A couple of weeks ago, Delta stirred up a hornet’s nest with its frequent flyers when it announced big changes to its SkyMiles loyalty program and airport lounge access policy, and now Delta may dial back those SkyMiles revisions. The previously announced changes make SkyMiles elite status levels attainable only on the basis of spending — and much more spending than before — and also make Sky Club lounge access more restricted or impossible for some Delta credit card holders. Speaking to the Atlanta Rotary Club this week, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said there is “no question we probably went too far in doing that… I think we moved too fast, and we are looking at it now.” He said the company is working on “modifications” to the changes and expects to announce them “sometime over the next few weeks.”

Meanwhile, Delta’s rivals are trying to lure away Delta’s Medallion-level elites with “status match” offers. Through Oct. 31, Alaska Airlines will welcome Delta SkyMiles Medallion members into the elite tiers of its own Mileage Plan program with no flight segment or spending requirement, even up to its top-level MVP Gold 100K status. “Additionally, SkyMiles members with medallion status for 2024 can actually qualify one level higher than the ‘corresponding’ Mileage Plan tier if they have an active Alaska Airlines cobranded Visa — or secure one by Dec. 31,” The Points Guy reported. Then JetBlue followed up with its own promotion, offering elite status in its Mosaic loyalty program to Delta flyers through Oct. 31, or until 30,000 people take advantage of the offer. It would bring Silver Medallion members into Mosaic Level 1, Golds into Mosaic 2, Platinums into Mosaic 3 and Diamonds into Mosaic 4. The status match is only good through Dec. 30, but One Mile at a Time notes that applicants can extend it through 2024 by earning a specified number of “tiles” (the Mosaic program’s currency) or by getting a JetBlue credit card.

For the first time in two and a half years, Mexican airlines are making plans to expand service to the U.S., after the Federal Aviation Administration upgraded Mexico’s air safety rating. According to Simple Flying, Aeromexico — a joint venture partner of Delta — is planning to operate 101 more weekly flights to the U.S. during December than it did in the same month last year, increasing its capacity from Mexico City International to Los Angeles; Denver; Las Vegas; Houston; Orlando, Florida; Miami; and New York. Simple Flying also said that the Mexican discount carrier Viva Aerobus expects to begin service from Monterrey to six U.S. cities next year, with twice-weekly flights to Oakland starting July 1, along with new routes to Denver; Austin, Texas; Orlando, Florida; Miami; and New York JFK. Volaris, another low-cost airline, said in a statement that it expects “to open new routes to and from the United States of America, as well as to increase the number of frequencies,” but it offered no specifics. 

With the release of its 2024 international schedule, Delta is the latest big carrier to express confidence that the boom in overseas travel will continue into 2024. Across the Pacific, the airline had already announced it would introduce a new seasonal route from Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand, starting Oct. 28, and now Delta says that Auckland route will be extended to year-round operation. Flights will depart daily through March and then will continue three days a week through the summer. (The LAX-Auckland route is also served by Air New Zealand, and later this year both United and American will resume LAX-Auckland seasonal service.) Delta said it will increase LAX-Sydney service in December from daily to twice-daily frequencies and will follow up the Oct. 29 resumption of daily Seattle-Shanghai and three weekly Detroit-Shanghai flights with a revival of its suspended LAX-Shanghai route beginning March 31, with four flights a week operating year-round. Delta’s partnership with China Eastern Airlines at Shanghai offers onward connections within the country.

The company said that next summer, Delta will fly its “largest-ever trans-Atlantic schedule.” From its New York JFK hub, the airline says it will be operating almost 260 flights a week to 29 destinations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Delta plans to add some new routes in the spring, like seasonal daily flights from JFK to Naples, Italy, May 23 to Oct. 24 and to Shannon, Ireland, May 23 to Oct. 6; and three flights a week from JFK to Munich from April 9 to Oct. 24. From its Atlanta hub, Delta will operate four flights a week to Zurich from May 31 through Sept. 8. Delta will also lay on additional frequencies next year from Atlanta to Paris and Venice, Boston to Athens, Cincinnati to Paris, Detroit to Paris and Reykjavik, and JFK to Barcelona. But Simple Flying reports that Delta will end its Atlanta-Dusseldorf, Germany, route on Oct. 27 — the only trans-Atlantic route to that city — and is not showing the route on its summer 2024 schedule. 

Aeroroutes.com reported that Air China, a member of United’s Star Alliance, plans to resume San Francisco service for the winter season, operating two weekly 777-300ER flights to Beijing Capital Airport beginning Nov. 1. The airline has also scheduled twice-weekly LAX-Beijing service, three weekly flights from New York JFK to Beijing, and weekly service from LAX to Shenzen. In other international news, United this week discontinued code-sharing with its Star Alliance partner LOT Polish Airlines. United had been putting its code onto LOT flights in and out of Warsaw from Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt and London Heathrow. San Antonio, Texas, will get its first-ever nonstop service to Europe next year with Germany’s Condor Airlines announcing plans to fly there from Frankfurt three days a week. Portugal’s Azores Airlines will add a once-weekly new route starting June 5 between Boston and Funchal, Madeira, using an Airbus A321. Madeira is a Portuguese island in the Atlantic west of Morocco. The Indian carrier IndiGo has expanded its code-share partnership with Turkish Airlines to include Turkish Airlines flights between San Francisco and Istanbul, where connections are available on IndiGo’s flights to India.

In domestic route news, Alaska Airlines is continuing to expand its presence at San Diego. After adding nonstops from SAN to Washington Dulles and Eugene, Oregon, this summer, Alaska Airlines now says it will introduce a new transcontinental route from San Diego to Atlanta, with daily flights beginning May 16. That route is already served by Delta, Southwest, and — on a seasonal basis — Frontier. In an Alaska Airlines milestone, the carrier this week operated the last flights of the Airbus aircraft that it acquired when it bought Virgin America Airlines seven years ago, completing its transition to an all-Boeing mainline fleet. On the East Coast, JetBlue has started service between its New York JFK hub and Washington Reagan National with three daily round trips. That route is also served by American and Delta. Simple Flying reports that Delta plans to increase capacity on select domestic routes for the year-end holidays by switching from single-aisle to wide-body aircraft. The biggest beneficiary will be the San Francisco-Atlanta route, where Delta will operate four 767-300 flights every day from Dec. 16 through Dec. 31.

Some of the 12 million Americans who are members of the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Global Entry program — a “trusted traveler” program that speeds up re-entry to the country after traveling abroad — can now skip the lines to use a CBP portal thanks to a new mobile app the agency released last week. “With the new app, travelers simply take a photo as a ‘selfie,’ which will be compared to a photo gallery to verify their identity through facial biometrics,” CBP said. “After the photo has been submitted, the traveler will receive a receipt on the app. Once the traveler arrives to the primary inspection area, they can bypass the Global Entry portals and go directly to the CBP officers to efficiently process their entry into the United States by showing their mobile receipt.” The agency said the app is initially available for use at seven arrival airports, those being Seattle, Los Angeles International, Miami, Orlando, Washington Dulles, Pittsburgh, and Houston Bush Intercontinental, with more to be added in the future. The app is available for free download from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. 

JetBlue is the latest carrier to introduce a family seating guarantee, promising that children age 13 and under can get a seat next to an adult traveling with them on the same reservation. “JetBlue’s family seating guarantee incorporates a new process that proactively identifies reservations with children and adults traveling together without prior seating assignments,” the company said. “For no additional fee, the process will ensure a traveling child is assigned a seat next to at least one accompanying adult when seats are available.” The policy applies to all customers, including those traveling on Blue Basic fares, JetBlue’s version of basic economy. Similar guarantees were announced several months ago by American, Frontier and Alaska Airlines.  

Some wheelchair-bound air travelers have gone public in recent months with stories about how their chairs were damaged or destroyed by airlines, and now United has developed a new “flight filter” during the booking process that it says is designed to make sure wheelchairs are accommodated on the right type of aircraft. “The new flight filter on united.com will enable customers to enter the unique dimensions of their personal wheelchair as part of the flight search,” United said. “The search results will then prioritize flight options on aircraft with cargo hold doors large enough to accommodate the wheelchair dimensions. The size of aircraft cargo hold doors varies, so some aircraft are better able than others to handle larger motorized wheelchairs, which must travel upright.” Customers who have to switch to a different flight that can accommodate a wheelchair can apply for a partial refund if the fare is higher than the one originally booked. United said the new procedures will launch early next year.

Los Angeles International Airport has cut the ribbon on a new parking facility that it says is “the most affordable option for travelers at LAX, with prices generally ranging from $15 to $20 per day with deeper discounts available.” It’s called LAX Budget Parking, offering 2,600 spaces on the site of the former Parking Lot E, at 5455 W. 111th Street between Aviation and La Cienega boulevards. The airport says shuttle buses operate every 20 to 30 minutes to carry travelers between the parking facility and the Central Terminal Area. Customers should have access to contactless entry and exit, shuttle bus tracking and real-time changes to reservations, and are encouraged to book a space on the LAX parking website.