Delta Reduces Ground Employee Pay 25% Through June, Places 17,000 Employees On Voluntary Leave

by Gary Leff

delta plane
Mar 25 2020

Delta CEO Ed Bastian sent an internal memo to employees outlining the seriousness of the situation faced by the airline and the steps they’ve taken to date – and informing non-flying personnel that they’ll have their work days refused 20% – 40% through June, resulting “in a 25 percent savings in payroll over the next 90 days.”

Currently 17,000 employees – including 7000 flight attendants – are taking unpaid leave with benefits. This helps scale down the operation by “over 70 percent; parking more than 600 aircraft.”

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American Airlines Suspends Most Food & Beverage Service, And I’m Not Sure It’ll Fully Come Back

by Gary Leff

airplane food
Mar 24 2020

With load factors in the 20s, it makes sense for passengers to spread out and social distance from each other on the plan. And where possible it makes sense to limit interaction between flight attendants and passengers right now, too.

Changes to American Airlines food and beverage service go into effect this Friday, March 27. They aren’t offering anything for sale in coach, to limit credit card swipes. They won’t service meals in first class except on routes long enough where they figure they have to. And there’s more to it than that.

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Air Canada Launches Mileage Sales And Bidding For Upgrades At An Unusual Time

by Gary Leff

air canada plane tarmac
Mar 24 2020

There’s not a lot of use bidding for upgrades today for most folks, though remaining Air Canada flights if you’re traveling may have seats available. In the future this will be a more useful feature.

Selling miles makes a ton of sense and it’s really strange that it wasn’t something Aeroplan had done. It doesn’t make any sense buying at regular price. What Air Canada – and every other airline – should be doing now is offering miles for sale at a deep discount.

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Qatar Airways Introduces An Offer Better Than Sticking It To Customers On Refunds

by Gary Leff

qatarplane
Mar 24 2020

Airlines are worried about surviving. They have your cash. It may not be legal to keep it when flights are cancelled, but most customers will take what they are offered (future travel credit) and very few will complain to authorities.

Qatar Airways though has a better approach. They, too, want your cash. They want your future travel purchases when travel is again in the cards. They are honoring refunds but if you’ll take a credit instead they’ll give you a 10% bonus for taking a voucher. That’s creative and honors the customer.

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American Airlines Laying Off Employees, Reducing Use Of Contractors, Even If They Get Bailout

by Gary Leff

Mar 24 2020

With fewer flights, American Airlines is consolidating operations at its hubs in order to use fewer contractors. These contractors won’t get help if the airlines get a bailout. And with record telephone wait time, the airline continues layoffs of home-based reservations agents, who won’t get their jobs back with a bailout.

Many employees are scared for their jobs, interacting with customers in close quarters, and fearful to defy their bosses even as flight attendants report positive with COVID-19.

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Two More Airlines Breaking The Law By Refusing To Refund Customers For Cancelled Flights

by Gary Leff

airplane
Mar 24 2020

I’ve written about airlines like JetBlue and United breaking the law by refusing customer refunds. Other airlines like SWISS and British Airways have used trickery to keep customers from being aware of their refund options when purchased flights no longer operate.

Two more airlines have suspended all ticket refunds, and apparently this even includes for customers who purchased ‘refundable’ tickets.

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U.S. Government And Airlines Developing Plans To Shut Down Domestic Aviation

by Gary Leff

airport
Mar 24 2020

Both the government and U.S. carriers are considering a partial or total shutdown of the domestic airline industry. No final decision has been made yet on whether to move forward.

Airlines see themselves losing money. The TSA has been seeing screeners testing positive. Flight crew, too. And air traffic controllers – over the weekend New York airports closed for a few hours while New York TRACON was disinfected after an employee there tested positive for COVID-19. Here are 9 key considerations.

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New Restrictions On Domestic Travelers: Florida Enforcing Quarantine On Arriving New Yorkers

by Gary Leff

Mar 23 2020

According to the Governor of Florida since the “federal government had not put any domestic travel restrictions into place, Florida would take the initiative.”

His order applies to air travel from New Jersey as well. It does not, apparently, apply to passengers arriving from the New York area on connecting flights. It also does not apply to flights from Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Seattle.

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