American Airlines 25% Off Coupons Could Tell Us Whether Price Cuts Can Lead Travel’s Recovery

by Gary Leff

Feb 13 2021

American Airlines is doing something different. They are targeting discounts to try to drive incremental business. They ran a targeted promotion with discounts some months ago, and now are sending out 25% off codes to some members, including for premium cabin travel (purchase by February 20 for travel by May).

Well-targeted promotions can help answer whether discounts can drive incremental business, and whether that’s more travel overall or stealing business from competitors.

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Man Forced To Return To Los Angeles After Hawaii Rejects His Mayo Clinic Covid-19 Test

by Gary Leff

Feb 13 2021

Hawaii requires a negative Covid-19 test in order to avoid 14 day quarantine on arrival. But the process is cumbersome, error-prone, and anything but transparent.

One family was forced to split up, with the husband flying back across the ocean to Los Angeles to get a new test,, after a night spent in a rental car when Hawaii rejected his negative Covid-19 assessment from the world-famous Mayo Clinic.

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Video: Police Raid Florida Man’s Hotel Room, He Throws Knives And Trash Can At Them

by Gary Leff

Feb 13 2021

A hotel guests faces 6 counts of assaulting a police officer after calling the cops to his hotel room, saying he wanted to kill them “since his world was ending.” The cops didn’t end his world but did taser him several times.

The man, staying at the Plaza Resort on Atlantic Avenue in Daytona Beach, Florida, “threw knives, a trash can and other items at officers as they tried to get him to surrender.”

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Does The End Of Middle Seat Blocking Mean Passengers Don’t Value Covid Safety?

by Gary Leff

Feb 12 2021

Does airlines moving away from blocked middle seats mean people don’t really value Covid safety? If we did, it would be profitable for airlines to continue limiting capacity.

Different airlines take different approaches to seat blocking, and each seems rational from their own perspective. Delta may be benefiting now from it since they’re the only one left really doing it. However as air travel recovers the cost of maintaining blocked middle seats rises, so it won’t last, because customers don’t seem to value it enough to cover this cost.

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United Airlines Not Returning To New York JFK In February After All

by Gary Leff

Feb 11 2021

United Airlines admits it made a mistake leaving New York JFK six years ago. They’ve been trying to get back in, and the pandemic gave them a chance. They announced service but delayed it last month. Now they’re delaying it again, and scaling back their initial flying to both San Francisco and Los Angeles to less than daily. There’s no word yet on whether they’ve found permanent flying rights from the airport, either.

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