Alaska, Frontier, Southwest Add New Routes & Destinations
We missed the memo, but apparently December 16 is route announcement day with Alaska, Frontier, and Southwest all joining the party. Alaska greatly expanded its offerings from Anchorage, Frontier is making it easier for people to lose their hard-earned money in Vegas, and Southwest continues to expand to its route map in California with two new cities.
Alaska is expanding from five nonstop destinations from Anchorage to eight in the lower 48 states, adding service to Denver, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. The three new destinations join five cities previously served from Anchorage: Chicago/O’Hare, Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix (which will go year-round as part of this expansion), and Portland. Service to Las Vegas will operate daily and year-round while Denver and San Francisco will operate daily as seasonal routes from June 17 to August 16.
As for Frontier, the airline is adding six new destinations from its Las Vegas focus city, bringing its total to 44. The new additions include Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta in Mexico with 2x weekly flights beginning at the end of March. El Paso, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, and Wichita will all receive 2x weekly service beginning March 11/12.
Lastly, Southwest announced the addition of two new California cities, planning to begin flying to both Fresno and Santa Barbara by summer 2021. We believe Fresno will declare this a permanent city holiday, because it has been begging for Southwest service since the dawn of time. No destinations from either airport have been announced as of yet.
JetBlue Adds Companion Pass, Lowers Elite Qualifying for 2021
JetBlue Airways announced updates to its TrueBlue program for 2021, including reduced qualifying for Mosaic status and a companion pass that is valid through May.
The companion pass will not work the same as Southwest’s popular option for top elites. JetBlue’s companion pass will be valid for travel booked and flown between January 1 and May 20. Unlike on Southwest, those eligible do not have to name their companion in advance — it can be someone different every time — making it easy to swap out companions after figuring out you never want to travel with someone again. Companion pass bookings must be made over the phone.
JetBlue has also reduced the requirements for new elite member qualification or re-qualification for 2022, as the airline announced months ago that it would extend 2020 status for all elite members through 2021. To qualify for Mosaic status in 2021 for 2022, JetBlue customers only need to earn 7,500 Mosaic Qualifying Points or 6,000 MQP along with 15 paid segments. Despite earlier rumors, the airline will not offer an elite status match to those in the Dunkin’ Donuts DD Perks program.
American Further Complicates its Boarding Process
Effective today, American Airlines will offer prized Group 6 boarding for all economy passengers — including basic economy — who are AAdvantage Program members but without status.
American, which seemingly has dozens of boarding groups, is extending this perk to thank its AAdvantage members for filling out a form on their website 15 years ago their loyalty.
AAdvantage members will now board prior to those in Groups 7, 8, and 9. Groups 7-9 will now consist of passengers who don’t know the rules at TSA checkpoints slowing down the line, passengers who go to the on-board lavatory with their shoes off, and the ones who ask the flight attendant to run down all the drink options during the beverage service.
United to Begin Contact Tracing
United Airlines is partnering with the CDC to introduce contact tracing by collecting contact information to better track the spread of the virus.
Beginning this week, passengers traveling on international flights operated by United to the United States will be asked to voluntarily provide their phone number, email, and an address where they can be reached. The airline plans to extend the program to those flying internationally from the United States and on domestic flights in the coming weeks.
The program gives the CDC the ability to immediately contact passengers in case of potential exposure while onboard a flight. United follows Delta, which became the first airline to partner with the CDC to gather contact information for passengers flying to the United States earlier this week.
Passengers can opt-out of the contact tracing program if they are on the lam from the government or don’t trust United with information the airline likely has anyway.
We’re Back! The New Alitalia To Cut Staff, Aircraft
The new Alitalia, recently purchased by NEWCO, has announced its plans to cut half its 10,000 employees through layoffs and redundancies while eliminating many long-haul routes and half of its aircraft fleet.
The new and still inefficient improved airline is expected to fly just five long-haul routes, choosing to keep what it says are its most profitable legacy routes. This is huge news since it was assumed previously that Alitalia had no idea which routes were profitable, if any. The airline will still fly once-daily to Los Angeles, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, and Tokyo, with twice-daily flights to New York/JFK.
The half of its fleet it plans to keep includes five Embraer 190s, 40 Airbus A319s and A320s, five Boeing 777-200ERs, and one lone 777-300ER. Eventually it plans to double the fleet to 104 by 2026, because it wouldn’t be Alitalia without an ambitious plan to purchase a bunch of aircraft you just rid yourself of owning.
Airline Potpourri
- Air Canada has a new strategic partnership with Qatar Airways as it operated its first flight to Doha from its Toronto/Pearson hub on Tuesday.
- American has issued a travel alert for 37 airports in 13 states as Winter Storm Gail bears down on the East Coast.
- Canadian North (talk about an airline with a redundant name) and Air Greenland are exploring a partnership to expand tourism between Canada and Greenland for residents of both countries who don’t get enough of the cold.
- JetSMART is expanding from its Antofagasta, Chile (ANF) base with two new routes in Columbia: Bogota (BOG) and Cali (CLO), serving both once-weekly.
- Southwest has firmed up its plans with Boeing to take delivery of 35 delayed 737 MAX 8 jets in 2021.
- WestJet is expanding its January flight schedule to include more warm-weather destinations in North America and the Caribbean for Canadians to escape the Canadian winter.
Andrew’s Moment of Levity
What do you call a French guy being mauled by a lion? Claude.