If you spend a lot of time on social media, you’ve likely seen an increasing number of travelers griping about their air travel woes. The general complaint is that airlines are not living up to their promises to allow for social distancing on airplanes. To this I say… if you’re … Read the post
I’ve spent a lot of time looking at flight schedules here over the past month or so, and it does tell a rather interesting story about how individual airlines have approached the plunge in demand due to the pandemic. But the reality is that flight schedules only tell part of … Read the post
On the heels of announcing the retirement of its MD-88 and MD-90 fleet on June 2, Delta has now announced that its 777s will leave the fleet by the end of the year. This is the kind of change that becomes a no-brainer when faced with the highly-depressed demand environment … Read the post
Cranky Talk Episode 1 – The Phantom Refunds
We’ve been tinkering with expanding podcasting, and this week we’ve launched our very first consumer-focused Cranky Talk. We decided to start with a short look at the refund issue, and we’re already working on our second episode. You can listen below, by … Read the post
This week’s featured link
COVID-19 Outlook for air travel in the next 5 years – IATA
This presentation has all kinds of interesting tidbits around how IATA came to the conclusion that the industry will go back to normal in 3 to 5 years, lagging the rest of the economy. … Read the post
Today, I bring you a very special edition of Tales From the Field. What makes it so special? Well, today’s story has nothing to do with a Cranky Concierge client; it happened to us directly. The villian in today’s tale is Chase Ultimate Rewards, powered by Expedia, but you should … Read the post
If you’ve been following along on Twitter, you know I’ve been feverishly working on creating individual shirts for as many airports as I can. I’m proud to announce that the first round of The Airport Collection is ready to go.
So far, I’ve put … Read the post
Over the weekend, Delta and United filed their June schedules, and again, I dove into Diio by Cirium data to see how things look. Compared to the American filing from last week, United and Delta look pretty conservative. Here’s a comparison between the three.
Of all airlines, United has by far had the most dire predictions for the arc of the COVID-19 pandemic. President Scott Kirby rightly set the tone early by sounding alarms when others thought it could still just be a quick economic dip. We now know that this is going to … Read the post
I sat down with Courtney Miller for a 35 minute discussion that ranged from Hawaii’s uniqueness to through on the recovery. Come on, you know you were just looking for a good way to kill 35 minutes this weekend. Here you go.
This Week’s Featured Link
Emirates’ Tim Clark: Coronavirus is a black swan event for the airline industry – The National
I’m a sucker for a CEO interview that actually has substance. Here’s a good interview with the (probably still) outgoing head of Emirates, Sir Tim Clark.
I’ve analyzed May schedules to death over the last couple of weeks, so now it’s time to move on to June. My assumption is that May should be the low point, and that means we can finally start talking about growth again! Ok, maybe that last statement didn’t deserve an … Read the post