Well this sneaked up, but apparently, Spanair has suspended all flights after failed talks with Qatar Airways.

Qatar Airways was in talks to buy a stake in Spanair, but it seems those talks have collapsed according the the Catalan regional government (who owns 80.1% of the company) and SAS who own 19.9%.

A rescue effort was launched on the 25 January 2011, after the company was deemed to be in an “Emergency Financial Situation”. The Catalonian government approved a €10.5 million loan plan in order to save it.

The Ministry of Development also published a statement requiring Spanair to “fulfill its obligations with passengers” adding it was coordinating “alternative transport.”

The Catalan government said the “current economic climate” and “European legislation concerning competition” made it impossible for it to continue financing the small carrier whose hub is Barcelona airport.

The Spanair website has gone black – not a good sign at all.

The collapse of Spanair leaves 3,161 employees hunting for new posts sadly. Spanair itself was a member of Star Alliance.

If you’re due to travel with Spanair, I’d be finding new routes now and be rebooking as needed.

*BREAKING* – Spanair notice of intent is now out. English translation at http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=es&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spanair.com%2Fes_pos%2Fes_ES%2Fportal%2FError%2FPage404

Spanair, in coordination with the Government, has reached an agreement, with Vueling, Iberia and Air Europa for those passengers who purchase a ticket and fly over the next three days have a special rate.

The price of tickets, depending on the destination will be:

• Domestic flights and Balearic Islands: 60 euros.
• Flights to the Canary Islands: 90 euros
• International flights: $ 100

 

It’s time to wander back to the wacky world of the British Railway network, with Passenger Focus releasing it’s latest customer satisfaction survey.

And if you’re a Rail company, you won’t care really with the results as you’ve got an iron cast grip on some travel requirements.

Based on a survey of 30,590 Rail Passengers between 1 September and 18 November 2011, only 46% were satisfied their ticket was value for money. This is a drop of 3% from 49% a year ago.

Reasons for the drop seem to be simple from Passenger Focus’s point of view “the impact that tough economic times, coupled with fare rises, are having”

I’m going to use large type font for this, because this needs sarcasm of a high nature here.

REALLY?

It’s taken Passenger Focus this long to work out that people are annoyed with fare rises and in some cases worsening services?

Where’s a rolleyes icon when you need it…

The railways operator mouthpiece – The Association of Train Operators (ATOC) bleats:

 ”We recognise that value for money scores remain lower than others and the whole industry needs to focus on tackling costs as well as improving services.

“Successive governments have pursued above-inflation fare rises to reduce taxpayer subsidy while ensuring ongoing investment in the railways.

“The industry has already set out plans to cut the annual cost of the railway by £1.3bn a year by 2019 as a way to help limit future fare rises.”

If they were to re-do this survey today, I would strongly  suspect another drop thanks to the price rises that hit the network this year.

Meanwhile, whilst overall satisfaction remains constant at 84% network wide, with wide variations through the network such as National Express East Anglia coming in as low as 77%, and Grand Central scoring as high as 95% satisfaction.

On-Time rates have dipped by a single point from 82% to 81%, with South West Trains and Chiltern Railways coming in for criticism for punctuality issues (which your intrepid reporter has been on the back end of – A Chiltern Service from Birmingham to London which as 28 minutes late is not what I’d call an “on-time” service)

Passenger Focus throws out a warning to those train companies who think however they can just ignore this:

“Train companies and Network Rail must keep up a relentless attention on getting trains on time, not only at the end of their routes, but at stations along the way as well.

“Passengers are still paying above-inflation fares rises and have every right to expect the industry to keep its basic promise to get them there on time.”

The full survey is at http://www.passengerfocus.org.uk/news-and-publications/document-search/document.asp?dsid=5356 with a precise at http://www.passengerfocus.org.uk/news-and-publications/press-release.asp?dsid=5357.

It’s in-depth reading, but if you’re on a regional trainline where the service is delayed again, or an Intercity service where you’ve paid £140 return to go to London for the day… the results might ring very true… and a warning to visitors to the UK who want to travel at peak time or try and go somewhere unplanned..

So all the buzz has been about American Airlines launching a new Business class product with a 1-2-1 business product which admittedly, does look lovely.

However, like everything there is a sting in the tail – enough for me to avoid these birds if I ever fly American Airlines.

And it’s down the back.

Ignoring the obvious of a very nice IFE screen, power at seat, lets look at the downsides.

Firstly, we’re in Slimline Seating Hell. And I’m not a fan of slimline seats to say the least because if you’ve been walking all day, there isn’t much pad to support the back… or backside for that matter.

The second (and more worrying part) is the seating configuration, with this is the middle row. Count the seats.

That’s right: 4 seats, Bringing the seating configuration in Economy to 3-4-3.

Now I have big thing against 3-4-3 in a 777 configuration as it makes the plane as tight as hell. Isles have to shrink and lets face it – seats have to as well.  Combined with a usual 31″ seat pitch all I can say is this.

Ouchie.

I know it’s Bankruptcy season at AA, but 3-4-3 is just cramming people in for the sake of a few extra bucks.

Other users of 3-4-3 in a Boeing 777-300ER  inculde Air New Zealand, Emirates and Air France, and whilst they may be commercially viable, lets put it like this: I’d choose another option where possible. 

For those of us in the UK who collect Tesco Clubcard points, there’s two big things going on.

Firstly the current collection period is coming to an end shortly (28th January) – so boost your balances as needed today to get the points in.

The second more important thing is the Tesco Clubcard to Avois promotion is on. And the info-graphic that is on Avois.com explains it all…

Now Avios are calling this a “February Promotion”. Except it runs a tiny bit longer than that. According to the T&C’s…

• The February bonus offer is open to all Tesco Clubcard holders and is valid when you exchange Clubcard vouchers for Avios between 26/01/12 and 31/03/12.
• Bonus Avios will be awarded in a separate transaction within 28 days of Avios being awarded. Standard Avios take up to 28 days to be awarded.
• 400 bonus Avios will be awarded for every whole 250 Clubcard points or £2.50 in Clubcard vouchers exchanged.

So you’ve got a big chance to earn a big lump of Avios without much work

I’ve done my first conversion … and will let you know how I get on when points hit the account.

Or not.

The Cranky Flyer’s favourite target – Alitalia -  has made a tentative agreement to merge with two other Italian operators Blue Panorama and Wind Jet.

Now those of you scratching your head will probably have never heard of these airlines. There’s probably good reasons for that as Blue Panorama is a charter outfit operating a small fleet of Boeing 767′s, Boeing 757′s and various Boeing 737-classics.  WindJet on the other hand operates LCC style services with Airbus A319′s and A320′s.

Alitalia seems happy to merge with these companies stating it is “consistent with the process of continuing consolidation” which appears to be rife at the moment.

In addition this will give Alitalia access to Blue Panorama’s planned purchase of 8 Sukhoi Superjet 100 (with 4 options). This could be interesting as Alitalia have long been mooted as a Superjet customer (however recently, they recently signed for a number of Embraer E-175LR’s). If they choose to keep the Superjet’s, this will be an intresting move – one that will be watched by other European airlines as an option between Embraer and Bombardier for regional flights.

Well it seems someone has a few pennies to spend, with Norwegian Air Shuttle opening its wallets to both Boeing and Airbus.

From Boeing,  Norwegian has placed a firm order for Boeing 737-MAX’s (737-8MAX variant) and 22 Boeing 737-800′s. Meanwhile not to leave Airbus out in the cold, it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with them for 100 A320NEO’s.

In addition, Norwegian are also seeking additional options on these for 100 additional 737-MAX’s and 50 A320NEO’s.

For Airbus and Boeing – the battle lines are now formally drawn with Airbus and it’s A320NEO (New Engine Option) and Boeing with it’s 737-MAX. Both of which are updates to the familiar A320/B737 frames with new engines and a lower fuel burn.

Norwegian trumpets this as the largest ever European Aviation order, and will be seeing the results of the purchases from 2016 onwards. This is also excellent news for the company as they have secured their fleet renewal for some years to come.

This of course costs a pretty penny – a total cost of 127bn Norwegian krone ($21.5; £13.9bn) in fact.

That’s a lot of fares and flying to collect…

It seems the question of “How much can a mile is worth” is to be answered by Etihad, who have announced planes to allow a Miles to Cash method.

The PointsPay system will allow miles to be converted into readies will be via an iPhone app and eventually through the app’s web site.

The miles will be converted onto a Points Visa PrePaid Card, which will should be usable in-store or online.

Roll-out is beginning in Q1 this year and should be available to entire Etihad Guest Membership by the end of April.

Conversion rates have not been announced yet, but this is a very interesting option. I think it will be safe to say the conversion rate will probably be very poor compared to redeeming for flights. But for those interested in money and not flying an airline again, this could be a useful feature.

There’s more info on the Etiahd Guest Web Site

From the New Zealand Herald, good news if you’re a lover of Air New Zealand on the long haul routes from London to Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Auckland – they’re safe for now, but expect seasonal cuts.

Air New Zealand seem to be struggling to make London pay, but it seems everyone is still struggling – reason enough for Air New Zealand to bang about Kiwi service, and try and get backsides on seats.  The likely outcome for Air New Zealand will be seasonally adjusted services – with less services at weaker times of the year, and maintaining services when demand exists.

Air New Zealand operates to London on a 1-stop strategy, calling at either Los Angeles International or Hong Kong International on the way – operating daily via LAX, and 5 times a week via HKG.

As everyone knows, it’s tough out there, and profits are thin on the ground thanks to rising oil prices and rising taxes.  For Air New Zealand, this is pressing as Long Haul routes were loosing the airline more than NZ$1 million a week.

For those who love the Kiwi product, the only way to keep it in London is simple: Keep flying it. Whilst I haven’t been aboard an Air New Zealand flight (little things like money and a lack of time don’t help), the product looks good all around (except for the space cramming 3-4-3 seating down the back of the plane).

One day I will get someone to look in my mind and scream at me “WHY???” very loudly when I plan my trips.

Once again, I need to head to the Windy City. And of course, LHR-ORD is just boring . So I attempt as usual to spice it up a tiny bit.

Part of my problem is BMI and where to dump my miles next. And it’s a bigger problem as my next trip is when IAG has planned to swallow up British Midland Airways. The other problem is that I’m having to stick to Star Alliance also due to the fact I have a *small* amount of luggage to tote with me (as I have no OneWorld status yet).

The was the option of flying Delta/Air France/KLM, but that’s just not me .

So here’s the map for those who need comedy.

Map by www.gcmap.com

But the big question remains – where to dump the miles? Yes they’re Low Economy Fare tickets (K).

• Aegean will offer 50% on the UA legs but nothing on the AC leg
• Miles and More will give 50% on the UA ‘s 100% on the AC leg (with a 25% Exec Bonus)
• I haven’t even LOOKED at Asiana or Aeroplan yet…
• And Mileage Plus? 50k is a very hard slog for a year…

Umm. Your thoughts please.

And no, dumping them in Diamond Club isn’t an option this time as the trip is towards the end of March…..

It seems that people can’t live without WiFi or the Interwebs for a few hours in the air. Turkish Airlines will be filling this need with planes to equip it’s 12 Boeing 777-300ER’s and 10 Airbus A330-300′s with WiFi hotspots.

The first one is already rolled out, with plans for a quick deployment through the rest of Turkish Airlines long haul fleet.

You’ll be able to use your device of choice (Smartphone, tablet, laptop, other WiFi device) and for those who are desperate to keep up to date on their corporate going-ons VPN access will be available on their network

In the initial phase the service will be offered free of charge. Of course, nothing is free as we all know, and after what Turkish Airlines call “an introductory period”, WiFi will be available for purchase. Prices of course have not been disclosed, however if it’s anything like Oman Air – or for that matter any airline who rolls out Satellite based Internet, expect it to be expensive….