Author: Andrew Bashuk

Baseball and Airports: Atlanta Says “We’re #1!”

After a pandemic-related drop in 2020, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport regained its spot as the world’s busiest airport during 2021.

ATL had been the world’s busiest airport for 22 consecutive years until topped by Guangzhou (CAN) in 2020. Atlanta handled a total of 75.7 million passengers in 2021, 75 million of which were changing planes on Delta and crowding the Plane Train, keeping you from making your tight connection. Dallas/Ft. Worth was a distant second with 62.5 million while Denver ranked third with 58.8 million passengers last year.

Other big jumps included Charlotte, Orlando, and Las Vegas all shooting from outside the top 30 pre-pandemic to the top ten in 2021. LAS came in at 10^th, with Orlando 7^th, and Charlotte 6^th. Eight of the top ten airports by passenger traffic are in the United States, and the number could have been higher if Newark’s totals had been included – but U.S. officials were embarrassed to confirm the airport was U.S.-based, choosing to leave it off its reporting for the year.

EC 261 Protection Now Extends to U.S. Connections

EC 261 has always protected passengers when traveling to or from Europe, in addition to internal flights within the bloc. But a new ruling extends the protection to domestic flights within the United States and other countries, when issued as a single reservation operated on behalf of an EU carrier.

The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on behalf of three passengers who sought compensation from United after a four-hour delay on the Newark-San Jose portion of their journey from Brussels to SJC via EWR. The court initially dismissed the case thinking it was just someone seeking compensation for having to transit in Newark but revisited the suit upon further examination.

Each passenger was awarded the maximum compensation allowed, €650 in the suit and given guarantees United would never force them to connect in Newark again.

United Delays Return of B777s Until May

United Airlines further delayed the return of its Pratt & Whitney-powered B777s to at least May 13 after previously planning for some of the jets to re-enter service this month.

The carrier took its P&W-powered B777s out of service early last year after an engine failed shortly after takeoff on a UA Flight 328 from Denver to Honolulu. There was light property damage on the ground near DEN from falling debris from the aircraft, but the plane landed 24 minutes after it took off with no injuries to people onboard or on the ground.

United currently has 52 B777s — and dozens of network planners who are losing their minds — affected by the grounding.

• American is bringing back espresso in first class.
• China Airlines — which is Taiwanese — is changing the livery on its cargo aircraft to appease the Chinese government.
• Condor is adding nonstop service from Frankfurt to New York/JFK, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
• JetBlue denies that it operated a flight to the DR without a working lavatory. The carrier says the smell passengers experienced was AA Basic Economy passengers that connected to the flight in Boston.
• Qantas is delaying its return to Hong Kong.
• Qatar is introducing new, paint-free menus for its North American flights.
• Royal Air Maroc is celebrating two years in oneworld. The traditional gift for second anniversaries is cotton.
• Ryanair carried 11.2 passengers in March, a new record for the airline in the month.
• SAS Link received its first aircraft last week and began commercial operations on Sunday.

I always keep a guitar in my car. It’s good for traffic jams.

Spirit Stops Sending JetBlue’s Calls to Voicemail

Spirit will begin formal discussions with JetBlue with regards to the takeover bid that JetBlue proposed earlier this week. Spirit is still under a merger agreement with Frontier, but a clause in that agreement gives Spirit the right to explore a “superior proposal.”

JetBlue’s all-cash offer of $33 per share plus unlimited Dunkin’ coffee for all Spirit employees for a year is significantly more than Frontier’s offer that Spirit conditionally accepted earlier this year. If the board of directors didn’t explore this opportunity, shareholders would probably contact their lawyers, so this is just standard process at this point.

Spirit remains bound to the terms of its agreement with Frontier for now, but only as long as Frontier makes its merger maintenance fee payments of $13 per month to JetBlue.

Alaska to Scale Back Schedule Through June

Alaska Airlines will reduce the number of flights it operates through the end of June by about 2% to build more slack in its system to account for operational struggles.

The carrier was forced to cancel 42 flights out of its Seattle base on Thursday due to a pilot shortage, as part of a week that’s seen cancelations up and down its system. Alaska apologized to customers for its struggles, blaming it on both staffing shortages and its new partnership with Air Tahiti Nui as most members of its executive team have been on vacation in Tahiti since the announcement.

Alaska will graduate more than 30 new pilots this month with more to come next month. The carrier says it has not rushed the pilots into full-time positions, but it is advertising for shuttle bus drivers to help get some of the new hires to and from the airport because they aren’t yet old enough to have their driver licenses.

JetBlue Offers FAs a Bag of Unmarked Bills

JetBlue Airways is offering $1,000 bonuses to flight attendants who do not call out from any shifts between April 8 and May 31. The carrier is likely hoping not too many FAs take advantage of the offer, as its cash reserves have to be hurting since it offered nearly $4 billion to purchase Spirit earlier in the week.

JetBlue’s head of customer care and programs Ed Baklor told CNBC the carrier’s staffing levels are still not where they need to be.

Flight attendants will also be eligible for $100 bonuses when picking up open trips, with a 30x-hazard pay multiplier if the flight operates through Newark.

• Aer Lingus is resuming service to three American cities this summer: Philadelphia (April 7), Los Angeles (May 12), and Seattle (July 7).
• Brussels new COO will be Tilman Reinshagen, effective July 1.
• El Al named Dina Ben Tal Ganancia as its CEO.
• Ethiopian turns 76 today.
• Eurowings Discover employees are getting a raise.
• GOL‘s Board of Directors approved a capital increase.
• Golden Myanmar Airlines suspended operations.
• ITA will be on sale for another 10 days, at which point the Italian government’s deadline will have come and gone.
• JetSmart‘s new Peruvian subsidiary received government approval.
• Lufthansa agreed to an inaugural Revolving Credit Facility of 2 billion euros.
• Qantas and its Jetstar subsidiary are beginning new service to Bangalore and Seoul/ICN.
• Uganda Air Cargo added wet-leased B737s in possibly the day’s biggest news.

I used to be able to play the piano by ear, but now I have to use my hands. 

LAAndline Has a New Partner

Landline – the airline that uses buses instead of airplanes – has snagged a new partner, joining forces with American Airlines to offer two destinations out of AA’s hub in Philadelphia beginning June 3.

From Philadelphia, American passengers will connect to both Allentown/Bethlehem (ABE) and Atlantic City (ACY) using Landline buses instead of planes. Atlantic City will become a new destination for AA to compete for that fancy high dollar traffic that JetBlue thinks it can find by buying Spirit, while Allentown sees airplane flights actually on airplanes to AA hubs Chicago/O’Hare and Charlotte.

Passengers originating their travel in Atlantic City or Lehigh Valley will clear security before boarding their bus and will arrive in Philly at an airside gate and not have to go through additional TSA Screening. Landline’s buses seat 35 passengers in the main cabin, while its cargo hold beneath has room for checked luggage and basic economy passengers.

Dulles Formally Proposes New 14-Gate Concourse

A tale as old as time – Washington/Dulles is trying to modernize and update its dark, shadowy concourses. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) submitted a proposal today for a new 14-gate concourse to replace ground level boarding currently used by regional carriers at the airport.

The proposed concourse comes with the catchy name “Tier-2 Concourse (East),” would replace the gates built at the end of Concourse A 30 years ago. MWAA is requesting $230 million from the FAA to fund about a third of the project while hoping United will pay for the rest.

MWAA does have some record of success with a project like this, as it opened a new 14-gate concourse at Washington/National last year. The new terminal would come with a pet-relief area, new restrooms, new concessions, more seating areas, and a sensory deprivation chamber for those flying in basic. The new concourse goes atop an existing tram stop making it convenient for travelers who start or end their trip at Dulles, unlike all of United’s gates.

Delta Blocks Some Rows for Family Use

Delta Air Lines will now block several rows in the economy cabin for passengers traveling as part of a group with three or more people on the reservation. The idea is that those traveling in larger groups – likely families – will have a better shot at getting seated together.

The restriction will only apply to non-elite members in Delta’s loyalty program, while basic economy passengers will still be relegated to a bus-style pole to grab hold of for the duration of the flight, regardless of the number in their traveling party. The seats are blocked by an algorithm that bases the number of blocked rows on historical trends from that particular route, time of the year, and day of the week. In other words, all rows will be blocked on all Orlando flights.

Reports that it is the same algorithm used by the carrier to calculate the cost of SkyMiles awards were denied by Delta officials. But rumors persist after a family tried to reserve a row of three for their flight from Los Angeles to Portland and were asked to part with 500,000 SkyMiles per person to do it.

• Air Moldova retired its entire fleet of A319s and A321s.
• Airlink is taking a swing at South African Airways in a South African court, trying again to recoup $61 million in pandemic-related government funds it believes it’s owed by the airline.
• Alaska is introducing $8 flat-rate wifi.
• Condor will resume flying to Phoenix with 2x-weekly flights beginning May 21.
• Flair will begin serving New York with twice-weekly service between Toronto and New York/JFK today. The service will become 3x-weekly next month.
• Hawaiian is resuming nonstop service to Auckland. Beginning July 2, HA will operate 3x-weekly flights between Honolulu and Auckland on its 278-seat A330s. The flight leaves HNL at 2:25 p.m., arriving in Auckland at 9:45 p.m. the next day. The eastbound flight leaves at 11:55 p.m. and arrives an amazing 13 hours earlier at 10:50 a.m. the same day.
• Qantas CEO Alan Joyce apologized for long hold times when calling the carrier’s reservation line. His apology came after he put reporters on hold for over an hour before starting his conference call.
• United turned 96 yesterday. It celebrated with a cake that looked better than it tasted which showed up late because it was sent to the party through Newark.
• Virgin Australia is replacing its current, exclusive, super-secret, invitation-only top loyalty tier The Club with a new tier called Virgin Australia Beyond. If you need to ask about it, you don’t qualify.
• Volaris completed a sale and leaseback for three A320neos and two A321neos.

What runs around a baseball field but never moves?

The fence.

Happy Opening Day!

Unions Offer Mixed Reaction to JetBlue’s Spirited Surprise

Unions from JetBlue, Spirit, and Frontier weighed in on yesterday’s shocking bid to take over Spirit by JetBlue, mostly offering a wait-and-see attitude while figuring out what will be in their best long-term interest.

JetBlue’s FA union – the Transport Workers Union – said in a statement that it welcomes any opportunity to expand its ranks among flight attendant work groups. Were JetBlue’s bid to be successful, it would likely swell TWU’s membership ranks adding to its influence with JetBlue and across the political spectrum.

AFA-CWA, which represents Frontier and Spirit FAs, took a more measured tone, as if wanting to see which way the wind ends up blowing on the deal before taking a side. The union seems to be OK with wherever Spirit ends up – as long as flight attendants make a ton of money and get huge work rule improvements. The union is reportedly going to invite reps from both JetBlue and Frontier to perform a series of trust challenges at a remote location in the Kentucky backcountry and will eventually throw its support to the winner of the competition.

Denver Airport Proposes Deal to Keep Frontier’s Frontiers in Denver

Denver International Airport proposed $183 million in renovations to Concourse A to settle where Frontier – its third largest carrier – would end up as part of the airport’s refresh of the concourse.

The deal would offer Frontier all 14 gates in a ground loading facility that would see the carrier’s customers all board and deplane via stairs and not at jet bridges. Target occupancy is January of 2024 which means Frontier could expect to move in sometime around 2028.

Frontier currently uses nine gates at Denver with traditional boarding methods, so the ground loading facility would be a change. The new gates would allow Frontier to save money and operate more efficiently. Flights at Denver would load and unload via both the front and rear doors of aircraft, also potentially cutting turnaround time for planes in half.

The new facility would be 120,000 square feet and would also house an 8,000 square foot maintenance facility. Spirit officials are eying how the new terminal could help add new fees if the merger goes through while JetBlue executives were seen spray painting all of Frontier’s gates in Denver with “we’ve got Spirit, yes we do, we’ve got Spirit…how bout you?!?” in bright yellow paint earlier today.

France Eliminates Short Domestic Flights Except for Some of Them

Starting this month, France is ending the shortest domestic flights in the country — when a train or bus alternative of less than 2.5 hours exists. The new policy will lead to the end of flights between Paris/Orly and Bordeaux, Nantes, Lyon, and Rennes. The only non-Orly flight affected is Lyon to Marseilles, bringing the total of affected routes to five.

The five banned routes represent about 12% of the domestic routes in France. Flights through Paris/CDG that continue to an overseas destination will not be included in the ban, giving Air France a chance to exempt itself from most of the cuts and completely removing any true usefulness of the law.

The government previously wanted to axe all flights of four hours or less, but Air France successfully lobbied to reduce the ban to flights with a 2.5 hour or less alternative. It also got the international tag-on exception added, giving most of its domestic ops via CDG an out to keep flying in spite of the ban.

• AirAsia X is adding service to Seoul/ICN and resuming flights to New Delhi. Seoul will operate once weekly beginning April 20 with Delhi starting the same day and going twice weekly.
• Bluebird Nordic named Audrone Keinyte its new CEO.
• British Airways is offering £1000 signing bonuses for several posted jobs.
• Ethiopian is leasing two Dash 8-400s.
• IndiGo named Mahesk Malik in charge of its cleverly named CarGo division.
• Jet2 added a leased B737-800 to its fleet that will not be required to wear a mask when flying on behalf of the LCC.
• Jet Airways is trying to be two airlines in one. Good luck.
• TUI fly might add B737 MAX 10s to replace its currently fleet of B767s. It also might not.
• WestJet named Kirsten de Brujin as its new EVP for Cargo.

I don’t want to brag, I finished the puzzle in a week and it said 2-4 years on the box.

JetBlue’s Next Frontier is More Spirited Than Previously Thought

JetBlue Airways made a shocking bid to acquire Spirit Airlines for $3.6 billion and merge the airline into JetBlue, potentially complicating matters for Frontier’s previously announced plan to merge with Spirit from earlier this year.

The offer from JetBlue is worth more than what Frontier and Spirit agreed to back in February, with B6 offering $33 per share in cold, hard cash, nearly 40% more than Frontier’s offer. Frontier’s deal was a mix of cash and stock that was valued at about $23 per share. JetBlue was also willing to pay Spirit’s $19 acquisition fee at which Frontier balked.

Some analysts believe JetBlue is taking advantage of a sticking point in the F9/NK merger talks where Frontier refused Spirit’s requirement that if Frontier wanted to keep animals on its tails, it could only use yellow animals. JetBlue seems willing to deal, even to go as far as to rename the airline JetYellow, and paint its planes in bright yellow.

Spirit and Frontier would combine to pass JetBlue –- currently the 6^th largest airline in the United States – to become the 5^th largest in the country. A potential JetBlue/Spirit mashup would also be 5th largest, with about an 8% market share.

JetBlue Shipping up to London

Two years after announcing it would fly to London from Boston, JetBlue Airways is ready to dump tea out into Boston Harbor and begin flying across the pond from Logan Airport.

Today the carrier announced its intentions to launch daily service from Boston to London/Gatwick on July 19. It will then add a second daily from Boston, this one to London/Heathrow, beginning on August 22. The two eastbound flights will depart Boston at almost the same time – 6:37 p.m. for LGW and 6:32 p.m. for LHR – arriving about six hours later around 6:30 a.m. the next day. The return flight from Gatwick leaves at 12:15p, while the Heathrow return leaves much earlier, a 8:25 a.m.

Both flights will be operated by JetBlue’s new fleet of minty-fresh A321LRs, featuring just 138 seats. The planes come with 24 seats up front in Mint and 114 in the back. Tickets for the Boston to London route are on sale now, and the first 100 customers to purchase a roundtrip ticket in Mint will also receive a blue-tinted miniature Big Ben when boarding their flight.

American Brings BAAck PrAActice Flights

American Airlines reinstated its “It’s Cool to Fly American Airlines” program geared toward travelers with special needs or those who might want practice with the flying experience. The program had been shelved for two years due to the pandemic and because the carrier was tired of being laughed at for associating “cool” with American Airlines in the same sentence.

The program hosted about 6,000 passengers before it was shut down in 2020 and allows passengers to board an aircraft and taxi around the airport for about 30 minutes. The program helps those who have anxiety while flying by simulating much of the flight experience. The time spent taxing around DFW gives other passengers their own dry run for sitting on a DFW taxiway waiting out a maintenance issue or North Texas thunderstorm that will bring DFW’s operations to a halt.

The next run of “flights” will take place in Charlotte on April 23 and Los Angeles on May 7. The carrier has plans to take the program to Philadelphia, Orange County, Jacksonville, Cleveland, and San Diego later this summer.

• Air Canada is increasing its weekly frequencies between Sydney and Vancouver to 10.
• Air Europa is resuming service to both Tunis and Marrakesh. The carrier will operate twice weekly service to both this weekend.
• Air Serbia and ITA are expanding their codeshare. It is assumed Air Serbia lost some sort of bet and was forced into this decision.
• airBaltic is increasing the number of seats on its A220 fleet to 149.
• Blue Islands will resume service this summer between Jersey (JER) and Rennes (RNS). It will operate twice weekly between June 20 and September 20.
• British Airways in an admission that it will never get running an airline figured out has moved on and started growing vegetables. Most of the herbs it’s growing are nice, but not nearly as nice as the airline thinks they are.
• Eurowings took delivery of its first A321neo with the new Airspace cabin design. Unlike its German rival Condor, the plane did not come with colorful stripes.
• Hainan Airlines wants to rid itself of six A350s. Anyone interested purchasing in a jumbo jet at must-move pricing should probably contact the airline.
• PLAY is not messing around, adding two new destinations for this winter. The carrier is adding 2x-weekly service to Liverpool from November to April. Geneva will also be 2x-weekly, only operating from February 1 to March 23. The carrier did not announce what US gateway these would operate from, presumably because it hasn’t decided yet.
• Trade Air acquired an A320 last week in exchange for an airplane to be named later.

They made us attend a fire safety meeting at work. The instructor asks what steps I’d take in a fire.

Apparently saying “really big and fast ones” wasn’t what she was looking for.

Bad Florida Weather, Staffing Issues Lead to Rocky Weekend

It was a challenging weekend for most U.S. carriers with bad weather in Florida raining on the parade of thousands of Spring Break travelers while sending delays and cancellations cascading across the country.

JetBlue canceled a quarter of its flights Sunday as it reset its system to avoid a mass cancellation event that could potentially last for days. Southwest canceled about 1,000 flights on Saturday and Sunday with other domestic carriers seeing cancellations into the hundreds.

Alaska had to fight the weather and its own pilots, canceling about 10% of its Friday and Saturday schedule due to pilots not being available to fly and instead picketing what their union referred to as “stalled contract negotiations.”

Most airlines recovered by the start of the workweek except for Spirit which had 249 cancellations today and counting, which is about 30% of its schedule– or as Spirit calls it – Monday. JetBlue canceled 13% of its schedule, Southwest and American canceled less than 2% with Delta and United canceling less than 1% of their flights today.

Delta Doesn’t Need Virgin Australia, Adds to Sydney

Despite — or possibly because of — having recently broken up with longtime partner Virgin Australia, Delta Air Lines is adding three frequencies per week to Sydney from Los Angeles, increasing its total to ten weekly flights.

A second-daily flight between LAX and SYD will operate on Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday eastbound, departing Sydney at 2:15 p.m. and arriving in Los Angeles at 9 a.m to easily connect to the rest of North America.

All ten flights will operate with Delta’s fancy A350-900s that feature fully flat beds in first with direct aisle access, and wooden benches in the back secured by the carrier after the DMV condemned them as too uncomfortable to sit on while waiting for your number to be called.

Heathrow Averts Baggage Handler Strike

More than 160 baggage handlers who were planning to walk out on their jobs later this week at London/Heathrow have postponed their strike after receiving a new offer from management. The union says the strike is “on hold” while the current offer is voted on by the membership.

The vote is not expected to be completed quickly. Most of the baggage handlers cannot be found currently, as they’re buried amongst the vast numbers of abandoned bags strewn all over Heathrow. Once the union members are located between mounds of luggage, they’ll vote on the offer, of which details have not been announced publicly.

The strike is being considered because the third-party company hired to manage baggage at the airport told staff wages would freeze due to the pandemic and a drop in revenues. But it turns out Vanderlande turned a tidy profit in 2021 despite the travel woes in the UK and elsewhere – when the company still declined to offer a pay raise into next year, the group voted to strike.

• Air Botswana is preparing to be privatized this month.
• Air France will operate a schedule to the United States this summer that exceeds its 2019 schedule to the U.S. by about 20%.
• Asiana resumed its flight from Seoul to Honolulu on Sunday and will operate the service 3x-weekly moving forward.
• Condor revealed an amazing new livery.
• Eurowings received its first A330neo on Friday. The carrier plans to enter the plane into revenue service June 1.
• IPP Air Cargo received government approval to become Vietnam’s first cargo airline.
• SAS is on the lookout for a new CCO after Karl Sundlund left the airline today.
• Southern Airways Express recently took delivery of a new Saab 340B.
• United is delaying the resumption of its flights to Melbourne by a month to June 5.

How can a leopard change his spots?

By moving.

No Foolin’: Robert Isom TAAkes Helm

Robert Isom officially begins as CEO of American Airlines today, replacing Doug Parker who served as CEO for more than 20 years for America West US Airways American.

Parker led the then-America West through two mergers, first with US Airways and then with American to turn America West into the world’s largest airline. His retirement was announced late last year, but Parker didn’t officially turn into a pumpkin until yesterday. Parker will stick around enough to serve as the Chairman of the carrier’s Board of Directors.

Isom was named president of AA in 2016, being promoted from his previous role as Executive Vice President and COO. He served in the same role at US Airways and worked for both Northwest and America West prior to his time at US Air. Isom is expected to begin the job at full capacity today, addressing major issues facing the airline including adding more groups to the boarding process, integrating more with JetBlue while daring the DOJ to do anything about it, and scrubbing any evidence that S7 Airlines is still in oneworld.

Seattle Announces Timeline for New Arrivals Facility

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport revealed the timeline for the full opening of its brand-spanking new International Arrivals Facility (IAF) that is set to enter service in the coming weeks.

Beginning April 19, a limited number of international flights arriving between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. will use the new facility as a soft-launch to allow airport officials to correct any outstanding issues. The first phase of the trial will only include flights arriving at the A Concourse, and the flights must arrive from a destination that begins with A.

Then in early May, it will include flights arriving at the S Concourse in the 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. timeframe with no restriction on the letters of the city its coming from. Those passengers arriving at S Concourse will make their way to the facility crossing over an active taxiway on the new 85-foot-high aerial walkway that airport officials pinky swear is tall enough for aircraft to fit under. The facility is then expected to open to all arriving flights on May 10.

Norwegian Latest to Drop Mask Mandate

About this time two years ago, we had daily updates about which airlines and jurisdictions were adding onboard mask mandates for travel. The opposite is true today, with new announcements on mask mandates being dropped coming almost every day. The United States’s next decision looms in about two weeks with the current mandate set to expire on April 18.

Norwegian became the newest carrier to drop the mandate, giving its customers the decision whether to wear a mask or not onboard its flights regardless of destination. The carrier might be banking on the removal of the mask mandate helping lagging sales or just the fact that it has better looking passengers than other airlines.

This makes Norwegian the second worldwide carrier – along with British LCC Jet2 – to eliminate its mask mandate. The other airlines that have done so have caveats based on flight origin and destination.  

• Delta will launch its A321neo operation on May 20 from Boston flying to San Francisco. Later in the summer, it will add Seattle, Denver, San Diego. Following the outbound, the planes will presumably then fly the reverse route back to Boston.
• Eurowings new COO Edi Wolfesnberger’s first day in his new role is today.
• Fly Pro is moving up from amateur status as it added its first B777-300.
• German Airways joined the European Regions Airline Association today, which apparently is a thing.
• ITA came to lease agreements with AerCap for ten new A320neo aircraft and two new A330neos.
• Pegasus Airlines named Güliz Öztürk its new CEO, effective May 1.
• Ryanair will begin 2x-weekly service between Sofia (SOF) and Varna (VAR), Bulgaria on May 1. This will mark the carrier’s tenth domestic market in the country.
• Sun Country completed a private offering of $188,277,000 of enhanced equipment trust certificates being used to obtain financing secured by 13 B737-800s.

Which monster loves April Fool’s jokes?

Pranken-stein!

Delta Adds SkyMiles Enhancements That Are Actually Enhancements

Breaking with its usual tradition, Delta Air Lines added two new features to its SkyMiles loyalty program that actually look like they’ll benefit customers, unlike its usual enhancements which take away from the customer.

Delta passengers will never again have to endure the shame of a boarding pass with “No FF Credit” printed on it when flying on a SkyMiles award ticket, as the carrier has made permanent its policy to allow customers to earn SkyMiles, MQM, and MQDs on award travel.

This was something it implemented during the pandemic, and it was supposed to expire at the end of this year, but Delta has chosen to make the policy permanent (for now). The challenge in order to take advantage of the new policy is that customers must find a SkyMiles redemption that they can afford and actually operates to the city the customer wants to go to.

Secondly, Delta is removing the 75,000 SkyMiles per ticket cap. Previously, the most SkyMiles one could earn on any one ticket was $75,000, which meant a ticket that cost more than between $6,800 and $15,000 for a U.S.-based member, depending on elite status, would earn the maximum no matter how expensive it was. That cap is being eliminated, which is great news for passengers on the highest fare tickets, but still doesn’t mean anyone will find a redemption that’s worth it.

American’s FA Union Pushes for More Time On-the-Clock

American Airlines’s FA union formally requested their pay clock begin upon boarding the aircraft, not when the door is shut and the plane’s brakes are released, during contract negotiations with the carrier.

The union says that boarding time has increased by 33% in the last decade. In addition, during boarding, FAs have to deal with more carry-ons, loading those bags into the overheads because passengers are generally terrible people, arguing with passengers over mask mandates, and performing pre-departure beverage service in premium cabins on the rare occasion they can’t come up with an excuse not to do so. FAs are not being paid their contracted wage during this period, but instead are paid their per diem rate, usually in the neighborhood of a couple dollars per hour.

Of course, it can easily be argued that boarding is already baked into a higher hourly wage based on flight time, but the union loves this issue because it makes it sound like flight attendants are being treated unfairly.

In addition to boarding pay, the union is negotiating over payment supplements for red eyes. It hasn’t gone as far as to request hazard pay when being forced to fly to Newark or interact with Basic Economy passengers but also hasn’t ruled it out either.

SWISS Drops Mask Requirement

SWISS will no longer require masks to be worn on-board its flights effective tomorrow, April 1. The announcement makes SWISS the largest airline to remove on-board masks after British Airways walked back its initial plans to do so.

All customers flying the airline tonight are expected to take their masks off in unison at exactly 12:00 midnight based on where the plane is, implementing the new policy with Swiss precision. Masks will still need to be worn on flights to destinations where they remain required by law. When asked its opinion on countries that require masks or those that don’t, SWISS officials remained neutral.

• Bonza is going on a hiring bonanza looking to bring on more than 200 new pilots and flight attendants.
• Etihad will install a new business class on its B787-9 Dreamliners for service in 2023.
• Finnair will begin flying to Mumbai with 3x-weekly service beginning this July.
• IndiGo Airlines is more like IndiWent Airlines after both its CCO and CFO quit this week.
• ITA says its first A350 is ready to enter service. Believe it when you see it.
• JetBlue promoted Don Uselmann to VP, Inflight Experience. His first job will be to explain to AA Elites flying JetBlue that it’s ok that there’s no first class on-board. Chris Buckner was named VP, Loyalty Programs and he will be working remotely from Bora Bora for the next several months to see if JetBlue should follow Alaska and establish a new partnership with Air Tahiti Nui.
• KLM named Marjan Rintal CEO as she completed her quest to own the entire set of KLM Delft Houses.
• LEVEL is resuming service to both Los Angeles and San Francisco from Barcelona this week. Reportedly the pilot will take off from BCN towards the U.S. west coast and make a decision about going to LAX or SFO via a passenger vote once it approaches U.S. airspace.
• Qantas will invest A$50 million in local SAF production.
• SmartLynx turns 30 today.
• Spirit launched facial scan technology in Atlanta that will streamline the check-in process while also charging a $39 fee for anyone who uses it. Those who decline to use the facial scan technology will be subject to a $39 opt-out fee.
• Thai grabbed $23.7 million from a real estate sale.

Dad: What is the difference between a piano, a tuna, and a pot of glue?

Son: I don’t know.

Dad: You can tuna piano but you can’t piano a tuna.

Son: What about the pot of glue?

Dad: I knew you’d get stuck on that.

Delta Unveils New LAX Terminal

Delta Air Lines’s new Sky Way designed to connect Terminals 2, 3, and the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX was introduced to the world on Tuesday with a ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by Delta CEO Ed Bastian and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

The project is headed for completion about 18 months early – originally scheduled to be completed in 2024 – “thanks” to the pandemic which allowed construction to carry on at a more fervent pace than previously expected. Delta’s inducement of keeping unlimited supplies of Biscoffs at the job site also led to expedited project completion.

The new terminal features wider curbs and more space for pedestrians to watch the gridlocked traffic crawl around the airport. Entering the building, the sun-splashed departures hall features 32 self-serve kiosks that will work sometimes and 46 staffed check-in counters. A 250-foot HD digital back wall carries the length of the facility behind the check-in counters, featuring gate information in English and Spanish, along with a live capacity indicator for SkyClub locations.

Basic Economy passengers will be rerouted when entering the facility to their exclusive check-in area in the alley behind the In-N-Out next to the airport.

British Airways Suffers IT Meltdown

It was a rough Wednesday for British Airways customers as the carrier canceled almost 100 flights and had a global ground stop implemented for a brief time while an IT malfunction led to a shutdown of its dispatch computer system.

The gaffe was related to the systems that work on weight and balance on each aircraft, and safety regulators were not willing to let planes take off using the manual method of having flight attendant’s eyeball each passenger upon boarding and guess their weight. Most of the canceled flights were short-haul departures this afternoon from London/Heathrow which is fine because not a lot of people fly BA at Heathrow anyway.

This was the third time BA suffered a major IT outage that forced mass cancellations in the last two months. This time, the carrier’s app and website remained functioning unlike its most recent breakdown last month when piles of luggage were strewn about at Heathrow and dozens of planes were stuck on the taxiway without a gate to park at.

Air Tahiti Nui Heads Northeast to the Northwest

Air Tahiti Nui is the newest partner of Seattle-based Alaska Airlines, and to celebrate, it announced it will enter the Seattle market with 2x-weekly service to Papeete beginning October 4.

The twice-weekly flights will operate eastbound on Tuesday and Saturday each week, returning westbound on Wednesday and Sunday. The flight is 4,784 miles and will block in at about 9:30 each way. The carrier currently operates to Los Angeles — its only other U.S. destination — between nine and 12 times weekly depending on the season and if the pilots feel like flying that day.

The airline’s choice of Seattle might seem hard to build a profitable operation – except that it will begin a partnership with Alaska beginning April 1, no foolin’. From Friday, customers can earn AS miles when flying on Air Tahiti Nui with award redemptions expected to be available later in the year.

• Air Canada will now interline with Aeromar.
• Air Malta will operate 125 weekly flights this summer to 18 airports in 10 countries.
• Air New Zealand has a fancy new business class in the works.
• British Airways will wet-lease four A320s from Iberia this summer.
• Eagle Air has landed a renewed maintenance partnership with Deutsche Aircraft for another two years.
• Emirates will return to making a profit in 2023, according to Emirates.
• Finnair will begin bus service replacing flights from Helsinki to both Tampere and Turku on May 2.
• Flair is opening a new base in Tucson to serve smaller Canadian cities.
• Georgian Airways is no longer for sale. You should have bid more.
• Hans Airways, the official airline of Los Angeles’s Nakatomi Plaza, is moving closer to its expect launch this summer.
• Qantas made a big deal about adding 3x-weekly flights to Dili, Timor-Leste (DIL) today.
• Rossiya has cleverly stolen re-registered all of its Irish aircraft in Russia.
• SAS named Erno Hildén its new CFO.
• SmartLynx took delivery of a fancy new A320-200.

The world limbo champion walked into a bar to celebrate his title.

His was then stripped of the championship.

Austin Airport Braces for Fuel Shortage

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is warning airlines that flights should arrive at the airport with enough fuel to get to where they’re going next as the airport is concerned about its dwindling supply of jet fuel. It’s scrambling after its most recent idea of filling Texas-sized ten gallon hats with Jet A and funneling that into the aircraft was deemed unsafe.

AUS issued a fuel-shortage alert Monday, saying airlines that couldn’t fly in with enough fuel to get planes to their next destination should send in their own fuel via tankers. The airport’s two fuel-storage tanks haven’t been expanded since 1999, and are not keeping up with the increasing demand at the airport.

Airlines are adding flights, frequencies, and new destinations to Austin at a record pace, which is causing operational issues at the airport. Most airports keep a five-to-seven-day supply of fuel on-hand, but Austin has been rolling the dice with less than two days’ worth.

International Slot Waiver Extended

The FAA extended its waivers on international slot usage — which have been in place since March 2020 — marking the fifth time the FAA has extended their validity. Domestic waivers expired last year.

The waiver applies to international operations at three airports: New York/JFK, New York/LGA, and Washington/National. The extension is through October 29 at which point it will be reevaluated. The FAA is expected to extend the waiver at four other less restricted airports: Newark, Chicago/O’Hare, Los Angeles, and San Francisco in the coming days.

The FAA is hoping to avoid the situation in Europe where most slot waivers have been revoked, forcing carriers to operate nearly empty flights to keep their slots at busy airports. The extension of the waiver at Newark will not relieve the issue of empty flights to the airport as the issue there is not slot controls but rather that no one wants to fly to Newark.

Cathay Pacific to Take World’s Longest Flight Title

Cathay Pacific will leapfrog everyone else to claim the world’s longest flight title as it alters its route between Hong Kong and New York/JFK to avoid Russian airspace.

The flight will operate at a distance of 10,326 miles, making it about 10% longer than Singapore’s flight from to New York which currently clocks in at a world-longest 9,537 miles. The new route from New York back to Hong Kong will fly over the Atlantic Ocean towards the UK, then across southern Europe and central Asia.

The flight is operated by an A350-1000 with a gleaming paint job that can make the 17-hour journey with room to spare considering how few people are actually allowed to even fly to Hong Kong right now. Passengers in the premium cabins up front will enjoy several meals and Cathay’s award-winning business class product while those in the back can be expected to receive a protein bar upon boarding and told to make that last for the entire journey.

• Air Belgium flight attendant Chayenne van Aarle was elected Miss Belgium 2022. Come back tomorrow to see if this is the most clicked-on link in Cranky Daily history.
• Air Canada is optimistic about the future, according to Air Canada’s CEO.
• Akasa Air, the startup carrier that hopes to fool you into thinking you’re booking with Alaska, now expects to begin flying later this summer.
• Bamboo Airways chairman Trinh Van Quyet will not be able to avail himself of his airline’s international route network as he was banned from leaving Vietnam for a month.
• British Airways short-haul subsidiary based at London/Gatwick began flying today.
• Cargojet entered into a long-term agreement with DHL Express.
• Czech Airlines recovery plan was approved by its creditors.
• Emirates policy of see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil will continue.
• Frontier will begin a program to hire Australian pilots that are animal lovers through an E3 Visa program.
• JetBlue‘s flight attendants are not to blame for the carrier’s problems, according to JetBlue’s flight attendants.
• Ryanair opened a new base at Newcastle.
• Turkish will begin serving Seattle with 4x-weekly flights beginning May 27.
• SKY Express extended its codeshare agreement MEA.
• Ukraine International Airlines extended its service pause through May 31.

A turtle is crossing the road when he’s mugged by two snails. When the police ask him what happened, the shaken turtle replies, “I don’t know. It all happened so fast.”