SFGATE contributor Jim Glab rounds up air travel and airport news for our weekly column Routes
By Jim Glab, Freelance Writer Aug 1, 2026 (SFGate.com)
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents observe travelers at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in March 2026.David Grunfeld/AP
In this week’s air travel news, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ramped up its efforts to arrest people at the nation’s airports, and it’s not limiting the hunt to undocumented people with criminal records; JetBlue Airways is the latest airline to split airfares into three categories for each seating choice; another low-cost carrier announces it will add premium seating and free beverages; American Airlines (temporarily) and Southwest Airlines drop some California service; Air Canada suspends a Sacramento route; United Airlines cuts back its SFO-Barcelona schedule; Delta Air Lines and Starbucks revise the terms of their loyalty programs’ partnership; and San Jose Mineta International Airport introduces a premium parking option.
SFGATE’s story last week about ICE’s arrest of a local woman at San Francisco International Airport was just one example of ICE’s newest tactical expansion: arresting more air travelers. That was the subject of a New York Times investigation this week headlined “ICE Arrests Surge at Airports, Opening New Front in Deportation Drive.” The report noted that earlier ICE arrests at airports had focused on individuals who were the subjects of deportation orders, but the agency is now casting a much wider net: “The Trump administration has begun arresting foreign citizens with expired U.S. visas as they travel through airports, including spouses of Americans,” the newspaper said, describing this as “a tactic that opens up a vast new pool of people for deportation.”
The airport arrests are made possible by a data-sharing arrangement between ICE and the Transportation Security Administration that lets the immigration agency know when a targeted individual is at an airport and where they are traveling, making it easy for ICE agents to find and detain them — a program that now has a much larger target list, according to the Times. “Hundreds of thousands of immigrants and visitors overstay visas each year. Many with expired visas occupy a legal gray area, as they are awaiting visa extensions or green cards and have been issued work permits,” the newspaper said. “Such individuals were not prioritized for deportation in the past unless they had committed crimes, and they were rarely detained while waiting for visa extensions or green cards. But that has changed under President [Donald] Trump, whose administration has undertaken a campaign of mass deportation and views all visa overstays as illegal.” Last week’s ICE arrest at SFO involved a visa overstay. The newspaper’s investigation found that other recent ICE airport arrests nabbed “an engineer awaiting a work-visa extension, several newlyweds married to U.S. citizens, and a former au pair.”
Immigration attorneys, relatives and witnesses shared with the San Francisco Chronicle that at least 11 Bay Area residents were arrested at SFO in July. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)
The arrests don’t always go according to plan. CNN reported on a recent attempted arrest by ICE at Las Vegas’ Harry Reid Airport where the target was a Vietnamese-born Australian citizen who was in the U.S. on an expired visa. The ICE agents had him down on the floor and were in the process of restraining him when “a crowd of anti-ICE agitators surrounded officers,” according to a Department of Homeland Security statement, so the agents abruptly departed the scene, leaving their target on the floor handcuffed on one wrist. He got on his flight to Los Angeles but was arrested when he deplaned there. DHS told CNN the ICE agents broke off the Las Vegas arrest to “deescalate the situation and for officer safety.”
View From the Wing’s Gary Leff said the data-sharing cooperation between ICE and TSA has led to more than 800 arrests during Trump’s second term, but he challenged the agency’s expansion of its efforts to target visa overstays. “To be clear, an expired visa does not necessarily mean someone is unlawfully present,” he wrote this week. “A visa controls admission. Presence after visa expiration can still be legal because immigration status and an authorized period of stay are separate. A person with an adjustment of status application may not be ‘illegal’. But airports are ideal ambush points. The government receives advance notice of travel, knows precisely where the person will be, and they’ve already passed through security where they’ve been screened for weapons. The government now tracks travel as a means of seizing persons of interest and this can easily be expanded beyond immigration.”
JetBlue is the latest U.S. airline to split each of its fare categories into three subgroups, based on the specific amenities and perks the customer prefers. JetBlue’s subgroups are called base, standard and flex, and they will apply to fares for JetBlue’s main cabin; its EvenMore premium economy extra-legroom seats; its premium Mint cabin (with the exception of the base fare option), with lie-flat seats on select longer-distance routes like transcontinental and transatlantic flights; and its new BlueFirst domestic first class, which isn’t available yet but is slated to start rolling out “later this year across the airline’s non-Mint aircraft and routes,” JetBlue said. The airline said the new fare types will be available for booking “in the coming days.”
As Marty St. George, JetBlue president, put it, “In two simple clicks, customers will be able to book what’s right for them. First, the onboard experience, and then the fare option depending on their preferences around seat selection and refundability.” In all seating categories, the new base fares — the lowest available — will not include seat selection, and flight cancellations will be compensated only with travel credit minus any applicable fee. Standard fares, “JetBlue’s most popular fare option,” the airline said, include seat selection, no change fees, and travel credits for eligible cancellations. Flex fares also include seat selection and no change fees but allow a refund to the original form of payment for eligible cancellations.
The latest example of an ultralow-cost carrier stepping away from its original business model is Allegiant, which announced this week it will hand out free in-flight beverages and will add a first-class seating section to its aircraft. Effective Aug. 1, Allegiant said, all passengers will be offered complimentary soft drinks including sodas, juice and water, and holders of its Allways Rewards Visa card can also opt for one free drink with alcohol and a mixer with a value of up to $16. The company said its new premium seating product, called Allegiant First, will include eight seats configured 2×2. “The seats will have a five-inch recline, calf rests and adjustable headrest in addition to more legroom and a 37-inch pitch, enhanced amenities and upgraded service elements tailored to customers seeking a more premium travel option,” the company said in a news release Wednesday. Allegiant First customers will get priority check-in and boarding, and the fare will cover one carry-on bag, one personal item and one checked bag, the carrier said.
Allegiant said its new first-class product will be “phased in on select aircraft in 2027,” but didn’t specify which ones. Allegiant’s fleet includes Airbus A319s and 320s as well as Boeing 737s. The company recently acquired Minnesota-based Sun Country Airlines, another low-cost leisure-oriented carrier, and is in the process of integrating the two carriers. Sun Country’s 737s already offer premium seating with an extra 4 inches of legroom, greater recline and preferred boarding, and the airline also offers free nonalcoholic beverages. Allegiant’s route map currently shows no service from the three main Bay Area airports, but it does fly to Phoenix from Stockton and to Las Vegas from Monterey, Fresno and Stockton (in addition to Southern California routes).
In domestic route news, both Southwest and American are trimming some of their service from California. CBS News reports that during August and September American is dropping service from Sacramento to its Charlotte, North Carolina, hub, along with flights from Ontario, California, to Charlotte and from Los Angeles International to Washington Dulles, Cleveland, Columbus and Pittsburgh. Effective Aug. 2, according to Airline Geeks, Southwest will suspend its fights from Hollywood Burbank Airport to St. Louis, followed by the termination of Ontario-Baltimore/Washington service as of Aug. 3. But Southwest is also adding some California routes starting Aug. 4 — launching new flights six days a week from Long Beach to both Portland and Seattle. And on Aug. 8 (postponed from a planned Aug. 4 start), Southwest will introduce weekly Saturday flights from Hollywood Burbank to Honolulu, with frequencies increasing in November, according to Simple Flying. The route is also served by Alaska Airlines.
On the international side, Air Canada will suspend its Sacramento-Toronto route on Aug. 1, according to Ishrion Aviation, and AeroRoutes reports that Canada’s WestJet will drop its 10 weekly Los Angeles-Vancouver flights from Oct. 25 through April 24. (Delta is due to begin LAX-Vancouver service Nov. 21.) Japan Airlines announced it will boost frequencies on its San Diego-Tokyo Narita route on Aug. 1 from four flights a week to year-round daily service. AeroRoutes noted that United plans to cut back its San Francisco-Barcelona schedule from seven flights a week to four effective Sept. 8-Oct. 22 and to deploy an upgraded new 222-seat 787-9 for one of its two daily San Francisco-Seoul Incheon flights from Sept. 15 to Oct. 23. Meanwhile, International Airlines Group’s Spanish-based low-cost affiliate Level will suspend its three weekly Los Angeles-Barcelona flights for the winter season effective Oct. 25, according to AeroRoutes.
Effective Aug. 5, Delta SkyMiles and Starbucks are revising their partnership terms for customers who have linked their loyalty accounts. Under the current relationship, SkyMiles members earn miles based on how much they spend reloading their Starbucks Rewards card, usually in increments of $25. But starting Aug. 5, they’ll earn 1 mile per dollar spent at Starbucks (not counting tax, tips, gift cards or alcoholic drinks). And one more thing: “To be eligible, linked Members must have flown a qualifying Delta flight within the previous 12 months,” Delta said. “Even if it’s been a while since linked Members took a flight, linked Members will have a one-time grace period on eligibility to earn through Oct. 5, 2026.” A qualifying flight is one with a Delta flight number, whether or not it’s operated by Delta. Customers can link their SkyMiles and Starbucks accounts. The airline noted that members will continue to earn double Starbucks program stars for Starbucks purchases they make on days when they have a scheduled Delta flight.
San Jose Mineta International Airport has created a new category of Premium Reserved parking on the second floor at Hourly Lot 2 of the Terminal A garage at 2075 Airport Blvd. While the standard parking rate in the facility is $25 a day, the Premium Reserved section carries a premium price of $45 a day. That gets you a guaranteed covered stall in a location closest to Terminal A — a walk of less than a minute, the airport says. It also features 24-hour lighting and regular patrols “for added peace of mind.” Customers who book and pay for a new premium space online through Sept. 1 can get a $10 daily discount and double parking points when they use promo code LOT2VIP.
Aug 1, 2026
Freelance Writer
Jim Glab is a freelance writer.
