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Sunday, March 15, 2020

ANALYSIS: U.S. eyes aid for airlines; sees no domestic travel curbs for now

March 16, 2020 07H17 GMT/ZULU

by Rachel Rubin and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters News Analysts, Washington

WASHINGTON - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday said he was in close touch with Congress about helping U.S. airlines weather a massive downturn in business due to sweeping travel restrictions aimed at containing the coronavirus.

Mnuchin told ABC News’ “This Week” program he was talking with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi about measures this week to help airlines and other sectors reeling from a collapse in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We need to focus on the airline industry. This is an unprecedented situation,” he told the ABC program. “The president is going to use all the tools that are in the toolbox, and we will work with Congress on a bipartisan basis.”

“The Speaker and I are already in conversations about airlines, which (are) critical to us, hotels, cruise ships, more SBA lending, more liquidity, some type of stimulus,” he added.

Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) on Sunday said it will halt service to London from Detroit and Dublin flights from New York after the White House announced it was imposing new travel restrictions on United Kingdom and Ireland.

American Airlines Inc (AAL.O) on Saturday said it plans to cut 75% of its international flights through May 6 and ground nearly all its widebody fleet.

Delta, American Air Lines and United Airlines, the three largest U.S. airlines, are in talks with the U.S. government about potential assistance, but no details have emerged.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CBS’s “Face the Nation” program the administration would discuss “a number of new proposals” for the airlines with U.S. lawmakers this week, but gave no details.

Top U.S. infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci on Sunday warned Americans that the coronavirus outbreak could get worse before it gets better, but said he did not expect the United States to restrict domestic travel in the near future.

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABC News’ “This Week” program he was confident the U.S. government was doing everything needed to contain the outbreak and avert a worst-case scenario.

The disease has infected some 156,465 people have been around the world, and 5,838 have died, according to a Reuters tally. The United States has reported at least 59 deaths.

Fauci told ABC that early U.S. moves to block travel from China had helped, as would new restrictions on travel from Europe. He said there had been some discussion on the president’s coronavirus task force about limiting travel within the United States, but he did not see that happening for now.

“They’ve been discussed, but not seriously,” he said. “I don’t see that right now in the immediate future. But remember, we are very open-minded about whatever it takes.”

Slideshow (6 Images)

Mnuchin told “Fox News Sunday” the government would focus on shoring up the airline, hotel and cruise ship industries, but insisted that would not amount to any kind of “bailout.”

“If you’re providing liquidity to good businesses that just need liquidity for three to six months, where you’re taking collateral and you have security, that’s not a bailout,” he said.

Thursday, February 1, 2018

'Emotional support animals' US airlines tighten leash

02 February 2018 - 00H37 GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME

by Rachel Rubin and Biodun Iginla, France24 Travel reporters, Washington DC

WASHINGTON -

Major US airlines are clipping the wings of "emotional support animals" hoping to take flight with their owners over safety concerns, as a would-be peacock passenger created a social media tizzy.

United Airlines -- which this week turned Dexter the Peacock away at New Jersey's Newark Airport over health and safety concerns -- announced Thursday it was reining in regulations on emotional support animals, citing a 75 percent jump in customers taking creatures on board and a spike in related incidents.

Federal guidelines support the right of passengers with disabilities to board with a variety of emotional support or service animals, but airlines can deny boarding to some exotic or "unusual" pets.

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"The Department of Transportation's rules regarding emotional support animals are not working as they were intended, and we need to change our approach in order to ensure a safe and pleasant travel experience for all of our customers," the airline said in a statement.

Queried by us at France24, United spokesman Charlie Hobart said the peacock kerfuffle had "no relevance whatsoever" to the policy change, which will go into effect March 1, and the timing "was a complete coincidence."

"We've been working on this policy for some time, well before this weekend's incident with Dexter."

He noted that the majestic bird with iridescent blue and green plumage was not allowed onboard under current policy, which prohibits from cabin travel for a menagerie including hedgehogs, rodents, non-household birds and "animals not properly cleaned or carrying a foul odor."

United's move follows Delta's decision to implement new documentation requirements for owners hoping to fly with their animals, a new policy it said "comes as a lack of regulation that has led to serious safety risks involving untrained animals in flight."

- 'Comfort turkeys' -

That airline said it had seen an 84 percent jump in reports of animal incidents since 2016, including an emotional support dog weighing 70 pounds (over 30 kilograms) that gave another passenger facial wounds requiring 28 stitches.

"Customers have attempted to fly with comfort turkeys, gliding possums known as sugar gliders, snakes, spiders and more," Delta said. "Ignoring the true intent of existing rules governing the transport of service and support animals can be a disservice to customers who have real and documented needs."

The Association of Flight Attendants heralded Delta's tightened requirements.

An American spokeswoman told us at France24 that the airline was reviewing its policy, while vowing to "continue to support the rights of customers, from veterans to people with disabilities, with legitimate needs."

Dexter the Peacock, meanwhile, was forced to make the trek to Los Angeles via car, according to the bird's Instagram account.

"Spent 6 hours trying to get on my flight to LA," read a caption next to an image of the peacock -- which reportedly belongs to a New York-based performance artist -- perched on a baggage trolley.

"Tomorrow my human friends are going to drive me cross country!"

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Laptops might be banned on all flights into and out of the US

Mon May 29, 2017 | 03H:33 GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME

by Melissa Gruz and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters, New York

The United States might ban laptops from aircraft cabins on all flights into and out of the country as part of a ramped-up effort to protect against potential security threats, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said on Sunday.

In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Kelly said the United States planned to "raise the bar" on airline security, including tightening screening of carry-on items.

"That's the thing that they are obsessed with, the terrorists, the idea of knocking down an airplane in flight, particularly if it's a U.S. carrier, particularly if it's full of U.S. people."

In March, the government imposed restrictions on large electronic devices in aircraft cabins on flights from 10 airports, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkey.

Kelly said the move would be part of a broader airline security effort to combat what he called "a real sophisticated threat." He said no decision had been made as to the timing of any ban.

"We are still following the intelligence," he said, "and are in the process of defining this, but we're going to raise the bar generally speaking for aviation much higher than it is now."

Airlines are concerned that a broad ban on laptops may erode customer demand. But none wants an incident aboard one of its airplanes.

"Whatever comes out, we'll have to comply with," Oscar Munoz, chief executive officer of United Airlines (UAL.N), told the company's annual meeting last week.

Airlines were blindsided in January when President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning entry for 90 days to citizens from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, sending airlines scrambling to determine who could board and who could not. The order was later blocked in the courts.

In the case of laptops, the administration is keeping the industry in the loop. Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) said in a statement it "continues to be in close contact with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security," while Munoz applauded the administration for giving the company a "heads up."

"We've had constant updates on the subject," he said. "We know more than most. And again, if there's a credible threat out there, we need to make sure we take the appropriate measures."

MORE SCRUTINY OF CARRY-ONS

Among the enhanced security measures will likely be tighter screening of carry-on items to allow Transport Security Administration agents to discern problematic items in tightly stuffed bags.

Kelly said that in order to avoid paying fees for checking bags, people were stuffing them to the point where it was difficult to see through the clutter.

"The more stuff is in there, the less the TSA professionals that are looking at what's in those bags through the monitors can tell what's in them."

The TSA has begun testing certain new procedures at a limited number of airports, requiring people to remove additional items from carry-on bags for separate screenings.

Asked whether the government would expand such measures nationwide, Kelly said: "We might, and likely will."