When SuzAnn Brantner moved to Indiana from Los Angeles during the coronavirus pandemic, she had been a longtime Delta Air Lines frequent flier, achieving the highest loyalty status the airline offered: Diamond Medallion. The benefits included expedited security screenings, priority boarding and top preference for complimentary first-class upgrades. “I just always loved Delta,” Brantner, a 50-year-old marketing executive, said. She traveled every month because of her job and made sure to book all her flights with Delta — even if she had to make a connection and other airlines offered a direct flight. This made it easy to maintain her status. But last year, when Delta announced it would be making modifications to its frequent-flier program, Brantner began to question her loyalty. She is hardly alone. On Reddit communities dedicated to three major domestic carriers — Delta, United Airlines and American Airlines — some users are wondering whether maintaining airline loyalty status is worth it anymore as they calculate how much they will need to spend and travel for the rest of the year in order to reach certain status levels next year. After The New York Times asked readers how they felt about their loyalty programs, more than 100 wrote in to say they were done chasing airline status. Some of the respondents said they were considering canceling their airline credit cards, where banks team up with airlines to offer additional benefits like lounge access, and which offer more opportunities to earn status tied to spending. Many expressed disappointment at how they had spent years accruing points and miles with their chosen airlines only for them to become significantly devalued as airlines made changes to their programs. Story has more.<br/>
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Washington’s decision to ease its travel warning for China removes an obstacle to exchanges of people between the world’s two largest economies but will likely face new scrutiny once Donald Trump returns to the White House. The US Department of State announced a shift in its advisory for the Asian nation by reducing it from Level 3 — “reconsider travel” — to Level 2, which asks people to “exercise increased caution.” The downgrade on Wednesday means the US travel warning for China matches the designation for countries like France, Germany and India. The American Chamber of Commerce in China hailed it as an “excellent development” that will help ease tensions while opening more travel from the US to China. “The Level 3 advisory has served to curtail both business travel, student visits and scholarly exchanges, which are essential for fostering more clear mutual understanding and are vital to healthy normal bilateral relations,” said Roberta Lipson, AmCham China chair. The announcement coincided with news of a prisoner swap between China and the US that saw the release of three Americans. But the practical impact of the updated travel warning could be negligible and possibly short-lived, with restrictions on flights into the US still in effect and a looming Trump presidency threatening to upend ties again.<br/>
As Russia's war effort fuels economic growth and drives up wages, air travel has been on the rise too, with Russians defying Western sanctions by heading to domestic holiday spots or "friendly" countries where they are still welcome. However, just as soaring government spending on the war in Ukraine is fuelling a consumer spending boom and more and more people chose to spend the extra cash on travel, Russia's civil aviation sector is struggling to take advantage of booming demand. The reason? Russia just does not have enough planes. While the sanctions fell short of the desired effect of crippling Russia's economy and starving its war machine, they did cut off the supply of planes and parts, which domestic production could not replace. As a result, fewer new planes could be added to Russia's fleet to meet rising demand and Moscow was forced to ask neighbouring countries to help run some domestic routes. Russia has touted its economic resilience in the face of sanctions, but difficulty in ending its reliance on Western planes highlights the limits to Moscow's goal of breaking free from Western influence and having domestic industries pick up the slack. With most of Europe's airspace closed to Russian carriers, most traffic shifted to domestic routes, data from Russia's civil aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia shows. International travel has pivoted to countries that have not imposed sanctions on Moscow, such as Turkey, ex-Soviet countries and the United Arab Emirates, according to data from the FSB security service, which tracks border crossings.<br/>
Airlines in the Asia-Pacific enjoyed strong international traffic growth during October, with both passenger and freight operations seeing good demand. The month saw airlines in the region carry 31m international passengers, up 19% from October 2023, according to the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines. International ASKs rose 18.6% and international RPKs 19.7%. Load factors improved 0.8 percentage points to 81.2%. “October was another strong month for Asia Pacific airlines, with a total of 303m international passengers carried for the first ten months of the year, a 33% increase compared to the corresponding period in the previous year,” says AAPA director general Subhas Menon. October was also positive for international cargo carriage for the region’s airlines. FTKs rose 10.9% and FATKs rose 10.6%. Freight load factors, however, were essentially flat, improving just 0.2 percentage points to 61.6%. The increase in the region’s air freight capacity was largely due to more belly-hold space coming on-line. “The outlook for travel markets remains positive, buoyed by growing demand in both leisure and business segments,” says Menon. “However, challenges remain for carriers in meeting the demand, notably due to supply chain disruptions and delays in aircraft deliveries. On the cargo side, markets are expected to remain vibrant through the remainder of the year, despite some economic uncertainties in the advanced economies. Overall, Asian airlines remain well-positioned to adapt to evolving global conditions, and to navigate these challenges effectively.”<br/>
Airlines and airports in India received a total of 999 hoax bomb threats from the start of this year until Nov. 14, nearly ten times more than in the whole of 2023, the country's deputy civil aviation minister told parliament on Thursday. The threats to both domestic and international flights were made mostly through social media, disrupting travel in the world's fastest growing aviation market, and all were found to be false alarms. "The recent threats were hoaxes and no actual threat was detected at any of the airports/aircraft in India," the minister, Murlidhar Mohol, told parliament in a written answer. More than 500 bomb threats were made in the last two weeks of October alone - higher than the rest of the year combined - he said, and 12 people have been arrested in relation to the 256 police complaints registered over such threats up to Nov. 14.<br/>
Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan province has become the third city on the Chinese mainland, after Shanghai and Beijing, to handle over 80m air passengers annually, the provincial airport authorities said on Thursday. This milestone was marked by the landing of the Sichuan Airlines flight 3U8890 at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport on Thursday, said Sichuan Province Airport Group Co Ltd. Chengdu's aviation hub, featuring two international airports, Tianfu and Shuangliu, operates as an integrated dual-airport system with five runways and a total terminal area of some 1.21m square meters. China's vast western regions once had the weakest infrastructure in the country. Thanks to China's continuous efforts in developing its western regions since the beginning of this century, infrastructure development in the regions has undergone major changes. Figures from the end of October show that Chengdu is operating 50 international and regional passenger routes and 33 cargo routes, with direct flights to major global air hubs such as London, Frankfurt, Rome, Los Angeles, Doha, Dubai and Singapore.<br/>
The Government’s Sydney Airport slot reforms have passed Parliament, the first major changes to the system in a quarter of a century. The legislation, approved by the Senate on Thursday after passing the House last week, introduces steeper penalties for airlines that “misuse” takeoff slots, compels carriers to increase transparency about their slot use, and creates a “recovery period” after significant disruptions. In addition to the current penalties for “no-slot” and “off-slot” movements, airlines will be penalised for failure to use an allocated slot; flight operations not in accordance with slot requirements; applying for slots with no reasonable prospects of use; and failure to return or transfer unused slots. Courts will be empowered to impose penalties of up to $99,000 per offence, as well as penalties for failing to produce and publish information about slot usage and allocation. The legislation comes as an independent audit this week found major airlines are using the slots system at Sydney Airport to their advantage even as they stay within current rules. “This is the next step in the Albanese Government’s comprehensive plan to boost competition and improve the experience of Australian travellers, including strengthening customer rights, adding more capacity through international air services agreements and ensuring fair access for travellers with disabilities,” said Federal Transport Minister Catherine King. “Our independent slot audit, released this week, identified significant issues with the slot system at Sydney Airport and the ways in which the existing rules benefit incumbent airline. Our reforms directly address these issues, allowing better access for new entrants and cracking down on airline misbehaviour.”<br/>