Qantas announced plans for the re-start of its international route network, beginning on December. That planned seemed crazy with the country facing an upswing in Covid-19 cases – more than they’ve seen at any point in the pandemic – and what once seemed like an idyllic refuge from the global pandemic now seems like a dystopian science fiction film.
Large organizations have a tendency become bloated and sclerotic. It’s striking that American Airlines cut 30% of its management workforce, $500 million per year in payroll, and has returned to operating most of its flights.
That naturally raises an interesting question, what were they carrying all that staff for in the first place? Shouldn’t they have eliminated these same positions years ago? That would never have worked, and they’re seeing now why it didn’t work so well this time either.
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.
The odd thing is that Uber hasn’t told me they’ve extended my status. It’s a great opportunity to capture loyalty with members but the program doesn’t bother to communicate. Which is just another sign that Uber has largely given up and is almost indifferent to its loyalty program. They know they have good customers they want to keep, but they’ve consistently devalued the elite program which was only modestly rewarding to start with.
At this past week’s Crew News employee forum with American Airlines CEO Doug Parker, a pilot asked if there was one thing Parker could change tomorrow about the airline, just getting it done so it’s different, what would it be?
Doug Parker says that American Airlines has been investigating 1 in every 300,000 passengers for an airline ban – about two people per day that they “have to decide if they can ever fly American Airlines or not.” That’s a five-fold increase.
Chief Operating Officer David Seymour shared the plan for what’s next: getting government to crack down on airport alcohol sales.
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.
On Friday evening an American Airlines passenger assaulted an employee – and gate D23 itself – in a viral altercation with multiple onlookers filming. The employee remained remarkably calm even as the maskless perpetrator hurled projectiles, insults, and his fists – stormed off and then returned to heap more abuse.
To show just how complicated things are, though, the previous government of Afghanistan had negotiated a deal with a UAE-based group to operate the airport and “[t]he Taliban will need to cut a separate deal with them.”
The deal gets Turkish President Erdogan a bargaining chip with the West, and also helps avoid Turkey being the recipient of refugees (as they are from Syria) and gives them control of the drug trade out of Afghanistan. Put another way, Turkish control over the airport probably makes continued expatriation of Afghans possible while also being a bad result in greater Turkish influence in the region as well as inside NATO.
Brian Znotins, American’s Vice President of Network and Schedule Planning, laid out the airline’s vision for Philadelphia – which is many ways is what is was before the pandemic. Even though American will be able to support more transatlantic flying from New York JFK with their JetBlue partnership, Philadelphia will remain their primary connecting gateway to Europe.
And with smaller and more fuel efficient Airbus A321XLRs coming into the fleet they’ll be able to serve summer seasonal Europe destinations year-round – and more destinations than they’ve served in Europe as well.
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 »
