SFO is ‘the slowest airport on the West Coast’

The report noted that flight prices in March of this year were 20% higher than the same month in pre-pandemic 2019, and 15% above February 2022 levels, while in January of this year, average prices were running 3% below 2019 levels. “The unleash of pent-up demand has been a major driving factor, as the desire for air travel is coming back more aggressively than anticipated,” said Adobe lead analyst Vivek Pandya. The trend is continuing into travel planning for summer, Adobe said. Bookings for June through August are currently running 3% ahead of the same months in 2019, while spending on those flights is up by 8%.

Airline officials have been saying in recent days that higher airfares aren’t putting a damper on advance bookings as customers continue to show unprecedented demand for air travel. If the airlines are worried about anything now, it’s whether they will be able to provide enough capacity and guarantee smooth flight operations for the oncoming rush of spring and summer fliers. Several carriers this year have periodically suffered large numbers of cancellations and flight delays, creating chaos at airports and major frustration for customers. Last weekend, for example, JetBlue and Spirit Airlines canceled hundreds of flights, especially due to bad weather in Florida during the crush of spring break travel. While weather can be a big factor, airlines also admit that they are having trouble staffing up to meet the increased demand after losing thousands of employees during the pandemic.

JetBlue said it plans to reduce its schedule by 8% to 10% during May to help it cope with a labor shortage, and it may extend those service reductions into the summer — even though it has already hired 3,000 new workers this year. JetBlue is also offering its flight attendants a $1,000 bonus if they register perfect attendance during April and May and don’t take any sick days. Over at Alaska Airlines, pilots have been picketing the company recently, and although the airline has canceled a number of flights, it said this week the picketing “was not the cause of our cancellations.” Still, Alaska said it now plans to cut its total flight schedule by 2% through the end of June “to match our current pilot capacity.” The airline noted that it has started its own pilot training academy (as has United) to increase its staff, but training has suffered some delays so that “we had 63 fewer pilots prepared to fly in April than we planned in January.”

The CDC has announced one more extension of the mask mandate for airline travel, airports and other forms of public transportation, but only for a couple of weeks. The mask mandate was due to expire on Monday (April 18), but now the agency has decided to keep it in effect at least through May 3. The CDC said it made that decision based on COVID-19’s omicron BA.2 subvariant, which now accounts for more than 85% of the cases in the U.S. “Since early April, there have been increases in the 7-day moving average of cases in the U.S.,” the CDC said. “The CDC Mask Order remains in effect while CDC assesses the potential impact of the rise of cases on severe disease, including hospitalizations and deaths, and healthcare system capacity.”

The Biden administration has been under increasing pressure to end the airline mask rule as face covering mandates continue to disappear from other jurisdictions, due to a sharp downturn in COVID omicron cases over the past few months. “Travelers and the travel industry need to hear firm plans to navigate the endemic environment in which the public and practically all other industries are now operating, particularly as the CDC no longer recommends masks for the overwhelming majority of the U.S. population,” the U.S. Travel Association, a leading coalition of travel industry groups, said after the decision to extend the rule was announced. “With all of the tools now available to mitigate the virus, it is time for the administration to set a clear end date for federal requirements on mask usage as well as pre-departure testing for air travelers to the U.S.,” it added. Airlines for America, the leading trade group for U.S. carriers, this week sent a similar appeal to the White House asking for an end to both federal rules. Airlines for America noted that the public health environment “has changed dramatically” since the rules were put in place. It argued that the mask rule “makes no sense” on aircraft when masks aren’t required in public venues like restaurants, bars or sports venues, and said pre-departure testing “is no longer an effective measure in protecting the United States from COVID-19.”

The CDC announcement this week made no mention of any changes to the rule that all travelers flying into the U.S. must get a negative COVID test before boarding their aircraft. On April 5, a White House official said the administration has no immediate plans to end its pre-departure testing requirement for inbound international travelers.  

Southwest Airlines is planning to increase service from the Bay Area this summer, especially from Mineta San Jose. Besides the airline’s previously announced plans to introduce daily service starting June 5 from San Jose to Eugene, Oregon, and from Sacramento to Santa Barbara, Southwest said it will also expand frequencies on existing routes. Its summer schedule is slated to include up to 14 flights a day in each direction between Oakland-San Diego, and up to 20 a day between San Jose-San Diego and Sacramento-San Diego. The carrier said its summer San Jose schedule will also include up to 13 flights each weekday to Las Vegas, up to 10 a day to Orange County/Santa Ana, and up to four a day to Long Beach. Southwest also plans to boost service to the Pacific Northwest from San Jose, operating six flights per weekday to both Seattle and Portland and up to two a day to Spokane and Boise.   

Southwest also plans to expand its intra-Hawaii service on June 5, boosting Honolulu-Maui from six flights a day to eight, Honolulu-Kona and Honolulu-Kauai from four a day to five, and Kona-Maui from one a day to two. Elsewhere, Southwest said it will increase Fort Lauderdale-Havana service from one flight a day to three beginning May 4.

In other Bay Area route news, April 20 is the launch date for Delta’s new daily service between Oakland and Detroit. The eastbound segment is a red-eye departing OAK at 11:50 p.m. and arriving the next morning, while the return departs Detroit at 8:50 p.m. and arrives at 10:50 p.m. Alaska Airlines announced this week that it plans to resume flying May 19 between San Francisco International and Washington State’s Paine Field (Snohomish County Airport in Everett, on the northern edge of Seattle’s suburbs), building up capacity on the route to four flights a day by June 17. In mid-June, Alaska said, it will be back to a full schedule of 18 flights a day at Paine, including service to Boise, Las Vegas, Orange County, Phoenix, San Diego and Spokane. It will end its seasonal flights from Paine to Palm Springs and Tucson on May 18. 

In trans-Pacific route news, San Francisco International this week welcomed back Air New Zealand, which is now offering three flights a week (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) to Auckland using a three-class 787. The carrier has been flying to Los Angeles since last month and to Vancouver since February as New Zealand slowly reopens to international travelers. Air New Zealand will begin Houston-Auckland service on July 7, Honolulu-Auckland July 12, and new nonstop New York JFK-Auckland flights on Sept. 17. On May 1, New Zealand will reopen to vaccinated visitors from the U.S. and other countries where a visa is not required. According to the New Zealand embassy, inbound travelers will have to submit an online New Zealand traveler declaration and receive a traveler pass prior to leaving home, show proof of vaccination, get a negative COVID test result before departure, and take rapid antigen tests after arrival. 

In other international news, American Airlines and the Brazilian carrier GOL have won final approval from the Brazilian government for a partnership deal that gives American a 5.3% stake in GOL for $200 million. Under terms of the deal, each carrier will be the exclusive code-sharing partner of the other in their respective home markets. The partnership will give AA customers access to 20 new GOL destinations in Latin America, while GOL flyers will be able to code-share to 30 U.S. cities on American. 

Travelers who fly out of San Francisco International and fly back in from an international destination will be experiencing “the slowest airport on the West Coast” when it comes to standing in line, according to a new report from luggage storage site Bounce.com. The report analyzed average waiting times for Transportation Security Administration screening on the way out, based on TSA data; and for passport control clearance on the way back, using data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The data uses average times from the 12 months between March 8, 2021, and March 7, 2022. According to Bounce.com, the total average “line time” for SFO was 45 minutes and 56 seconds, including 27 minutes, 48 seconds, in the TSA screening line and 18 minutes, 8 seconds, for passport control. That combined time was the third worst in the nation among the 39 airports studied, exceeded only by Miami International (46 minutes 57 seconds) and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood (46 minutes 41 seconds). 

Three other California airports were among the top 10 for worst waiting times — Oakland International was the  eighth worst with a combined time of 37 minutes, 22 seconds, followed by Fresno Yosemite International (37:15) and San Diego (35:22). Los Angeles International was a few spots below San Diego with combined waiting time of 34:01. The U.S. airports with the shortest total waiting times were Raleigh-Durham (16:09), Baltimore/Washington (19:14) and Charlotte Douglas (19:15). Looking only at the TSA screening lines, SFO also ranked third-worst in the country, with its 27 minute, 48 second average wait time exceeded only by St. Louis Lambert (28:28) and Florida’s Palm Beach International (36:18).