News notes from around the interweb:
- I just called out IHG Rewards Club and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan for continuing to expire miles. Now IHG Rewards Club is pausing points expiration through the end of the year. Alaska…?
- Well that was fast – this morning I wrote about problems with how American Airlines flight attendants would be assigned to work the limited number of flights. They didn’t take volunteers, or just give everyone a limited number of hours, junior flight attendants are forced to work the full schedule while more senior flight attendants get full pay not to fly.
There’s now already a petition to recall the flight attendants union officers who have only held their position a little over a week. As I write this over 1500 have signed.
- Potential class action lawsuit against United Airlines for refusing refunds (though after the DOT pressed the issue United now appears to be honoring refunds)
- Using a credit card’s concierge service to find toilet paper
- If You Must Fly, Please Thank Your Cabin Crew (From A Distance). A flight attendant reader shared this note a passenger had given to her after a recent flight.
- Only one Singapore Airlines lounge remains open in the world it’s Changi airport terminal 3, with reduced service.
- Government-backed Royal Air Maroc has temporarily shut down – but pilots are resisting any reduction in their pay.
- Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles has extended everyone’s status by 6 months (they aren’t on a calendar year qualification system). They’ve extended upgrade certificates by 6 months as well, and doubled the purchase limits for buying status miles.
- Etihad is testing tech to identify potentially sick travelers.
[T]he technology, which can monitor the temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate of any person using a check-in or information kiosk, a bag drop facility, a security point or immigration gate.
In a statement released today, Etihad explained that the Elenium Automation system will automatically suspend the self-service check-in or bag drop process if a passenger’s vital signs indicate potential symptoms of illness. It will then divert to a teleconference or alert qualified staff on site, who can make further assessments and manage travelers as appropriate.
Etihad said it will initially trial the monitoring technology at its hub airport in Abu Dhabi at the end of April and throughout May 2020, initially with a range of volunteers, and, as flights resume, outbound passengers.
You go AA FA’s get rid of these leader who don’t know the first thing about leadership, pulling and working together. Their 15 minutes of fame is about up! RISE UP AA!
What flight attendants (and all airline employees) should appreciate is the taxpayers paying for them to not work and/or to not be laid off. The 10M who lost their job the last few weeks wish they were so special.
I so miss the disdain and curt attitude of almost every international AA FA I’ve traveled beneath for the last ten years. They worked so hard for 90 minutes out of 8 hours. It is sad that I cannot fly on their planes and receive the cold belligerent treatment I so much deserve because we all know I am not worthy to have them as my waters and waitresses in the sky. I so miss the absolute disgust with which they did their jobs and they did so with almost measurable delta over their compares working at Outback.
@wr2
if you were paying attention rather just ranting you’d recognize that unemployment benefits have been raised an additional $600/week for all workers for up to 6 months to something close to a max of $900-1000/week and there is $350 billion available for small businesses to subsidize payrolls, rent, etc. So, not just the airlines.
@FMM – yep everyone is sucking from the government teet! Frankly I hate to see these type of handouts since many people get more NOT working than when they worked. My only hope is their layoff is permanent, they get used to this very short term boost in unemployment and then really have to tighten the belt when it goes away (as it will). Once businesses start opening back up (and there are already plans in place in most states to start this process at the appropriate time) anyone still unemployed (and there will be millions) can’t look to the government for additional handouts since the economy will be moving forward again (without those people) and handouts will be a thing of the past.