Update for fair-skinned readers of Cranky Daily: Yesterday we reported that the TSA would now allow full-sized bottles of sunscreen through TSA checkpoints. The TSA has since retracted that, stating that this was listed by mistake and has since been removed from the TSA’s website. So remember to check your sunscreen or buy it at the gift shop at the hotel for 3x retail price.
Frontier’s Newest Frontier is the Last Frontier
Frontier Airlines seemingly can’t add new destinations and routes fast enough, as the airline today announced eight new routes and four new cities would join its summer route map. Service begins in June, assuming Frontier doesn’t change its mind again before then.
Leading the way will be flights to Anchorage (ANC), an airport last served by Frontier in 2014. Anchorage (2x weekly) will be one of four new routes from Frontier’s Denver hub, joining Durango, CO (DRO) with 4x weekly service and 3x weekly flights to both Grand Junction, CO (GJT) and Kalispell MT (FCA). All four of those cities are new dots on Frontier’s destination map, with Durango last having been served by Frontier in 2015, Grand Junction in 2009, and Kalispell having never been served by the airline.
Other new routes for Frontier include two new ones from Dallas/Ft Worth: Ontario, CA (4x weekly) beginning June 11 and Salt Lake City (3x weekly) beginning June 10. Chicago/O’Hare to Salt Lake City will also begin June 10 and be operated 3x weekly with Las Vegas seeing new twice-weekly service to Durango beginning June 11.
COVID Refunds Finally Coming from Air Canada
After some passengers have waited more than a year for their COVID refunds, Air Canada is finally planning to pay out the money owed to its customers thanks to a C$5.8 billion bailout package from the Canadian government. This was the second attempt at a bailout for the airline after negotiations broke down last fall over a similar aid package.
Of the money headed Air Canada’s way, C$1.4 billion of it is dedicated to customer refunds from flights cancelled due to the pandemic. The airline had held onto customers’ money, instead offering future flight credits, NHL.tv subscriptions, and Tim Horton’s gift cards instead of refunds. This was particularly shocking for US-based travelers since the US said that holding back on refunds was against US rules, but Air Canada did not budge.
This funding comes via Canada’s Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility (LEEFF) program which provides liquidity to businesses that would be to the benefit of Canadian taxpayers to keep the Canadian economy afloat.
Similar to the CARES Act funding for airlines in the United States, AC had to agree to resume service to “nearly all regional communities where service was suspended because of COVID-19’s impact on travel” as part of the deal. Employment also must be maintained at or above the level from April 1 of this year.
Southwest Recalls All Flight Attendants
Southwest is recalling all 2,700 flight attendants who took voluntary leave last summer to help the airline stay afloat financially at the height of the pandemic.
The 2,700 flight attendants, along with 209 pilots, will return to work on June 1 and are being urged to spend the next six weeks working on their comic material for PA announcements. With the announcement, improv troupes, comedy clubs, and piano bars have seen an immediate downtick in their numbers.
Despite recalling all of its flight attendants, the airline still has about 850 pilots on voluntarily leave who haven’t been recalled. The airline is still losing money on a daily basis, but its cash burn is dramatically lower than it was a year ago. As it continues to see a major rise in bookings for the summer, it is positioning itself to cater to demand that is rising along with the summer temps across the country.
JetBlue and Qatar Expand Partnership
No airline seems to date around more than JetBlue lately, and today is no exception as the airline added to its partnership with Qatar Airways, expanding codesharing and improving reciprocal point earning opportunities for loyalty program members. Qatar is a member of oneworld and partner of JetBlue’s best buddy American.
With the expanded codesharing, several Qatar itineraries are bookable wholly on JetBlue.com for travel beginning next week. These flights from all nine of Qatar’s U.S. destinations to Doha will include the B6 flight code for those who want to book directly with JetBlue because they find the blue hues of the website calming. JetBlue’s code will also be placed on flights from Doha to seven worldwide destinations providing further connectivity for JetBlue passengers.
Later this year, the two will combine to offer reciprocal points earning, something that has not previously been part of the partnership. Sometime in the future, they will also allow points redemptions on the other airline, but are not committing to a timeline on when that will be intregrated.
United Turns to Trash to Form Eco-Skies Alliance
United Airlines unveiled a plan today to partner with dozens of major corporations around the world to finance low-carbon sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) that comes from recycling trash. It expects its efforts to create about 3.4 million gallons of fuel this year, a literal drop in the bucket compared to the 4.3 billion gallons of fuel the airline used in 2019.
The new program is a part of United’s focused efforts to become 100% green by 2050 by eliminating its greenhouse gas emissions. The airline has made the decision that while it will never operate 100% of its flights on-time, this goal might distract people from noticing.
While these worldwide corporations and have agreed to partner with United in its efforts, the airline itself plans to lead the way for contribution of cost and trash needed for the project. United expects to send all uneaten meals in Polaris to be converted into fuel which, with its level of catering, is expected to be all of them.
The airline has also found a new way to charge customers, offering passengers the ability to purchase sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), with it perhaps only being a matter of time until United adds a SAF surcharge on all tickets.
Airline Potpourri
- Air France-KLM and China Eastern have extended their partnership and added two new flights — Paris/CDG-Beijing and Amsterdam-Beijing — to their joint venture.
- Binter Canarias is adding five new destinations in France and Italy from its Gran Canaria hub (LPA) this July.
- Cathay Pacific is moving towards the year 2015 as it eliminates physical membership cards, instead offering digital versions in its app.
- Eastar Jet’s founder has a warrant out for his arrest in Korea for embezzlement. Rival airline WestJet had no comment.
- Norwegian Air’s restructuring was approved in an Oslo bankruptcy court. The approval was fully expected as Norwegian’s lawyers and the bankruptcy judge have worked together dozens of times in the past, and both parties know that Norwegian will be back in bankruptcy sooner rather than later.
- Qantas will reopen its flagship international first class lounges on April 19 when the Tasman travel bubble officially opens.
- Sky Cana has begun passenger charter flights in the Dominican Republic.
- Southern Airways Express secured a two-year EAS contract at Chadron, Nebraska (CDR).
Andrew’s Moment of Levity
I was walking on the beach this morning when I heard a guy surrounded by a bunch of sharks yell “Help!”
All I could do was shake my head at him and laugh — those sharks weren’t going to help him.