Ground issues grounding a plane is harder than you’d think to explain, but very much at the center of the latest 737 MAX drama.

Also in this episode:

• United Airlines confirms it will take some MAX 8s
• Delta Air Lines adds Dubrovnik for this summer, as well as Premium Select retrofits on A330/763s, but isn’t combining the two yet
• Avelo picks New Haven for its first east coast hub
• Bernard Ziegler, who basically invented fly-by-wire for Airbus, died
• So did Helmut Jahn, the architect responsible for the UA terminal in ORD and the new BKK.
• Air Senegal plans flights to JFK/IAD later this year
• Kid went into the baggage system at MSP
• UK green list of places people can’t visit
• EASA tracks space weather, too

For our Patreon subscribers we have bonus content, including:

• Breeze to hire non-college kid FAs

And plenty more. Enjoy the show!

Maybe we went a little too far off the rails talking about privacy and ad tech and where they intersect. Including on board JetBlue’s newest A220 fleet. But that shouldn’t be much of a surprise.

Also in this episode:

• More refunds in Canada
• An update on Tugs
• Other bits from the JetBlue A220 inaugural
• Sun Country‘s new routes, bypassing MSP in the Upper Midwest
• Bonus points options from MileagePlus
• RealID is delayed. Again. May 2023
• Is it time to start planning summer travels?
• Has the advance booking window really shifted? IATA shared some interesting data.

For our Patreon subscribers we have bonus content, including:

• An El Al Bomb Threat
• Vistara to the US?

And plenty more. Enjoy the show!

Oh, and Seth got at least two references wrong: Picked the wrong pop Justin to make a joke about and Grab became Servy, not Divvy. Oops.

Picking routes for a new airline is a major challenge, with significant unknowns. Unless you just take an existing airline and copy its core operating plan. That’s what Connect Airlines appears to have in mind for an October 2021 launch, shadowing the Porter Air transborder model.

Also in this episode:

• JetBlue‘s new A321LR economy class product details are out, including a funky meal service approach
• Avelo has a new route map based in Burbank
• LATAM is dumping its A350s
• Radisson Rewards is “enhancing” the program by splitting it geographically
• Flight load planning software matters a lot, and when “Miss” gets flagged as a child rather than an adult bad things can happen 
• Air Canada got a bailout from the government, conditional on delivering cash refunds to customers
• Australia-NZ quarantine-free bubble launches

For our Patreon subscribers we have bonus content, including:

• New Airbus visitors center at Finkenwerder
• Kayak launching its own hotel in Miami Beach

And plenty more. Enjoy the show!

We’ve got a special guest on the show this week, talking about a very special topic. There’s a new aviation-themed children’s book out, Aya and Avi’s Airplane Adventure, and we’ve got the author on to talk about his inspiration for pulling it together and a few other things.

The book follows an ambitious young girl named Aya with a dream of being a pilot, and a shy boy who learns to love the magic of flight named Avi, as they take an airplane adventure with Dad and Papa and learn that you can be anyone you want to be.

Also in this episode:

• Alaska Airlines joins Oneworld
• Delta Air Lines is ending its middle seat blocking policy
• The CDC altered its guidance about vaccinated travel
• Air Canada and Transat’s merger is off

For our Patreon subscribers we have bonus content, including:

• The MAX 8200 is now certified and should be flying across Europe soon.

And plenty more. Enjoy the show!

Perhaps it was a mistake to let an outsider take the lead on one of our episodes. But what follows in nearly an hour of spectacular conversation about, not surprisingly, travel and pent-up demand and what the return to normal will be like.

This week we’ve got Ed from Miles To Go leading the party and, well, it is interesting.

Some of the topics in this episode:

• Cancun is raising taxes on visitors, trying to cash in on relatively strong tourism demand
• Iceland is open again for US tourists
• Lots of talk about routes, with Ed choosing to focus on Dulles
• Deicing is important
• Rental cars are strange

For our Patreon subscribers we have bonus content, including:

• Meth is a helluva drug
• Hong Kong is playing favorites for pilots

And plenty more. Enjoy the show!