July 30, 2020

17,000 Delta Employees Take Early Retirement or Unpaid Leave

1 Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said in a memo to employees on Thursday that 17,000 staff have accepted an offer for unpaid leave or early retirement. According to the memo, the average tenure at the airline of the 17,000 employees is 25 years, including one employee who’s been with the company 62 years — he or she is the only person to work at Delta long enough to remember when SkyMiles actually had value.

Delta, along with every other U.S. airline, is prohibited from furloughing or laying off employees involuntarily until October 1, but as that date fast approaches, airlines are offering incentivized packages for employees to leave before that date. Delta has already WARNed more than 2,500 of its 14,000 pilots about potential furloughs with further reductions expected throughout the company, both above and below the wing.


Delta Extends Change Fee Waiver, Makes Domestic Refunds Harder

2 It’s a busy news day for Delta, as the airline also announced an extension of its change fee waiver for another month. Delta customers can book travel through August 31, provided the travel is to begin by July 27, 2021.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that Delta will now only allow refunds on domestic itineraries when a schedule change is 120 minutes or greater. Previously it was only a 90-minute change that would trigger a refund. International itineraries will continue to be eligible for a refund after a 90-minute change for some unknown reason. Got it? There will be a quiz after fourth period tomorrow.


United Pilots Brace for More Furloughs

3 United Airlines Senior Vice President for Flight Operations Bryan Quigley told pilots in an internal memo Thursday that the airline may be forced to furlough more pilots than originally thought. 2,250 UA pilots received WARN Act notices early this month, but the airline now believe it may need to furlough up to 3,900 — a third of its workforce.

Whether United is serious about the 3,900 figure or it is posturing to receive more federal aid — or a better deal from the union — remains to be seen, but the reality is setting in for airlines that the road to economic recovery is going to be long and unpleasant.

In a move designed to stave off involuntary furloughs, the airline has again extended its deadline for staff to take advantage of unpaid leave and early buyouts through early August. We’re guessing this will remain on the table until the day furloughs are done.


Alaska to Add Six New Routes on West Coast

4 How about some good news? In addition to its recently-announced LAX increases, Alaska Airlines says it will add six new routes to its West Coast operation in the coming weeks and months. The airline will go head-to-head with Southwest on one route and with United on two.

From San Diego, Alaska will inaugurate daily service to Missoula, MT (MSO) on March 11. The airline will launch two new routes from San Francisco, both competing with United: 2x daily to Boise and once daily to Missoula.

Lastly, Alaska will begin three new routes from the South Bay in San Jose, flying daily to Missoula and Redmond/Bend, OR (RDM) on March 11, and it will compete with Southwest on once-daily service to Spokane (GEG).


Text United to See How Clean Your Plane is… If You’re Really Bored

5 File this one under “good job, good effort.” United Airlines introduced an option to text the airline (robot operators are standing by) in order to receive automated responses with regards to cleaning and safety procedures in airports and aboard their aircraft.

The United Automated Assistant answers customers questions like:

  • How is United keeping airports cleaner and safer?
  • Are United Club locations still open?
  • How can I prepare for an upcoming trip?
  • What is the quality of the air onboard a plane?

The United Automated Assistant does not answers customers questions like:

  • Why was my flight from Chicago to Los Angeles in 2014 delayed for 3 hours? I missed happy hour because of it.
  • How’s that flight from Newark to Columbia doing?
  • Does Dr. Dao still fly United?
  • Do you prefer flying Delta and why?

Happy texting!


Airline Potpourri

  • British Airways is delaying resuming its short-haul operation out of London/Gatwick until November 9.
  • Cabo Verde Airlines secured a $16 million government loan.
  • JetSMART, a Chilean ULCC is considering expanding into Uruguay.
  • Korean is resuming service to Tianjin (TSN) in northeast China with bi-weekly service in August, and then weekly service in September.
  • Sky Mali, which is expected to have an array of on-board duty free options, plans to launch operation from its Bamako (BKO) hub to four cities in Mali. Seriously.
  • Singapore posted a loss of $726 million in its financial report released this week.
  • Volotea secured a syndicated €150 loan with eight Spanish banks.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

I got a great deal on a new golf umbrella last week, but I’m really struggling to hit the ball with it.