Routes: Southwest grows to Hawaii, face masks, United to India + Alaska, Qantas, Frontier, US-UK
Jim Glab
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Feb 5, 2019. Southwest Boeing 737-800 at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu. Courtesy of Southwest Airlines
In the latest airline news, Southwest unveils a major expansion of Hawaii service; the CDC relaxes mask rules, but not for airline passengers; United delays its new San Francisco-Bangalore route; Alaska adds Belize to its route map; Qantas pushes back its resumption of long-haul flights once again; new routes are coming to Vietnam, Senegal and Turkey; Alaska and Frontier add California flights; United brings back some in-flight amenities; the U.K. starts to open up to international travelers, but not from the U.S.; the CDC allows self-administered COVID tests, and United introduces one for its customers.
According to records obtained by the I-Team, and our NBC Bay Area partners, five major California airports alone have responded to at least 168 separate complaints about people ignoring COVID safety rules since last fall. At some Southern California airports, passengers and their children have been kicked off their flights and at times, law enforcement has been called to step in.
Cell phone videos and photos shared with the I-Team show some passengers not wearing their masks, yelling and fighting with other passengers, and being abusive toward flight attendants.
More than 2,600 passengers have been banned by commercial airlines for refusing to comply with COVID safety rules as of late April.