Archive for August, 2008
Friday, August 29th, 2008
For all 20 people out there who plan on dropping a couple thousand dollars in September to fly Virgin America from NYC to Vegas, you'll be getting some small extra perks (mostly junk) on a co-branded "Entourage Air" jet . The perks range from Godiva truffles to Altoids. You'll also ...
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Thursday, August 28th, 2008
Earlier today Zoom Airlines announced it will be closing down. Zoom offered cheap seats across the Atlantic between Canada and the US to the UK and France. Not much love will be lost here but Zoom's fate is something to remember the next time you see some crazy person ...
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Thursday, August 28th, 2008
Advertising Age rips into United for its latest round of ads (which I wrote about here). They like the ads, but:
Now obviously this ad promotes premium service, where passengers are substantially insulated from the indignities endured by the hoi polloi. But so what? The Olympics cast a wide net. The ...
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Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
Northwest Airlines begins charging $25 for the first bag tomorrow, August 28.
As the Detroit Free Press puts it , "Want to avoid fees on the first checked bag? Choose Delta, Southwest, AirTran, Frontier or Continental, which have not gone along with the trend."
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Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
A quick note on the "Black Diamond" security line program that encourages passengers to self-select which security line -- Expert, Casual, or Special Need/Family -- fits their travel profile. Chicago Midway's airport had it setup and it worked exactly as designed. There was one "Expert" line on the far right ...
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Monday, August 25th, 2008
The New York Times ran a timely story over the weekend noting an increase in the number of passengers involuntarily denied boarding due to overbooking. The occurence has reason to about 1.2 per 10,000 from levels as low about .8 per 10,000 in 2001. The story was timely because my ...
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Thursday, August 21st, 2008
Yesterday I discussed how it would be in United's best interest to upgrade its PS service rather than chisel away at the amenities. American's wi-fi service that debuted yesterday further highlights this point. For $12.95 American is offering wi-fi on its non-stop 767 flights from NYC to Los Angeles, ...
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Wednesday, August 20th, 2008
A couple weeks ago Time magazine named United the 9th stingiest airline. I thought it was a little harsh, but Upgrade: Travel Better has an internal United memo posted that is a bit, um, sad. The commentary over there is certainly worth a read but here are a few of ...
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Monday, August 18th, 2008
Way back in February BA announced it would begin flying London City Airport to New York City with 2 A318s. Speculation arose about how they would stretch the aircraft on the westbound leg and soon it came out that there would be a refueling stop in Ireland. Would Guests accept ...
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Friday, August 15th, 2008
Yesterday, the folks over at Motley Fool today opined on a topic I've been thinking about a great deal over the past week: "Why are the Airline Stocks Flying High?"
If you take a look at this chart (click the chart to enlarge) over the past month you will ...
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