American Airlines Is Adding 14 New Destinations From Austin, Quadrupling Its Reach In A Year

by Gary Leff

Jun 10 2021

For years Austin has been one of the fastest-growing aviation markets in the country, tracking the city’s growth more generally. Before the pandemic American Airlines was looking at three new routes to augment its flights to hubs.

Earlier this year they announced 10 new routes. The ones that have launched are doing well. Now they’re announcing 14 new routes, 5 of which are international. They’re converting seasonal service to year-round. And adding frequencies to existing routes. All in all they’re quadrupling their destinations in a little over a year.

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Airline Unions Push For New Legislation To Keep Out Long Haul Low Cost Competition

by Gary Leff

plane on runway
Jun 10 2021

Forget “Fight For 15!” The Air Line Pilots Association is lobbying for a new bill released by House Transportation Committee Chairman Pete DeFazio (D-Airlines For America) among others that would effectively prevent foreign airlines from flying to the U.S. if they aren’t paying competitive wages.

The measure is also being supported by the Allied Pilots Association (American Airlines pilots), Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (Sara Nelson), International Association of Machinists, Teamsters, Transportation Workers Union, UNITE HERE and others. We thought the campaign by U.S. airlines against Open Skies Treaties was over but now we have the ‘Fair and Open Skies Act’.

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Man Caught On Video Stealing Luggage At Baggage Claim In Atlanta

by Gary Leff

Jun 09 2021

There are videos everywhere in the airport, yet some people think it’s a good place to steal. They’re not entirely wrong since in most airport thefts no one gets caught.

In Atlanta, though, a man caught on camera stealing bags off of a carousel at baggage claim has been identified and is now in custody. He was caught because Atlanta’s airport police were already familiar with him from previous run-ins. Everyone returns to the scene of the crime.

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American Is Re-Opening Its International Business & (Most) First Class Lounges

by Gary Leff

Jun 09 2021

American Airlines is re-opening its Flagship international business class lounges and most of its Flagship First Dining this fall, starting with Miami. They’re also re-opening all of their Admirals Clubs except Honolulu this summer. And they’re going to introduce a new way for premium passengers to access Flagship.

That’s wonderful because these lounges were fantastic. United’s Polaris lounges were probably a step above American’s Flagship lounges, but Flagship lounges were open to many more people and nicer than anything American had ever done before. American’s Flagship First Dining product was nicer than anything any U.S. airline has done in recent years, period.

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We’ve All Gained Too Much Weight, And Now Planes Require More Fuel To Fly

by Gary Leff

Jun 09 2021

Americans have gotten fatter, and that’s making a big difference for airline operations. Each aircraft has a maximum weight it can take off with, and the weight of passengers and cargo contributes to how much fuel a plane is going to burn on a trip.

American Airlines this week updated its passenger weight assumptions. That’s going to mean they need more fuel for some trips. It even means that some aircraft will be ‘weight restricted’ and not allowed to carry a full load of passengers and cargo.

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American Airlines Cancun Flight Turned Back Because Passenger On Board Skipped Security Screening

by Gary Leff

Jun 09 2021

This morning American Airlines flight AA881 from Charlotte to Cancun was forced to return to Charlotte – before heading back out to Cancun. Multiple reports of the incident suggested that a passenger on board hadn’t cleared TSA security. In one version it was an employee, and in another version a non-rev flying on a buddy pass.

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CDC Lowers Travel Risk Levels For 110 Countries, And US State Department Will Too

by Gary Leff

passport getting stamped
Jun 08 2021

In April the U.S. State Department issued ‘Do Not Travel’ warnings for 80% of the world’s countries due to coronavirus risk. They suddenly discovered the pandemic more than three months into 2021.

They updated their guidance to conform to CDC recommendations. But now the CDC has suddenly discovered vaccines – and is updating their guidance, too. The State Department will follow. And a new working group has been formed to talk about lifting travel restrictions where those restrictions are absurd based on the data.

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