Dots, Lines & Destinations

Hot weather across the country and some hot topics for discussion on this week's show.

Also in this episode:

* The British Airways 747s are really gone, effective immediately* Icelandair fired all its flight attendants, with plans to use pilots for safety briefings (then backed down)* Can Sabre (or the other GDS/PSS platforms be used for for track & trace* Lounges at LCY* UA/LHGroup/AA/IAG letter trying to get a TATL “bubble” established* JetBlue and American Airlines have an interesting new partnership coming for NYC/Boston

For our Patreon subscribers we have bonus content, including:

* A bunch of pilots lost their FAA license thanks to a rogue inspector

And plenty more. Enjoy the show!

For episode 300 we decided to celebrate with a live, interactive recording. We streamed it on YouTube and many of you joined us from around the world with questions, comments and more. Here's the replay, that might not make as much sense given some of the visual gestures involved in the original, but hopefully it works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJrKDDI-L0E

Some of the topics this week:

* Qantas is cutting most international flights through March 2021* EL AL is in a financial mess and the leading private bailout offer is questionable* AirBnB wants you to make a donation to their hosts to help keep them solvent.* Long-haul train rides can be amazing* Emirates brings the A380 back into service at LHR/CDG, with more to come* PDX opens an extension on Terminal E

We also talked about a bunch of video series and other neat things during the show. Stephan promised some links in the show notes but, as expected, that didn't come to fruition. Sorry (not sorry) about that.

Enjoy the show, and know that we intend to do live recordings like this more often, hopefully with better advance notice to you as listeners.

More openings than closings should be good news for lots in the industry, though things remain precarious on many fronts.

Also in this episode:

* A couple listener questions, including what it means to Delta for several of its JV/equity partners to be facing financial turmoil and a revisit of the Air Canada 50% reward rebate deal we discussed a couple weeks back.* Norwegian cancelled 97 Boeing aircraft orders* Europe is reopening with Ryanair and EasyJet dramatically increasing flights, but lots of foreigners are still not really welcome* Around the world lounges are starting to reopen as well, often with digital solutions to replace menus and food ordering. Qantas, Air Canada, Finnair, British Airways and more all made strides in this area last week* What if you had to log in to an app to use the lav on board? Or tap through to a special screen on the inflight entertainment system??* Qantas is giving its 747s something of a proper sendoff, with celebratory send-off flights in a few cities* American Airlines is shifting more of its west coast operations up to Seattle and cutting back at LAX

For our Patreon subscribers we have bonus content, including:

* Boeing reportedly cutting production of the 747 in a couple years* Some thoughts on the July 4th military flyovers* Fozz's friend, Otto

When an airline says it is concerned about passenger safety and then increases the number of seats sold that can be hard to reconcile. But at least they're leaving it members of their cabin crew to keep posting anti-mask FUD on social media, right??

Also in this episode:

* JetBlue launched cash & points redemption options and they don't completely suck* Should the TSA (or another federal agency) be checking passenger temperatures? The US carriers would certainly prefer that to doing it themselves.* Air Canada is fighting back against some of the DOT complaints about refunds and it could mean major changes to the way foreign carriers are treated under US rules* Three Chinese airlines are new owners of the ARJ21 regional jet* Pakistan had a lot of "pilots" that were very much not properly licensed and that's scary* US visitors will be blocked from visiting much of Europe, and the US Travel (inbound tourism agency) response was shitty* Don't try to claim hairspray as a medically necessary aerosol when you get busted by the TSA trying to smuggle it on to a flight

For our Patreon subscribers we have bonus content, including:

* LIAT is on the brink of liquidation* Alaska Airlines is bringing its E175s into Alaska, a response to shifting demand profiles

As borders start to reopen the requirements for entry to some countries can be onerous. Or completely reasonable, depending on your point of view. But the inconsistencies make it really challenging to figure out where to go and what tickets to buy.

Some of the topics in this show:

* A brief revisit to the topic of electric aircraft from a few weeks ago* South African Airways has a new plan forward that mostly looks like buying a larger bucket of kerosene to pour on top of cash before setting it ablaze, but it might be a necessary move, as Fozz points out* A woman snuck on to a plane in Orlando in October 2019 and the TSA released finally details* Some new airport construction is taking a delay, including Changi's T5* Cambodia wants visitors to leave a deposit at the door, so to speak, to cover potential quarantine or treatment costs* If you're in to flight simulators these new controls might get you excited* Frontier is expanding at Islip, which has more flights than we thought* JetBlue has a lot of planes grounded right now and is looking for some creative ways to use them, with some interesting routes being added later this year* Is Lufthansa Group ready to give up o Brussels Airlines?* Some indications that the British Airways 747 fleet might not fly beyond the end of this year

And, for our Patreon supporters, there's bonus content this week:

* The US DOT is now fighting with India over repatriation flights, similar to the China changes we discussed last week* Can you travel the world without leaving home? This one really set Seth off.

Enjoy the episode!

What happens when people take to Twitter seeking justice and then transition that into real-life doxxing? And what about when it is a case of mistaken identity? A couple recent incidents in the travel space remind us that this is stupid and bad in many ways.

Also in this episode:

* We revisit a couple topics from recent weeks with updates, including a confession from Stephan about Cheese & Pickle sandwiches* More scissor hubs* LaGuardia has a new head house for passengers and it is pretty. And Fozz hates the idea.* The Mitsubishi MRJ/SpaceJet took another huge hit* Another Chinese airline committed to buying a bunch of COMAC airplanes* Planes are too light and it is causing issues for pilots* What would you do with a $3000 travel credit from Frontier? One of our listeners asks and we try to answer.* US Orders Marriott to wind down hotel ops in Cuba

This week's episode also features extra content exclusively for our Patreon supporters, talking about China-US flights and how that relationship evolved in recent weeks.

And, as always, lots more.

The Las Vegas strip is open again. Or at least open-ish. It is a far cry from the typical levels of action and activity, but things are starting to come back and it is very different. But also very the same. We've got special guest Michael Trager from TravelZork on the show from his corner room at Caesar's Palace for an update on the experience as the casinos came back to life.

Every coupe hours I think "Is this going to wind up killing me?" and I don't love those thoughts. And then I have another double Woodford and then I forget about that.

Among the details we examine:

* Flying on British Airways in these crazy times* How are US officials handling international arrivals* Differences in rules depending on the casino chain/owner* How are elite benefits/programs devalued during these unprecedented times* What services are – and are not – available in the casino hotels

Does the news out of Vegas make us reconsider our future travel plans? Perhaps a little. And probably not in a good way.

Getting its first electric-powered aircraft off the ground was a pretty big deal for MagniX late last year. But the company shows no signs of resting on that success, with another test flight last week of a larger prop. There's clearly a market for this sort of operation, though we're still a ways out from it being commonplace.

Also in this episode:

* KLM is also joining the electric revolution, or at least joining in on Schiphol's testing of electric tugs* American and United CEOs are not amused by investors questioning them on the likelihood of bankruptcy* LATAM is the latest and largest airline to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, though little appears to be changing right now, other than a few lease returns* British Airways is adjusting some rules for its Executive Club members; you'll be shocked to learn the changes are not in favor of the consumers* Several Canadians are challenging their national airlines to finally follow the rules and the US DOT to actually enforce them* SpaceX launched crew successfully to the International Space Station and it was an incredible spectacle

And plenty more. Enjoy the show!

It is always a good idea to make sure the airport is going to be open before setting off on a journey. Making that U-turn proved to be an expensive proposition last week for Eurowings.

Also in this episode:

* Berlin's Tegel airport is closing, and while officially it is just temporary the clock could run out on the operation permanently this summer* Delta's plan to keep Johannesburg service depends on making an extra stop on the way home thanks to different performance metrics between the A350 and 777LR* Air Canada is using some of its fancier planes for flights from Toronto to Montreal and Ottowa* Hertz filed for bankruptcy protection, but maybe it isn't just the travel downturn that caused the company's financial troubles??* Domestic flights resumed in India this week after two months offline, and the process proved chaotic and uncoordinated, as travel in India often does* European regulators might not approve the Air Canada/Air Transat merger without concessions* Air New Zealand reopened a dozen airport lounges across its domestic network as the carrier and the country inch back towards normalcy* Lufthansa gets a few billion euros from the German government in exchange for a 20% ownership stake

There's also a couple listener questions and plenty more. Enjoy the show!

What does high school shop class have to do with our travel experiences? Absolutely nothing, but that's rarely stopped us from talking about other topics, so why start now??

Among the real topics in this episode:

* TSA Caught Hoarding N95 masks* New Cessna SkyCourier First Flight * Boeing has a new “Confident Travel Initiative”* Former Garuda Indonesia CEO jailed for eight years for bribery* History of PSSen and is NDC really making a difference? Plus we talked about some of this stuff on a prior episode* New United staffing levels* First UAE-Israel Commercial flight* InfiniteFlight Getting STARS and SIDS* Thai Airways will, once again, survive* UA regional jets may have fewer seats come October* AA/QR Codeshare (re)launching* Airbus A220 Final Assembly Line now live in Alabama

And plenty more. Enjoy the show!