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.
This opinion’s key passage makes the exact argument I’ve offered on this site for why CDC authority – on which the TSA mask rule relies – isn’t as broad as the administration claims and upon the mask rule rests.
If an airline’s agents can’t make sense of a policy it is probably too complicated a policy.
On Thursday a husband and wife were booted off of American Airlines flight 3996 from Miami to Cincinnati, a regional jet operated by American’s wholly-owned regional subsidiary Envoy Air.
Apparently the woman’s mask slipped off her nose as she boarded the aircraft. It slipped off a second time while the plane was still on the ground. So a flight attendant insisted that she wear an airline-provided mask instead. Since she refused, the flight attendant said the only other option was to get off the plane. They wouldn’t do that – so all of the passengers on board were deplaned.
From Kabul, refugees were sent to military bases in Qatar and Germany, and from there they’re being flown to Washington Dulles on U.S. airlines paid for charter flights under the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program. Each person is vetted prior to boarding a flight, and then goes through immigration formalities again in the U.S.
But without documents, there’s been huge bureaucratic delays at Washington Dulles with people waiting 8-12 hours to get off of planes. Flight attendants have been told to pack their own water and anticipate harrowing conditions.
The European Union has begun the process to re-impose restrictions (quarantine, testing) for unvaccinated Americans. The U.S. will be removed from a list of countries whose citizens are allowed to travel freely in Europe without Covid restrictions.
A key consideration for whether and when countries re-impose restrictions is the extent to which their economies rely on tourism. It’s no coincidence that Greece, France, and Spain were among the first Schengen countries to announce they’d welcome Americans before Europe had taken broader action.
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.
An explosion at Kabul airport led to U.S. and civilian casualties. There was another explosion close to the nearby Baron Hotel which is currently advertising “safe, secure housing” for guests.
The Baron may not be as secure as advertised, but the Intercontinental Kabul is promoting in social media that they’re open to guests – not just for lodging but for all of your catering and banquet needs.
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 »
