Dr. Scott Gottlieb, FDA administrator from 2017-2019, has been a helpful source on coronavirus. He was one of the first people with a real microphone sounding the alarm about lack of testing in the United States.
He says airlines aren’t doing enough to prevent spread of the virus, focusing on three things he’s seen in his own travels.
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.
At an investor conference this morning, after first talking about coronavirus, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker pivoted to talk about the airline’s operational performance, and growth plans including from new gates coming online in Charlotte and upgauging regional jets next year at Washington National airport.
American just has a real difference in perspective. Parker said they are “not breaking out the distress playbook..that’s not where we are.” I hope he’s right of course. They talked about the effect of sales on bookings, their cash balance as a cushion, and the possible accelerated retirement of the Boeing 757.
United Airlines President and soon-to-be CEO Scott Kirby keynoted the J.P. Morgan 2020 Industrials Conference today. He took a far more aggressive stance on how deep to cut, how bad things can get, than other airline executives. And he was more willing to share specific data on how bad things already are.
A reader shares that they had Global Entry conditionally approved when New Yorkers were banned from being approved for Global Entry. He arrived at New York JFK off of an international flight from London shortly after the announcement, but while his approval was still active, and sought to do his interview on arrival. No officer was available. A few days later his application was purged along with the rest of New Yorkers.
However he “immediately reapplied” using an address in another state. It worked.
Delta has suspended share buybacks and is reducing pension contributions. They have instituted a hiring freeze and are offering voluntary leave to employees with an eye towards reducing staff count through retirement. They are “[p]arking aircraft, and evaluating early retirements of older aircraft.”
They’re also starting to implement $500 million in capital expense reductions, and they’re cutting flights.
United Airlines already announced a 20% cut to its international route network and 10% cut domestically. American is out with route and frequency reductions and I don’t think they are done.
International reduction for summer is 10% (55% reduction in transpacific flying). Domestic reduction in April is 7.5%.
Over the last day we’ve seen new travel restrictions around the world, such as the extension of Italy’s quarantine to the rest of the country – this isn’t like China where people couldn’t leave their homes, they can still go to work – and changes in airline and hotel policies for customers with existing travel bookings. Here are (7) things to be aware of:
Hyatt can’t just unilaterally make non-refundable bookings refundable, and they have owners to answer to. But they can give you points, show they’re doing something, and incentivize you to return to the chain once fear and risk subside.
China appears to have their coronavirus outbreak largely under control. However they’re now encouraging – even subsidizing – a return of international flights. I’ve worried that they would bring back infected passengers.
Naturally they’ve thought through this problem, and with the current low volume of international flying they are examining each passenger entering the country. Even at the current low volume of international travel to China, though, that’s backing up arriving flights by several hours in some cases. And that can cause unruly passengers.
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 »
