Finnair GPS Jamming, Tornado in Omaha, SkyTeam on the Rise & More [Roundup]

Another week down and some interesting news throughout the last week. A few things that really stuck in my mind were the new Team USA airplane by Delta, South African Airways finally getting back on its feet, and some negative award changes.

But before all that, we have our first victim of GPS jamming. I once wrote that GPS jamming was being used as a weapon, and its first casualty of Finnair stopping service to Tartu, Estonia because the jamming has been unacceptable for flights to make a safe approach to the airport.

Also, what is a Recycling Fee? I absolutely hate all these junk fees that hotels try to tack on to rooms to increase their profits as much as possible. Also, what makes it even more insane is that it's a percentage fee, why wouldn't it be a fixed cost? This is extremely scummy.

Speaking of negative changes, United again with the devaluation of their partner awards. Either airlines are getting greedy or they've overinflated their mileage programs, all I continue to see is increased redemption opportunities. It's extremely disappointing seeing 500,000 mile redemptions that used to cost half that a few years ago.

However, in a bit of good news, we finally have the official unveiling of the Team USA A350 from Delta. It looks stunning with the design that was apparently employee designed and is meant to signify the Team USA colors while also looking like the Eiffel Tower on its side.

For many years it seemed like airline alliances were stagnated with members joining, however in the last few years Alaska has joined oneworld and SAS is leaving Star Alliance for SkyTeam. Due to the monetary support from Air France-KLM, the deal will officially see SAS leave Star Alliance on August 31, and join SkyTeam on September 1st.

We finally have some pictures of the aftermath of the tornado that ripped through the Omaha airport, while the commercial terminal was saved the general aviation side of the airport was ripped apart. We now see the extent of the damage, with planes destroyed and covered in debris from hangars and anything else the tornado left behind.

While general aviation is reeling from a tornado, it's nice to see South African Airways slowly getting back on its feet. After declaring bankruptcy and reducing its operations we see routes coming back that were dropped. This time it was South African Airways returning to Australia with its route to Perth.

More good news as the US Government has passed down guidance on junk fees and refunds. In a deeply consumer focused order, the ruling says that airlines must proactively refund passengers instead of them having to request them and puts hard limits on junk fees passed to the consumer. This is a big win!

And finally, Delta is expanding its service to Amsterdam, this time with the return of a pre-covid route from Tampa to Amsterdam. The route will utilize an A330-300 aircraft and be a winter seasonal route along with their Orlando to Amsterdam route.