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For some customers, online chatting or sending a DM may be a quicker way to reach the airlines
It’s the recorded message no traveler with flight troubles wants to hear. “Due to an earlier technical issue we’re receiving more calls than we typically do and are unable to take your call at this time,” United Airlines told callers Sunday afternoon.
Travelers trying to reach American Airlines’ toll-free customer service line the same day were put on hold and offered the option of a callback that ranged from one hour and 14 minutes to one hour and 42 minutes.
And this was on a relatively calm travel day.
Airlines have promised reduced hold times this summer because of robust customer-service hiring and a plethora of self-service tools. Yet reaching an airline representative can still take a long time. These waits are particularly harsh when bad weather and other issues drive cancellations and delays as they did over the long weekend that included Father’s Day and the Juneteenth holiday.
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Throughout the pandemic, airlines have had a tough time figuring out when travel would return and how strong demand would be. But now that demand is rebounding strongly, airlines are facing challenges trying to meet it. Wall Street Journal airlines reporter Alison Sider joins WSJ What’s News host Annmarie Fertoli to discuss.
Annmarie Fertoli: Throughout the pandemic, airlines have had a tough time figuring out when travel would return, how strong demand would be and how long it would last. After a couple of dips, another rebound in travel is upon us. Airlines and hotels are boosting hiring, but the labor market is even tighter now, so will they be able to meet soaring demand? I'm Annmarie Fertoli from The Wall Street Journal, and joining me now with more on this is Wall Street Journal airlines and air travel reporter, Alison Sider. Hi, Alison, thanks for being here.
Alison Sider: Hi, thanks so much for having me.
Annmarie Fertoli: Alison, we've heard from a number of companies, this earning season who report that a travel rebound is here. What metrics are they using to figure that out?
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Spirit Airlines Inc. rebuffed a $3.6 billion cash takeover bid from JetBlue Airways Corp., saying a deal likely can’t be completed, and it is sticking with plans to merge with rival budget carrier Frontier Group Holdings Inc.
JetBlue’s offer for Spirit came with a higher price tag than Frontier’s cash-and-stock offer, which was originally valued at $2.9 billion. However, Spirit’s board said it believed there was too much risk that regulators would bar a merger with JetBlue, even after JetBlue pledged to shed assets to win regulatory approval and to pay a $200 million breakup fee if it was unable to complete the proposed acquisition for antitrust reasons.
“After a thorough review and extensive dialogue with JetBlue, the Board determined that the JetBlue proposal involves an unacceptable level of closing risk that would be assumed by Spirit stockholders,” Spirit Chairman Mac Gardner said Monday.
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SYDNEY—Australia’s biggest airline, Qantas Airways Ltd., said it would order dozens of planes from European maker Airbus SE, including new aircraft to fly nonstop between Australia’s cities and destinations in the U.S. and the U.K. that currently require a layover.
Qantas said the new ultralong-haul, nonstop flights, dubbed Project Sunrise, would start from late 2025 and would at first connect Sydney with London and New York. The airline said the flights will try to build on the success of existing direct long-haul services, demand for which has increased following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Qantas currently flies nonstop from Australia’s east coast to cities such as Los Angeles and Dallas, but New York is too far, and its service to London flies through Darwin, a city on Australia’s northern coast. Qantas conducted research flights a few years ago to test how passengers fare on ultralong-haul routes, with one flight between New York and Sydney taking more than 19 hours.
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The Federal Aviation Administration said it is working with airlines to ease mounting air-traffic problems in Florida, where bad weather and staffing shortages have snarled flights as demand for air travel in the state surges.
The FAA said it would increase air-traffic-control staffing and tweak flight practices to address the strains, after meeting with about a dozen airlines, small-plane operators and aviation groups.
More-frequent thunderstorms in Florida, which has a large population and popular vacation spots, have disrupted flights in recent months, and some airlines have said they are sharing airspace with more space launches from Kennedy Space Center, located along the Atlantic in central Florida.
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Avoiding the huge Russian airspace is likely to increase costs for passengers and cargo, further snarling global supply chains. Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Katz tells WSJ What’s News host Sandra Kilhof why flying around Russia may be problematic.
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Plane maker has suspended buying the metal from Russia but must still deal with ties with company linked to sanctioned oligarch and Putin ally
Boeing Co has suspended parts of its business in Russia, but it still has to deal with its relationship to a key titanium supplier led by a sanctioned oligarch who once worked in the KGB with President Vladimir Putin.
The plane maker years ago made a big bet on the country’s titanium, crucial for manufacturing its commercial jets and military aircraft, and Boeing has warned that geopolitical changes could create supply problems in the future.
Boeing said it has halted purchasing Russian titanium since the country’s invasion of Ukraine. It also has closed its engineering offices in Moscow and Kyiv and stopped sending spare plane parts to Russian airlines. But as other Western companies retreat from Russia, Boeing declined to say what it will do about its joint venture with the titanium supplier led by Mr. Putin’s former intelligence colleague, Sergey Chemezov.
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Sanctions will devastate Russian aviation by denying it access to Boeing and Airbus parts. They will also give fresh impetus to efforts with China to develop alternatives to Western technology.
Boeing and Airbus dominate global aviation, but China’s Comac wants to challenge the duopoly with new planes. WSJ’s Jon Sindreu explains how supply chains, technology and geopolitics could help the Western aircraft makers to protect key markets.
Russia’s increasing isolation from the West will leave it looking towards China for alternative economic partnerships. Aviation is a prime example: Badly hit by sanctions, the Russian industry has little choice but to double down on collaboration with its big peer to the East.
Commercial aviation faces ruin in Russia because the U.S. and its allies have blocked the sale of aircraft, parts and technical support to the country. Since the 1990s, Soviet Union-era aircraft have been replaced by Boeing and Airbus models, with domestically built planes currently making up only 17% of the fleet, Cirium data shows. Without new parts, airlines like Aeroflot and S7 Airlines will eventually need to ground their jets.
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