Routes: Airlines face a big Fourth of July test; SFO might get low-fare London flights

In this week’s news, U.S. airlines’ attempts to correct their repeated schedule disruptions will be put to the test over the Fourth of July weekend; low-cost European carrier eyes new service from San Francisco to London Gatwick; JetBlue expands its London schedule; international route news from Delta, Air Canada and French Bee; Delta drops Oakland-Atlanta plans and American cuts four smaller cities from its network; American and TSA test new mobile ID option at Dallas/Fort Worth; JetBlue adds helicopter transfer tie-in for loyalty members; Denver International offers free mini-golf; Phoenix Sky Harbor opens a new concourse for Southwest; and Priority Pass adds more U.S. airport lounges, including one at SFO.  

Unless you haven’t been paying attention, you know that U.S. airlines’ operational performance over holiday weekends this year has been pretty bad, with thousands of flights canceled and even more delayed over Memorial Day weekend, and again over Father’s Day/Juneteenth last weekend (June 17-20). So it’s understandable that anyone planning to fly over the upcoming Fourth of July weekend might be a bit worried about their travel plans.

As Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in an interview with The Points Guy this week, “The next test, of course, is the Fourth of July weekend. That’ll be a big test for everybody.” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg agrees. On June 16, he conducted virtual meetings with top airline executives to find out how they plan to correct their problems with keeping flights operating as scheduled. The very next day, Buttigieg’s own flight from Washington to New York was canceled, so he made the trip by car instead. 

In an interview with the Associated Press, the DOT secretary said his department has the authority to initiate enforcement actions against airlines that don’t meet consumer protection standards. “But first … he wants to see whether there are major flight disruptions over the Fourth of July weekend and the rest of the summer,” AP reported. In fact, Fourth of July weekend flight disruptions have started early: United said this week that as of July 1, it will cut flight activity at its big Newark hub by 12%, or 50 flights a day; passengers are being notified of their options. 

Airlines tend to blame bad weather or air traffic control delays for many of their operational disruptions, but even when major storms do require cancellations and delays, insufficient staffing also plays a role since an airline needs enough crew members in reserve to keep downline departures operating on time. That’s why travel professionals encourage passengers to book flights that leave early in the day: Once cancellations and delays start to happen, they have a domino effect on departures later in the day as they cascade through the system. And staff shortages, especially among pilots, are a big problem. Major carriers are rushing to staff up, but they can’t just train new pilots in a few days. And the pressure to maintain their schedules has created serious ill will with their existing pilots, who are often putting in as many extra hours as federal regulations will allow.  

A Southwest Airlines plane flies over protesting Southwest Airlines pilots at Dallas Love Field.

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Hundreds of Southwest Airlines pilots picketed this week at Dallas Love Field, with their union calling the situation a “flightmare” and claiming that pilot fatigue rates have tripled since last year, creating potential safety issues. Delta pilots recently sent a letter to the airline’s board of directors saying they have lost confidence in management’s ability to contain the carrier’s operational problems. “We are concerned for the long-term health of Delta,” they said. “Delta’s operational reliability and outstanding reputation is suffering. As the economy continues to recover, we question the trajectory of our airline and are very concerned about the integrity and safety of our operation.” And a spokesman for American Airlines’ pilot union said on CNBC this week that management has been “pushing us and pushing us” to operate more flights. He said the FAA “ought to come in and look at them trying to fly more airplanes than they can actually fly and building these schedules to an inhumane level.” 

In his View From the Wing blog, aviation expert Gary Leff lamented that with the repeated schedule chaos, he’s become “numb to it all” because he sees “largely the same story week after week with passengers stranded amidst cancellations, and with full flights there’s no slack — very few seats for people to get rebooked onto — which means that the consequences of cancellations are greater than ever. Customers can’t get through to their airline for help. And when they do get through the airline may not have seats to offer them for days.” 

So if you’re heading to the airport over the coming holiday weekend, get familiar with your airline’s app and watch for flight status alerts; figure out how to get rebooked with your airline through its app or through its Twitter account; consider using an independent app like Flightaware.com to see if the inbound aircraft that your flight will use is running behind schedule. Try to avoid checking a bag. And take along a good book in case you’ll be stuck at the airport.  

A United Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft lands at San Francisco International Airport in March 2019.

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San Francisco could be getting low-fare flights to London in the months ahead. Norse Atlantic, the low-cost Scandinavian carrier that recently started flying to Oslo from New York JFK and Fort Lauderdale, this week asked the U.S. Transportation Department to allow its British subsidiary (called Norse Atlantic U.K.) to start service between the U.S. and London Gatwick. The carrier has already announced plans to begin flights to Gatwick from JFK on Aug. 12. In its DOT application, Norse Atlantic said it also wants its initial Gatwick operation to include flights from Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, and soon thereafter to add Gatwick flights from San Francisco and Los Angeles; Baltimore/Washington International; and “Chicago/Rockford,” i.e., the Rockford, Illinois, airport, about an hour’s drive west of Chicago O’Hare. Norse Atlantic also plans to add service to Oslo from Orlando on July 5 and from Los Angeles International on Aug. 9. The airline uses two-class 787-9s for its trans-Atlantic operations.

Speaking of London Gatwick, last summer JetBlue made a very limited entry to trans-Atlantic travel, offering just one flight a day from New York JFK to London Heathrow. But by this fall the carrier’s U.K. schedule is slated to grow to five daily flights. And that schedule should be more secure now that JetBlue has just secured permanent takeoff and landing slots in the U.K. instead of the temporary ones it has been using. JetBlue now offers one daily flight from JFK to Heathrow and one from JFK to London Gatwick, and it’s due to add daily Boston flights to Gatwick beginning Aug. 4 and to Heathrow starting Sept. 20. In addition, JetBlue said it now plans to add a second daily JFK-Gatwick flight as of Oct. 29. According to Routesonline.com, CEO Robin Hayes said at a conference in Qatar that JetBlue will take a conservative approach to European expansion beyond the U.K., but that Paris will likely be its first destination on the continent, with service expected to start in 2023.

As Asian destinations gradually reopen to international travelers in the post-COVID environment, more trans-Pacific routes are starting to open as well. Delta said this week it plans to revive nonstop service from its Minneapolis-St. Paul hub to Seoul Incheon on Oct. 2, starting with three flights a week and increasing to daily Oct. 29, which will bring its Korea schedule back to its pre-pandemic status. And Air Canada just announced a new route from its trans-Pacific hub at Vancouver to Bangkok, operating four days a week starting Dec. 1 — the only nonstop Bangkok service from North America. In other international route news, the Paris-based low-cost carrier French Bee said it will add Miami-Paris Orly A350 flights starting Dec. 15; the airline already flies from Paris to San Francisco, Los Angeles and Newark.

A sole Delta Airlines employee waiting at the check-in counter inside International Terminal at Haneda Airport.

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The big carriers continue to trim their domestic schedules as they try to match capacity to the level of staffing they have to operate those flights, and this time the Bay Area is taking a couple of hits from Delta. The carrier announced in March that it would begin new daily service in August from Oakland to its Atlanta hub, but now that route has been scrapped, according to The Points Guy.

That news comes just weeks after Delta also axed a new route from OAK to its Detroit hub that was due to start this spring. Also being dropped from Delta’s schedule is nonstop Sacramento-Detroit service, The Points Guy said, along with Boston-Memphis and Atlanta-Colorado Springs. American Airlines is also ending or suspending some domestic routes, allegedly due to a pilot shortage, including California service from Ontario to AA’s Chicago O’Hare hub along with Charlotte-El Paso, Texas, and Charlotte-Sioux Falls, South Dakota. And four smaller airports are being dropped from AA’s route map as of Sept. 7: Toledo (served from Chicago O’Hare); MacArthur Airport in Islip (Long Island), New York; and Ithaca, New York, both served from Philadelphia; and Dubuque, Iowa (served from O’Hare).

American Airlines and the Transportation Security Administration started testing a new Mobile ID option at Dallas/Fort Worth International for AA flyers who are also members of TSA’s PreCheck program. American Airlines Mobile ID lets customers “breeze through the airport with just their phone and their face,” American said. It’s now available for use at all TSA PreCheck checkpoints at DFW and will be added “later this year” at Miami, Phoenix, Washington Reagan National and other airports, AA said. To participate, customers download the Airside Digital Identity app on an Android or iOS device, take a photo of their face, scan their driver’s license or passport with the app, and enter their AAdvantage number.

The app will verify the customer’s data and store the Mobile ID on their phone. “As they go through security, customers simply present a QR code on their phone and consent to share their American Airlines Mobile ID with TSA,” AA said. “After sharing their Mobile ID, customers look into a camera at the TSA PreCheck checkpoint. TSA’s computer system then matches the customer’s encrypted image against their American Airlines Mobile ID. The entire process at the airport typically takes less than five seconds. Once verified, TSA erases the encrypted digital ID from its checkpoint readers and customers retain their digital ID on their device until they are ready to use it at another waypoint, such as an airport lounge.”

JetBlue has added some enhancements to its TrueBlue loyalty program. TrueBlue Mosaic Plus members can now earn credits redeemable for Blade helicopter transfers between Manhattan and New York JFK or Newark airports when connecting with JetBlue flights — about a 5-minute trip. Starting July 1, Blade offers discounts of 25% to Mosaic members and 10% to regular TrueBlue members for their first helicopter transfer when connecting to or from JetBlue flights.

Early morning view of the Westin Denver International Airport Hotel.

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Got a layover at Denver International? Since the Westin Hotel opened at the airport several years ago, the open-air plaza between that building and the Jeppesen Terminal has been creatively used for passenger entertainment and recreation. In the winter it offers ice skating, and now that summer’s here, DEN’s plaza is hosting free mini-golf for bored travelers. Through July 17, the 10-hole course is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day. “Participants can simply visit the DEN Clubhouse located on the plaza for a putter, golf ball and scorecard,” the airport said. “The custom course includes challenging holes and obstacles.” Besides mini-golf, the plaza also hosts jazz concerts on select Fridays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport has opened a new passenger concourse, giving it a total of eight. The new Terminal 4 concourse has eight gates, all occupied by Southwest Airlines. The 275,000-square-foot facility has charging stations at every seat, a common use airport lounge, and will feature a variety of local restaurant and retail options, such as Pedal Haus Brewery, Berry Divine Acai Bowls, Bobby’s Burgers, Eegee’s, Sip Coffee & Beer, the Uptown Phoenix Shop and more. “The shops, restaurants, and lounge will be opening in the coming months, and in the meantime, customers will find food and beverage and retail kiosks,” the airport said.  

Members of the Priority Pass airport lounge program, which includes 1,300 locations worldwide, are gaining access to some new lounges, including one at San Francisco International. According to the One Mile at a Time blog, four British Airways lounges in the U.S. now admit Priority Pass members, including SFO, Seattle Tacoma International, Newark Liberty International and Washington Dulles. Annual fees for Priority Pass membership range from $99 to $429 depending on level of usage. Some premium credit cards also include membership as a benefit.