It Looks Like Hawaii Tourism Won’t Re-Start August 1 After All

by Gary Leff

hawaii
Jul 11 2020

Travel doesn’t just face risk from COVID-19, but from the response to COVID-19, and more importantly from changes in that response. In other words regime uncertainty.

The Lt. Governor says the August 1 re-opening date will be pushed back, even though people have bought their tickets and made plans. Instead he says it’ll be postponed indefinitely, until a time that gets announced two weeks prior to re-opening. But it’s ultimately the governor’s decision, and he may or may not have made it yet.

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American Airlines Account Shutdown ‘Victim’ Lawyers Up, Asks To Withdraw DOT Complaint

by Gary Leff

Jul 11 2020

It was big news this past week when American Airlines responded forcefully to a complaint about shutting down a member’s account for opening various frequent flyer accounts in different names as part of a technique to generate several Citibank credit card signup offers.

Now the person filing the complaint has done two things in response to American’s filing.

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I Earned 55 Marriott Elite Nights Without A Single Stay This Year

by Gary Leff

outside marriott hotel
Jul 11 2020

I haven’t spent a single night with Marriott so far this year, but I now have 55 elite nights in my account. Others have even more elite nights than I do without staying once. What a strange year this is (and this is perhaps the least of the reasons why).

These bonus elite nights count towards lifetime status. And by earning over 50 nights I should receive a Choice benefit that would even give me 5 more free elite nights too.

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American May Reject Boeing 737 MAXs Due To Inability To Find Financing

by Gary Leff

Jul 10 2020

The question I have is what covenants were agreed to – aside from usual cancellation penalties or costs to defer deliveries – when American entered into a settlement at the beginning of the year with Boeing over the MAX?

At the time the value of the settlement was estimated at around $600 million although the form and timing of payments weren’t clear. If the settlement included conditions including acceptance of future deliveries, that could explain the airline’s willingness to do so, and could mean rejecting deliveries now would be even more costly than usual.

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It Was Illegal For This American Airlines Pilot To Fly, But Refusing To Let Him Fly Was Illegal Too

by Gary Leff

cockpit with pilot
Jul 10 2020

Companies are frequently faced with a dilemma where they have to choose between acting ethically and acting legally. But it’s shocking to find a situation where a company is faced with a binary choice, and either option they choose is illegal.

That’s apparently the situation American Airlines found itself in when pilot Major General Thomas Harwood III ended his tour of duty with the U.S. Air Force Reserve and sought to return to active status with the airline.

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U.S. Airlines Say They Can’t Do Airport Temperature Checks – But They Now Do Them For Canada Flights

by Gary Leff

Jul 10 2020

U.S. airlines tell the U.S. government they cannot do temperature checks themselves (Frontier notwithstanding), but at the same time U.S. airlines are already doing temperature screening on their flights to Canada.

An internal American Airlines memo details how customers will be handled if they show a 100.4 degree temperature or above.

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