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Flights to Shanghai's Pudong Airport are being revived by Delta and United.
Photo: Shanghai Pudong AirportFlights to Shanghai's Pudong Airport are being revived by Delta and United.
Flights to Shanghai's Pudong Airport are being revived by Delta and United.
Flights to Shanghai's Pudong Airport are being revived by Delta and United.
In route and airport news, American is giving up on a policy of keeping some middle seats empty; new international routes are coming back to San Francisco International from United, Virgin Atlantic and Turkish Airlines; Delta revives some China service; Hawaiian Airlines returns to Sacramento and San Diego; JetBlue launches a cash-plus-points redemption option for frequent flyers; Global Entry enrollment centers reopen; and Los Angeles International installs thermal cameras to scan travelers’ temperatures.
How important is an empty middle seat in attracting reluctant travelers back to an airline? Some carriers recently extended their policy of blocking out middle seats to preserve a bit of social distance between passengers, but others don’t see the need. In the latest development, the nation’s largest airline (by fleet size), American, is giving up on the policy July 1. Actually, American has only been blocking out half of its middle seats, but that limit ends next month. The carrier said that when a flight is booking up near capacity, it will “continue to notify customers and allow them to move to more open flights when available, all without incurring any cost.” By contrast, Delta and Southwest recently extended their empty-middle-seat policies through the end of September. Alaska and JetBlue have both committed to blocking out middle seats through the end of July. Which carrier are you most likely to book when you take your first pandemic-era flights? Hmmm.
United apparently gave up on a no-middle-seat policy more than a month ago, when it said it would start notifying customers if their flight was going to be more than 70-percent full, giving them the chance to rebook onto another flight for no penalty. In late May, United CEO Scott Kirby told a business conference the empty-middle-seat guarantee was overblown. ““You can’t be six-feet-apart on an airplane, middle seat or not,” Kirby said. “What makes an airplane safe is HEPA air filters re-circulating the air every two to three minutes, wearing a mask onboard the airplane, and cleaning the airplane.” In fact, United will start filling up even more empty seats on July 1 when it opens up its flights to travel by non-revenue passengers – i.e. employees and relatives with pass privileges. Currently, they aren’t allowed on flights with bookings that exceed 70 percent of capacity.
More long-haul aircraft will be making their way to SFO’s International Terminal in the weeks ahead as airlines begin to restore routes that became dormant due to the coronavirus crisis. In the latest developments, United is bringing back a Shanghai route from SFO, and Virgin Atlantic and Turkish Airlines are both returning, in addition to several carriers that started service this month and United’s previously announced plans to restore more long-haul routes in July.
United said this week it will resume flying to Shanghai from San Francisco on July 8, using a 777-300ER to operate two flights a week via a stop at Seoul Incheon. The westbound flights will depart Wednesdays and Saturdays, and the eastbound segments Thursdays and Sundays.
Virgin Atlantic expects to resume service on 17 routes out of London Heathrow starting in August, including LHR-San Francisco flights beginning Aug. 4. The airline plans to start with three 787-9 flights a week, increasing its SFO-LHR schedule to daily on September 2. (Earlier, Virgin said it would return to Los Angeles International and to New York JFK on July 21.) The carrier’s other route revival plans include LHR to Miami Aug. 18, to Atlanta Aug. 25, and to Washington D.C., Las Vegas, Seattle and Boston in September.
Turkish Airlines, which had shut down all international flying during the height of the pandemic, resumed service this month from Istanbul to LAX, Chicago, Washington, and Miami, and now it will add three more U.S. gateways in July. That includes a resumption of Istanbul-San Francisco service on July 15 with three flights a week, using a 777-300ER. Istanbul-New York will begin July 1 with five weekly flights, and Istanbul-Houston will come back on July 26 with three flights a week.
In a recap of recent activity, San Francisco International noted this week that long-haul service revivals during June thus far include China Airlines to Taipei, United to Frankfurt, British Airways to London, Philippine Airlines to Manila, Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, and Lufthansa to Munich. United last month said it would revive more SFO routes in July, including Tel Aviv, Delhi, Seoul and Hong Kong/Singapore. (It looks like United’s Delhi flights won’t start before the second half of July, since the government of India has just extended its ban on international airline service through July 15.) And earlier this month, we reported that SFO will also see renewed service in July from Japan Airlines to Tokyo Narita, Air France to Paris, KLM to Amsterdam, and Emirates to Dubai.
Keep in mind that just because planes are flying to other countries, you are more than likely not allowed to fly there as a tourist or business traveler. Most of these new flights are for essential or repatriation travel, and cargo. Travelers will likely be faced with outright bans, or lengthy quarantines, so be sure to determine your eligibility to enter before booking your flight. More about bans here.
Aviation relations between the U.S. and China have been touchy lately, with carriers from each country jockeying to resume service to the other as the governments argued over how much should be allowed. Even before United’s SFO-Shanghai announcement, Delta became the first U.S. airline to resume flights to China since they were stopped in February.
This week, Delta began flying between Seattle and Shanghai twice a week, operating via a stop at Seoul Incheon with an Airbus A350. In July, it will operate weekly flights to Shanghai from Seattle and Detroit, also via Seoul. Elsewhere, Delta also revealed plans to add service to Cape Town, South Africa on October 24 as an extension of its existing daily Atlanta-Johannesburg service. It will use an A350-900 for the triangular routing, which will return directly from Cape Town to Atlanta.
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With Hawaii planning to open up for non-quarantined tourist arrivals on August 1 – providing travelers get a Covid-19 test shortly before they leave home, as we reported this week – Hawaiian Airlines is looking at an expanded schedule to the mainland, where it currently has daily flights from Honolulu to LAX, SFO and Seattle. In addition to recently revealed plans to bring back daily Portland-HNL service July 1, Hawaiian now expects to resume daily Honolulu flights from Sacramento and San Diego on July 15. Inter-island frequencies are also being increased in July.
Hawaiian Airlines plans to resume service to Sacramento next month.
JetBlue this week unveiled a new promotion for members of its TrueBlue loyalty program “for customers who are ready to book travel but do not have enough TrueBlue points to cover the full cost of their itinerary.” Members who have at least 500 points in their account can combine points and cash for a trip when they book directly with the airline. It’s good for any JetBlue flights with no blackout dates and can be booked through the airline’s website or its app by selecting the Cash+Points option after picking a flight and fare type. “Customers can choose nearly any combination of cash and points, starting at 500 points, by using the slider or by manually entering the amount,” JetBlue said. JetBlue recently announced new non-stops between SFO and Newark starting in mid-July.
Do you still need an in-person interview to join Customs and Border Protection’s Global Entry trusted traveler program? CBP’s enrollment centers have been closed down due to the coronavirus, but conditionally approved applicants can now schedule interviews at them starting July 6 by going to the trusted traveler program website. CBP said the availability of interview times will vary by location. The agency said its enrollment centers will use social distancing and will require applicants to wear a mask when they show up for their interview.
In airport news, Los Angeles International has started using thermal camera technology to check travelers’ temperatures. The cameras have been installed at two locations in the Tom Bradley International Terminal, screening both arriving and departing passengers at the main entrance on the departures level and inside the terminal near select international arrivals. Camera operators will be looking for individuals with temperatures of 100.4 degrees or higher, LAX said.
According to LAX, “This is a voluntary program with signage alerting passengers where this trial will take place. If a voluntary participant is identified as having an elevated body temperature, a medical professional near the camera operator will approach the identified person and request a secondary screening using a handheld, non-contact thermometer. Departing guests who are identified as having an elevated body temperature will be advised that they should not travel. Passengers on arriving international flights identified as being potentially ill may be referred to CDC staff on site.”
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Routes: Middle seat empty? + SFO-Shanghai, Turkish is back + more route news - SFGate
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