At the start of the pandemic airlines were cancelling flights – and keeping customers’ money. The U.S. Department of Transportation generally forced U.S. airlines to provide refunds, and pursued foreign carriers too.
E.U. consumer protection, generally thought to be stronger than in the U.S., came down on the side of the customer – but couldn’t actually do anything about it. European airlines have been stealing passenger money for 18 months.
Several airlines have notified employees that the federal government will require to be vaccinated with no alternative for regular tests instead. That’s because the Biden administration has decided to treat airlines as federal contractors, and subject to their order that government contractors must have 100% vaccination among employees, rather than companies with 200+ employees under a pending OSHA rule.
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.
A dog flew Singapore Airlines business class from Sydney to Europe via Singapore. The ex-racing greyhound Lewis “is a graduate of Melbourne-based Greyt Greys Rescue” and his owner moved to Italy. She got permission from the Australian government to leave. And since so few others do, her Singapore Airlines flights were almost empty.
If the Biden administration doesn’t blink, pilots are going to have to be vaccinated to fly. They don’t currently even have to wear masks in the cockpit.
While many unvaccinated pilots will get jabbed, and union senior rules mean that the more senior the pilot the harder it is for them to just leave and go fly for someone else, the concern is that the most senior pilots will take retirement. That will also have a cascading effect requiring pilots to get retrained on different equipment, also as a result of union rules.
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.
Australia says it will re-open to the world starting in November but that’s not really true. There’s no timeline, even a rough one, for non-residents of the country to return.
What they’re doing for now is lifting the ban on Australians leaving the country, and working towards allowing Australians who return to forcibly quarantine – but to do so at home rather than in state-managed facilities.
US Airways used to be the ‘official consolidator of Star Alliance premium class inventory’, a role since taken up by Avianca LifeMiles selling points cheap so members could book awards on partner airlines. They make money selling other airlines’ seats at a discount, but for more than they pay for inventory that would otherwise go unsold.
When US Airways management took over American they brought the mileage sale philosophy to AAdvantage.
The New York Hilton and Grand Hyatt New York are both re-opening, the former on October 4 and the latter November 1.
While there was a logic in providing services to travelers during the summer, preparing to do so as a hotel heads into Northeast winter – traditionally a down time for business to begin with – may seem odd. The decision to do so now has nothing to do with anticipated return of business travel. Instead, there’s a simple reason to re-open now.
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.
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 »
