Despite airline requirements, customers continue to flout the rules. And one passenger did so with enough of a flair for the dramatic that his flight actually diverted.
The Department of Transportation fined Spirit Airlines $350,000 for pretending that passengers who were involuntarily denied boarding had volunteered to take later flights, and undercompensating those passengers. The U.S. government found ”a pattern of non-compliance with the compensation scheme” at Spirit.
Spirit referred to involuntary denied boarding “as the “volunteer option”, and customers were forced to sign an “acknowledgement form” stating so.”
So far the Treasury Department has awarded just 16% of the $4 billion in payroll support grants that the CARES Act provided for cargo airlines.
The U.S. Treasury hasn’t reported agreements for payroll support for Federal Express, UPS, or DHL. Instead most of the grants have been to smaller companies.
Compensation may not be gone for good. The airline appears to be surveying what sort of compensation they should be offering. The new options aren’t likely to incur liability on the airline’s books – although they may add crowding to the start of the boarding process, and to the airline’s lounges, at precisely the time when the airline’s best customers will value distancing most.
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Sometimes I depart the U.S. flying an airline that doesn’t participate in PreCheck. And when I do, I still ‘opt out’ of these nude-o-scopes on principle. Maybe I’m the last person that does.
I take a pat down instead of going through the machine. The screener will tell me what to expect, saying to me that they’re going to ‘run their hand up my leg until they meet resistance’ and they’ll ask if I have any sensitive areas. “Only where you meet resistance” I’ve offered, a hundred times. Covid changes all of this.
The Singapore government, Cathay Pacific’s engineering firm, and a wine distributor all got federal CARES Act subsidies. And there’s still $2 billion undistributed.
The novel coronavirus has cast a shadow on the whole world since January, though not everyone realized it until late February or early March. It’s led to a deeper recession than we’ve seen in any of our lifetimes, and one of the industries hit the absolute hardest has been travel.
The good news, though, is that we’re not that far away from a real recovery – in travel and for the world.
When the Treasury Department first reported on airline subsidy payouts under the CARES Act I was shocked to learn that 96 airlines were receiving payroll support grants. Who knew there were 96 airlines?
The Treasury Department wasn’t done yet, and there were still a couple of billion dollars to hand out. This week they updated their report, and they’ve committed $24,157,445,417 out of an appropriated $25 billion in payroll support grants, and funds are going to 287 airlines. Who knew there were 287 airlines?
Republic Airways flies for American Airlines, Delta, and United. The federal government agreed to provide Republic with $206 million in CARES Act payroll subsidies.
Airlines taking these funds can not furlough any employees through September 30. They’ve reportedly done it anyway.
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 »
