Dec 2 (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google said on Thursday it is indefinitely pushing back its January return-to-office plan globally amid growing concerns over the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and some resistance to company-mandated vaccinations.
Google in August had said it would expect workers to come in about three days a week from Jan. 10 at the earliest, ending its voluntary work-from-home policy. read more
On Thursday, Google executives told employees that the company would put off the deadline beyond that date. Insider first reported the news.
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Google said the update was in line with its earlier guidance that a return to workplaces would begin no earlier than Jan. 10 and depend on local conditions.
Nearly 40% of U.S. employees have come into an office in recent weeks, Google said, with higher percentages in other parts of the world.
But CNBC reported last week that hundreds of employees have protested the company’s vaccination mandate for those working on U.S. government contracts.
Google was one of the first companies to ask its employees to work from home during the pandemic. It has about 85 offices across nearly 60 countries.
Europe has so far recorded 79 cases of the Omicron variant, first detected in southern Africa last month, the European Union’s public health agency said earlier on Thursday. read more
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Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru and Paresh Dave in Oakland, Calif.; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Richard Pullin
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A U.S. flag is reflected on the floor as passengers make their way through Reagan National Airport in Washington, U.S., July 1, 2016. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
WASHINGTON, Oct 25 (Reuters) – The Biden administration plans to unveil on Monday its detailed rules requiring nearly all foreign air visitors to be vaccinated against COVID-19 starting Nov. 8, sources told Reuters.
The White House first disclosed on Sept. 20 it would remove restrictions in early November for fully vaccinated air travelers from 33 countries.
The extraordinary U.S. travel restrictions were first imposed in early 2020 to address the spread of COVID-19. The rules bar most non-U.S. citizens who within the last 14 days have been in the United Kingdom, the 26 Schengen countries in Europe without border controls, Ireland, China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil.
The White House plans to outline the legal framework requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for most foreign air travelers replacing the current restrictions, as well as rules for exemptions from the requirements.
The Biden administration will also detail requirements airlines must follow to confirm foreign travelers have been vaccinated before boarding U.S.-bound flights.
The White House announced on Oct. 15 that the new vaccine rules would take effect on Nov. 8.
One concern among U.S. officials and airlines is making sure foreign travelers are aware of the new vaccine rules that will take effect in just two weeks.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plans to issue new contact tracing rules requiring airlines to collect information from international air passengers. The White House said earlier airlines will provide the information “upon request to follow up with travelers who have been exposed to COVID-19 variants or other pathogens.”
The CDC said this month it would accept any vaccine authorized for use by U.S. regulators or the World Health Organization and will accept mixed-dose coronavirus vaccines from travelers.
The new rules are expected to exempt minor children from the vaccine requirements, the sources said.
The Biden administration has also been discussing initially exempting citizens of a small number of countries with extremely low vaccination rates because of a lack of access to COVID-19 vaccines, the sources said, saying that would include enhanced testing requirements.
Foreign air travelers will need to provide vaccination documentation from an “official source” and airlines must confirm the last dose was at least two weeks earlier than the travel date.
International air travelers will need to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of departure. The White House said in September unvaccinated Americans will need to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test within 24 hours of departing.
Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore
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A general view showing the Central Business District, in Hong Kong, China, September 15, 2021. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
HONG KONG, Oct 25 (Reuters) – A financial industry group warned on Monday that Hong Kong’s zero-COVID policy and strict quarantine requirements for international travellers threatens to undermine the city’s status as a financial hub.
The Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) said a survey of members, including some of the world’s largest banks and asset managers, showed 48% were contemplating moving staff or functions away from Hong Kong due to operational challenges, which included uncertainty regarding when and how travel and quarantine restrictions will be lifted.
Hong Kong has some of the most stringent travel restrictions in the world and is virtually COVID-19 free, however unlike regional rival Singapore, which is slowly re-opening its borders, the Chinese-ruled city has no public plan for opening up to international travellers.
Local leaders say their focus is removing restrictions on travel from Hong Kong to mainland China, which also has strict entry restrictions. At present travellers from Hong Kong to the mainland must still undergo quarantine.
“Hong Kong’s status as an (international financial centre) is increasingly at risk along with its long-term economic recovery and competitiveness as a premier place to do business,” Mark Austen chief executive of Asifma wrote in open letter to Hong Kong’s financial secretary Paul Chan.
The letter made a series of recommendations including publishing “a roadmap for exiting Hong Kong’s ‘zero-case’ based COVID-19 strategy beyond solely the immediate goal of opening borders with China”, as well as prioritising vaccinations.
Hong Kong has reported just over 12,300 cases since the start of the pandemic, mostly imported, and 213 deaths.
Regional rival Singapore is expanding quarantine-free travel to nearly a dozen countries, but authorities are grappling with how to do so while averting a surge of Covid-19 cases among older people and those with weak immune systems.
Reporting by Alun John; Editing by Michael Perry
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The logo of Price Waterhouse Coopers is seen at its Berlin office in Berlin, Germany, September 20, 2019. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay//File Photo
NEW YORK, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Accounting and consulting firm PwC told Reuters on Thursday it will allow all its 40,000 U.S. client services employees to work virtually and live anywhere they want in perpetuity, making it one of the biggest employers to embrace permanent remote work.
The policy is a departure from the accounting industry’s rigid attitudes, known for encouraging people to put in late nights at the office. Other major accounting firms, such as Deloitte and KPMG, have also been giving employees more choice to work remotely in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
PwC’s deputy people leader, Yolanda Seals-Coffield, said in an interview that the firm was the first in its industry to make full-time virtual work available to client services employees. PwC’s support staff and employees in areas such as human resources and legal operations that do not face clients already had the option to work virtually full-time.
PwC employees who choose to work virtually would have to come into the office a maximum of three days a month for in-person appointments such as critical team meetings, client visits and learning sessions, Seals-Coffield said.
“We have learned a ton through the pandemic, and working virtually, as we think about the evolution of flexibility, is a natural next step,” Seals-Coffield said. “If you are an employee in good standing, are in client services, and want to work virtually, you can, full stop.”
Location does factor, however, into PwC employees’ pay, Seals-Coffield said. Employees who opt to work virtually full-time from a lower-cost location would see their pay decrease, she added.
Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google also bases employees’ pay on their location, with those who work from home permanently potentially earning less. read more
Most U.S. white-collar workers have been working from home since the pandemic took hold in March 2020. Chief executives have grappled with bringing employees back, weighing their management style and preferences against risks such as more contagious COVID-19 variants and workers rejecting vaccines. read more
PwC said in a memo to employees this week that it is offering the new policy to attract and retain talent and become more diverse. Partners at PwC whose team members choose to be in the office regularly will not be allowed to work completely remotely.
“We’re confident we can manage hybrid teams,” Seals-Coffield said. She added that PwC’s research suggests that 30% to 35% of its eligible workers will take the firm up on the offer. PwC has 55,000 U.S. employees in total, and with its new policy, the majority will be able to work virtually if they want.
Seals-Coffield said PwC is not planning to make any significant changes to its real estate footprint due to the new policy. The firm plans to use its office space differently and in more collaborative ways, she said, without elaborating. PwC is globally headquartered in London, with its U.S. head office in New York.
In addition to providing auditing and accounting services, PwC consults with companies on issues such as return to the office. Asked about how PwC’s new policy would inform its advice to clients on the topic, Seals-Coffield said that other organizations are deciding how to approach it “in ways that work for their workforce.”
In June, PwC said it would hire 100,000 people over the next five years in jobs that would help clients report on diversity and climate. The firm currently employs 284,000 globally.
A spokesman for Deloitte said on Thursday the “range of time spent at client sites, at Deloitte offices, and remotely will vary.”
The firm said in June all of its 20,000 employees in Britain would be allowed to choose in the future whether they work from home or not.
Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Editing by Aurora Ellis and Peter Cooney
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BEIJING, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Universal Studios’ Beijing resort opened its doors to the public on Monday after a two-decade wait, including delays because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The highly anticipated opening takes place amid U.S.-China relations that have deteriorated in recent years.
The park will be U.S.-based Universal’s largest and its fifth globally. It is also a first for Beijing, which lacks a big branded theme park to rival the Disney resorts in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
And, it will be the first Universal park with a section dedicated to the movie “Kung Fu Panda” and includes an area based on the Harry Potter franchise, which is popular in China.
Amid light rain and tight security on Monday, a public holiday in China to mark the Mid-Autumn Festival, a steady stream of umbrella-wielding visitors entered the resort.
“When it comes to Universal Studios, we’re all big fans of Marvel movies,” said 27-year-old Beijing resident Pi Tiantian, who visited the park on Monday.
“We really want to experience this resort. This one here also really likes Harry Potter,” she added, pointing to a young male companion.
One Universal Studios employee told Reuters that visitor numbers were being capped at around 10,000 for Monday because of the pandemic but the park has the capacity for many more.
All 10,000 tickets for the opening, available in a pre-sale on Sept. 14, were sold out in three minutes, according to Trip.com Group.
“This is a rare time in a long while when an America-themed topic has attracted such obvious and widespread praise in China,” the Global Times, a nationalistic tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily, wrote last week.
Beijing-based visitors snatched 40% of the tickets for the first month, while the cities of Tianjin and Shanghai were the second- and third-largest sources of patrons, according to travel website qunar.com.
Still, many buyers complained on social media about ticket costs, which range from 418 yuan ($64.76) in the low season to 748 yuan during peak periods.
The resort was proposed 20 years ago by the Beijing Tourism Group, according to the official China Daily, and is 30% owned by Comcast Corp’s (CMCSA.O) Universal Parks & Resorts and 70% by state-owned Beijing Shouhuan Cultural Tourism Investment.
The new Chinese ambassador to Washington, Qin Gang, likened the park’s rollercoaster ride to ties between the two countries.
“After all the tumbling and shakes, the rollercoaster came to a soft landing in the end,” he tweeted on Sept. 14.
Universal Studios announced the development of the resort in 2014 at an estimated cost of $3.3 billion. In 2017, Comcast Chief Executive Brian Roberts said the park could provide $1 billion of operating cash flow per year once open.
The park is estimated to earn more than 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) a year in revenue with up to 12 million visits, according to state-run Beijing Daily.
($1 = 6.4549 yuan)
Additional reporting by Sophie Yu in Beijing and Chen Aizhu in Singapore; additional writing by Tom Daly; Editing by Tony Munroe, Christian Schmollinger and Bernadette Baum
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A 3D printed Google logo is placed on the Apple Macbook in this illustration taken April 12, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
SEOUL, Aug 25 (Reuters) – A South Korean parliamentary committee voted early on Wednesday to recommend amending a law, a key step toward banning Google and Apple from forcibly charging software developers commissions on in-app purchases, the first such curb by a major economy.
After the vote from the legislation and judiciary committee to amend the Telecommunications Business Act, dubbed the “Anti-Google law,” the amendment will come to a final vote in parliament.
That vote could come on Wednesday, although South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that parliament would act at a later date. read more
A parliament official told Reuters the office had not yet received an official request not to hold the meeting on Wednesday.
Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google have both faced global criticism because they require software developers using their app stores to use proprietary payment systems that charge commissions of up to 30%.
In a statement on Tuesday, Apple said the bill “will put users who purchase digital goods from other sources at risk of fraud, undermine their privacy protections”, hurt user trust in App Store purchases and lead to fewer opportunities for South Korean developers.
Wilson White, senior director of public policy at Google, said “the rushed process hasn’t allowed for enough analysis of the negative impact of this legislation on Korean consumers and app developers”.
Legal experts said app store operators could work with developers and other companies to create secure payment methods other than the ones they provide.
“Google and Apple aren’t the only ones that can create a secure payment system,” said Lee Hwang, a Korea University School of Law professor specialising in competition law. “I think it’s a problem to try to inspire excessive fear by talking about safety or security about using different payment methods.”
Based on South Korean parliament records, the amendment bans app store operators with dominant market positions from forcing payment systems on content providers and “inappropriately” delaying the review of, or deleting, mobile contents from app markets.
It also allows the South Korean government to require an app market operator to “prevent damage to users and protect the rights and interests of users”, probe app market operators, and mediate disputes regarding payment, cancellations or refunds in the app market.
This month in the United States, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill that would rein in app stores of companies that they said exert too much market control, including Apple and Google. read more
Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee. Editing by Gerry Doyle
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SEOUL, Aug 24 (Reuters) – South Korea is likely to bar Google and Apple from requiring software developers to use their payment systems, effectively stopping them from charging commissions on in-app purchases, the first such curbs on the tech giants by a major economy.
The parliament’s legislation and judiciary committee is expected on Tuesday to approve the amendment of the Telecommunications Business Act, dubbed the “Anti-Google law,” that takes aim at app store operators with dominant market positions.
If the bill gets the committee’s approval, it will be put to a final vote on Wednesday. Lawmakers in South Korea have pushed the issue of the commission structure since mid last year.
Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) were not immediately available for comment.
Both companies have faced global criticism because they require software developers using their app stores to use proprietary in-app payment systems that charge commissions of up to 30% on in-app purchases.
“For gaming apps, Google has been forcing app developers to use its own payment system … and it wants to expand its policy to other apps like music or webtoon,” said Kwon Se-hwa, a general manager at the Korea Internet Corporations Association, a nonprofit group representing Korean IT firms.
“If the new bill becomes the law, developers will have options to use other independent payment systems,” Kwon said.
The European Union last year proposed the Digital Markets Act, taking aim at app store commissions. The rules are designed to affect large companies, but some European lawmakers are in favour of tightening them to specifically target American technology giants, Reuters reported in June. read more
Earlier this month in the United States, a bipartisan trio of senators introduced a bill that would rein in app stores of companies that they said exert too much market control, including Apple and Google. read more
In South Korea, the home market of Android phone maker Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS), Google Play Store earned revenue of nearly 6 trillion won ($5.29 billion) in 2019, according to a government report published last year.
Earlier this year, Google said it will lower the service fee it charges developers on its app store from 30% to 15% on the first $1 million they earn in revenue in a year. Apple has made similar moves. read more
For Apple too, commissions from in-app purchases are a key part of its $53.8 billion services business, and are a major expense for some app developers.
In May, an antitrust lawsuit filed by the maker of the popular game “Fortnite” against Apple revealed that the game maker paid $100 million in commissions to Apple over two years. read more
Reporting by Heekyong Yang in Seoul, Additional reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco
Editing by Shri Navaratnam
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Britain, France, United States and EU scrutinising sector
Bank cloud tech spending to surge to $85bn by 2025 – IDC
Bank regulators want more oversight of cloud risks
LONDON, Aug 20 (Reuters) – More than a decade on from the financial crisis, regulators are spooked once again that some companies at the heart of the financial system are too big to fail. But they’re not banks.
This time it’s the tech giants including Google (GOOGL.O), Amazon (AMZN.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) that host a growing mass of bank, insurance and market operations on their vast cloud internet platforms that are keeping watchdogs awake at night.
Central bank sources told Reuters the speed and scale at which financial institutions are moving critical operations such as payment systems and online banking to the cloud constituted a step change in potential risks.
“We are only at the beginning of the paradigm shift, therefore we need to make sure we have a fit-for-purpose solution,” said a financial regulator from a Group of Seven country, who declined to be named.
It is the latest sign of how financial regulators are joining their data and competition counterparts in scrutinising the global clout of Big Tech more closely.
Banks and technology companies say greater use of cloud computing is a win-win as it results in faster and cheaper services that are more resilient to hackers and outages.
But regulatory sources say they fear a glitch at one cloud company could bring down key services across multiple banks and countries, leaving customers unable to make payments or access services, and undermine confidence in the financial system.
The U.S. Treasury, European Union, Bank of England and Bank of France are among those stepping up their scrutiny of cloud technology to mitigate the risks of banks relying on a small group of tech firms and companies being “locked in”, or excessively dependent, on one cloud provider.
“We’re very alert to the fact that things will fail,” said Simon McNamara, chief administrative officer at British bank NatWest (NWG.L). “If 10 organisations aren’t prepared and are connected into one provider that disappears, then we’ll all have a problem.”
RAPID PACE
The EU proposed in September that “critical” external services for the financial industry such as the cloud should be regulated to strengthen existing recommendations on outsourcing from the bloc’s banking authority that date back to 2017.
The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) meanwhile wants greater insight into agreements between banks and cloud operators and the Bank of France told lenders last month they must have a written contract that clearly defines controls over outsourced activities.
“The FPC is of the view that additional policy measures to mitigate financial stability risks in this area are needed,” it said in July. read more
The European Central Bank, which regulates the biggest lenders in the euro zone, said on Wednesday that bank spending on cloud computing rose by more than 50% in 2019 from 2018.
And that’s just the start. Spending on cloud services by banks globally is forecast to more than double to $85 billion in 2025 from $32.1 billion in 2020, according to data from technology research firm IDC shared with Reuters.
An IDC survey of 50 major banks globally identified just six primary providers of cloud services: IBM (IBM.N), Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Alibaba (9988.HK) and Oracle (ORCL.N).
Amazon Web Services (AWS) – the largest cloud provider according to Synergy Group – posted sales of $28.3 billion in the six months to June, up 35% on the prior year and higher than its annual revenue of $25.7 billion as recently as 2018.
While all industries have ramped up cloud spending, analysts told Reuters that financial services firms had moved faster since the pandemic after an explosion in demand for online banking and emergency lending schemes.
“Banks are still very diligent but they have gained a higher level of comfort with the model and are moving at a fairly rapid pace,” said Jason Malo, director analyst at consultants Gartner.
Reuters Graphics Reuters Graphics
NO MORE SECRECY
Regulators worry that cloud failures would cause banking systems to fall over and stop people accessing their money, but say they have little visibility over cloud providers.
Last month, the Bank of England said big tech companies could dictate terms and conditions to financial firms and were not always providing enough information for their clients to monitor risks – and that “secrecy” had to end.
There is also concern that banks may not be spreading their risk enough among cloud providers.
Google told Reuters that less than a fifth of financial firms were using multiple clouds in case one failed, according to a recent survey, although 88% of those that did not spread their risk yet planned to do so within a year. read more
Central bank sources said part of the solution may be some form of mechanism that offers reassurance on resilience from cloud providers to banks to mitigate the sector’s aggregate exposure to one cloud service – with the banking regulator having the overall vantage point.
“Regardless of the division of control responsibilities between the cloud service provider and the bank, the bank is ultimately responsible for the effectiveness of the control environment,” the U.S. Federal Reserve said in draft guidance issued to lenders last month.
FINRA, which regulates Wall Street brokers, published a report on Monday ahead of potential rule changes to ensure that using the cloud does not harm the market or investors.
Being able to switch cloud providers easily when needed is, however, a task that is more easily said than done and could introduce disruptions to business, the FINRA report said.
‘THE BUCK STOPS WITH US’
Banks and tech firms contest the suggestion that greater adoption of the cloud is making the financial system’s infrastructure inherently riskier.
Adrian Poole, director for financial services in the United Kingdom and Ireland for Google Cloud, said the cloud can be more effective in bolstering a bank’s security capabilities than by building it in-house.
British digital lender Zopa said it had moved 80% of its transactions to the cloud and was working to mitigate risks. Zopa Chief Executive Jaidev Janardana said the company was also deliberately leaning on tech firms’ expertise.
“Cloud providers invest a lot of resources in security at a scale that few individual companies could manage,” he said.
Google’s Poole said the company was open to working more closely with financial regulators.
“We may one day see regulators pulling data on demand from regulated banks with cloud-enabled application programming interfaces (APIs), instead of waiting for banks to periodically push data at them,” he said.
NatWest’s McNamara said the bank was collaborating closely with tech firms and regulators to mitigate risks, and had put alternative services in place in case things went wrong.
“The buck stops with us,” McNamara said. “We don’t put all our eggs in one basket.”
One problem, though, is that not all banks have a full understanding of the risks to resiliency that could come with a wholesale shift to the cloud, said Jost Hoppermann, principal analyst at Forrester, particularly the smaller lenders.
“Some banks do not have the necessary know-how,” he said. “They think doing this will vanish all their problems, and certainly that isn’t true.”
Reporting by Iain Withers and Huw Jones; Additional reporting by Michelle Price in Washington and Francesco Canepa in Frankfurt; Editing by Rachel Armstrong and David Clarke
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Elite frequent flyers generate big share of revenue
Airlines working on engagement, offer status extensions
Increasing focus on co-branded credit card spenders
SYDNEY, Aug 10 (Reuters) – From wellness workshops to dinner with a celebrity chef and flights to nowhere, Asia’s big international airlines are working hard to keep their most lucrative customers engaged as the pandemic-related travel halt stretches beyond 18 months.
While flights are starting to rebound in the United States and Europe, international travel is still down 96% in Asia due to tough travel restrictions, making it harder to maintain a relationship with grounded premium clients.
Elite frequent flyers, many of them business travellers, are coveted by full-service carriers like Australia’s Qantas Airways Ltd (QAN.AX), Singapore Airlines Ltd (SIAL.SI) and Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (0293.HK), and the airlines want them back when travel resumes.
Before the pandemic, around 5% of international passengers globally flew in premium classes, but they accounted for 30% of international revenue, data from airline industry group IATA shows.
Asian airlines have given status extensions of at least two years to elite tier customers who have earned access to airport lounges and other perks such as priority access to seats and upgrades to higher flight classes.
Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth said customers had made clear to the airline that such extensions were important.
“They work in many cases for years to achieve these high statuses and high tiers, so it was really important for us that we were going to continue to be loyal to them just as they had been loyal to us in the years gone by,” she said.
For airlines, the extensions come at relatively little cost given the potential future reward.
Grounded elite members are not accessing airport lounges stocked with fine wines, made-to-order meals and day spas, although Qantas did host a dinner in Sydney for a few of them with celebrity chef Neil Perry and CEO Alan Joyce in June.
Singapore Airlines, which lacks a domestic market, said it has hosted virtual wine tastings, wellness workshops and online courses such as miniature clay art and coffee-brewing and offered a first class dine-at-home experience.
Some other engagement initiatives are paid for by the flyer. Michael Dean, a Qantas Platinum One flyer, said his status enabled him to secure his preferred business class seats on a 747 joyflight from Brisbane last year – for A$747 ($550) a seat – just before Qantas retired the jumbo jet.
“It was not cheap, but great fun,” he said.
HEY BIG SPENDER
With flights grounded, airlines globally have also boosted engagement with another lucrative group – customers who fly less often but spend large amounts on co-branded credit cards that earn users air miles they can redeem for flights.
Airlines earn money from such cards by selling the frequent flyer miles to credit card issuers to use as rewards for cardholders.
Consumers have kept spending on co-branded cards at a similar rate to the broader credit card market during the pandemic, Qantas data and American Express Co (AXP.N) data on its co-branded Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) cards shows.
Evert de Boer, Singapore-based managing partner at consultancy On Point Loyalty said there were industry concerns earlier in the pandemic that consumers would switch from airline co-branded cards to cards that offer cash-back or other incentives, due to the halt in travel.
“But that hasn’t happened at all,” he said. “You can actually see that people want to travel.”
During the pandemic, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific have developed their loyalty programmes into broader lifestyle brands, adding more miles-earning opportunities through e-commerce, dining and hotel stays, as Qantas has long done. read more
These highly engaged members could become increasingly important to airlines amid industry forecasts that business travel will take a long-term hit from video-conferencing and environmental concerns.
Fiona Downes, a Qantas Platinum One flyer, said it could take two to three years after borders reopened for her work travel to return to pre-COVID levels. Her points balance has grown through credit card spending, but she is also hoping the airline will allow her to retain elite status.
“I certainly would like to know that when I do start flying again – even at a small scale, but as things are starting to ramp up – that I am not disadvantaged in any way or I am not starting from scratch again,” she said.
($1 = 1.3602 Australian dollars)
Reporting by Jamie Freed; editing by Richard Pullin
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