Thailand has a new outbreak of Covid-19, threatening tourist re-opening. In the Maldives cases are falling dramatically, over 90% of tourism workers have been vaccinated, and nearly all visitor life is outdoors. Yet the CDC categorizes Maldives as the highest possible risk ‘do not travel’ and Thailand the lowest risk.
Last week American converted 5 Boeing 787-8s on order to larger 787-9s and deferred those to 2023 when 25 of those aircraft are slated to begin delivery.
Late in the week CEO Doug Parker gave additional context on the carrier’s thinking on future aircraft orders at an internal employee event, a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing. Since American has just retired planes, when they’re ready to grow they’re going to need to buy new planes again since the ones they have on order larger just replace aircraft they’ve gotten rid of.
Indian airline Vistara was banned from flying to Hong Kong for two weeks earlier this month after bringing in passengers who tested positive for Covid-19 on two separate flights.
While four passengers initially tested positive on April 4th’s Delhi – Hong Kong flight, 25 people on that flight have now tested positive.
Early in the pandemic I did a bit of cleanup of my recurring subscriptions. I cancelled my Gogo monthly internet service, saving $49.95 a month. And I asked CLEAR for an extension. They pushed my membership renewal date out three months.
Well, I asked CLEAR for another three month extension and they gave it to me. And now I’ve asked for a THIRD extension.
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.
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker calls British Airways a ‘two out of ten low cost carrier.’
This isn’t mere trash talking by a rival, Al Baker’s Qatar Airways owns a 25% stake in British Airways parent company IAG and is the carrier’s largest owner – so it’s an admission against interests.
There’s been a lot written about vaccine tourism but did you know that Alaska is planning to offer vaccination for tourists on arrival at the airport starting June 1?
There are (6) key takeaways about how this may help both Alaska – and the world.
The quality of testing varies tremendously. Anyone who tests positive can just keep keep trying, using tests with low specificity. This reader took five tests until he finally got a negative one. It’s like the California emissions testing shop that used to pass every car with a $35 re-testing fee. The tech would stick the emissions probe in the tailpipe of his own car, every time.
Fifty six years ago, when he was 20 years old, Brian Robson decided to ship himself from Australia to London as cargo. So he got two friends to help nail him into a shipping crate. He made it as far as Los Angeles and lived, and was given a free trip onward to London as a passenger.
Thailand’s cabinet approved a plan to re-open Phuket to tourism July 1, with a path to then re-open Chiang Mai, Krabi, Pattaya, Phang Na, and Koh Samui October 1.
I wrote, though, that you should wait to book travel unless you wanted to quarantine because it seemed likely re-opening would be delayed. Now, just two weeks after the plan to re-open was approved, it’s under consideration for (very likely) delay.
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 »
