The 11 Countries That Have Brought Back The Most Domestic Flying

by Gary Leff

Jul 16 2020

Vietnam, with its borders still closed to the world, actually has more domestic flying scheduled now than they had a year ago. Vietnam is one of the countries that did the best battling COVID-19, despite sharing a land border with China. They haven’t had a single death.

China, too, has brought back substantial flying – and is at nearly 85% of the domestic seat capacity that it was a year ago. That may not be all driven by demand, but by a mandate to keep workers employed and the economy moving even when flights aren’t full.

The U.S. is actually only 11th in bringing back domestic flying capacity.

Continue Reading »

The Bahamas Testing Requirement For Americans Is Covid Security Theater

by Gary Leff

Jul 16 2020

The Bahamas is trumpeting their re-opening plan to welcome tourists. Americans can visit with a negative Covid-19 PCR test and filling out a health screening.

The Covid-19 test just has to be within 10 days of travel. That’s convenient given how backed up testing is in the U.S. But it’s also useless – in fact a positive test that’s 10 days old might be better!

Continue Reading »

American Airlines And JetBlue Launching Northeast Partnership

by Gary Leff

jfk art
Jul 16 2020

This new American Airlines-JetBlue partnership paints a path forward for American Airlines to grow and compete in New York, one of the key elements that has been missing from its strategy, including from its co-brand credit card strategy. It has the potential to make American Airlines more relevant to cardmembers in the financially-important New York market, just as the Alaska Airlines partnership can help in the Bay Area and Seattle where tech money is significant. Whether or not this succeeds comes down to execution and whether the partnerships grow to their potential.

Continue Reading »

American Airlines Will Now Show Your Flight’s Upgrade List 12 Hours In Advance

by Gary Leff

flight info
Jul 16 2020

Frequent flyers know the feeling of waiting for a ‘battlefield promotion’ at the gate. We have our elite status and upgrade requested, and we’re hovering waiting to see what our chances are.

Now you don’t have to wait until four hours prior to flight to begin refreshing the upgrade list obsessively in the American Airlines mobile app because it now shows your flight’s upgrade list 12 hours prior to departure.

Continue Reading »

American Airlines Sent 24,285 WARN Act Notices Today – Who’s Getting Them, What’s Being Offered

by Gary Leff

Jul 15 2020

American Airlines told employees today that revenue was down 80% in June and they believe that’s “better than others in the industry.” And they shared that “demand for air travel is slowing again.” As a result they have to be prepared to slim down staff once government payroll subsidies run out October 1.

They believe they will have 20,000 too many employees at that point, but they’re sending out 24,248 notices of potential job loss. Here how the notices break down by work group, and what (more senior and expensive) employees are being offered as an alternative to leave voluntarily.

Continue Reading »

Passengers Attack 3 Gate Agents When Spirit Airlines Flight Is Delayed

by Gary Leff

Jul 15 2020

Three Spirit Airlines passengers were arrested for attacking three of the carrier’s employees during a delay of Spirit flight WN1004 from Fort Lauderdale to Philadelphia on Tuesday. The employees all “suffered minor injuries” after the three passengers in the gate area hit staff with “phones, shoes, full water bottles, metal boarding signs and fast food.”

The employees “were also punched and kicked in different sections of their bodies numerous times” according to Sheriff’s department arrest documents. Here’s video of it all going down:

Continue Reading »

American Airlines Re-Opening More Admirals Clubs

by Gary Leff

Jul 15 2020

On June 22 American Airlines opened 11 Admirals Club and 13 Service Centers where club members can get help with their travel itineraries. Now they’re re-opening 4 additional clubs, including one that was just a service center previously. All re-opened clubs are at American Airlines hubs, while service centers are now strictly at outstations.

Continue Reading »