Delta to Test Pre-Flight Fever Scanning at LAX
1 Delta Air Lines will begin a program today, August 11, in which it will take the temperature of passengers prior to boarding flights at Terminal 2 at LAX.
Passengers who fail two temperature checks — by coming in above 100.4 degrees — will be denied boarding. Those passengers will be offered the option to reschedule their trip or receive a refund. It is believed passengers can also trade 10,000 Skymiles per 1/10 of a degree to get their temperature reading down if needed.
Delta’s test program at LAX makes it the first large network U.S. airline to screen temperatures of its passengers following Frontier, which has been testing throughout its network for several weeks now. Despite not being prevalent in the U.S. yet, thermal temperature scanning has become commonplace around the world including on Air Canada, Air France, Emirates, and Singapore.
Aeroplan Comes Home
2 Air Canada released the details of the revamped Aeroplan program today, reorienting the program to drive more volume to Air Canada itself, for both earning miles and burning them.
Most of the changes are being views as consumer-friendly which is unusual enough in today’s climate. Aeroplan is retaining the use of award charts, a concept that has been going away for several years on our side of the border. Air Canada is making it cheaper for customers to burn their miles for flights on AC metal, as opposed to other Star Alliance partners.
Other positive changes include award discounts for AC elites, family sharing of points, and stopovers for only 5,000 points more.
Current Aeroplan account holders will see their accounts transition to the new Aeroplan on November 8. For those who can’t wait, just know that hockey playoffs start today, so that should keep you busy until then.
United Adds Five New Routes
3 United Airlines is planning to launch five new domestic routes this fall despite the airline planning to shrink to 50% of its size from a year ago. Included in the new routes are two destinations: mega travel hubs Abilene, TX (ABI) and Alamosa, CO (ALS).
Three new routes will debut from its hub in Denver — Alamosa, Rochester, MN (RST), and Sioux City, IA (SUX). Houston/Bush will see two new routes: Abilene and Chattanooga, TN (CHA).
All five new routes will all be flown by SkyWest on 50-seat CRJ200s. Alamosa’s new flight is subsidized by the federal government’s essential air service program, while the Sioux City route is supported by local funds. The chairman of the Sioux City city council was frustrated at the lack of stroopwaffels available in the city, and felt that subsidizing UA service from Houston would be the most cost-effective way to enjoy their sweet & salty goodness.
For more on this story and other fall schedule updates visit crankyflier.com.
American Extends Travel Waiver
4 American Airlines extended the validity of its current travel waiver to cover travel booked by September 30 that takes place by December 31. Previously it was only for travel through September 30. Now you can get those Thanksgiving and Christmas bookings done on the off chance that we can actually gather this year.
The airline will allow itineraries the one change without a fee, but a fare difference might apply. American’s move comes one day after it also extended the validity of miles in AAdvantage accounts through December 31 as well.
Canada to Require Doctors Note for Mask Exemptions
5 Transport Canada, in an effort to reduce the number of Canadian air passengers not traveling with a mask, now requires an official doctor’s note in order to be able to fly without wearing a mask.
Canada has been requiring masks of air travelers since April 20 and is now addressing those that choose not to wear them for medical reasons. To be exempt, a passenger must provide a doctors note that:
- has been issued by a medical professional.
- is on official letterhead.
- is dated.
- clearly states the passenger’s name and that they have a medical condition that prevents them from wearing a mask.
In other unrelated news, several Canadian doctors are advertising online that they will offer official mask exemption letters in exchange for Tim Horton’s gift cards.
Airline Potpourri
- airBaltic is resuming twice weekly service from its Riga hub to Budapest.
- Alaska will be expanding its codeshare with American, adding its AS code on 60 additional routes.
- Copa now plans to resume flights in September. Suuure it does.
- Kenya Airways is resuming service to Guangzhou on October 25 via Bangkok.
- LOT is restarting flights on its oddball Vilnius (VNO) to London/City (LCY) route.
- Qatar will double its service to New York/JFK on September 1, moving from once-daily to twice-daily flights. It will resume flights to Houston/Bush on September 2 and Philadelphia on September 15. The airline will also be requiring a negative PCR test when traveling to or from: Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Iran, Iraq, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, and Sri Lanka.
- Thai Air Asia is returning to Bangkok/Suvarnabhumi after an absence of eight years, starting four routes from the airport.
Andrew’s Moment of Levity
Before the pandemic, my co-workers used to say that I was very indecisive. Since I’ve been home so long, now I’m not so sure.