Last week hotel occupancy dropped in the U.S. I expect that the effect will be greater when we get the numbers for this week. However there are a couple of interesting things already going on in the numbers.
On March 5, 1980 Trans American flight 209 from Los Angeles made a miraculous landing in Chicago after the pilot Captain Clarence Ovuer and First Officer Roger Murdock suffered incapacitation due to food poisoning during the flight.
One of the flight attendants, Elaine Dickinson, managed to activate the aircraft’s auto pilot while a passenger on the flight, Ted Stryker, took the controls.
American Airlines President Robert Isom first tells a group of employees in Philadelphia that they need to do it all, but when it comes down to it he says run on time.
The aviation world has been rocked by coronavirus, as demand for travel shrinks. Businesses are telling employees not to fly. Discretionary trips are being cancelled. And there’s tremendous uncertainty over the future.
While U.S. airlines have been healthy and better-positioned to handle what is so far a less extreme hit to their business as carriers in China, Hong Kong, and South Korea they’re certainly scrambling to figure out what’s next. United has been proactive communicating with employees, first with a note over the weekend and now with another message outlining drastic steps they’re taking to reduce costs given reductions in revenue.
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.
In making the announcement of the renewed codeshare with Qatar Airways this past week American said that “the issues [of subsidies] had been addressed” between the two airlines. That’s bullocks, the U.S. airlines failed completely in their effort to get meaningful government action against their Gulf rivals.
On Wednesday American Airlines CEO Doug Parker spoke to employees at an internal town hall, a recording of which was shared with View From The Wing. There he explained the carrier’s change of heart.
The TSA responded to one of my tweets, divulging personal information about me, and it’s a reminder of how much freedom we’ve given up in the name of a false sense of security.
A 56 year old man flew on Delta from Amsterdam to Atlanta on February 22. He had connected from Milan, Italy. A few days after the flight he showed symptoms of coronavirus. Other passengers on board aren’t being informed.
The property is slated to leave Marriott after today. It should tell you something though about the Four Points brand that the property is being required to invest in upgrades to meet Best Western requirements.
Airline lobbyists are trying to curtail the power of the Department of Transportation to engage in consumer protection. They want to be regulated just like other industries, with definitions employed by the Federal Trade Commission. But this ignores how other industries are regulated by the states and consumers through the courts, which the airlines are frequently excused from by the Airline Deregulation Act.
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 »
