June 2, 2020

Southwest Reveals Rich Buyout Program Details

1 Southwest announced two weeks ago that it would be offering an early retirement and buyout program for many of its employees and said it would provide details in the near future. The future is now. Southwest has revealed its offer to employees in an internal memo.

The offerings from Southwest are the most generous seen so far from U.S carriers. Employees can take leave for periods of time ranging from six to 18 months while continuing to receive 50% pay and their benefits. (Pilots can take up to five years’ at 55 hours a month pay.)

If a buyout is more your fancy, employees are being offered an option to take a lump sum based on their years of service with the airline. Employees with Southwest for four years or less receive a month’s pay per year with Southwest. At five to nine years of seniority, it’s an offer of six months’ pay. And for those with 10+ years with Southwest, the offer is for one year’s pay. In addition Southwest is offering a full year’s worth of benefits & four years of standby travel. The four years of standby travel come with unlimited first class upgrades when traveling on Southwest metal, as available.


American Extends Change Fee Waiver Beyond September – Unless You Book Basic Economy

2 American amended its own change fee waiver on Tuesday — bowing to pressure to conform with other airline policies by announcing that it would allow customers a fee-free change to (almost) any booking made by June 30 regardless of travel date. Previously, the waiver only applied to bookings made by June 30 for travel to be completed by September 30.

With this change, all AA itineraries can be changed without a fee if originally booked by June 30 — provided the ticket is not booked in basic economy. AA carved out that exception to its rule, keeping its customers purchasing basic economy locked into their current flight and not eligible for the waiver unless they travel before September 30.

If travelers did not shamefully purchase basic economy, in addition to changing the date or time of flights, changes to origin and destination are also allowed. Despite the change fee being waived, a fare difference may apply. The change fee waiver also applies to AAdvantage tickets.


Cathay Pacific Adds Frequencies and Destinations as Hong Kong Extends Visitor Ban

3 Cathay Pacific released an updated long-haul schedule through the end of July and it includes upgraded frequency on several routes along with the addition of new destinations back into the network. This comes, however, in the shadow of Hong Kong extending its visitor ban for another three months, until late September. The ban was originally supposed to expire this month, but has been pushed back yet again.

With passengers in transit through Hong Kong starting to be allowed back, Cathay will look to those transiting to help fill its airplanes until the visitor ban is lifted. Transit passengers are limited to connections of eight hours or less and cannot be connecting to or from mainland China.

Cathay Pacific will serve 11 destinations from Hong Kong by the end of July. North American routes will include: Los Angeles (upgraded to 1x daily on July 15), New York/JFK (3x weekly), San Francisco (upgraded to 4x weekly on July 18), Toronto/Pearson (3x weekly) and Vancouver (1x daily).


American Airlines Drops Oakland Service Permanently

4 Airlines may not have much latitude in their ability to drop cities from their networks due to CARES Act rules, but American has found a way to do it at one airport. American has announced that it will no longer serve Oakland International Airport (OAK) after AA2964 departs for Phoenix tomorrow, June 3, at 12:41pm PT.

CARES Act rules require airlines to maintain service to metro areas, not airports. With American continuing service to San Francisco (SFO) — not to mention San Jose (SJC), Sacramento (SMF), and Santa Rosa (STS) — it is free to walk away from Oakland if it so chooses. And so it has chosen.

Passengers holding tickets to or from Oakland on AA beyond Wednesday have the option of changing to another Bay Area airport for free or obtaining a refund and buying a ticket on Southwest, which is close to becoming the only game left in town.

The loss of AA service at OAK is compounded by JetBlue making the decision to leave the airport in March and Norwegian deciding to consolidate its Bay Area ops at SFO. United stopped serving OAK in 2012. Unless you count Alaska and Hawaiian, American’s departure leaves Delta as the lone remaining legacy carrier at the airport. Delta tentatively plans to resume service to both Salt Lake City and Atlanta on September 1.


The Bright Side: JetBlue’s New Bookings Surpass Cancellations; TSA Numbers Reach New High

5 Another entry into the “things we never thought we’d say before the virus outbreak” file, JetBlue on Monday had more new bookings than cancellations for the first time since the virus outbreak sent U.S. air travel into a near standstill in March. So… congratulations?

In addition to JetBlue passing a significant barrier, the number of passengers screened through TSA checkpoints continues to climb upward. Monday’s total of 353,261 was about 300 more than Sunday, with both numbers being the highest since March 22.


Airline Potpourri

  • Airlink will resume domestic South African operations next week serving both Cape Town (CPT) and Durban (DUR) from Johannesburg (JNB) filling a a void since South African has been unable to get its act together.
  • ANA is resuming service to San Francisco today and will serve the airport with 3x weekly service to Tokyo/Narita (NRT)
  • El Al‘s negotiation to receive aid from the Israeli government has hit a snag as its pilots are insisting on a 25% stake in the airline.
  • Korean Air filed its updated long-haul schedule for July and August. The airline will resume service to Dallas/Ft Worth and Vienna with 3x weekly service on July 1.
  • South African is looking to return 19 of its 40 dry-leased aircraft.
  • Virgin Australia‘s final two bidders have been selected by Deloitte and they are: (drum roll please…) Bain Capital and Cyrus Capital Partners — both US private investment firms.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

I was hit in the head with a soda can leaving my house today. Luckily it was a soft drink.