The two week moving average of airline passengers going through TSA security checkpoints has bumped up to 54% of comparable 2019 levels. Passengers hit a pandemic-era single day high of 69% on Sunday, March 21.
Perhaps even more telling U.S. hotel occupancy is way up. It’s the highest it’s been in a year, and down just 15% compared to the same point in 2019. A lot more people are traveling now, vaccine or not.
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.
Around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning a fight broke out at an Atlanta airport security checkpoint. Three teenagers were trying to get through TSA screening while one of them lacked I.D.
There’s a simple procedure for confirming your identity without ID. It takes a little longer but the TSA accesses privately compiled databases with personal information and you confirm details about yourself. Instead video shows how things deteriorated.
As easy as most travelers have it going through immigration and customs – most U.S. citizens, anyway, I wouldn’t want to be Indian arriving in Japan – flight crew are usually given even more flexibility. That’s one reason why flight crew make attractive smugglers.
Airline employees aren’t always given a free pass, though.
Piedmont Airlines, an American Eagle carrier owned by American Airlines, told pilots they needed to wait to get vaccinated against Covid-19 because of increasing passenger demand for flights. Airlines argued that huge federal subsidies were necessary ‘to be ready’ for flying to return. Even at the absolute peak of flying days demand has been off at least 30% compared to before the pandemic. Yet despite subsidies, while airlines have pocketed the cash and paid employees as well, they haven’t kept those employees trained and ready to fly. So American’s subsidiary told pilots to delay vaccinations in order to work. In the memo sent last Wednesday, Piedmont Airlines Chief Pilot John Pursell told the regional carrier’s 500 pilots, “Piedmont will be unable to release any additional pilots for COVID vaccination for the weekend of March 19-21…
What Crandall intuitively understands is that passenger airlines are a low margin business (outside of areas where government limits competition). As a result it’s crucial to guard against cost disease and expense creep. He used sometimes apocryphal stories to make his point about attention to detail to keep costs low without noticeably sacrificing quality.
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.
French long haul low cost airline French Bee plans to outfit two new Airbus A350s they’ll take delivery of this year with 488 seats, about 50% more seats than most airlines put on the plane. This plan is likely to fail. Here’s why low cost carriers work on short flights, but fail when trying to fly long haul.
The Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort has been charging guests a 2% fee for paying their bills by credit card.
The Hopper app is a flight and hotel booking tool that helps you find the best prices, including making predictions about when to buy to get the best deal. Capital One is leading a $170 million funding round for Hopper, and partnering with them to launch a new travel portal for cardmembers.
Here’s what’s wrong with most online booking tools, and how Capital One and Hopper could beat them.
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 »
