NEWS: EU plans for travel restarting, Will Paul have to reconsider his Star Alliance choice? & AA onboard experience

EU plans for travel restarting

Yesterday the EU Travel Commissioner, Adina Vălean, published a copy of her speech about the state of transport in the EU and how they plan to restart the transport industry again. The speech was given at the European Parliament Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN).

She also spoke about the refund and voucher situations with airlines and encouraged them to make vouchers more appealing to encourage customers to take those instead of a refund, 

“The European legal framework is clear: carriers have to offer passengers the choice between rerouting and reimbursement. Airlines already do have the option to offer vouchers instead of reimbursement, but only with the explicit agreement of passengers. In this context, and in order to make vouchers more attractive to consumers, Member States are encouraged to secure them against insolvency. I believe there is also leeway for airlines to make these vouchers even more appealing to passengers through their own terms and conditions.”

As she stated, whilst airlines may be struggling financially, so are many consumers who need their refunds in order to survive.

Overall, it sounded encouraging with the Commissioner stating,

“It is also important for the wellbeing of many citizens to have the perspective of soon being able to travel again, not only as tourists, but also to visit family or friends.

Many people also need to travel for business reasons, to restart the economy. It is of utmost importance to ensure that exiting from the lockdowns is done through a coordinated European approach, to avoid fragmentation of the Internal Market, discrimination, and disproportionate or unilateral measures by Member States.”

The issue will be getting all the countries to agree as many have opposing views. Some like France are keen to keep borders controlled until at least October, whereas others such as Greece are pushing for the earliest but safest return for tourism. The EU plan to release a co-ordinated exit strategy to restart cross-border operation, including air travel by mid-May.

Will Paul have to reconsider his Star Alliance choice?

Like me, you were probably shocked to learn that Paul has defected to the dark side, a.k.a Star Alliance. A few eagle-eyed viewers had noticed that yesterday United announced a change to its Mileage Plus program. The change means that the Premier Qualifying Points that you can earn on their Star Alliance partners and Mileage Plus Partners have been limited to a maximum amount. 

For flights on or after July 1, 2020, the maximum Premier qualifying points that can be earned per flight on tickets issued and operated by Star Alliance partners and select MileagePlus partner airlines are as follows:

An example of one of Paul’s trips would be London to Vancouver with Air Canada. This is about 4400 miles – it would have earned about 1850 PQP – now it will be capped at 1500. So with around 700 PQP points per trip, it is not going to be a major obstacle to his plans.

Also, he has already booked quite a few of the flights needed so he can apply to get the original rate of earning. “MileagePlus members who purchased tickets on eligible partners prior to these new rules may submit receipts showing tickets were issued prior to April 29, 2020, to [email protected] with the subject line “OA PQP Review” to be considered for PQP earning under the prior rules. Receipts should not be submitted until after travel is completed for flights on or after July 1, 2020.”

You can find more information about the Mileage Plus scheme and the changes here. 

American Airlines onboard experience – I predict most airlines will follow

American Airlines have announced their plan for keeping staff and passengers safe from now on. Jet Blue, another US airline, yesterday announced all passengers will be required to wear facemasks. AA has not as yet, gone that far. 

AA will also add improvements to cleaning procedures this week and will expand to every mainline and regional flight over time. This cleaning will use a disinfectant approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and includes:

• In customer areas, tray tables, seatbelt buckles, armrests, window shades and seatback screens. It also includes wiping door and overhead bin handles.
• In team member areas, enhanced galley cleaning, jumpseats and crew rest seats. The new enhancements add cockpit surfaces as well.

These measures build on new and expanded cleaning procedures American added in early March, including additional touchpoints in the cabin, increased provisioning of hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes for crew members, and expanded fogging with an EPA-registered hospital-grade disinfectant in all public areas on aircraft. American is also expanding deeper cleanings and disinfection to all regional flights.

In early May, American will start the process of distributing sanitizing wipes or gels and face masks to customers. This offering will expand to all flights as supplies and operational conditions allow.

“We are looking out for our customers’ well-being to give them peace of mind while they travel with us,” said Kurt Stache, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience. “We’re moving quickly on these enhancements and we’ll continue to improve the travel experience for our customers and team members as we navigate these times together.”

Masks will be required for flight attendants during every mainline and regional flight beginning May 1. In addition, the airline has added a drawer in the galley on every mainline flight containing personal protective equipment, including masks for flight attendants and pilots, and other sanitizing items.