Bad news for the airlines often translates as good news for travel consumers.
27.07.2023 - 18:16 / smartertravel.com / Tim Winship
The Trump administration’s newly imposed restrictions on travel to Cuba were expected to have a chilling effect on U.S. tourism to the island nation, but maybe not so quickly.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury last week announced a handful of restrictions and sanctions that prohibit Cuba visits that were previously allowed under the “people-to-people” provision, and make many hotels and other establishments off limits to U.S. visitors.
As a direct result, Alaska Airlines this week announced it will terminate its daily flights between Los Angeles and Havana, effective January 22, 2018.
In its news release, Alaska noted that 80 percent of its Cuba-bound flyers traveled under the people-to-people tourism exemption, which is no longer allowed under the new federal travel guidelines. The airline will redeploy its affected aircraft on routes where demand remains strong.
Related:The Best and Worst Airlines, Airports for Thanksgiving TravelAlaska isn’t alone in changing its Cuba flight plans. Minneapolis-based Sun Country has relinquished its rights to fly from its hub to Santa Clara and Matanzas, and American will discontinue its Miami-Cienfuegos flights in January.
When the dust settles, Americans interested in visiting Cuba will have far fewer options, as more and more U.S. carriers scale back or eliminate entirely their Cuba services.
More from SmarterTravel: Uber’s Flying Taxis Could Be Airborne by 2020 JetBlue Has a New Boarding Scheme. It’s Complicated The Top 25 Travel Apps to Upgrade Your SmartphoneAfter 20 years working in the travel industry, and 15 years writing about it, Tim Winship knows a thing or two about travel. Follow him on Twitter @twinship.
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Bad news for the airlines often translates as good news for travel consumers.
Beginning on June 1, Spirit will become the third airline to pull out of the Cuba market altogether, joining Frontier and Silver Airways. Two other airlines, American and JetBlue, have cut capacity on their Cuba flights, either by reducing frequency or downgrading to smaller planes.
With the high probability of Virgin America’s being folded into Alaska Airlines within the next two years, Virgin loyalists are in the market for an alternative. And JetBlue wants to be that alternative.
In a first for a U.S. airline loyalty program, Alaska Airlines is offering members of its Mileage Plan program the option to redeem miles to pay for TSA PreCheck service.
Alaska Airlines is justly lauded for its Mileage Plan loyalty program, which among other features boasts 17 airline partners, allowing program members to earn and redeem miles for flights throughout the world.
Until yesterday, American Airlines customers dismayed at the airline’s August 1 pivot to a spend-based mileage program had a fallback option: Earn miles for their American flights in Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan program, which still awards miles the old-fashioned way, according to the distance flown.
Ever since Delta began ramping up operations in Seattle, Alaska Airlines’ hometown and main flight hub, the relationship between the two airlines has been disintegrating. And there was plenty to disintegrate. The carriers were long-time partners in each other’s frequent-flyer programs, and they code-shared on a host of flights. They were, in the industry vernacular, preferred marketing partners.
Could you justify spending $35,000 for a year’s worth of unlimited business-class flights between New York and London or Paris? Probably not. But if so, La Compagnie has a deal for you.
Wi-Fi access isn’t free on Alaska Airlines flights. But at least for the next year, the airline’s passengers can use inflight Wi-Fi to send and receive unlimited texts for free.
By traditional measures, Alaska Airlines is a carrier of decidedly modest size, even after its acquisition of Virgin America. Its own flight network is small, compared to those of American, Delta, and United. And it’s not a member of one of the three global airline alliances.
In 2015, flyers filed 15,260 complaints with the Department of Transportation. That was a 34 percent increase over 2014’s 11,365 complaints.
Overall, Delta’s SkyMiles program has established itself as one of the industry’s least generous loyalty schemes. To play, you’ll pay. But with this limited-time award sale, you can at least pay less.