You Don’t Need To Worry About Monkeypox When You Travel

by Gary Leff

Aug 05 2022

Here’s how to think about monkeypox. If you have it you should isolate. Take precautions if engaging in close contact within high risk groups and absolutely get vaccinated if you can. But if you don’t have monkeypox and aren’t engaging in high risk activities with people who might have monkeypox then you don’t have to think much about it. That could change, it could cross over into other communities, and if that happens you should update your priors.

Right now I am taking zero precautions against monkeypox. I hope that doesn’t change. But any change that I make will be based on scientific evidence.

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American Airlines Has A New Design Template For Its Admirals Clubs, And That’s Fantastic

by Gary Leff

Aug 04 2022

The current ‘new design’ of American Airlines Admirals Clubs feel very institutional, from the lighting to the furniture. The perfect example of this is the A concourse club in Dallas which I think of as having hospital lighting. The smaller club in Charlotte follows this same motif.

Great news – they’re walking away from that design in upcoming new builds and renovations with a much more attractive template!

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Department Of Transportation Proposes New Rules For When Airlines Must Provide Refunds To Passengers

by Gary Leff

Aug 03 2022

The Department of Transportation has published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would codify circumstances in which a passenger is entitled to a refund for their ticket, and rules for a future pandemic making passengers entitled to a voucher if it’s inadvisable for them to travel for public health reasons. DOT even wants to pre-write customer refunds into future pandemic bailouts of the airlines.

Mostly the rule would formalize current practice, after several airlines broke with convention during the pandemic and held their customers’ money hostage. There is much to like here, as a result of bad actors among the airlines and how tilted the law is in favor of air carriers. But there’s also some overreach as well.

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Delta Flight Attendants May Unionize Even Though Unionized Crew Are Deeply Unhappy Elsewhere

by Gary Leff

Aug 03 2022

Airlines are one of the most heavily unionized industries in the country. That works out well for customers and investors at Southwest, but less well at other airlines. Delta, the other historically strong performer, is mostly non-union. Their largest unionized work group is their pilots. Delta’s dispatchers are also unionized.

The biggest flight attendants union is working hard to change that – even as they publish data that 97% of flight attendants they represent at United are deeply unhappy.

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