Archive for May, 2007
May 25 2007
(If you don’t care about Skybus, please carry on…)
A tech-savvy OTR reader has passed on the following links:
http://ask.skybus.com/info/jacksonville.shtml
http://ask.skybus.com/info/nassau.shtml
which suggest that Nassau and Jacksonville will be Skybus’ next cities. A USA Today blurb confirms that Jacksonville may likely start up in early July. By "Jacksonville" I mean, of course, St. Augustine Airport, 40 miles from Jacksonville. In any case, look for Skybus to tweak their schedule going forward - wouldn’t be shocked to see Kansas City and Greensboro leave the ol’ route map.
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May 24 2007
For the second time in 6 months, US Airways has been cited for allowing a passenger to get drunk on a flight to New Mexico. That wouldn’t normally be a problem but, also for the second time, the passenger was arrested for DUI while driving home after the flight landed (he would’ve had to be REALLY drunk to drive home before the flight landed). New Mexico has cracked down on in-flight drinking after a US Airways passenger killed himself and 5 others in a DUI-related crash in November (he had been drinking on a the flight, then drove home drunk). The State of New Mexico told US Airways it was no longer allowed to serve alcohol on flights to the state without a New Mexico liquor license. The carrier has since received a temporary license.
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May 23 2007
The OTR got a nice mention in the LA Times over the weekend as I chatted about Farecast…
Speaking of which, the Wall St. Journal talks up a new website called Yapta.com that will alert you to when a fare you’ve purchased has dropped. The article points out that several airlines (including JetBlue, United, Alaska and US Airways) will give you a travel voucher for the difference in fare when it drops on a flight you’ve already purchased (other airlines will deduct a change fee). Always good to remember…
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May 22 2007
When Legend launched all-business class service from Dallas a few years back, American Airlines responded by reconfiguring some of their planes with all business class and then quickly drove Legend out of business. Now, British Airways is considering the same tactic: their CEO said on Monday that the airline is examining the move to compete with Eos and Silverjet. Granted, Eos’ service is not just about the configuration - but BA’s entry into the market would be a pretty big challenge to the upstarts. My guess? BA will never actually bother.
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May 22 2007
I’m guessing most of you have seen this already, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that Virgin America has been approved for service. Look for a July/August launch of flights between San Francisco and New York.
More service is always great news for travelers, and the coach cabin of Virgin looks quite nice, with a solid entertainment unit and comfortable seats. In fact, service between New York and San Francisco has become much, much more comfortable in recent years, with JetBlue, United, Song/Delta, and now Virgin America all offering strong inflight entertainment and additional legroom. I’m not sure how American and Continental can continue to offer their level of service when there are far better options available on other carriers.
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May 17 2007
The OTR won’t be publishing Friday or Monday as the staff takes a much needed break in Tirana, Albania (the break was needed, the Albania was just a whim). Fans of the show Cheers will note that Albania’s main export is no longer coal.
See you on Tuesday…
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May 17 2007
(thanks to reader IAHPHX, as always…)
The Dallas Morning News has an article that debunks some of the myths about the founding of Southwest Airlines. Specifically, that Herb Kelleher didn’t start the airline after drawing a little route map on a napkin. The article also suggests that Kelleher wasn’t all that into the idea of the airline initially, and that he needed some serious convincing. While this seems like small potatoes, the story is at the heart of the Southwest lore…Just as eBay was not created as a way to sell Pez, so another corporate myth is killed. I’m sorry I’m a buzzkill…
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May 16 2007
(Thanks to reader Scott for the heads up):
A United Airlines flight from LA to Sydney was diverted to Brisbane because of fog. So far, so good. Passengers were told, though, that after flying 14 hours, they would have to stay on board for another 9 hours because, and this is where it gets odd, if they disembarked in Brisbane, they would lose all of their duty free items (duty free can’t be removed from the aircraft if it’s not the final destination. Or something like that). A "near riot" ensued, and the airline figured out a way to circumvent the law (they would take everyone’s duty free and put it in the cargo hold.) However, this still took several hours to figure out. And people wonder why airline satisfaction ranks so low (see next story).
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May 16 2007
Americans apparently prefer dealing with the IRS than with airlines, according to a study put out by the University of Michigan (my alma mater). The UM’s American Customer Satisfaction Index found that airlines scored 2 points lower than the IRS in terms of customer satisfaction (hotels only scored a couple of points better than the IRS). United scored the worst of all US airlines, while Southwest scored the best (so much for no frills = no service).
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May 15 2007
Quick JetBlue promotion for you: Book a roundtrip ticket on them and fly before June 15, and you’ll get a $50 voucher good for flights between September 5 and October 31. Not too shabby…
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Skybus to St. Augustine, Nassau?