Archive for November, 2006
November 14 2006
If you’re flying to London on business, Delta has a pretty good offer for you. If you fly between now and January 15th, they’ll give you Silver Medallion status if you fly in non-discounted coach (about $1600) or discounted Business Class (about $2200) between JFK and London. If you fly in regular Business class, they’ll give you Gold status for the year.
Competition to London in premium class continues to heat up, as British Airways unveiled their new business class product, which will have more comfortable seats, new entertainment systems and some other stuff. Seats will be installed by 2008 or so.
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November 13 2006
How bad is it over at poor little Air Zimbabwe? The carrier has suspended its flights to London because it fears authorities will seize its plane over an unpaid $2.8 million debt. Even worse, it was likely the only route that was profitable for the airline. (Longtime readers know I have a soft spot for Air Zimbabwe, after flying them with only 6 people on board a 737. An American airline would’ve cancelled that flight. I’m possibly the only person who has a soft spot for Air Zimbabwe, which was notorious for cancelling flights so the president’s wife could use aircraft to shop in Europe).
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November 09 2006
Emirates will permit in-flight cellphone use beginning in January. Calls will cost about $4 a minute, which should help keep people from yapping for 13 straight hours. I hope.
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November 09 2006
I don’t usually bother talking about route expansion, but Qatar Airways’ announcement that it will fly to New York is significant. Middle Eastern airlines have grown rapidly and profitably, in a way we haven’t seen anywhere else in the world. Etihad, Emirates and now Qatar Airways have nonstops to New York (Emirates has 2 nonstops a day), connecting the Arab world to the US in a way that can only help relations between the two regions. Plus, nonstop flights mean people are not flying on European airlines to these destinations - a huge change (not in a good way, obviously) for incumbent airlines in Europe. 3 years from now, Etihad, Emirates and Qatar will be as well known as Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa — and probably more profitable.
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November 08 2006
Immigration officials at Dubai’s airport detained a 2-year-old after his name appeared on a list of potential security risks. The little boy was in a stroller, when officials approached his father and said the boy could not fly because he was a risk to security. Said the father, "I thought he was joking and said ‘take him if you want." haha. Thankfully, he was not shipped to Guantanamo. A short investigation found (surprise) that he was not a threat to security.
(thanks to Nicole for the heads up)
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November 08 2006
Ryanair was told to stop advertising that said seats were available for GBP 0, because once taxes and fees were added in, no seats were available for free. In fact, the least someone could end up paying was GBP 11.70 (about $20 or so) which, while cheap, is not exactly zero.
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November 08 2006
Fedex cancelled its $2.3 billion order for 10 A380s yesterday, handing Airbus a major blow to its struggling program. The cargo carrier instead ordered 15 777s from Boeing after saying that it couldn’t wait for Airbus to straighten out its delays. This hardly marks the end of the A380 program, but Airbus certainly didn’t need this.
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November 07 2006
It is a slooooooow news day in the ol’ airline industry. How slow? Here’s the big story from what I can tell: JetBlue will be offering all trans-fat free snacks on their planes. That’s all the news. Oh, that and that the A350 might not get built. Maybe that’s a bigger story than JetBlue offering Chocobilly ™ cookies. I’m not sure.
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November 05 2006
The staff of the OTR ran the NY Marathon on Sunday and, hence, will be sleeping in tomorrow. I’ll be back with great stuff on Tuesday. Or regular stuff. I really shouldn’t promise greatness.
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November 03 2006
Gate1Travel has a great deal to Central Europe: For various dates between now and the end of February, you’ll get a flight and 5 nights hotel in Budapest and Prague for just $699. Sure it’s cold. That’s not my problem. I’m just passing along the info.
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Delta Offers Gold Status for London Trip