Delta Air Lines is paying out bonuses to management employees to compensate them for pay cuts mandated in 2020 as part of the airline’s pandemic belt-tightening, which in some cases can exceed $250,000 per person.
These bonuses are being paid out while Delta is receiving payroll funds from the federal government, and aren’t being offered to the airline’s frontline employees who earned less in 2020 than in 2019,.
It seems to me that this take is both typical and likely wrong: “These new premium cabin mask exemptions are honestly, hilarious. Cathay Pacific’s logic here is essentially, as long as you lie at a 180° angle, you can’t get COVID.”
United Airlines will pay a $49 million fine to the federal government to resolve criminal fraud charges for falsifying records that allowed it to collect payments for transporting U.S. mail on time, when in fact it failed to do so.
United “falsified parcel delivery information…[b]etween 2012 and 2015..by submitting false delivery scan data to make it appear that United and partner airlines with which it worked were complying with the [on time mail delivery] requirements, when in fact they were not.”
News and notes from around the interweb: After 3 years Mexico is still trying to sell its Presidential jet. Even before the pandemic it was tough to sell a VIP-configured plane because of the expense of converting it to passenger use. And Mexico’s President flies coach as his schtick. ⚡️#LoÚltimo El Presidente @lopezobrador_ abordó al vuelo Delta Airlines que lo llevará a Washington, DC, con escala en Atlanta, por la pista. 📹 Isabella González pic.twitter.com/aGZIMpwFyk — REFORMA (@Reforma) July 7, 2020 Class action lawsuit against United Airlines for sending text messages to help people make their flights it’s one of those things that makes you really sympathetic to tort reform. Capital One Starting to Raise Credit Limits in Hunt for Growth Earn miles referring people to Qatar Airways Privilege Club, who then fly the airline…
Up through 2014 most United Airlines flights to Hawaii featured the “Halfway to Hawaii game” where you could win a bottle of champagne. Passengers would be invited to guess the exact time they’d be halfway across the ocean to Hawaii. Some would just take a close enough guess by listening to the pilot’s announced flight time, cutting it in half, and adding that to the departure time. Others took it as a more complex math problem.
The game is back – and starting March 3 there’s a new prize.
Papa Murphy’s in Anchorage, Alaska doesn’t deliver within 30 minutes, but that’s because they deliver by plane. If you live in remote Alaska, as far out as Prudhoe Bay 855 miles away, and you want pizza what else can you do?
The idea started when customers would call asking them to bring pizzas to the airport, and customers would arrange the air cargo themselves. While shipping eats into margins – they offer free shipping! – the pizza shop generally fulfill big orders (people don’t just order one pizza at a time).
The concern with travel abroad is that someone might become infected by the virus, including a new variant, and bring it back with them when they returned. But in this case the CEO was being vaccinated and the inactivated virus vaccine is highly likely not just to protect from symptoms but also infection (and spread). He’ll be less of a risk than most Canadians when he returns to the country. Getting vaccinated is a public benefit, not just a private one.
Furthermore, he’s now one less dose that Canada needs to provide for, meaning one more Canadian will get vaccinated more quickly. In places where vaccines aren’t widely available yet, three cheers for vaccine tourism!
American Airlines is bringing 11 pilots back to work after furlough. They’ll start requalification training on March 2, 2021. All of them have received a WARN Act notice, letting them know they may be re-furloughed at the start of April.
One thing that’s boosted how much money American Airlines keeps for itself out of the second bailout is voluntary leaves. They’ve convinced employees to go on unpaid leaves. Many thought they would collect unemployment, understanding that American would not contest these claims.
I’ve heard from several Executive Platinum passengers recently who have received texts from Admirals Club agents shortly before they arrived at the airport. These usually welcome them and let them know the status of the club and Covid procedures. The texts aren’t from an automated system – they’re from an agent in the Admirals Club, which I think is a really nice touch.
And it’s gets better.
Andreas Wuchner was checking in with British Airways at London Heathrow airport for a flight to Zurich when he slipped in a puddle of Bailey’s liqueur and hit his head when he came down.
British Airways has to pay him approximately $180,000 in strict liability, and he’s now pursuing additional damages for negligence. It took over three years to get this far.
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 »
