Airline executives from major U.S. airlines met with Vice President Mike Pence and a number of other top administration officials yesterday at the White House. What happened at the meeting?
Who Attended Airline CEO Meeting At White House?
Per the Vice President’s office, the following attended the meeting:
- The Vice President
- Ken Cucinelli, Acting Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security
- Elaine Chao, Secretary, Department of Transportation
- Alex Azar, Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services
- Robert Redfield, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Joel Szabat, Assistant Secretary for Aviation & International Affairs, Department of Transportation
- Scott Kirby, CEO, United Airlines
- Doug Parker, CEO, American Airlines
- Ed Bastian, CEO, Delta Air Lines
- Tom Nealon, President, Southwest Airlines
- Robin Hayes, CEO, JetBlue Airways
- Nicholas Calio, CEO, Airlines for America
The President apparently did not make an appearance at this meeting.
What Was Discussed At White House Airline CEO Summit?
Prior to the meeting, the big topic of discussion was whether mandatory temperature checks would be instituted at airports across the country. And if so, who would conduct them?
While the White House indicated it was open to working with the Department of Transportation to make temperature checks mandatory, it stopped short of committing to them. Open questions include how to pay for the program and more importantly, what to do if a passenger has a high temperature.
Airlines volunteered to full refund passengers who check-in with temperatures (imagine how that may be gamed…) but even that was not enough. Apparently, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) does not want to deal with passengers found to have high fevers at U.S. airports. Major airlines view public views temperature checks along with masks as a key way to boost public confidence in travel.
CONCLUSION
Temperature checks are a tricky issue for exactly the concerns expressed. What should happen to passengers who are found to have high fevers? Is it as simple as sending them home if they may be a public health risk? And will this be an unfunded mandate? Airlines, Congress, and the Administration must think carefully in promulgating any new nationwide testing mandate that will impact all travelers.
What do you think about mandatory temperature checks before you travel?
Am I the only one who thinks that telling people they will die of coronavirus if they don’t wear a mask or forcing people to have their temperature taken will convey the exact opposite message that travel is NOT safe? Delta won’t even serve beer or wine. Or hang your jacket in the closet in first-class. What message does that send? How can Delta ever return to the old standard of service as long as coronavirus or other diseases are out there? This is just absurd. Wash your hands, take precautions, etc. American and United are going to suffer for filling all those middle seats. Moreover, American removed lavatories and made the sinks so small that you can’t even wash your hands. If I were an airline CEO, I’d add bigger sinks in lavatories, add more lavatories and make the middle seat wider or offer innovative pricing to permanently block the middle seat. Capitalism. The market will flock to an airline that does this.
This is a very reasonable point.
It is just absurd that Delta will give a bottle of water (a mini-bottle, not even a full-sized bottle) for a 4-hour flight, but won’t serve a can of Coke. It is all about cheapness. Not actually making things safer. Does anything actually think the old service will return anytime soon? Meanwhile, airfares are getting very, very expensive. Delta is making a decent amount of money flying with all those empty middle seats or empty first-class seats because in the 5-6 flights I’ve booked, prices are 40-60% higher than before the pandemic.
The Bar in Sky Clubs is back up and running and Delta will start serving beer and wine domestically on July 2. Enjoy
I imagine there were some discussions related to the forthcoming EU ban on Americans. They have got to be reeling from this given the hope that they would have been able to start increasing flights to Europe in July. At this rate, to get our numbers down to 16 per 100K and meet the EU criteria we could very well be looking at no Trans Atlantic travel this year.
I envision some strong lobbying for this administration to find some sort of way to get the U.S. approved to the EU as soon as possible.
@Stuart: Boris Johnson desperately needs a US-UK free trade deal. The UK will relent very soon on US travelers salvaging what’s left of the summer tourism season, especially with the big Mayflower 400 (aka Pilgrims, 1620) celebration this September.
I need anywhere. Somewhere. That I can go and get into the EU, specifically Austria, after being out of the U.S. for 14 days. UK would be great. Anywhere will work. I will quarantine in Moldova if I have to.
It’s a wonder that Bastian made the trip to the white house, being the liberal/socialist that he is.