Black Conservative Activist Delays American Airlines Flight, Videotaping His Refusal To Wear A Mask

by Gary Leff

Jul 26 2020

David Harris, Jr. is apparently popular in certain circles as a black man who supports President Trump, though I hadn’t heard of him until he made a ruckus on an American Airlines flight – refusing to wear a mask, and advising his followers that only N95 masks are prophylactic, which isn’t supported by the balance of evidence at this point.

Apparently Mr. Harris held up a flight departure on Saturday when he boarded without a mask on, and passengers complained. He reports that he “declared [to] have a medical reason to not wear a mask.”

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American Airlines Now Lets You Use Up To 8 Trip Credits To Make A New Reservation

by Gary Leff

airline ticket
Jul 26 2020

Since Wednesday, July 22 American Airlines has been able to apply up to 8 credits from cancelled ticket to a single new ticket purchase.

When you cancel a trip, any residual value is stored alongside your ticket number. The ticket number is what’s used to apply a credit to a new reservation. American’s AACoRN system now lets an agent enter multiple ticket numbers – up to 8 – that have credits attached to them, and apply them all to a booking.

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American Airlines President: Boeing 737 MAX Could Fly Again In December

by Gary Leff

inside plane
Jul 25 2020

I’ve been expecting the Boeing 737 MAX to return to the skies before the end of the year, and it’s looking a bit touch and go whether it’ll re-enter commercial service by then. However American Airlines President Robert Isom told employees of the airline on Thursday that they currently expect the plane to be approved to fly by the FAA in October and back in the air flying for commercial airlines in December.

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Hilton To U.S. Government: Stop Using Our Hotels To House Detained Children At The Border

by Gary Leff

Jul 25 2020

Hilton says that their hotels shouldn’t be used to house children detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, after it was revealed several franchised properties near the U.S.-Mexico border were housing children and their private contractor chaperones prior to deportation. These properties have hosted over 200 bookings of this nature.

Here’s a challenge for you: If you think an airline or hotel chain ought to decide whom they’ll do business with on the basis of their values, wouldn’t you also have to support bakeries choosing to provide wedding cakes only to heterosexual couples if that’s what’s dictated by their values? Or should businesses only make decisions about whom to serve based on your values?

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American Airlines Bringing Back Sandwiches To Domestic First Class

by Gary Leff

Jul 25 2020

With the global pandemic, airlines have looked to cut costs wherever they can, while saying the changes are driven by safety concerns.

Just last weekend I reported that American Airlines, which started giving out fruit and cheese plates in domestic first class on flights over 900 miles, eliminated meals on the longest domestic flights of more than 2200 miles (such as Miami- Seattle) and similar-length international flights. They’ve already done an about face on this plan.

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Inside The Snags United Airlines Hit Trying To Roll Out Its Cleanliness Programs

by Gary Leff

Jul 25 2020

United scored a real marketing coup when they licensed Clorox’s name for their efforts. This week they promised to increase outside airflow during boarding and deplaning. And at the end of next week they’re slated to introduce a new cleaning technology into their cockpits.

However conversations with several airline executives paint a different picture of the airline’s investments. While on Monday CEO Scott Kirby said “I am going to keep encouraging our team to explore and implement new ideas, new technologies, new policies and new procedures that better protect our customers and employees,” I’m told they’ve even let go of the employee driving their cleaning technology projects as part of non-union their layoffs.

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Beirut’s Airport Didn’t Have Enough Electricity For Runway Lights And Very Few Have Reported It

by Gary Leff

Jul 25 2020

Earlier in July a Turkish Airlines flight had to abort a landing attempt because runway lights had gone out due to lack of electricity.

The economy has largely collapsed, and the collapse has happened quickly. Perhaps $100 billion is missing from the banking system and the “Lebanese pound has lost over 60 percent of its value in just the past month.”

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American Airlines Tells Flight Attendants Their Jobs Will Be Miserable If They Stay

by Gary Leff

Jul 25 2020

Consumer demand for travel isn’t going to equal what it was before the Covid pandemic for awhile, so airlines will offer fewer flights and won’t need as many employees. In general airlines have to keep employees based on seniority, but were prefer more junior employees who are paid less. So they’re offering senior employees buy outs to voluntarily separate from their company.

With only 401 American Airlines flight attendants taking these ‘early outs’ so far, they’re trying to convince cabin crew that their work will be harder and less pleasant in the future.

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