I’m catching up with last week’s notable airline news items and American’s new boarding process, tested earlier this year, is a hot topic.

Basically, American Airlines is now allowing those passengers without carry-ons requiring overhead bin space to board ahead of Group 2. The test of this new process, rolled out systemwide last Thursday, was a resounding success according to American’s press release:

The test received overwhelmingly positive feedback from American’s customers, and agents like the new process because it allows for smoother and quicker boarding for everyone.

But based on several Twitter conversations I had today, as well as an interesting Forbes article, compliance and enforcement issues could create more drama and negative impact than the reportedly two minutes the new process saves in boarding time.

Virgin America tried a similar boarding system, but abandoned it after such compliance and enforcement issues arose. From the Forbes article:

In fact, Virgin America has already tried and abandoned American’s new process. “It is more efficient and you do get a lot of people on the aircraft more quickly,” said Virgin America CEO David Cush, in an interview. “But it’s difficult to police. You get into a debate about how big is something that fits under your seat.”

Additionally, Cush said, early boarding passengers would sometimes glance up at all the empty bin space overhead and then place their carry-on in the bin. Virgin America dropped the process in 2011, after about half a year. “It may work for American,” Cush said. “I applaud them for trying different things. It didn’t seem to be an overwhelming hit for us.”

While I can see gate agents policing the new system at the boarding door, once the passenger is onboard nearly all bets are off as to where their underseat item actually gets stowed.

Flight attendants tend to do a wonderful job with announcements and shifting items to make more space, but they can’t be at every row, nor would they know that the person walking onboard fell into this group. It’s effectively an honor system and we all know how well some travelers abide by the “rules.”

It will be interesting to see if American’s new process goes the way of Virgin America.

Read more:

American Airlines Testing New Boarding Procedure

Is American’s Preferred Seat Allocation a Bit Excessive?

– Follow Darren Booth on Twitter, @FrequentlyFlyin, for more airline, hotel and travel industry news, reviews and opinions.

• The 23rd annual Airline Quality Rankings were released showing passenger complaints have jumped by 20 percent over last year and denied boardings are also on the rise. Also noteworthy are Virgin America taking the “winning” spot for quality and United Airlines coming in last.
• United Airlines will cut its daily nonstop flight from Washington Dulles to Honolulu beginning in August. Service will drop to five times per week at that time and down to once per week in September.
• Virgin Atlantic has teamed up with Chase and is now an Ultimate Rewards partner. Points will transfer 1:1 in minimum 1,000 point increments.
• A date and flight has been set for Sir Richard Branson to make good on a bet he lost, whereby he’ll dress as a female flight attendant on AirAsia X and serve passengers. Flight D7237 will depart Perth on May 12 bound for Kuala Lumpur.
• Holiday Inn Express is reviving its “Stay Smart” advertising campaign featuring the tagline, “…But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.” The chain hopes to attract more travelers and will also add healthier breakfast options and upgrade bathroom amenities.
• A hotel booking portal bestowing up to thousands of airline frequent flier miles per booking exited beta and is widely available. Rocketmiles provides generous airline mileage at rates equivalent to what you’d find booking a hotel direct or on traditional online travel agencies. They’re targeting business travelers and only about 15 domestic cities are included with a handful of 4-star and up locations in each.

If you’re a Virgin America flier and have the Barclays Visa card, check your snail mail for a targeted offer. I received the following yesterday:

Virgin America Visa Bonus Promotion

It’s not the most generous offer – especially since it’s being capped at only 2,500 bonus points – but every little bit helps.

Related posts:

Virgin America Extends Status Match Program, Adds Southwest

Flight Review: Virgin America First Class LAX to Seattle

Virgin America today extended its status match program for elite frequent fliers with American and United – and added Southwest Airlines. It’s a match/challenge combo, actually, where you’ll be matched outright until June 30, 2013 and offered the ability to extend your status through the end of 2013.

This extension is for new applicants as of April 2, and will not include anyone who participated in their original offering last November.

First, here’s the chart of how the American, United and Southwest elite tiers match to Elevate Silver or Gold:

Here are the benefits of Elevate Silver and Gold:

There are a couple of exceptions to the perks above in the T&Cs for those members matched. During the challenge period (now through June 30, 2013), you will not receive the 25% off discount codes, nor will you have reciprocal benefits (lounge access, primarily) on Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia that require a physical membership card. Cards will not be issued for matched members. Also, matched members will only receive one complimentary pass to the Virgin America lounge at LAX.

To have your matched status extended through the 2013 program year, you must:

It’s a nice break they’re giving for Virgin America Visa Signature cardholders, according to the chart above.

The current bonus mile offer for being approved for the credit card is 10,000 bonus points after the first purchase. You can also earn up to 5,000 additional bonus points if you transfer a balance within the first 30 days.

While they don’t have a complimentary first class upgrade program for elites, Virgin America does open up purchased upgrades earlier for Silver (12 hours) and Gold (24 hours) members. Upgrades to Main Cabin Select seats are, however, complimentary and follow the same timeframe/window. While waiting for that upgrade, elites can book Main Cabin Express seats (those near the front) at the time of booking.

Sorry Delta fliers… there’s still no match for you. American, United and Southwest elites, click here for the status match page with instructions on how to apply.

Related posts:

Virgin America Launches Status Match for American, United Elites

Flight Review: Virgin America First Class LAX to Seattle

Flight Review: Virgin Australia Business Class Sydney to Perth

Flight Review: Virgin Australia Business Class Perth to Sydney

There’s just no escaping April Fools’ Day, especially if you’re engaged in monitoring social media all day. And while I’m not an enormous fan of it, there are some good ones today in the airline and travel world. Here are my favorites:

1. Exclusive: Memo Details New United Airlines ‘Super Elite’ Level by Christopher Elliott: Did you hear? United plans a new Global Services Plus level beginning June 1. Members must be addressed as “your highness” or “your royal highness” at all times. United agents are encouraged to call non-Global Services Plus “gate lice” and “kettles” in the presence of this super elite group. And there’s a lot more!
2. Doug Parker Decides ‘Small is Beautiful’ – Doesn’t Want AA-US Merger After Livery Concerns by Brett Snyder: “Everyone knows the most important part of any merger is how you paint the airplanes. This one was just too difficult for us to figure out,” sighed Parker, according to Brett’s post. And another possible reason for the merger failing according to one source was, “I mean, would you want to live in Dallas?”
3. Yes! I Bought a Bank by TheMrPickles: The one and only himself bought a bank, which offers probably the best and most unique travel loyalty credit card out there. You’ll have absolutely no issues with Vanilla Reloads, points will transfer to other banks’ loyalty programs and SPG and Hyatt will treat you like royalty. And there’s so much more in this rather elaborate post.
4. WestJet Announces ‘Furry Family’ Pet Program: As they did last year, Canadian airline WestJet produced a fun video about a new service. This year, they announced the easing of restrictions surrounding “pets” traveling in-cabin. No longer will they have to be in an approved container, instead allowed to roam free in-flight. And by pets, I mean goats, bears, ducks and baby crocodiles. Well done, WestJet, well done!

There are many more out there, including spoofs from Delta, JetBlue, Virgin America and Virgin Atlantic, as well as a couple from fellow BoardingArea bloggers. Do you have a favorite?

Related posts:

Cruel, Yet Hilarious, Airport Prank

The Funniest Thing About United’s Outage Today

April Fools Air New Zealand Style

• All Nippon Airways (ANA) has been named Airline of the Year by Air Transport World. ANA won based on its exceptional financial performance, fiscal management, customer service and technology leadership. Silver Airways (based in Florida and one I’ve never heard of) won Regional Airline of the Year.
• Virgin America will launch new service to Austin and Anchorage. Year-round service from San Francisco to Austin begins May 21 and seasonal service to Anchorage will operate from June 6 to September 9.
• DoubleTree Hotels will make their debut in Australia later this year. Two existing properties in Darwin and one in Alice Springs will be reflagged as such and operate under the Hilton portfolio.
• U.S. hoteliers sold more than 1.1 billion rooms in 2012. San Francisco saw the greatest jump in room rates, increasing 11 percent over 2011. The nationwide average daily rate (ADR) increased 4.2 percent over 2011.
• A study by Pricewaterhouse Coopers showed that Britain’s Air Passenger Duty does more harm than good. It’s the highest tax of its type in the world, it deters travel and it would pay for itself if abolished. Hear, hear!
• The Department of Transportation issued its Air Travel Consumer Report today showing mishandled baggage rates in 2012 were at a 25 year low and airlines had the third highest on-time rate in 18 years (among other interesting nuggets).

Related posts:

Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: February 11, 2013

Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: February 5, 2013

Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: February 1, 2013

• The FAA issued an airworthiness directive requiring U.S. airlines to ground Boeing 787 Dreamliners until the aircraft is proven safe to fly. Meaning, United must ground its current fleet of six 787s until the battery issue (and possibly others) are resolved.
• Meanwhile, the FAA is seeking to ban pilots from using their portable electronic devices at any time during flight. This doesn’t include iPads and other devices necessary for their job function (United, among other airlines, issues iPads to their crews to replace traditional paper flight manuals).
• Virgin America announced new nonstop flights from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. I’ve seen some criticism online as to their need to enter such a heavily serviced market by other airlines, but I think it’s a very “Vegas-mentality” airline to serve the route. Now if they can only fill up the planes profitably.
• United Airlines is offering bonus miles on their new San Francisco to Taipei route (“hat tip” to the linked site). Redeemable bonus miles can be earned for even the cheapest fares when traveling 4/9/13-6/30/13.
• Don’t get too excited, but free breakfast (think “continental”) is now being offered at Extended Stay America locations. It’s reportedly “to-go” only, offering oatmeal, fruit, muffins and beverages.
• American Airlines is very close to revealing a new livery, according to reports. And I have to all but guess that means a decision on a merger with US Airways as well. I sorta think they’d be announced at the same time. American’s first Boeing 777-300, currently naked-ish, begins flying January 31 from Dallas to Sao Paulo.
• United launched a new airfare hike today, yet to be determined if it’ll stick. As of 4:00 p.m. EST, no airlines have matched the increase ranging from $4 to $20 round-trip on domestic airfares.

Related posts:

Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: January 15, 2013

Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: January 14, 2013

Reader Elizabeth emailed me the following question yesterday:

I am a 1k flier on United. I’m thinking of leaving them for Virgin Atlantic, as I moved from California to the UK in 2011 and have grown increasingly unhappy with their service. I fly back to the US from LHR 6-8 times a year. I have Elevate Gold status with Virgin America, good through April 2013.

My question is this: how will the benefits from my Virgin America status apply when I fly Virgin Atlantic? I plan to mostly fly VAtlantic, not VAmerica, so I’m sure sure that status with VAmerica really does anything for me, and I know they have separate FF programs. I’m not sure how the two relate/compare. If I’m better off sticking with United, I’ll just do so, but I want to explore all my options.

It sounds like Elizabeth, like many of us with top-tier status on United (or American), went for the status match Virgin America recently announced. It provides an outright match to Gold (or Silver for lower elites) through April 2013. The benefits when flying Virgin America’s partners aren’t spectacular.

When flying Virgin Atlantic, Elevate Gold status provides:

• Priority Check-In
• Priority Security
• Priority Boarding

On Virgin Australia, Gold elites get:

• Priority Check-In
• Priority Security
• Priority Boarding
• Priority Baggage Handling
• Complimentary access to eight Virgin Australia lounges in Australia

It’s too bad lounge access is excluded when flying Virgin Atlantic. And when you’re used to earning bonus miles as a 1K on United when flying partners on higher fare classes (though earning Premier Qualifying Miles recently changed), that’s not the case when flying Virgin America’s partners.

Also, the earn rates (in points) on both Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia are a percentage of miles flown (all less than 100%, even in Business and Upper Class) since Virgin America is a revenue-based frequent flyer program. I believe it would take much longer to earn an award trip flying Virgin Atlantic and crediting to Virgin America than sticking with United with its generous mileage-based program and bonuses as a 1K.

While I agree with Elizabeth that United is far inferior in service to either Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Australia, I emailed back that I’d stick with United for the better treatment as an elite and faster ability to redeem miles for worthwhile awards. Also, United doesn’t add surcharges to international award trips as Virgin America does. A roundtrip economy class reward ticket from Los Angeles to London on Virgin Atlantic using Virgin America points carries $650 in taxes and fees, according to their website.

Would you have recommended the same to Elizabeth?

Quite a few notable events in the airline industry the past couple of days include:

• American Airlines today took delivery of their first Boeing 777-300ER, N717AN. It’s actually airborne as I type on its way to Dallas where it’ll eventually sport American’s new livery. Passenger service is scheduled to begin January 31 from Dallas to Sao Paulo.

• Delta Air Lines has purchased a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic, launching a joint venture between the two airlines. This will give the two airlines about 25% of the U.S. to UK market, positioning them as #2 behind the American-British Airways stronghold share of 60%. Once the deal is approved (end of 2013), the ability to earn and burn miles between carriers will exist, as well as reciprocal lounge access for elites and full-fare premium cabin passengers. And I’m sure Delta will be championing them to participate fully in SkyTeam. Whether that actually happens given Virgin’s “one-off” alliance-building history remains to be seen.
• Virgin America will launch flights to Newark beginning April 2013. Three daily nonstops are planned from both Los Angeles and San Francisco. Hopefully we’ll see some good fare wars between VX and United in those markets.
• Lufthansa on Monday swapped out a 747-400 for the 747-8i on the Los Angeles to Frankfurt route. Flight 456 departs Frankfurt daily at 10:00 a.m. arriving at LAX at 12:40 p.m. The return flight, LH 457, departs LAX at 2:50 p.m. with an arrival back in Frankfurt at 10:45 a.m. the following morning. From my experience, this route is pretty difficult to snag a First Class award seat… but I’ll be trying!
• Service on Cathay Pacific might get a bit more… er… U.S. airline-esque as flight attendants are at odds with the carrier over a pay raise. Instead of striking, they’re reportedly considering customer-focused actions. “We will be selective in providing our services,” union general secretary Tsang Kwok-fung told the AFP.  ”This could include not smiling at passengers, not providing certain types of beverages — such as alcohol — or stop serving meals,” he said.

Virgin America today launched a status match program for elite frequent fliers with American and United. It’s a match/challenge combo, actually, where you’ll be matched outright until April 30, 2013 and offered the ability to extend your status through the end of 2013. First, here’s the chart of how the American and United elite tiers match to Elevate Silver or Gold:

They’ve lined the levels up fairly, in my opinion, where a 50,000-mile flier on either American or United gets Elevate Silver status. For Gold, you either need Executive Platinum status on American, or Premier Platinum (75k) or 1K status on United.

Here are the benefits of Elevate Silver and Gold:

There are a couple of exceptions to the perks above in the T&Cs for those members matched. During the challenge period (now through April 30, 2013), you will not receive the 25% off discount codes, nor will you have reciprocal benefits (lounge access, primarily) on Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia that require a physical membership card. Cards will not be issued for matched members. Also, matched members will only receive one complimentary pass to the Virgin America lounge at LAX.

To have your matched status extended through the 2013 program year, you must:

It’s a nice break they’re giving for Virgin America Visa Signature cardholders. The language isn’t overtly clear whether existing cardholders get the break, so I’ve reached out to their media relations folks for clarification and will update this post when I have an answer.

The current bonus mile offer for applying and getting approved for the credit card is 20,000 bonus points after the first purchase (for a limited time only). You can earn up to 5,000 additional bonus points if you transfer a balance within the first 30 days (also for a limited time only). See the full terms and conditions for complete details.

While they don’t have a complimentary first class upgrade program for elites, Virgin America does open up purchased upgrades earlier for Silver (12 hours) and Gold (24 hours) members. Upgrades to Main Cabin Select seats are, however, complimentary and follow the same timeframe/window. While waiting for that upgrade, elites can book Main Cabin Express seats (those near the front) at the time of booking.

Sorry Delta fliers… no match for you. American and United elites, click here for the status match page.

Related posts:

Flight Review: Virgin America First Class LAX to Seattle

Flight Review: Virgin Australia Business Class Perth to Sydney

Flight Review: Virgin Australia Business Class Sydney to Perth