Through the settlement, Frontier will allow pilots to pump breastmilk in the cockpit during noncritical phases of a flight and will update or comply with existing policies that impact pregnant and lactating employees.

It is one of the first airlines to allow pilots to pump during flights, according to a Monday news release from the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Colorado, Denver-based legal nonprofit Towards Justice and the firm Holwell Shuster & Goldberg.

Settling the lawsuit filed in December 2019 “does not admit any liability” by Frontier, according to the news release.

In a statement, ACLU Center for Liberty staff attorney Aditi Fruitwala said the organization is proud to come to an agreement that will benefit pregnant and lactating workers now and in the future.

“This settlement should serve as a strong message to employers — especially airline employers — that reasonable accommodations such as those agreed to by Frontier are good for workers, good for families, good for business and required by the law,” Fruitwala said. “We’re hopeful this will inspire more change and stronger protections for workers across the airline industry.”

Two lawsuits filed by Colorado-based pilots and flight attendants in December 2019 alleged the airline’s policies and practices were discriminatory, including forbidding women from pumping while in uniform and disciplining them for seeking breastfeeding-related accommodations. All of the women flew out of Denver International Airport.

The lawsuits also alleged that Frontier forced employees onto unpaid leave during their pregnancies and did not allow them to seek accommodations that could have kept them on the job.

According to the news release, Frontier Airlines has agreed to:

• Comply with an existing union agreement that allows pregnant pilots to fly with medical certification;
• Clarify that pilots who cannot fly due to pregnancy or lactation will be accommodated on the same terms as pilots with other medical conditions that prevent them from flying;
• Continue to allow pilots who are breastfeeding to drop to 50 hours of flight time per month; and
• Maintain a list of airport lactation facilities that is published on an internal website and updated every six months.

The lawsuit filed by the flight attendants was settled in April 2022 under similar terms, according to the ACLU.

In a statement, Frontier’s Vice President of Labor Relations Jacalyn Peter said the company is proud to be at the forefront of accommodating the needs of pregnant and breastfeeding mothers in the airline industry.

“Thanks in part to advances in wearable lactation technology, the parties were able to reach an amicable resolution of this case that also maintains our commitment to the highest safety standards,” Peter said.

Representatives for Frontier Airlines, the ACLU and ACLU of Colorado declined to comment on the settlement beyond statements included in the news release. A copy of the settlement was not immediately available Monday evening.

Get more business news by signing up for our Economy Now newsletter.

The combined company would maintain both airlines’ brands, an unusual move in an industry where waves of acquisitions have led to four big brands dominating the U.S. market. On Sunday, the companies said Alaska will pay $18 in cash for each share of Hawaiian, whose stock closed Friday at $4.86 after losing just over half its value in the year so far.

Officials from both companies called the deal a chance to combine two carriers with few overlapping routes, which they said would create a stronger company to compete with the nation’s Big Four: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines. It would also create a “clear leader” in the lucrative, $8 billion Hawaiian market, Alaska CEO Ben Minicucci said in a conference call with investors.

“We combine two companies with shared values that have competed and survived longer than most through many industry cycles, enhancing our differentiated business model and creating a stronger competitor to network carriers,” he said.

The deal includes $900 million in Hawaiian debt, bringing the acquisition’s total value to $1.9 billion. The combined airline would be based in Seattle, with Alaska’s Minicucci at its head. The companies forecast the acquisition will add to profits within two years of the deal closing, which is forecast to happen between 12 and 18 months from now.

The combined airline would participate in the oneworld Alliance, which includes American Airlines, British Airways and Cathay Pacific.

Alaska and Hawaiian are both smaller than the nation’s dominant carriers. They said the deal would meld two complementary networks, increasing connectivity to 138 destinations for passengers traveling through the continental United States and across the Pacific, including nonstop service to 29 international destinations in the Americas, Asia, Australia and the South Pacific.

Hawaiian has a deep and long history within the islands, stretching back to its incorporation in 1929 under the name Inter-Island Airways.

The companies said they would keep Honolulu as a key hub and that they’re “committed to maintaining and growing union-represented workforce” in Hawaii. They also said the combination would triple the destinations that can be reached within one stop in North America for travelers from Hawaii.

For example, customers can not currently fly to Washington, D.C., on Hawaiian, but they would be able to through the combined company.

“Aloha, everyone,” Hawaiian Airlines CEO Peter Ingram said on a call with investors.

He said Alaska approached his company about a deal and that “the Hawaiian brand will remain an important part of our home state.”

The deal has been approved by the boards of both companies, but it still needs an OK from the shareholders of Hawaiian Holdings. It will also need the blessing of U.S. regulators, which have resisted more airline consolidation out of fear it could lead to higher fares.

The Biden administration is already trying to block JetBlue’s proposed $3.8 billion acquisition of Sprit Airlines, which would subsume the nation’s biggest budget carrier. The Justice Department also won a lawsuit that killed a partnership between JetBlue and American Airlines.

The average domestic airline fare out of Seattle during the spring was $409.93. That was up from $293.08 two years earlier, according to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The average domestic fare out of Honolulu during the spring was $367.94, up from $329.93 two years earlier.

But given how little Alaska and Hawaiian’s routes overlap, their proposal may not create much angst in Washington, said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at Atmosphere Research Group.

Just as importantly, he said, neither Alaska nor Hawaiian is an ultra-low fare airline like Spirit. That means combining them would not eliminate the kind of downward pressure on fares that a Spirit buyout might.

The airlines will need to work with their unions as they try to streamline operations, and corporate officials said they have spoken with collective bargaining leaders already. The Air Line Pilots Association said Sunday they were evaluating the proposal and awaiting more details.

Both airlines have historically paid more attention to their employees than competitors, among other similarities in their corporate cultures, Harteveldt said. It’s another reason he said he thinks a merger between the two could work. ___

This story has been corrected to show that the company boards have already approved the deal.

The 5:45-minute short, “Love in Plane Sight,” features a couple of cameos by Santa Claus and a budding onboard romance that starts with a meet-not-so-cute. Character Sam K. Young, rushing to catch his plane, smacks into Elle Towe and splashes her gingerbread latte all over her white sweater.

Of course the two end up being on the same flight, riding comfortably in a United Boeing 777-200. Where the relationship goes from there is up in the air.

The romantic comedy is on United social channels, the airline’s website and will debut on flights Dec. 1. United spokesman Russell Carlton said in an email that the short film will be among the holiday movies and TV shows available for free through the airline’s inflight entertainment.

“This holiday season, United anticipates an influx of travelers, which means busy airports and people looking for ways to simplify and enjoy the journey,” Carlton said.

United anticipates flying 5.9 million passengers during the Thanksgiving holiday, Nov. 17-29. A little over three-quarters of a million of those are expected to fly out of Denver. United said it averages more than 450 departures daily from DIA.

United is DIA’s largest carrier.

Denver airport officials are forecasting that more than 785,000 passengers, up 13% from 2022, will travel through the airport Nov. 17-27.

With remote work continuing to be an option for people, Carlton said United has noticed the holiday travel period is getting longer and the demand is less concentrated on peak days. “The days right after Thanksgiving are still the busiest, but flights on off-peak days are booking fuller compared to 2019.”

Carlton said shooting the holiday movie in Denver was an opportunity for United to feature on of its fastest growing hubs, where it has invested nearly $1 billon. In the past few years, United has opened new gates, new clubs and a new check-in lobby in Denver, he added.

The holiday video shows one of the actors using United’s bag drop shortcut, where customers using the United app can skip the check-in line and drop their bags at a separate location. The movie also shows United’s new gates on the B concourse.

While the lead actors, Jessie Cannizzaro and Samer Salem, aren’t from Denver, the United employees in the movie are airline employees, Carlton said.

The movie was produced by United Airlines with Hidden Content and shot in May at DIA.

Get more business news by signing up for our Economy Now newsletter.

Spirit will no longer fly in and out of Denver as of Jan. 9, DIA spokeswoman Stephanie Figueroa told The Denver Post in an email. Spirit, which started flying out of Denver in May 2012, operated out of just one gate on Concourse C, she said.

In an emailed statement, Spirit spokesman Thomas Fletcher said the airline was forced to make some tough choices as it continued to learn more about how Pratt & Whitney’s GTF engine availability impacts its fleet and operations.

“After considering those constraints and the underperformance of our routes through Denver International Airport (DEN), we’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue service at the airport, effective Jan. 9, 2024,” Fletcher wrote in the email.

Spirit will refund customers who have ticket reservations after Jan. 9, the email said.

Pratt & Whitney notified Spirit of a manufacturing issue in its engines in July and advised the airline to accelerate inspections on its jets and switch out engines as necessary, according to the company’s third-quarter financial report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Those necessary inspections resulted in canceled flights in October, according to the Associated Press.

But Spirit is a small player at the busy Denver airport.

Spirit’s passenger traffic at DIA this year has amounted to just 0.8% of the airport’s market share, reflecting declining traffic for the airline in recent years, according to DIA reports. In 2019, Spirit’s market share was 2.1% at the airport.

Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 30 of this year, 386,142 passengers boarded Spirit airplanes in Denver, a 2.1% decline in passenger loads during the same period in 2022, the airport’s latest traffic reports show.

Last week, the airline reported a net loss of $157.6 million for the third quarter of 2023 with its chief executive officer admitting the airline has struggled to regain customers since the pandemic.

“Softer demand for our product and discounted fares in our markets led to a disappointing outcome for the third quarter 2023. We continue to see discounted fares for travel booked through the pre-Thanksgiving period. And, unfortunately, we have not seen the anticipated return to a normal demand and pricing environment for the peak holiday periods. Given these continued trends, we are evaluating our growth profile and our competitive position,” CEO Ted Christie said in a news release about the airline’s quarterly earnings.

In 2022, Spirit became the target of a bidding war among budget airlines, including Denver-based Frontier Airlines. But JetBlue emerged as the winner and announced it planned to buy Spirit for $3.8 billion in July 2022.

However, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit earlier this year, arguing that the merger would be hard on consumers by increasing fares and reducing flight options. That trial is underway this week in U.S. District Court in Boston.

Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter.

The Admirals Club lounge opened on Oct. 18 after the project first started in late 2019 as a rebranding for the carrier’s airport lounges, said Dwayne MacEwen, founder and principal of DMAC Architecture and Interiors. The Plaza Premium Lounge – developed in partnership with Capital One – opens to the public on Friday, Nov. 3.

DIA spokesperson Ashley Forest called the latter lounge “the first common-use lounge here that technically is not connected to an airline or credit card.”

United Airlines also recently opened the carrier’s largest club in the world in DIA’s B East Concourse, with another club planned for 2025.

American Airlines’ Admirals Club Lounge

To access the Admirals Club lounge in Concourse C between Gates C30 and C32, travelers must be flying American Airlines, any Oneworld Alliance airline or JetBlue, except for those to and from Europe. “Any traveler can pay a fee for a day pass for entry, or become a member through an annual fee or by enrolling in a special American Airlines credit card,” said IBP Media spokesperson Mayra Agredas.

The lounge includes a kids club, a lounge pavilion and a dining pavilion with a bar, serving area and seating options. “It’s about making a space that you remember, that you want to be in,” MacEwen said in an interview.

DIA is one of four airports in the country chosen for the redesigned Admirals Club lounge model, joining Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Austin, Texas.

MacEwen described DIA as “an important travel destination” that suited it for the project.

“The timing was perfect,” he said. “The airport was pushing for it as well. They wanted American to take over the space.”

Plaza Premium Lounge

In Concourse A near Gate A34, the new Plaza Premium Lounge can be accessed every day from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. by any passenger – regardless of airline or credit card – if they pay the $65 daily fee and reserve their slot online on its related webpage.

If the passenger is a Capital One cardholder, then they can check their benefits on the bank’s website to see if they qualify for free entry.

The lounge features shower suites, relaxation rooms, a conference room, prayer rooms, nursing rooms, a children’s area, food stations and a bar, Forest said.

The project has been in the works for a couple of years. DIA is only the third airport in the U.S. with a Plaza Premium Lounge, along with Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Dallas and Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Fla., she added.

Get more business news by signing up for our Economy Now newsletter.

As of Oct. 29, United Airlines will be offering a new daily direct flight from Denver to San Juan, Puerto Rico, that makes this Caribbean island to the southeast a better option than it has been for people traveling from Colorado. Currently, it requires at least 7.5 hours of air travel with at least one stop to get to Puerto Rico, but it will be 5.5 hours on this direct flight.

“The newly launched United route connecting Denver to San Juan is a tremendous addition for both destinations,” said Leah Chandler, chief marketing officer for Discover Puerto Rico. “Whether you’re eager to explore natural wonders like El Yunque rainforest or savor the local culinary delights from farm-fresh dishes to artisanal beers, we invite visitors to immerse themselves in the richness and vibrant Boricua culture.” (Boricua is another word for describing someone who is native to Puerto Rico.)

As one of five inhabited United States territories, Puerto Rico is both a distinctive destination with its own history and culture as well as a Caribbean jaunt without the hassles of passports and currency differences. It’s a strange relationship, and you just might find yourself discussing whether or not Puerto Rico should become a state with anyone from your Uber driver to a local business owner — it’s a perennial topic here!

Like the mainland U.S., Puerto Rico’s first inhabitants were Indigenous people who lived off the land. The Tainos lived on this island for hundreds of years before the Spanish arrived in 1493. As the Spaniards took over, they built up forts to fend off the Dutch, French and English. There was a brief moment of autonomy in the 1800s for Puerto Rico, but it became a U.S. territory in 1898. Today, all of this history is reflected in the island’s cuisine, architecture and culture, making it a unique experience for travelers.

Before my recent trip to Puerto Rico, I could think of two things I knew about this U.S. territory: Hurricane Maria slammed into this tiny island in 2017 with Category 5 force, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of “Hamilton,” who is of Puerto Rican descent.

After a four-day visit, I saw the territory has largely bounced back from the hurricane, and I now have a list of reasons to go back because even though the island is a mere 100 miles long and 35 miles across, I could not do it all.

Where to stay

It’s a short drive — under 30 minutes — from the airport to Old San Juan, also called Viejo San Juan. This walkable historic area is the ideal setting for your stay in the city.

Hotel El Convento is in the heart of Old San Juan and is right across the cobblestoned road from the oldest cathedral in the Western Hemisphere, Catedral de San Juan. The building was constructed in 1646 as a convent and in 1959 the process to convert it to a hotel began; it opened in 1962 as a hotel. It was updated in the early 2000s and continues to host guests from around the world.

What you don’t see from the historic exterior: a plunge pool, fitness center, two restaurants and a bar. The 81 rooms will have views of the plaza or San Juan Bay with floor-to-ceiling windows that can be shuttered for privacy.

You can step outside and in a few minutes be at the Castillo San Felipe del Morro, Catedral de San Juan, Calle Fortaleza (Umbrella Street) and other historic sites worth a visit. Given the number of excellent restaurants, bars, galleries, museums and significant buildings, this centrally-located hotel makes sense for an easy walking vacation to see it all.

Where else to stay

Just beyond the old town area you can find the name-brand hotels that are ubiquitous in just about every destination, but do yourself the favor of opting for a boutique hotel to get a sense of the local history, architecture and style.

Villa Herencia is also a former convent in Old San Juan near the Puerta de San Juan, and is worth a stop on the walking path around this neighborhood. This hotel is much smaller with only eight rooms, a sunny rooftop patio and artwork by locals on display in nearly every room. A breakfast of fresh and local fruits is included in your stay.

The Gallery Inn is more like updated history than completely modern, and that is its charm. TVs? No. Read a book, play a piano or look at the art. Elevators? No. There is a small wading pool, an afternoon and evening bar and restaurant, and you can walk throughout Old San Juan from here.

The best beachfront hotels will likely be the big brand names, so splash out for Dorado Beach Ritz-Carlton. This was a plantation that was bought by a Rockefeller and turned into a resort in the 1950s before it was developed into the luxury resort it is today.

Fairmont El San Juan in Carolina, near Old San Juan, is a destination itself with four swimming pools, beach access and its own shops, nightclub and restaurants.

Budget travelers who don’t mind the crow of a rooster will enjoy the beach life at Luquillo Beach Hostel. It’s clean, simple and a decent location for a beach vacation.

If your visit includes Vieques, plan to stay at El Blok, a thoroughly modern fortress of a building that was designed with nearby coral reefs in mind. Enjoy a drink at La Tertulia, have a meal at Placita, then go up to the rooftop to look at the stars.

Eat and drink

You won’t go hungry in Puerto Rico with so much perfectly spiced fresh seafood, native produce and a culinary scene that is hungry to experiment. You’ll find dozens of plantain variations on pretty much every menu, as they are staple of the diet here.

Santaella is a chic spot built around the globally-inspired menu by Chef Jose Santaella, a Puerto Rican native. His cookbook, “Cocina Tropical,” highlights many of the dishes you can enjoy here: shrimp tempura bao buns, alcapurrias (green bananas, root vegetables and crab), both cooked and raw seafood, and much more.

The restaurant relies on local farmers markets for many of the ingredients. The cocktail and wine lists are at least as extensive as the food menus here, including some drinks made with Puerto Rican rum.

Where else to eat and drink

Agritourism is thriving in Puerto Rico, so you could make a day of it by doing a tour and lunch. Like many aspects of life in Puerto Rico, the whole experience of going out to eat and drink is made into a fun adventure. Frutos del Guacabo is one place where you can go on a tasting tour, learning about this small family farm, milk the goats and stay for lunch. You can also tour coffee and chocolate farms.

My experience with the local specialty, mofongo, was that it is never the same from restaurant to restaurant. This is a sort of island meat and potatoes-type dish, but it is made with mashed plantains and garlic and then accompanied by pork or any meat or seafood, or just vegetables. It might be a side dish or a main course.

La Casita Blanca is a classic Puerto Rican restaurant where you can try mofongo, bacalaitos (codfish fritters), banana soup, tostones and other local dishes. Take home some of this flavor from their gift shop.

Chocobar Cortés is in Old San Juan, but they do have locations in Condado and the South Bronx in New York. This is a family-run chocolate maker and restaurant where they have creatively come up with ways to merge chocolate into all kinds of unexpected dishes like grilled cheese, a cheeseburger (chocolate is in the ketchup!), pumpkin soup and more. Stop in for a hot chocolate or just to buy a chocolate bar to take home.

Caféteria Mallorca is an old-school diner that has one specialty done several ways, which is a traditional sweet roll with powdered sugar that is then made sweeter or savory. For example, you could get an egg on yours, or ham and cheese, or just buttered. It’s a simple menu but delicious.

Take a tour of Casa Bacardi where you can go on a tasting tour or try a mixology class. Be sure to check age limits and length of tours when you plan this outing.

When in Old San Juan, pop into La Factoria, a multiroom bar where you can have a drink, dance to live music or move into another room and bop to the DJ. The drinking age in Puerto Rico is 18, but some bars require guests to be over 21.

Play

When it comes time for activities in Puerto Rico, you will have to make some hard choices: day or night? Rainforest or beach? Modern or historic? Assuming you came to an island for beach time, I’ve got a recommendation.

During my trip, I found myself spending an afternoon in Luquillo, about a 30-minute drive from San Juan. There are several beaches here, though it’s subtle to move from one to the next. What you will find here is absolutely everything you might want to do while at the beach, so you barely have to move to eat, drink, shop or try a variety of water sports.

Just off a busy road, there is a long strip of connected businesses, primarily fresh seafood restaurants and bars with rum and ice-cold beers, but also shops with swimsuits and cute souvenirs to bring home. Once you pass through the small storefronts, the stunning beach spreads out in front of you and the road noise disappears.

The question is, what can’t you do at the beach here? Rent a beach chair and just gaze into the turquoise and deep blue waters; walk a few steps to one of the bars and bring your drinks back to the beach or right into the water; take a horseback ride that is gentle enough for young children; go jet skiing; go snorkeling; go swimming; hang out on a sandbar; go kayaking. The list seems endless and you won’t want to leave.

Where else to play

Luquillo is close to El Yunque National Forest where your best choice is to hire a local guide and spend the day hiking, exploring, even zip lining. Within the tropical rainforest there are waterfalls that cascade into natural swimming pools (yes, you can get in the water). Other activities include horseback riding and ATV riding.

Vieques is a small island off the eastern side of Puerto Rico with much of the land preserved as a National Wildlife Refuge. Once a training ground for the U.S. Navy, today Vieques is best known for the Bahia Bioluminiscente, a bay that is home to glowing microorganisms. It’s a magical experience to drift through these waters at night.

If you can’t make it to Vieques, there are “bio bay” tours on the main island. Be sure to check ahead on details like if you can get out of the boat (some people prefer to swim during this experience, but it’s not always permitted) and if you can wear bug repellant.

Don’t miss a chance to take in some traditional dancing — either observing or learning. There are many festivals throughout the year where you are likely to witness dancers in elaborate costumes and masks performing dances that pull from African, Cuban and Spanish cultures: Bomba, merengue and salsa.

If you’re staying in Old San Juan, you’ll be soaking up history nonstop, but you can also sign up for a walking tour and learn about who walked here before.

If culture is your thing over exploring nature, there are numerous museums, art galleries and art tours across the island. You’ll have to narrow down your choices based on personal interests such as military history, archaeology, class or contemporary art, island history and more. If you could only go to one, try Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico as it has historic to contemporary exhibits.

What you should know before you go

Airport: Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, also known at San Juan Airport (SJU)

Passport needed: No, not needed for U.S. citizens.

Currency: U.S. dollar

Time zone: Eastern Standard Time (shortly after these flights begin it will be Eastern Daylight Time)

Language: English and Spanish

Weather: It tends to be hot and humid year-round, according to Discover Puerto Rico. High temperatures are typically 80 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. There is a dry season from December to April and a wet season from May through November, which includes hurricane season.

Seasonal closures: Before booking a flight, check with all of your intended destination points about possible closures as some business take several weeks off during rainy season, for example.

Transportation: Parking and even driving in Old San Juan can be challenging, but if you’re going much beyond this area it will be handy to have your own wheels.

LGBTQ travelers: Puerto Rico is welcoming to all travelers.

Typical foods: You don’t want to miss trying mofongo (many variations on this mashed plantain and meat dish), rice and beans (many variations), tostones (fried savory plantains), amarillos (fresh and sweet plantains), and rum to drink.

Flight details from Denver to Puerto Rico: United is not the only airline with flights to Puerto Rico, but it is the only one that will soon offer a direct flight to the island. These nonstop flights will be offered once per day, along with flights with one or more stops each way. During the peak of hurricane season in September through late October, it will only have a nonstop flight once per week, according to a spokesperson with the airport.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, In The Know, to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox.

Delta Air Lines is backtracking slightly on changes it previously announced in its frequent-flyer program, but it still plans to reshape SkyMiles to favor big spenders over customers who take the most flights.

Delta outlined the revisions in an email from CEO Ed Bastian to SkyMiles members on Wednesday.

“I have read hundreds of your emails, and what’s been most clear to me is how much you love Delta and the disappointment many of you felt by the significance of the changes,” Bastian wrote.

The objections focused on the difficulty of achieving elite status and new restrictions on entering airport lounges.

Delta announced the changes in mid-September, saying they were needed to address overcrowding at the lounges and a surge in elite-status customers that was making it harder to score upgrades.

The airline proposed to make spending with Delta the only way to reach elite status — no longer counting flights taken or miles flown. In simplifying the path to status, Delta sharply raised spending requirements for each SkyMiles level.

According to Bastian’s email, flights and miles still won’t count toward elite status, and spending requirements will go up from current levels — just not as much as they would have under the September changes.

For example, it will take 5,000 “Medallion qualifying dollars” for Silver, the lowest of four levels, down from 6,000 in September. Currently, customers can reach Silver with as few as 3,000 qualifying dollars or points if they take enough Delta flights, and no points if they accumulate enough miles.

The Diamond top tier will cost 28,000 points instead of the 35,000 outlined in September, but more than the current 20,000 plus enough flights.

The changes take effect next year, when travelers will be trying to qualify for elite status in 2025.

Delta also plans to limit the number of times that premium credit card holders can visit airport lounges, but not as severely as it proposed in September.

The September proposal created a backlash among Delta customers on social media, with some threatening to switch to other airlines.

It wasn’t just travelers who took notice. JetBlue and Alaska Airlines tried to poach Delta’s best customers by offering to match elite status for anyone leaving the Delta loyalty program. Southwest Airlines announced that next year it will make it easier to qualify for the top levels of its frequent-flyer program.

Flyers are a fickle lot, known to switch airlines to save a few bucks on a flight. Airlines design loyalty programs to keep their most lucrative customers coming back.

Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst at Atmosphere Research Group, said some SkyMiles members will still be unhappy about Delta moving to an entirely spending-based program, and will view even the reduced requirements as too rich.

“I don’t think these concessions are going to go far enough to placate the disgruntled Medallions,” he said. “Given the mercenary mindset that many travelers have, they will fly other airlines and not look back.”

Less than two weeks after Delta announced the SkyMiles overhaul, Bastian announced that the Atlanta-based airline was taking another look at the matter. He said Delta “probably went too far” with the proposed changes.

Last week, Delta officials said on a call with analysts and reporters that the outcry was not affecting signups or spending on its co-branded American Express credit cards.

United Airlines will start boarding passengers in economy class with window seats first starting next week, a move designed to reduce the time planes spend sitting on the ground.

The airline said in an internal memo that it will implement the plan on Oct. 26. The plan – called WILMA, for window, middle and aisle — was tested at several locations and deemed to shave up to two minutes off boarding time.

Variations of the WILMA approach have existed for many years.

“It spreads people out along the aisle of the airplane so that more people can put their luggage away at the same time. That’s the main thing that speeds up the boarding process,” said Jason Steffen, an associate professor of physics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who designed his own boarding model a decade ago.

The change will begin with passengers in the fourth boarding group. Customers in first class and business class will see no change in their routine, and there’s also no change for those with priority-boarding privileges, including travelers with disabilities, unaccompanied minors, active-duty military, and families with children who are 2 or under.

Chicago-based United said that when multiple customers are on the same economy reservation, such as families, they will be allowed to board together.

The new policy will be used on domestic flights and some international flights.

Airlines have long searched for the perfect boarding process. Even Orville and Wilbur Wright flipped a coin to see who got the lone seat on their flying machine.

United is making changes now because, it says, average boarding time has increased by two minutes since 2019.

Tinkering with the boarding process has increased since airlines began charging fees for checked bags more than a decade ago. Those fees encourage passengers to bring carry-on bags, which generally are still free except at low-cost carriers such as Spirit and Frontier.

“Any time you have to wrestle with luggage up over your head, it’s going to slow things down,” Steffen said.

The push to board faster is also complicated by the airlines’ desire to sell early boarding or give it to elite members of their frequent-flier programs. Only after those people are seated — generally near the front of the plane — can everyone else board, passing the priority customers on the way to their seats in the back of the cabin.

“Priority boarding is a moneymaker. Up to a certain point, that money is worth more than worrying about boarding three minutes earlier every time,” said Seth Miller, who writes about the travel experience at Paxex.aero.

Two minutes doesn’t make much difference on a transatlantic flight, but on heavily trafficked shorter routes — think about the Northeast, or between the Hawaiian islands — delays tend to cascade, pushing late-day flights farther and farther behind schedule.

If a few passengers dawdle while stowing their bag and finding their seat, it can make the difference between a flight being on time or late in the government’s official statistics.

The last passengers to board face the risk that there won’t be room for their carry-on bag in the overhead bins. That leads passengers in late boarding groups to crowd the gate area so they can jump in line ahead of others. Gate agents and seasoned travelers call the line jumpers “gate lice.”

It sat vacant for two decades, and even after the building was sold, built onto and incorporated into the Punch Bowl Social restaurant in 2017, the 164-foot tower itself remained off-limits.

But on Nov. 15, the current tenant, FlyteCo Brewing, will open the tower to public tours for the first time, according to its owners, allowing people access to the kind of 360-degree views that haven’t been seen since Federal Aviation Administration employees left 28 years ago.

To visit, you’ll have to make reservations on FlyteCo’s website (tours are $10), be older than 10, and be capable of climbing the equivalent of 11 stories. The aviation-themed brewery, which opened its second location in the building, at 3120 Uinta St., in August 2022, will have guides who will “provide fascinating insights into the role of air traffic control in the world of aviation.”

Only 25 people will be allowed up at a time, and for 15 minutes at the top. Back at the bottom, guests will be awarded with a beer shot.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, In The Know, to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox.

If the Jefferson County airport meets its target, it will beat by three years a federal mandate that piston engine aircraft switch to unleaded-only fuel by 2030.

The announcement comes as neighbors living around the general aviation airport have in recent years decried contamination from lead particles that descend from overhead propeller plane emissions — many of which are flight-school aircraft. They have also complained of continuing noise overhead from all the flights at the airport, though that’s a problem that changing to unleaded fuel won’t mitigate.

Rocky Mountain saw nearly 300,000 takeoffs and landings last year, and even more are expected by the end of 2023.

“The majority of flight schools can switch to the 94UL,” airport director Paul Anslow said Wednesday, as airplanes buzzed the skies above the tarmac at the county-owned airport near Wadsworth Parkway and U.S. 36.

The 94UL fuel is essentially a transition unleaded gasoline. It works with most, but not all, of the 350 prop aircraft that are based at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, Anslow said.

The Federal Aviation Administration approved the use of unleaded 100UL fuel for all aviation piston engines a year ago, but the infrastructure to deliver that higher-octane — and more resilient — fuel is still being rolled out nationwide. It is still appreciably more expensive than leaded fuel, though the price differential is coming down, Anslow said.

“Just the success story of the airport switching to 94UL fuel is a huge win,” said Superior Trustee Jason Serbu, who serves as the town’s liaison to the airport’s Community Noise Roundtable. He’s received a barrage of complaints from residents about lead exposure in the Rock Creek neighborhood just north of the airport.

Lead is particularly hazardous to children and there is no accepted safe level of exposure, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA says lead can cause slow development, behavior and learning problems, low IQ, and hyperactivity and hearing problems in children.

One of the most comprehensive lead studies involving airports was conducted near Reid-Hillview Airport in east San Jose, California. The study, released in 2021, found that children living within a half-mile — and downwind — of the facility had lead concentrations in line with those found in children living in Flint, Michigan, during the water contamination crisis there several years ago.

Blood lead levels were 20% higher in those children than in children living between a half-mile and 1.5 miles from the airport.

Lafayette resident Bri Lehman said Wednesday’s announcement is “an excellent start” to addressing longstanding concerns in communities surrounding the airport.

But aircraft noise remains a big problem, she said.

“They like to fly directly over my roof” at 3 a.m., said Lehman, who is part of a loosely organized group called Save Our Skies Alliance. “It’s like you’re trying to think and someone in the next room turns on a blender.”

The ongoing noise issues prompted Colorado Reps. Joe Neguse and Brittany Pettersen, both Democrats, to send a letter to the FAA last month demanding that the agency more forcefully address the problem.

Charlene Willey, whose Westminster home sits right under a Rocky Mountain airport flight path, said the noise has only gotten worse in the last few months.

“There’s been no mitigation that we’re aware of for that,” she said.

But Serbu, the Superior trustee, said pilots at Rocky Mountain airport increasingly are using a new voluntary flight path that takes night flights over a less populated area along U.S. 36.

“We’re not going to let this issue fall by the wayside,” he said.

Centennial Airport, Colorado’s largest general aviation airport, became the first in the state to offer unleaded fuel in the spring. It already accounts for nearly 20% of the fuel used by prop planes at the airport, according to airport data provided to The Denver Post.

Anslow, the director at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, said its transition to unleaded fuel will take time, starting with the recent purchase at a Denver International Airport auction of a $50,000, 1,200-gallon unleaded fuel truck. Next year, the airport is planning to procure a 12,000-gallon tank to store 94UL fuel on site.

In 2026, the airport plans the broad deployment of 100UL fuel throughout its operations.

Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter.