At the end of last week American Airlines told its pilots that based on conversations with the FAA and Administrator Stephen Dickson that they “see the finish line, it’s making good progress” bringing the Boeing 737 MAX into service. Their “targeted timeframe… [is] end of October-ish for the ungrounding to occur” for the aircraft. American intends to fly passengers in commercial service with the MAX starting in the second half of December.
According to Vasu Raja, we can expect more point-to-point leisure routes, changes to the airline’s fee structure, and changes to AAdvantage with business travelers gone. The airline is trying to see itself as “more like a $2 billion startup than a $45 billion airline that lost a lot of stuff.”
Speaking to a group of pilots at the end of last week, a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker laid out plans not to cut flights further during the winter this year and to grow the schedule for next year even in advance of passenger demand.
With all of the employees that have taken early retirement, that should mean recalling everyone that’s being furloughed.
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United Airlines is offering free same day standby starting January 1, and eliminating change fees on domestic tickets (including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands but not other territories) effective immediately though this excludes basic economy tickets. A waiver of change fees for basic economy and international ticket purchases is being extended through the end of the year.
All MileagePlus elite members can confirm same day changes at check-in provided the same fare class is available. Currently complimentary same day changes are only available to Gold members and above.
World of Hyatt extended current elite status so that members who qualified last year are able to use the benefits that they earned through 2021. However there’s a hole in Hyatt’s approach: confirmed suite upgrades and free nights for those members – set to expire February 2021 – were not extended. Hyatt says expect to hear something in weeks.
In a meaningful sense U.S. airlines are no longer private businesses, they’re vassals of the state. And that’s not surprising. While the largest carriers have given only a small potential ownership stake to the U.S. government in the form of warrants in exchange for subsidies this year, they’ve been effectively converted from commercial enterprises working to satisfy customers into political creatures working to satisfy “the powers that be,” as American Airlines CEO Doug Parker calls them.
Speaking to a group of American Airlines pilots at the end of last week, a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing, Parker said lobbying in DC is “frankly where I’ve been spending all of my time.”
The argument that food and beverage is key to the Centurion lounge experience, but is hindered by Covid precautions, is a cop out. Far from being another reason to keep lounges closed, fewer passengers makes it easier to deliver individual portions. Airlines and independent lounges are re-opening. American Express needs to speak to a timeline for bringing Centurion lounges back on line.
Last month Hilton came under fire for housing children in the process of being deported by the United States. The chain told hotels they shouldn’t accept these bookings. Now we learn that children were being held in even more Hilton, Marriott, and Choice hotels than we thought.
At least 660 children have been held in hotels enroute to deportation. Most were unaccompanied by parents. According to the government “it cannot allow children to stay in the U.S. due to the coronavirus pandemic.”
This week we learned that Abbott Laboratories received an FDA Emergency Use Authorization for a faster and cheaper Covid-19 test than anything currently on the market.
Fast and cheap testing is one of the ways to bring travel back to normal. It would allow customers to travel with confidence, knowing that those around them are virus-free. And it would allow destinations to open up, knowing that people shedding the virus weren’t entering.
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 »
