Hand sanitizer is in high demand around the world as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. In many cities, it is almost impossible to find hand sanitizer and keep in stock.
To address the shortage, many liquor and perfume companies around the world are using their distilleries and production facilities to make sanitizing solutions of their own. Some of it they sell; some they give to hospitals and health care facilities and first responders.
San Francisco-based maintenance technician George Skoufos came up with the idea.
In late March he enlisted chemists and chemical engineers at the maintenance center at San Francisco International Airport to use chemicals they have on hand to whip up a sample batch of sanitizer.
They then got the recipe registered with the Food and Drug Administration.
In just a few weeks, employees at the center produced 550 gallons of hand sanitizer. That is enough to supply the entire base.
Now production is being ramped up so that the airline-made sanitizer can be distributed to United facilities worldwide.
A United spokesperson said the in-house sanitizer helps take the pressure off buying hand sanitizer from the open market. It also means more commercially made sanitizer is available for those working on the front lines of the healthcare system.
And it means there’s work for some of the idled United’s technicians and other employees who usually fix planes and plane parts at a time when few planes are flying.
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.
