Tag Archives for coronavirus.
Flights have diverted when passengers spent too long in the lavatory, or left their electronic devices behind there. But passengers don’t usually spend the bulk of the flight inside except when airlines take off with more passegners than seats.
One woman though spent 5 hours in the lavatory of her Icelandair flight because she tested herself for Covid while in the air, found she was positive, and was determined not to expose other passengers to the virus.
American Airlines flight AA2578 from San Diego to Miami last night appears to be just the sort of flight that I had in mind, where a flight attendant went to lengths to try to show up – as incentivized by premium holiday pay – even when they were too sick to fly.
I’m told that one of the flight attendants was sick but went to the airport anyway, intending to fly, but called in sick once they’d arrived. There’s a second hand suggestion that the crewmember had Covid symptoms, but this isn’t necessary for the point. The flight wound up cancelling and the remaining crew – two pilots and three flight attendants – operated the aircraft to Miami without passengers as American Airlines AA9782.
I continue to travel, and I continue to make travel plans. But I’m doing the best I can to use miles whenever possible, and book cancellable itineraries. The next couple of months couple be touch and go. I’m not making a prediction of what happens, but I live my life on probabilities and make the best decisions I can given the knowledge I have at the moment. And right now I’m giving myself as much optionality as possible.
What I’m really saying is that many people seemed to have calmed after the initial scare over Thanksgiving about the Omicron variant, and I don’t think we’re really internalizing what the next couple of months could (not will) look like.
The World Health Organization recommends those over 60 or with comorbidities postpone travel due to the Omicron variant of the virus. Many people are reconsidering travel, though United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby says he expects bookings won’t fall as much as they did from the Delta variant.
It goes almost without saying that the advice is different for someone who is immunocompromised and may be less protected by vaccines and less able to mount an immune response to the virus. However for most of us the right answer isn’t postponing travel, it’s boosters.
While we’ve seen virus variants, we haven’t seen rapid mutation that escapes immunity and also involves greater fitness – so that the virus spreads faster and in vaccinated and previously infected populations.
This variant has multiple spike protein mutations that could help it become more transmissible and also evade immunity. Whether this variant becomes dominant or not, it’s suggestive that there are more mutations in the virus that are possible – countering prevailing wisdom that significant mutation wouldn’t be possible while continuing to infect humans.
The European Union wants member countries to require boosters for entry proposing that vaccination be considered valid for 9 months from last shot. Each country sets its own rules but bloc-wide guidance is influential.
Does that mean we’ll need to keep getting vaccinated in order to travel? No, it actually doesn’t mean that.
Telling vaccinated and boosted people under 50 not to go to Europe is wasting credibility. We have failure of elites in this country, and that’s a shame, because we wind up with people who see themselves as sticking it to those elites when it really matters, on issues like vaccines.
The American Airlines flight attendants union is telling employees that unlike United, American will offer a way for those who obtain a religious or medical exemption to vaccination to continue working.
A Delta Air Lines flight attendant brought out the yellow flexcuffs to subdue a passenger who brought her own microphone on board in order to rant at the cabin about the origin of Covid-19.
Another crewmember insisted she sit down but the woman ignores this and unleashes her thoughts on unwilling seatmates. That flight attendant managed to handle the situation with help from a passenger and so no zip ties were actually used. During the dispute the passenger with the mic says “I don’t need to be cuffed” “I’m completely harmless” and “I’m not terrible to look at.”
Several airlines have notified employees that the federal government will require to be vaccinated with no alternative for regular tests instead. That’s because the Biden administration has decided to treat airlines as federal contractors, and subject to their order that government contractors must have 100% vaccination among employees, rather than companies with 200+ employees under a pending OSHA rule.
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 »
