With Las Vegas preparing to re-open, American Express is making a bet on the future of travel and the gaming resort city. They’ve announced this morning that they’re expanding their Las Vegas airport Centurion lounge by approximately 50%. The lounge, once it re-opens, will stay open throughout most of the construction periods with only brief closures.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Employees with more than 25 years at Delta are being offered a retirement package, while most employees are being offered a voluntary ‘early out’ that should be more attractive than being let go when CARES Act restrictions lift.
It’s sad that it’s come to this. Delta’s projections for a smaller workforce are in line with those of United and American. In the end I wouldn’t be surprised to see more employees let go by one or more of those airlines beyond what’s been outlined so far.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby spoke at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference and spoke confidently about shedding costs and preparing for a rebound in air travel. He offered that bankruptcy isn’t a strategic option, that airlines are foolish to retire fleets too quickly, and that MileagePlus is going to be a great source of cash – whether by selling a ton of miles or borrowing against the program.
Overall (9) claims Kirby made seemed both new, compared to previous statements, and struck me as noteworthy.
There are two ways travel can spread the virus. Both are manageable at this point. Europe’s CDC has brand new recommendations for re-opening travel.
British Airways notified members of a change to its frequent flyer terms and conditions to limit the ability to sue.
Mandatory arbitration, though, is so 2018 and may wind up costing British Airways a lot more than lawsuits would have.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Last night I broke the news exclusively that American Airlines would shed at least 30% of management and support staff, and I outlined the two voluntary packages being offered to most employees and what the involuntary package would look like.
A couple of correspondents – a throwaway account on Twitter, an anonymous email – complained to me that the airline had to move up their notice to employees because I had the scoop. They weren’t going to inform staff of the layoffs last night.
American Airlines is about to inform management and support staff that they expect at least 30% to be let go, according to internal documents reviewed by View From The Wing. The airline wants some of these layoffs to be voluntary, and they’re taking both a carrot and stick approach.
One of the enticements being offered is 250,000 to 350,000 American AAdvantage miles.
Ultimately “ask[ing] the Departments of Transportation and Homeland Security to come up with new protocols for security, boarding and other routines to minimize risk” will be health security theater, more designed to make people feel like the government is doing something to protect them than actually doing something to protect them, an airline marketing expense as it were.
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 »
