In today’s issue: United is still in the doghouse, Frontier and Spirit get rid of change fees, Things aren’t so sunny for Allegiant in Florida, and Asiana leaves a lot to be desired in Q1 

^{ULCC Roundup}

🔵 So long change fees: Frontier eliminated change and cancellation fees on most of its fare bundles last week. They also announced that vouchers issued by the airline will be valid for 12 months instead of just 3, as well as plans to bring back a customer service phone line. Don't get too excited though, it will be available only for customers traveling within 24 hours and elite members.

🔵 Hold my beer 🍺: Not to be outdone by Frontier, Spirit eliminated change and cancellation fees for all fare classes shortly after Frontier made their announcement. Spirit's CEO had previously indicated that the airline will try to appeal to more premium travelers and this will certainly help on that front though how much is a fair question…..

🔵 Axing 🪓: Over the past week, Spirit announced that they will be cutting 17 routes in the near future. ➡️ Just an educated guess: following their failed merger with JetBlue, Spirit is now assessing their network from top to bottom and these 17 routes just weren't carrying their weight.

🔵 Not as planned: It turns out that running an airline and running a hotel are two very different things. Allegiant is finding this out the hard way as their $720 million resort in Florida continues to bog down the company's overall financial performance.

^{LOOSE ENDS}

🔵 Doubling Up: Included in the recently passed FAA reauthorization bill, was a mandate that all new passenger commercial aircraft must be installed with a second cockpit barrier starting in the middle of 2025. The FAA is estimating that this secondary barrier will cost $35,000 per aircraft.

🔵 Still in the doghouse 🐕️: The FAA clarified that United has not been cleared to take delivery of new aircraft or launch new routes. This comes after indications that the FAA had scaled back its oversight of United and given the airline permission to start taking delivery of new aircraft and launch new routes.

🔵 Slow start: Asiana posted a net loss of nearly $130 million in Q1 of 2024 compared to a roughly $45 million net loss during the same period last year. The airline indicated that while capacity expansion led to an increase in sales, they faced higher operating costs.

🎧️ ^{Things I’m Listening To}

🔵 In this week’s edition of AvTalk, the guys break down the DOJ’s determination that Boeing violated the terms of its deferred prosecution agreement. 

📺️ Things I’m Watching  

🔵 A review of Condor Airways economy class from Seattle to Frankfurt from Simply Aviation’s “Brutally Honest” series. In my view, one of the few YouTubers out there that makes economy class flight reviews enjoyable to watch.

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