The coronavirus (COVID-19) is bringing with it a lot of fast-breaking, bad news for travelers and the travel industry.
Over the weekend, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines announced the temporary suspension of flights to Milan, Italy and United Airlines announced a temporary suspension of flights to Tokyo Narita, Osaka Singapore and Seoul.
Coronavirus schedule updates: We are suspending some service to Tokyo Narita, Osaka, Singapore and Seoul. China and Hong Kong flight suspensions are extended through 4/30. We will stay in close contact with the CDC as we continue to evaluate our schedule. https://t.co/qNMXQnoHLCpic.twitter.com/pR1XwjlHcT
And, because travelers are holding back on buying new plane tickets, on Sunday American Airlines announced it will join JetBlue and Alaska Airlines in offering a change fee waiver on new tickets purchased in the next two weeks.
For the next 2 weeks, there’s no change or cancellation fees* with any of our fares. Applies to bookings made 2/27-3/11 for travel through 6/1/20. Details > https://t.co/Z2MO9WX3Zzpic.twitter.com/tZBI3tL19O
Our Peace of Mind Waiver is currently in place for new tickets booked between February 27 and March 12 for travel through June 1, 2020. Learn more on the Alaska Blog. https://t.co/xsP8wpmbG8
The airline says using wipes to clean armrests and tray tables is fine, but they’re asking passengers not to use cleaning wipes on the leather seats because commercial wipes will deteriorate the top coat of leather.
“The wipe might look dirty, ” says Alaska, “but it’s actually the leather dye color that’s coming off.”
Bad news for travelers may keep coming for a while, so it was refreshing to have Saturday Night Live do this silly bit about traveling through New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
Here’s a good airline story to kick off the New Year
There are travel sites that promise to go to bat for you should you have an issue with an airline, hotel or some other outfit you may give your money and business to on the road.
Most of the time, that’s not what we do here at StuckatTheAirport.com.
We stick mostly to telling you about great adventures and cool amenities to explore when you’re in an airport, on a plane or in a town.
But if someone asks for advice or help with a travel
problem, we do our best to help.
That’s what happened when Annie, a childhood friend of ours,
reached out.
She’d had a scary and frustrating trip from Newark to Los Angeles over Thanksgiving and wanted help getting United Airlines to give her and her husband the $10,000 they were offered for volunteering to give up their seats.
Problem was she had no paperwork showing that the hefty
vouchers had been promised.
Here’s her story:
On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we
were flying from Newark to LA on United.
We were in the air briefly when the
pilot announced we were going back to Newark as the plane lost an engine.
Arrived safely. They attempted to fix
the plane but gave up after several hours.
When they announced a new plane, we
went to the new gate with a newly assigned seat electronically.
Then they announced they needed 50 volunteers to give up their seats at $5k voucher per person. You can imagine many people started scrambling including me. It was chaos. I backed away when I saw the chaos. The flight kept getting delayed as they waited for food service. Then the crew timed out. Then they announced they needed more volunteers.
I got to the front of the line. A supervisor gave me a new boarding pass for the next day that said: “See agent.”
We waited around for a while to see if we would get hotel voucher. It was still chaotic, and some people were getting heated…. No one said how we can claim our vouchers.
We got our own hotel at Newark. I figured I can pay 150.00 if I am going to get 10k. …. I assumed we would hear from United via email.
When we didn’t, I reached out on-line about two weeks ago. I have been dealing with someone from Customer Service who said we should have received the vouchers at Newark. She has been reaching out directly to Newark but hasn’t gotten any response.
Trust me, we didn’t give up our prime seats for no compensation!
Sometimes, things work out!
To be honest, we weren’t at all confident Annie and her husband would be able to collect their vouchers since they had no documentation in hand.
But when we asked our United Airlines contact where to send Annie to get help, they said they’d have Customer Service get in touch.
And they did.
Now we are pleased to report that the Customer Service person who investigated this issue quickly – as in less than a day –on the day before New Year’s, no less – figured out that yes, indeed, these two travelers were in fact due $5,000 each in bump compensation.
Apologies were offered. And now those vouchers have been issued.
Good work United Airlines!!!
Moral of the story?
If you volunteer to be bumped off a flight in exchange for $50 or $5,000, never leave the counter without getting the voucher placed in your hand.
Before spitting out real baggage, the bag carousel dispensed gift boxes with restaurant gift cards, socks, water tumblers, earbuds, holiday snacks, and more.
The party didn’t stop there.
Other travelers could visit the hot chocolate bar, snack on Graeter’s ice cream samples, and listen to carolers from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music.
And check out this gift-delivering Grinch.
And it looks like other airports have the same idea this holiday season.
Here’s a tweet from the Krakow Airport, showing gift bags arriving for passengers at the bag claim as well.
Twitter won't translate this for me – but these look like gifts for travelers on the bag claim belt? https://t.co/bH11Sw2mqL
United is offering flight discounts for young travelers
Discount fares for young travelers used to be quite common. Not anymore.
So let’s hope United Airlines’ new promotion (re)starts that trend.
For now: here’s the deal:
If you’re between the ages of 18 to 22 and looking to book a flight on United, you can get a 10% discount if you’re a MileagePlus member with your birth date in your profile and if you book your trip through the airline’s mobile app by December 31, 2019.
As a bonus, and because young people are said to be all about saving the earth, United will also offset carbon emissions for the first 25,000 customers who travel using this promotion.
Some extra details on United’s discount plan for young people:
*The promotion applies to new flights booked between now and December 31, 2019, including flights departing after the promotion period ends.
*Flights within the United States, Canada, or Mexico, and some international destinations, are eligible for the discount.
This week pretty much everyone is celebrating
and commemorating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 launch and
the first manned mission to land on the Moon.
And today, July 17 -the same day Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Buzz Aldrin made their first TV transmission from Earth to space – United Airlines is hosting a special celebration flight from Newark Liberty International (EWR) airport to Houston’s Georg Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH).
Why fly to Houston now?
Houston is also known as “Space City” because it is home to NASA’s Mission Control Center at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.
StuckatTheAirport.com is going along on Flight 355. We’re promised space-themed entertainment, inflight gifts (yay!) and “special onboard guests who have first-hand experience in space.”
We think that means astronauts will on board…
Once we land in Houston, we’ll join Space
Center Houston’s Apollo Anniversary Celebration and get to tour the Apollo
Mission Control Center, among other activities.
We’ll also try to taste some of the special cocktails and menu items being served this month at two OTG restaurants at IAH that were inspired by meals the astronauts ate during the Apollo 11 mission.
The astronauts were served “meals” that look like this:
But the special “Eat Like an Astronaut” dishes on the menu at Ember Tavern and Tanglewood Grille in United Airlines’ Terminal C and E at IAH look far more appetizing:
Stay tuned here and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for Apollo 11 celebration pictures along the way.
Celebrations are
already underway to mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon
landing and the first steps taken by humans on the moon.
July 20 is the official anniversary day, but United Airlines and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport are among the groups that have a planned more than a month’s worth of activities to mark the lunar milestone.
Win a seat on a
special United Airlines celebration flight
Top among the events
is a special flight from Newark to Houston on July 17, the anniversary of the day astronauts Neil
Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Buzz Aldrin made their first TV
transmission from Earth to space.
On that day, United Flight 355 from Newark Liberty International Airport to Houston will be a celebratory flight with space-themed entertainment, inflight gifts and special guests who have been to space.
Want to go along? United is hosting a social media contest on Twitter with a prize that includes seats on board the Apollo 11 celebration flight as well as a behind the scenes tour of NASA facilities in Houston. Deadline to enter is June 22, 2019 at 10:29 a.m. CT.
Mission: Space City is a go! Retweet for a chance to win 2 tickets on our special flight to Houston and a behind-the-scenes tour of @NASA_Johnson & @SpaceCenterHou in celebration of Apollo 11's 50th anniversary.
Beginning July 1, members of United’s Mileage Plus mileage program can bid miles on space-themed experiences such as VIP access to Space Center Houston’s Apollo 11 50thAnniversary Celebration featuring the band Walk the Moon. More information on that here.
Courtesy NASA
No contest entry needed
for these Apollo 11 activities:
There’s more: Starting
July 1, seatback and personal device entertainment on United flights will
include a channel with dedicated space-related program from NASA, including
action cam footage of astronaut spacewalks.
In United’s Terminal C and E at George Bush
Intercontinental Airport (IAH), there are lots of activities planned as well:
In Terminal C, gate lounges will display digital photographs from the Apollo 11 mission on the monitors.
From July 9-11 Space Center Houston will provide Apollo 11-themed pop-up science labs in the terminals. In the United Clubs, customers will have a chance to meet and take photos with retired Astronaut Ken Cameron.
During July, travelers
will also have a chance to eat like an astronaut at In United Airlines’ at two restaurants at
IAH, one in Terminal C and one in Terminal E.
What did the astronauts eat?
Courtesy National Air and Space Museum
Between liftoff and touchdown
back on earth, astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins were running
experiments, taking pictures, gathering samples and making history.
They also took time to
eat.
“More than 70 items
comprise the food selection list of freeze-dried rehydratable, wet-pack and
spoon-bowl foods,” NASA explains in the 250-page typewritten press
kit for the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing Mission on July 6, 1969.
The press kit lists the day-by-day,
meal-by-meal menu for each crewman and explains how some of the meals were
prepared.
“After water has been injected into a food bag, it is kneaded for about three minutes. The bag neck is then cut off and the food squeezed into the crewman ‘s mouth,” the release explains.
Freeze-dried ice-cream isn’t
on the list, but powdered fruit-drinks (not Tang; NASA doesn’t use brand
names), along with bacon cubes, shrimp cocktail, beef stew, frankfurters, fruit
cocktail, tuna salad and many other familiar foods are.
“Familiar foods, or even just fresh
foods, are often hugely satisfying in space for the memories they trigger and
warm feelings they generate,” said Jennifer Levasseur,
Museum Curator, Department of Space
History at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, which has 13 packets
of food the Apollo 11 astronauts didn’t eat.
Like modern day travelers, food is one of the few
things astronauts can control during a journey far from home. “Food must have
had a very important role on Apollo 11 because they were doing things that had
never been done before,” said Vickie Kloeris, NASA Food Scientist Emeritus.
Dine like an astronaut
Many of the foods found
on those original Apollo 11 menus are featured during July on a special menu at
OTG’s Ember Tavern and Tanglewood Grille in United Airlines’ Terminal C and E
at IAH.
To ensure authenticity, OTG’s culinary team visited NASA’s Space Food
Systems Laboratory in Houston to learn about and taste food prepared by NASA’s
food scientists.
“We wanted to understand what food meant to astronauts having that
experience and what it means now,” said Dan O’Donnell, OTG’s Head of Culinary, “We
wanted to know the science and philosophy behind space food; where they were
then and where it is now.”
The biggest take-away, said O’Donnell was that
the astronauts could choose a lot of the foods they wanted to eat. “It wasn’t
just about sustenance. Much of it was food that reminded the astronauts of home;
like beef and potatoes, tuna salad and sugar cookies. Our menu is a play on
those items.”
Travelers who order from
the Apollo 11-inspired IAH menu won’t be served meals that need to be
reconstituted and squeezed into their mouths from bags. Nor will they find 1969
prices.
Instead they’ll find modern-day
versions of many menu items from the Apollo 11 mission.
“For instance, our take
on the Tuna Salad uses seared ahi instead of regular tuna, but we prepared it
in the same way with walnuts, grapes, celery, apple and some fresh yogurt,”
said O’Donnell, “The Beef & Potatoes is made with grilled ribeye, scalloped
potatoes and parsley pesto.
Although there was no alcohol on Apollo 11, there’s are cocktails on the IAH Apollo 11 anniversary menu.
“The original menus said, ‘orange drink,’ ‘grapefruit drink’ or ‘citrus drink.’ They were very flavor focused and on the sweeter side, because people taste things differently in space,” said Allison Kafalas, OTG Beverage Director, “I took those flavors and translated them to cocktails that are a bit more relevant and modern for today’s eater, including a peach bellini, a martini using an orange vodka from Texas and a pineapple margarita.”
Spider-Man weaves through
United Airlines’ newest safety video
Spider-Man poses with United Airlines employees who appear in the new safety demonstration video – courtesy United Airlines
F
For a story on USA TODAY, I was invited to be on set during part of the filming for United Airlines’ new safety demonstration video featuring Spider-Man – and friends.
Here’s the story, And the video.
https://youtu.be/eM0H9rbqusw
“Spider-Man: Far From Home” won’t be in movie theaters until
July 2 but, starting today, fans of the webbed wonder (and of hidden film references
known as Easter eggs) will be able to see Spider-Man in action in United Airlines’ newest inflight safety demonstration video.
United
Airlines, Sony and Marvel worked together to weave the Federal Aviation Administration’s
required safety instructions into a fast-paced, short (4:44) film starring
Spider-Man, a trio of villains, and some of Spider-Man’s friends.
“We’ve kept the worlds of Spider-Man and United safety
separate, but together,” said Daniel Cuellar, Director of Global Advertising
for United, “Crew members, as always, are doing the demos and giving
instructions, but there’s an underlying fun Spider-Man aspect to it.”
And some cool
special effects.
“That’s the benefit of partnering with Sony,” said United’s Vice President of Marketing,
Mark Krolick. “We were able to make this safety video with movie
theater-style production and effects. It’s not something we usually have the
opportunity to do and I think our customers will appreciate the higher production
value.”
And, United hopes, pay attention in a world where airlines
try to out-do each other with engaging safety videos.
“There is
plenty of evidence that learning is more effective when there is play and fun
involved, and these videos follow a trend of gamification and entertainment of
information,” said Sabrina Habib, a professor of Visual Communications at the
University of South Carolina.
Spoiler alert: here’s the plot of
United’s new Spider-Man-themed safety video
On the set during filming of the United Airlines new safety video. Photo Harriet Baskas
In United’s
new safety video, villains cause trouble at the corner store owned by Mr.
Delmar (played by Hemky Madera). Spider-Man happens to be nearby and springs
into action. He chases the goons into a movie theater, to a park fountain, and down
a dark alley; captures them all; and leaves them neatly wrapped up in a web
with a handwritten note for the authorities that says “All Yours! Gotta Fly.
Spider-Man.”
If you pay attention,
you’ll notice a framed photo of the late comic book writer and Marvel super
hero creator Stan Lee in the store. That’s Spider-Man movie character Eugene
“Flash” Thompson (played by Toni Revolori) helping to demonstrate safety
instructions about putting electronic devices into airplane mode.
And, while you
may not know who they are, some of the extras in the video are people who bid
their MileagePlus miles for a chance to be part of the project.
There’s more:
Spider-Man’s
alter ego, Peter Parker, has a best friend, Ned (played by Jacob Batalon) who is
in-line outside a movie theater when Spider-Man streaks by chasing a goon into
the theater. They race by a man walking down the sidewalk, played by none other
than United Airlines’ CEO Oscar Munoz.
“Wow, that must be
some good movie,” says man-on-the street Munoz
“Yeah, I hear the
best friend’s hilarious,” replies Ned.
During filming of the street scene outside the classic
Palace Theatre in downtown Los Angeles this past January, Munoz was having fun
bantering with the production crew and was patient and good-natured about the
multiple takes.
Off the set, there was an upcoming earnings report
and the impact the partial government shutdown was having on the airline
industry to think about, but Munoz felt taking time to do this safety video
cameo was important.
Besides being
fun for him to do, “It brings an awareness that while United is incredibly serious
about issues of safety and operational reliability,” said Munoz, “Were are
the also the ‘The Friendly Skies’ and we want to be friendly and fun. I think
this gives us that narrative.”
United CEO Oscar Munoz, Spider-Man and Jacob Batalon (‘Ned’). Photo_Harriet Baskas
How did United
Airlines rope Spider-Man into a safety video appearance?
United is not only an official airline sponsor for the new
Spider-Man movie; one of its airplanes has a cameo in the film.
In “Spider-Man: Far From Home.” Peter Parker and his high
school classmates go on a class trip to Europe, stopping in London, Venice, Prague
and a few other places. United flew a 777-200, retrofitted with the Polaris business
cabin, to London for a week of shooting.
“There are lots of different scenes of the kids going over
and coming back.” said United’s global advertising director Daniel Cuellar,
“Peter Parker has one very rich friend who’s flying in Polaris while everyone
else is flying in economy. So there’s lots of great footage of the aircraft.
And when the kids come home from Europe, they filmed in Newark Airport as
well.”
Other tie-ins
United’s “Spider-Man:
Far From Home” tie-in goes beyond the safety video and the aircraft cameo in
the film.
Starting in
June, travelers in United’s Polaris business class will get a Spider-Man-themed
amenity kit, in red or blue, which includes a Spidey-branded eye mask and
socks, alongside tissues and other branded personal care items.
The airline is
also inviting MileagePlus members to bid award miles
for a chance to attend the “Spider-Man: Far from Home” premiere in Los Angeles
on June 26 or to use award miles to attend pre-release screenings in seven of
the airline’s hub cities.
There’s one more day to cast a vote in United Airlines’ Her Art Here contest, which is giving two women artists a chance to have their work featured on a Boeing 757 aircraft.
Judges narrowed down submitted artwork to six
finalists – three for a design to represent New York/New Jersey and three for a
California-themed design.
Now the public is being asked to vote for one finalist from each region. Voting ends April 19.
Here are few of more designs that made the cut:
Look here to see the designs for all six finalists and to cast your vote.
Two winners, one representing each region, will be given a chance to work alongside renowned artist Shantell Martin to finalize a design for their respective region’s plane.
The finalists and the winners will also get open gallery shows and have their art work on display inside United Airlines terminals through 2019.
Winners also get 100,000 MileagePlus award miles and the two winning artists will also each get $10,000.
Beleaguered WOW Air shut down on Thursday, posting a note on its website that all flights had been canceled.
For tickets holders stranded in various cities and airports, and those with tickets for future dates, WOW Air suggests contacting your travel agent or credit card issuer for help and offers this advice:
“Some airlines
may offer flights at a reduced rate, so-called rescue fares, in light of the
circumstances.”
As of Thursday
evening, here’s what airlines, travel companies and even a bus company is
offering WOW Air ticket holders in terms of “rescue” assistance:
Early in the day, the Hopper booking site announced that all customers who booked WOW Air flights through its site would get full refunds.
“Hopper will
also be paying the full cost of rebooking for all its stranded passengers in
transit.”
All Hopper customers who were booked with WOW Air will be refunded in full. Hopper will also be paying the full cost of rebooking for all of its stranded passengers in transit. You’ll receive a text message from our team with further instructions. #WowAir
A variety of
airlines are offering WOW Air tickets holders discounted rates on rebooked flights.
Icelandair has a posted a list of discounted Economy fares for stranded passengers en route to, from, or through Iceland. The fares are only available for passengers already on their journey, with a return WOW AIr ticket between now and April 11, 2019.
Other airlines, including Norwegian Air, Aer Lingus, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic are also offering special “rescue” fares to help WOW Air ticket holders. Check with the airline to see what they can do for you.
Special fares are available to anyone affected by the news from #WOWair today. If you booked with WOW and you need an alternative flight, please call. We'll do our best to help.
Even the Megabus company is doing its part to help.
The latest news…WOW! We can’t get you across the pond but we can get you to another city to catch your rebooked flights or make your way home. Just email inquiries@megabus.com with your cancelled ticket and we’ll help you on your way – free of charge. https://t.co/1hvXA7TeoSpic.twitter.com/PdUmq7EknW
