Joe Sharkey At Large

Here’s one manifestation of the Open Skies treaty that greatly deregulated flying by internaitonal carriers between the U.S. and Europe. A pop Air France fare sale (and note that the fuel surcharge, which can be as much as $300, is included in the listed price):

“NEW YORK – June 12, 2008 – Air France announces fantastic summer fares, offering passengers amazing deals from its U.S. gateways to numerous destinations in Europe during the peak travel season. A perfect opportunity to treat yourself to a European getaway.

Fares are valid in economy class and must be purchased by June 18, 2008 for travel from June 18, 2008 to August 31, 2008. Fares are available for purchase by visiting our website, www.airfrance.com/us, calling Air France Reservations at 1-800-237-2747 or by contacting your travel professional.

Sample one-way fares based on round-trip purchase:

Terms and Conditions

*Fares are valid for departures from 06/16/08 through 08/31/08. Tickets must be purchased by 06/18/08, 11:59PM EDT. Tickets must be purchased 7 days in advance. Valid for Mon -Thurs. departures. Fri - Sun travel is an additional $20 each way. A minimum Sunday night stay is required and a maximum one-month stay is permitted. Travel must be on Air France-coded flights departing from the U.S. Fuel surcharge is included in fares. Government-imposed fees and taxes of approximately $140 are additional, including the September 11th Security Fee of up to $10 per round-trip. Fares are non-refundable and changes are $200. Additional conditions may apply. Fares are subject to class of service availability and may be changed or withdrawn without notice. © Air France 2008.

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Sheesh, the bad news never ends. Consider the latest round of fare hikes. Then have a look at the details on Continental’s plan to sharply reduce service this fall.

First, this just in from Graeme Wallace at Farecompare.com

Fare Increase #19 can be declared successful as at 12:30p EDT, both US Airways and Northwest joined in the American initiated

$20 fuel surcharge increase.

Summary of this years activity. 13 Successful increases out of 19 attempts.

1. January 3rd, initiated by United, $10 roundtrip, base airfare hike, successful

2. January 11th, initiated by United, $30 roundtrip, fuel surcharge hike, unsuccessful

3. January 17th, initiated by American, $20 roundtrip, fuel surcharge hike, unsuccessful

4. January 24th, initiated by Continental, $20 roundtrip, fuel surcharge hike, successful

5. February 22nd, initiated by United, $10 roundtrip, base airfare hike, successful

6. February 28th, initiated by Delta, $10 roundtrip, base airfare hike, successful

7. March 7th, initiated by United, $10 roundtrip, fuel surcharge hike, successful

8. March 14th, initiated by United, $4-$50 roundtrip, base airfare hike, successful

9. March 19th, initiated by Delta, $10 roundtrip, fuel surcharge hike, unsuccessful

10. March 27th, initiated by Delta, $10 roundtrip, fuel surcharge hike, unsuccessful

11. April 9th, initiated by United, $4-$30 roundtrip, base airfare hike, successful

12. April 15th, initiated by United, $10-$20 roundtrip, fuel surcharge hike, successful

13. April 24th, initiated by United, $4-$70 roundtrip, base airfare hike, successful

14. April 28th, initiated by Delta, $10 and $40 roundtrip, fuel surcharge hike, successful

15. May 7th, initiated by Delta, $20 roundtrip, fuel surcharge hike, successful

16. May 22nd, initiated by United, $10 - $60 roundtrip, base airfare hike, successful

17. June 7th, initiated by American, $20 roundtrip, base airfare hike, unsuccessful

18. June 9th, initiated by United, $20 roundtrip, base airfare hike, unsuccessful

19. June 11th, initiated by American, $20 roundtrip, fuel surcharge hike, successful

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And next, the details on Continental’s plans to shrink its routes and services. Here.

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All truly bad ideas, it seems to me, eventually prevail. So it is that United Airlines has decided to follow American Airlines and charge for the first checked bag.

Here’s United’s announcement:

“CHICAGO, June 12 — United Airlines today announced two changes to its domestic checked bag policy. The service fee to check one bag for domestic travel will be $15 each way and the fee to check three or more bags, overweight bags or items that require special handling will increase from $100 to $125 or from $200 to $250, depending on the item.

These changes apply to customers who purchase a ticket on or after June 13, 2008, for travel within the U.S. and to/from Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands on or after August 18, 2008. The $15 service fee does not apply to customers who are flying in United First or United Business or who have premier status with United or Star Alliance. Details on United’s checked bag policy are available at united.com/baggage.

“`With record-breaking fuel prices, we must pursue new revenue opportunities, while continuing to offer competitive fares, by tailoring our products and services around what our customers value most and are willing to pay for,’ says John Tague, executive vice president and chief operating officer.

United estimates that the new $15 service fee will apply to one out of three customers, and the potential revenue from baggage handling service fees, including those for checking a first and second bag, will be approximately $275 million a year.

The fee to check a second bag is $25 each way and applies to customers who purchase Economy tickets for travel exclusively within the 50 United States, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada, and who do not have premier status in Mileage Plus or Star Alliance.

For itineraries that include international flights (except Canada), checking a first and second bag will continue to be free, and the cost to check more than two bags or items that are overweight or require special handling varies by destination.

Customers may pay these service fees at an airport Easy Check-In(SM) kiosk with a credit card or at the check-in counter with a credit card, check or cash. To ensure smooth operations at the airport, later this year, United will have developed the ability for customers to pay for baggage fees via united.com when they check-in online.”

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Dunno what exactly to make of this announcement today that Silverjet, the all-business-class airline that ceased operations two weeks ago, is planning a re-launch. In this market?

Anyway, here’s what they say in a statement from Silverjet founder Lawrence Hunt:

“Nigel Atkinson and Mark Fry of Begbies Traynor, joint administrators for Silverjet plc and its subsidiaries, confirm that the principal terms have been agreed with Kingplace Ltd. to acquire and relaunch Silverjet, subject to contractual completion which is expected by 13 June 2008.

Mark Fry, senior partner from Begbies Traynor and joint administrator for Silverjet commented:

“We are pleased to have agreed principal terms with Kingplace to relaunch the airline. This agreement is excellent news for the Company’s suppliers, staff and loyal customers.”

Ian Ilsley, Chairman of Heritage and a Director of Kingplace comments:

“Kingplace can confirm that it has agreed terms with Begbies Traynor to acquire Silverjet. If these negotiations are successful, we expect to take on all of the existing staff, to honour Silverjet’s existing customers’ tickets and see Silverjet return to the skies in a matter of weeks.”

Lawrence Hunt, Chief Executive of Silverjet comments:

“I am personally delighted that we now have the necessary backing from a long term investor to relaunch Silverjet. We have received fantastic support from our staff, customers and partners in helping us put this deal together. We will be working around the clock to launch our New York and Dubai services as quickly as possible and we will make an announcement about the date for re-launching our services in due course.”

The agreements are subject to regulatory approval.”

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“One ringy-dingy. Two ringy-dingys. A gracious good morning to you. Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?”

Way, way too many travel reporters are hamstrung by their inability to do original reporting or analysis, and mired in the level of humor characterized by the inane chitchat of local TV anchorpeople. Or, you can almost hear Lily Tomlin as Ernestine the telephone operator snorting at her jokes.

Thus we had all that giddy attention several weeks ago on the fact that Frontier Airlines had raised the charge for carrying antlers on board — while the same reports generally overlooked the fact that Frontier had used the predictable yuks to quietly slip in the real news that it was it was adding a fee for a checked bag.

And thus the attention, day after day it seems, to the comic proposition that airline passengers might be charged by their weight, like cargo. Hardy har har.

Last week, the Philadelphia Inquirer, which used to be a grown-up newspaper till a couple of real-estate hustlers bought it, ran phony ads from a made-up airline called Derrie-Air in which tickets were purportedly priced per passenger pound.

Forget the fact that a once-respected newspaper now thinks nothing of jerking its readers around with fake ads. The Inquirer — where I once worked — is Philadelphia’s problem, and it’s hardly the biggest problem faced by a town with a murder rate that causes people to call it Killadelphia.

Instead, consider that the strained joke is still being reported in major media, as if this is the biggest knee-slapper since Spiro Angew got exposed as a bagman.

Let’s get serious, media. The airlines have a very limited number of realistic options left. None involve inanities like weighing people in. All of them involve severe reductions in flying — parking planes, cutting routes, reducing schedules, raising fares to the point where large numbers of people won’t fly.

By fall, the national air transportation system will probably be 20 percent smaller than it was last year.

And that’s going to be nothing to snort about.

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I had one look at the No. 6 horse passing the grandstand before the start of the Belmont Stakes today and it was obvious that little sucker was planning to run like hell, any way it was pointed.

Terror in a three-year-old colt accounts for much of that — but several horse people I know also spotted Da’Tara as the horse to watch during the post parade before they headed to the gate.

At 38 to one, it was also the horse to bet on.

And the favorite, Big Brown, looking like he was hung over, was obviously not the horse to bet on, odds be damned. The horse had a cracked hoof to start with, and I’d say there was something else wrong with him too. It was wrong to race him, but then right and wrong don’t count in the ugly thoroughbred racing world.

Naturally, lyin’ eyes, seeing the obvious, had no effect on the sports-prattlers on ABC, desperate to fan the execrable Triple Crown hype. Big Brown was the hero!

“It seems like the stars are lining up,” one of them gushed even as lyin’ eyes showed Big Brown obviously disinterested in loading into the gate. You could practically see the poor horse saying, “Been there, done that.”

“That’s one beautiful, unbeaten athlete,” burbled the sportscaster hypemeister.

So then Big Brown lumbered from the gate and folded like a cardboard suitcase, finishing dead last in a field of nine (Casino Drive was a scratch.)

The No. 6 horse, Da’Tara, ran like his butt was on fire, steadily widening his distance all the way to the finish line.

Dang! All of those grandiose TV fanfares, wasted! Well, maybe they can recycle them for the next hype-fest, the Olympics.

Well, at least nobody got hurt.

Now, some of the early online press stories are sobbing that Da’Tara denied Big Brown his Triple Crown. Uh, Da’Tara and seven other horses did. But anything to keep the phony narrative drama alive.

Incidentally, where did they find that scary 9-year-old kid in the tuxedo at the track singing “New York, New York” like some Vegas lounge lizard? How do you get a 9-year-old boy to do that?

Just askin’

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[Top: The mighty Surefire Guardian M6 line. Bottom: Some nasty, stinky javelinas]

  I’m off to Tucson today, and this terrific, funny story in the Times yesterday, brilliantly headlined “Peter Rabbit Must Die,” reminded me of the critter problem we all face at home and when we travel.

It’s outta control. At our house in New Jersey, a groundhog family has been in residence for some years under the deck, from whence they assault not only our herb garden but the neighbors’ as well.

Meanwhile, a neighborhood cat who roams free waited on a neighbor’s doorstep to murder two wild ducks who waddled up from the creek down the hill. Not to mention the raccoons, who merely laugh at any trash can labeled “raccoon proof.”

If there weren’t laws about these things, plus dangers to passersby, I’d get a shotgun and wait Elmer Fudd-like behind a bush at dawn.

Now I head to Tucson. I’m worried that in my absence (my wife is staying behind this time, and she has no practice in raccoon policing) the critters will think it is safe to run wild, so to speak.

Meanwhile, in the Arizona desert, critters of another kind roam the earth.

A herd of wandering javelinas can often be encountered. Javelinas are nasty, stinky critters with sharp tusks. They look a bit like wild boars, but apparently are not related (in that you would need to be desperately hungry to eat a javelina, though a cowboy told me he’s heard tell).

Their favorite food is prickly-pear cactus, which tells you something about how tough and mean they are, because a prickly-pear is something you don’t even want to touch, let alone chew on. (Yes, I know some people make prickly-pear jelly. It’s inedible, even in jelly form without the needles, in my opinion).

Most mornings, I see a pack of maybe eight javelinas, including babies (or whatever you call a young javelina) wandering around. Neighbors of ours, both physicians, live in a house that once was occupied by Paul McCartney and his wife, Linda, while the McCartneys were building the ranch in the foothills where Linda eventually died. They report routinely seeing a herd of javelinas that number over 20.

You don’t want to mess with a javelina, incidentally. When they feel threatened, they will charge and “tear your leg up,” said another neighbor, who wrangles horses.

One morning last winter, I went out to the garage and had trouble opening a closet door. Investigation showed why: A pair or adult javelinas was huddled in the corner, blocking the door, and they were indignant about being disturbed. I retreated, hitting the automatic garage door-opener on the way, and the critters trotted out into the sunlight without further incident.

The next morning, I got into the car, noticing that I’d left the passenger-side door a bit ajar overnight. I was reaching across to close it when a small rattlesnake who’d curled up on the passenger seat objected.

Another hasty retreat.

A gun is one precaution, but it’s hard to hit a snake, and shooting at them just pisses off javelinas.

Another option, I learned, is a very bright flashlight. Thus it is that I own a Guardian Surefire M6 anodized tactical flashlight, capable, I believe, of illuminating the summit of Mt. Lemmon, 20 miles away. I’m talking S.W.A.T.-team, Navy-Seals-combat bright, by the way.

“It’ll freeze a lion in his tracks at 50 yards,” said a man in the gun shop where these flashlights are available at a shocking price.

Which is good, because the latest news is that a couple of mountain lions have wandered down from the hills and have been spotted sunning themselves on Tucson patios. Out our way, the Neighborhood Watch is on the case, however, advising everyone to bring walking sticks on the Monday morning hike.

It’s always something.

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Just asking: When are the words “national air-transportation crisis” going to sink in in Congress and in the media?

A national air-transportation crisis is what we’re facing, after all.

The latest indication comes this morning from Continental Airlines, a day after United Airlines announced major domestic capacity and fleet reductions.

In a desperate sounding letter this morning to its 45,000 employees, Continental says the current airline business model “doesn’t work” and that successive fare increases this year have not been sufficient to address the crisis.

So, Continental says, it is:

—Reducing flights, with fourth-quarter domestic mainline departures expected to be down 16 percent from last year’s fourth-quarter. That will translate into a mainline seating capacity reduction of 11 percent.

—Cutting its fleet. By the end of next year, the airline will have removed an additional 67 Boeing 737s from the fleet — 27 of them in September alone.

—Eliminating about 3,000 jobs.

Despite what you may have been reading, the airline story is not about stock prices and mergers and those pant-loads occupying the executive offices of major airlines.

Incidentally, while some major airlines are run by incompetents, I do admire Continental’s Larry Kellner and Jeff Smisek, who have run the best major airline, and who have honorably chosen not to accept salaries for the rest of this year. And I also admire the people running Southwest, who were smart enough to sacrifice cheap short-term stock market gains and instead look down the road beyond the next quarterly report and invest in long-term hedges on oil.

The airline story is about transportation, the national economy and the American travel culture.

It’s about the increasing difficulties you and I are going to have getting from here to there in the United States.

***

Here is an excerpt from the Continental letter:

“Dear Co-worker:

We’ve always said that you deserve open, honest and direct communication. This letter and the attached employee bulletin and Q&A are part of that commitment.

The airline industry is in a crisis. Its business model doesn’t work with the current price of fuel and the existing level of capacity in the marketplace. We need to make changes in response.

While there have been several successful fare increases, those increases haven’t been sufficient to cover the rising cost of fuel. As fares increase, fewer customers will fly. As fewer customers fly, we will need to reduce our capacity to match the reduced demand. As we reduce our capacity, we will need fewer employees to operate the airline. Although these changes will be painful, we must adapt to the reality of today’s market to successfully navigate these difficult times.

The attached employee bulletin and Q&A outline some of the steps we are taking to address this industry crisis. The situation for all airlines is serious, and the actions we are announcing today are necessary to secure our future. We regret the loss of jobs caused by this crisis, and we will do our best to minimize furloughs and involuntary terminations.

These actions will help Continental survive this crisis. You have our ongoing commitment to keep you informed as the industry evolves and adapts to these unprecedented challenges. It is important that we all keep our focus on working together during these difficult times.”

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The march to a smaller, less reliable national air-transportation system picked up its pace today as United Airlines announced a sweeping series of reductions in its fleet, capacity and service routes. United also said it was killing its boutique product, Ted, an airline-within-an-airline that never quite took off.

United emerged from bankruptcy in early 2006 calling itself a “smaller, more efficient” airline, and offering a five-year business plan that projected the price of oil at an average of $50 a barrel — at a time when oil was already trading at over $55.

Among the cutbacks announced today by United:

—Pulling 100 airplanes from its fleet of about 460 — 94 Boeing 737s and 6 Boeing 747s. (United had previously announced that it would retire 30 of its 737s.) About 80 of the planes will be out of service this year, and the rest next year.

—Reducing domestic seats in the fourth quarter by 14 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2007, and reducing capacity even further in 2009.

—Eliminating Ted, which has a fleet of 56 Airbus A320s that are included in the overall United fleet figure. Those A320s will be redeployed as mainline United aircraft.

United’s hapless CEO, Glenn Tilton, said that the cutbacks were intended to “leverage capacity discipline” and “develop new revenue streams.”

Tilton did not elaborate on what he imagined those “new revenue streams” might be, but the major U.S. airlines have been betting the house on international routes, on the assumption that international flying will remain profitable.

Here’s the full text of United’s statement today.

United was spurned repeatedly by competitors this year in its attempts to find a merger partner.

Two things to watch closely at United:

—1. Most of those planes United plans to pull out of service are leased, not owned. United says it is trying to negotiate a deal with its leasing companies. Remember, the payment on a leased airplane comes due each month whether you’re flying it or not. [Of the total 460 aircraft in its mainline fleet as of Jan. 1, 205 were leased outright. Another 142 of the owned aircraft were listed as "encumbered." The vast majority of the older 737s are leased.]

—2. United’s very close financial relationship with Chase bank, which props up its frequent flier program with its affinity credit cards by buying huge volumes of United miles to offer customers. Chase certainly is giving some thought to its exposure through that United link.

Meanwhile, as I have been saying all year, prepare for a significantly shrunken domestic air travel system that will profoundly impact business and leisure travel, and the $750 billion domestic travel industry, for a very long time.

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Spirit Airlines moved this afternoon to try to head off speculation that it is about to undertake massive layoffs as finances deteriorate.

The Miami Herald reported this morning that Spirit, based in Miramar, Fla., “may” lay off 60 percent of its flight attendants and 45 percent of its pilots, and cut flight operations.

[My comment: Editors are now routinely waving the words "may" and "might" into ledes. It's an endemic practice that should be strongly discouraged in the "might-y" modern mainstream media.]

“Spirit has not made any decisions regarding system-wide capacity reductions,” said Ben Baldanza, the CEO of Miramar, Fla.-based Spirit. He said the company had taken a “proactive step” under federal labor law to “notify labor representatives of flight crews of possible reductions that could be implemented if we continue to see unprecedented fuel price levels.”

[My comment: Well, we shall continue to see "unprecedented fuel price levels."]

Baldanza said that the airline plans to continue growing in the Caribbean and Latin America and to remain the largest carrier at Fort Lauderdale. “But, just as other carriers are doing, we need to be aware of fuel prices and their impact on service and we must be prepared to act as events might require,” Spirit said.

The Miami Herald story said that Spirit “sent letters to union leaders Saturday, notifying them that it will furlough or displace up to 448 flight attendants and 242 pilots on Aug. 1, as the airline closes its New York LaGuardia and San Juan bases and reduces its Fort Lauderdale base. For flight attendants, the airline is also shutting its Detroit base.”

[My comment: Ah, there's the actual lede! No "may" necessary.]

Spirit has more than 200 daily flights to 37 destinations.

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