Why are American Airlines wait times so long?
According to a July Cato Institute study, visa wait times for inbound travelers have increased from 17 days on average prior to March 2020 to 247 days on average. The State Department has attributed the delays to Covid-19-related issues such as staffing and travel restrictions. According to Isom, prior to Covid, 43% of international visitors to the United States came from countries where visas were required, such as Brazil, India, and Mexico. "It's not like we're just limiting ourselves to airfares and ticket prices and airline revenue; those people spent $120 billion when they came into the United States in 2019," he said of visa visitors in 2019. According to the investment site Seeking Alpha, Isom expressed his displeasure with the visa situation as American reported $13.5 billion in revenue for the third quarter, a record for the airline in any individual quarter and in line with analyst expectations. American's third-quarter revenue increased 13% year on yea...