American Airlines, other carriers offer travelers options during coronavirus pandemic
After years of shrinking seat space and raising baggage fees, airlines are now taking steps to keep customers as the coronavirus pandemic spreads.
The latest example, many airlines have now made it much easier for travelers to change flights without encountering fees.
American Airlines, which is based in Fort Worth, is now allowing customers to change flights without penalty on tickets booked before March 1 for travel through May 31. Tickets can be re-booked on trips through Dec. 31.
“American Airlines is providing customers additional flexibility in light of concerns around coronavirus (COVID-19),” the airline said in a statement.
However customers who change flights must pay any difference between their original price and the new fare.
The change of heart on flight change fees comes as the chief executives of 10 major airlines, including American, over the weekend signed a joint letter to Congress asking for $29 billion in payroll protection grants to avoid furloughing or laying off employees through Aug. 31.
The CEOs are members of an advocacy group known as Airlines for America (formerly Air Transport Association of America). The organization says it collectively represents about 750,000 workers.
“Unless worker payroll protection grants are passed immediately, many of us will be forced to take draconian measures such as furloughs,” the airline executives’ letter reads. “The breadth and immediacy of the need to act cannot be overstated. It is urgent and unprecedented.”
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines is offering to re-book flights scheduled through June 30. For flights that can’t yet be re-booked, customers can simply cancel their flights and receive credits for future flights.
Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is offering customers the ability to re-book flights scheduled through April 30 on another flight within 60 days without paying a higher fare. Travelers who want to cancel flights may do so without penalty, as long as they act at least 10 minutes before departure — and they can re-book those flights through June 30, 2021.
The changes in fee policies come as airlines, which have already eliminated most international flights, struggle to keep flights moving domestically. At DFW Airport, which is perennially one of the 10 busiest airports in the world and American Airlines’ home hub, passenger terminals are now nearly empty.
