johnny jet

This week's travel news - United has announced eight new routes to escape to ocean islands like the Azores.

Meanwhile, at Southwest, they've had to cancel thousands of flights due to a combination of factors. Some having to do with bad weather, but a lot of pilots had "blue flu" in protest of the vaccine mandates. But at the end of the day, Johnny Jet says that Southwest has just been too aggressive with their flight schedule and with the slightest delays, it's caused by missed flights and cancellations. Staff shortages are also causing problems. 

Johnny joins Leo to talk about things to do with the family for Halloween. Local haunts and family pumpkin patches are everywhere. He took his family to Underwood Family Farms this week. 

Johnny Jet just got back from a stay at Terranea, a beautiful local resort about 30 minutes outside of Los Angeles. In Rancho Palos Verdes. Four pools. A water slide. Nelson's is a great restaurant with stunning views of the coast. It was a great drive. In travel news, Air Canada is giving elite travel status for a full year for anyone who goes on a single flight to Canada. TSA Precheck fees have been lowered to $70 a year, but you can get a global entry for $100, which includes TSA Precheck. So that's a better deal for international travelers.

Johnny is back from a desert getaway at a VRBO home. VRBO stands for Vacation Rental By Owner, but they go by "Verbo." They stayed at Anthony Bourdain's vacation house. They visited Palm Springs, Joshua Tree Forest, and Pioneer Ghost Town. 

TSA Checkpoint numbers continue to rise, approaching 2019's pre-pandemic levels. The Netherlands has loosened restrictions. Vaccinated Americans don't have to quarantine now, and England is allowing vaccinated passengers in with an antigen test. So it pays to constantly keep checking back. 

Johnny Jet says that this week is the week to look into your Thanksgiving travel, if you're planning to fly. And it's a great time because airlines aren't charging change fees right now. Additionally, airline credits are set to start expiring, and you can't use more than two credits to book a flight. So if you have more than that, book one-way flights. And if that flight gets canceled by the airline, they have to refund your money.

Johnny joins Leo to talk about why it may be a good idea to postpone (again) that trip to Hawaii because of the Delta variant.  Mandates are not likely going to happen, but the reality is that they don't want you to come, and you won't get that Hawaiian experience anyway. And you'll have to be tested to get back into the intercontinental US. So Johnny says that 2021 is the year of the staycation. Stay home. 

Johnny Jet joins Leo to talk about the Florida couple who got arrested for trying to use fake covid vaccination cards to enter into the state. In other news, while the vaccine is the best option for combatting Covid, you may still get it. That's what happened to his dad. But he's recovering. In other news, Johnny says that the New Haven airport is a good option to avoid flying into New York, now that they're taking larger planes like 737s. 

Johnny recently discovered his dad contracted Covid19, even though he was vaccinated. The good news is because he was vaccinated, the infection has been lighter than being unvaccinated. So being vaccinated is important, if for no other reason than it'll prevent Covid from being worse. 

Johnny also says this is a good reason to keep some of your frequent flyer miles in an account for emergencies. Currently, you can get pretty good deals on using your FFMs on American Airlines at the last minute. 

Spirit Airlines has been cancelling hundreds of flights all week, stranding many customers at airports, as they scramble to find another carrier. The problem is, that Spirit doesn't have any agreements with other airlines to put you on another flight. It was so bad, that gate agents were hiding. American Airlines had problems with cancelled flights too, but it wasn't nearly as bad. Why was it happening? Johnny says that airlines weren't expecting a travel surge that happened this week and they don't have the trained staff to accommodate it.