American Airlines Has Just Issued A Warning To Travel Agents About ‘Hidden City’ Tickets

by Gary Leff

Jan 26 2021

a memo has gone out from American Airlines to travel agents, available on its SalesLink platform warning them that the carrier is cracking down on a variety of ticketing techniques, including hidden city ticketing and ‘churning’.

Over the summer I wrote about American directly investigating customers for ticketing practices that violate the airline’s rules, and more recently confronting customers at the airport and demanding passengers pay up for their past sins against the airline. Now they’re warning tagents.

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When It Matters, Testing For Travel Is Easy. So Why Won’t Airlines Test Their Own Crew?

by Gary Leff

Jan 26 2021

Travel brands are offering Covid-19 testing in order to adapt to the current reality, born out of desperation to win business from Americans in the face of new travel requirements. And it’s a reason crew exemptions are concerning – airlines should be able to adapt too.

In fact I’m told that United Airlines is scheduling U.K.-based crew to work London – Newark – Mumbai – Newark – London, London – Chicago – Delhi – Chicago – London, and London – Washington DC – London. This is roughly 80 UK-based crew entering the US every day exempt from the CDC’s new testing requirement, with the UK one of the epicenters of a new SARS-CoV-2 mutation of concern.

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Southwest Airlines Karen Screams, Refusing To Get Off The Plane

by Gary Leff

Jan 26 2021

It’s common for a Southwest flight to end and some passengers to stay on the plane. That’s because on ‘through flights’ passengers connecting on the plane’s next segment stay on board while everyone else gets off. Then a flight attendant counts the through passengers on the plane. They can get off to stretch their legs and reboard (with the same boarding pass as their first flight!) or stay where they’re at.

But it’s very unusual to see everyone getting off the plane, and a passenger just decide to stay. They even melt down in a scream when a flight attendant pressures them to leave.

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How The Federal Government Is Considering Enforcing Its Air Travel Mask Requirement

by Gary Leff

Jan 25 2021

The Biden administration doesn’t yet know what mask rules will be, how they’ll apply to young children or those with medical challenges, how they’ll interact with private sector rules already in place, who will issue the rules, or what enforcement will look like. We’re likely a couple of weeks away from knowing the answers to these questions.

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Wide Open Business Class Awards To Israel From 55,000 Miles Each Way

by Gary Leff

inside airliner
Jan 25 2021

American Airlines is offering fantastic business class award availability to Israel. That’s notable even in its own right. You may not be traveling now, but book six months out. The world may look very different. And American no longer has any charge to cancel and redeposit award tickets, so there’s no risk.

There are several things notable about this award space that offer insight into how American is running inventory management for the AAdvantage program.

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Police Board Spirit Airlines Flight, Passenger Ordered To Put “Hands On Our Head And Drop Everything”

by Gary Leff

Jan 25 2021

Shouldn’t there just be a different standard for responding to disturbances on Spirit Airlines, with maybe the new Spirit Airlines frequent flyer program bonusing these sorts of incidents (though with their frequency, that could become expensive)? Treat Spirit flights like a sort of Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle,

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