payouts. And she scaled this by not just booking her own travel, but booking in the names of family members as well.
David Leavitt is worth tens of millions of dollars. He’s the County Attorney for Utah County, Utah (they ran out of names, Utah County includes Provo) and is currently running for Utah Attorney General.
Leavitt is also the brother of Mike Leavitt, former Utah Governor and Secretaries of the EPA and Health and Social Services. And he’s a Delta ramper. He didn’t have time to do everything so he gave up singing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to take the job.
Fridays and Sundays are still big travel days. Wednesdays are still slow. And Thursdays – traditionally strong, especially late in the day – aren’t coming back yet because that’s the end of the consultant business week and business travel isn’t returning any time soon.
Seeing the bounce off the bottom has led to a great deal of optimism – too much optimism – about how quickly travel will return.
British Airways is promoting a new option to book out their entire first class cabin. That may be attractive to households that want to travel by themselves, or even individuals looking to social distance.
The “Charter our FIRST Cabin” British Airways offer is promoted as being at “a fraction of the cost” with prices so low apparently they won’t advertise them publicly – though may depend on route, expected demand, and how far out you’re making the reservation.
Chinese airlines, as state entities, cannot furlough workers because that would admit failure of the Communist Party. And at the province level, declines in employment would reduce political prospects for local leaders.
So even though passenger demand remains around one-third of last year’s levels, airlines will begin operating 96% of domestic flights.
This weekend, both United Airlines and American Airlines updated their schedules for July, whereas Delta jumped ahead of the curve and loaded their July schedules 2 weeks ago. There are now many airports where Delta used to reign that American isn’t just bigger – but bigger than Delta and United combined.
Both American and Southwest are positioned to be far larger than their competitors, which will either position them to become more effective businesses going forward or turn out to be a gamble that burns through substantial cash.
On May 18 Etihad operated its first ever flight to Israel, flying an Airbus A330 full of cargo from Abu Dhabi to Tel Avvi carrying supplies including ventilators bound for the Palestinian territory. However the Palestinian authority rejected the shipment because the U.A.E. coordinated the shipment with Israel, rather than directly with them.
This week Etihad tried again. The first flight was operated by an Airbus A330 painted white. This time it was a Boeing 787-9 in Etihad colors, there was nothing hidden about the shipment.
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 »
