With the Biden administration considering a Covid-19 testing requirement not just for international arrivals but now even for domestic flights, new types of tests with the greatest accuracy take on a new urgency. In China scientists believe their new anal swab test may be most accurate.
Twenty passengers headed to Hawaii were kicked off a flight by American Airlines on Sunday. Ten adults and ten children (ages 3 to 13) were on board a Salt Lake City to Dallas Fort-Worth flight when, they say, a gate agent flagged one of them for inadvertently letting their face mask fall beneath their nose.
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.
American Airlines seems to be gearing up for another run at is single most profitable investment: lobbying in Washington DC. They haven’t been formally engaged by the government over domestic Covid testing requirements, suggesting such a plan may be farther off or less real than some have speculated. And they continue to bring on a lot of new aircraft, seeing that as effectively costless because of cheap financing.
I’ve served as an expert witness in a federal trial about SkyBonus points in the past (and in other sorts of cases as well). I don’t like to see airlines turning commercial disputes over to the government to handle through criminal law.
In this case it seemed clients benefited from the agent’s knowledge, and Delta earned business they wouldn’t otherwise have received. It’s up to Delta whether they want that business of course, but in my view the criminal justice system shouldn’t have become involved. Ultimately prosecutors, looking closely at the facts, agreed that jail time wasn’t an appropriate outcome here either. I was sorry to see Mr. Podolsky go through what he did.
Airlines are looking for new frequent flyer members and are willing to front bonus miles to get them. Traditional frequent flyers aren’t traveling so much now, and flights have a lower proportion of members than airlines are used to. They need a marketing relationship with the people who are flying, in order to encourage them to fly more and take their credit cards.
With Alaska’s renewed partnership with American Airlines, oneworld membership starting March 31, distance-based earning (not revenue-based!) and pledge not to devalue their award chart without notice they’re likely a strong option for many.
On this morning’s American Airlines earnings call, still ongoing, Chairman and CEO Doug Parker opened saying he wasn’t going to comment on recent moves in their stock.
Their stock has been rising with 29% of its float currently shorted and worldwide attention being paid to GameStop.
American is ‘evaluating’ whether these trial meal boxes will be rolled out more broadly. Over the summer employees were told we wouldn’t see a return of first class meals as they used to be, but hopefully this isn’t all there will be for awhile. What do you think?
Ghana’s aviation ministry is continuing the long tradition of African governments complaining about British Airways. This time they’re unhappy that BA plans to operate its Accra flight to London’s Gatwick airport instead of Heathrow. And they are threatening ‘reciprocal action’ against the airline in response.
There are fewer of these passengers today, with borders closed and testing requirements in place. Furthermore there’s very little international business travel. And frequent flyers with club memberships have been flying less as well.
So the real fight is for leisure passengers, many of whom haven’t been frequent flyers, and they’re mostly traveling to close-in destinations like the Caribbean and Mexico. And American is expanding airport club lounge access as a result.
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 »
