Barry Michaels has been trying to start an airline for 30 years. The idea all along has been the same: fly Boeing 747s domestically with cheap fares. He used to call the idea “Family Airlines.” And he even went to prison for tax and securities fraud in connection with raising money for the venture.
It’s now called Avatar Airlines, and they’ve sent out a press release ‘planning’ a billion dollar valuation – without even flying!
American Airlines stock went on a speculative tear as investors guessed that the Reddit ‘Wall Street Bets’ forum might turn their attention to the heavily-shorted airline stock after the GameStop play ends, or even sooner.
But the GameStop play is unique, a short squeeze like nothing we’ve seen since Volkswagen in 2008. It isn’t something that happens every day, at the drop of a hat, because a collective hedge fund on Reddit decides a stock is the next meme.
A man lost a bet and had to go to the airport and fly home dressed up as Ronald McDonald. And naturally there’s video of the whole thing. It all starts applying makeup at a Party City store and then heading off. Everything is going great until airport security.
The TSA was a real spoil sport here. They wouldn’t let him through security without taking his makeup off, ostensibly because they needed to match his face to his ID. He left and then returned looking defeated. Although actually proceeding through the TSA nude-o-scope as a well-masked fast food icon was well worth the effort.
I warned you this would happen, but you supported a federal mask mandate anyway. Airlines already required mask-wearing on planes. I told you that if the federal government got involved this would mean fewer options for travels, and less mask-wearing overall. Guess which one of us was right?
Late Friday night the CDC issued its rule for mask-wearing on public transportation and airlines following the President’s executive order asking them to do so….
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
In December Congress passed a $15 billion airline payroll bailout, requiring airlines to bring furloughed employees back to work and pay everyone December 1 through March 31, 2021. Per furloughed worker this was the most expensive jobs program in history (at over $1.1 million annualized per job) and American says it’s only spending 10% of the $3 billion it received on furloughed workers.
American’s flight attendants union says it was told to prepare for a new round of WARN Act notices, so we may be starting layoffs all over again – and they along with another union are asking the government for a third airline bailout. Maybe this time most of the money won’t go to shareholders and creditors instead of workers.
With the Biden administration considering a Covid-19 testing requirement not just for international arrivals but now even for domestic flights, new types of tests with the greatest accuracy take on a new urgency. In China scientists believe their new anal swab test may be most accurate.
Twenty passengers headed to Hawaii were kicked off a flight by American Airlines on Sunday. Ten adults and ten children (ages 3 to 13) were on board a Salt Lake City to Dallas Fort-Worth flight when, they say, a gate agent flagged one of them for inadvertently letting their face mask fall beneath their nose.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
American Airlines seems to be gearing up for another run at is single most profitable investment: lobbying in Washington DC. They haven’t been formally engaged by the government over domestic Covid testing requirements, suggesting such a plan may be farther off or less real than some have speculated. And they continue to bring on a lot of new aircraft, seeing that as effectively costless because of cheap financing.
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 »
