Archive for June 2008

I Promise, This Is It: Silverjet Loses Funding, Will Not Come Back

Jun 16th, 2008 | By Jared Blank

This really shouldn’t be a surprise given the state of the industry, but Silverjet’s miraculous funding has apparently disappeared.  This shouldn’t be too much of a shock, but it’s terrible news for the 400 or so people now losing their jobs.

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FAQs for American Airlines’ Bag Fee

Jun 14th, 2008 | By Jared Blank

American’s PR team was nice enough to send over an FAQ for the upcoming first bag fee, and I thought I’d pass along at a courtesy.  Not that I’d tell you to go over to Dallas Love and fly Southwest to avoid the fee, but someone else might tell you that.
The majority of American’s passengers [...]

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Orbitz Will Reimburse You If Your Airfare Falls After Booking

Jun 13th, 2008 | By Jared Blank

Orbitz has launched a really interesting program where they will reimburse you the difference if the airfare you purchased drops before you fly (full details here). Anyone who has ever bought a ticket for leisure travel knows the feeling that perhaps you should’ve waited and the fare would drop - paying Orbitz’s $7 service [...]

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Continental Ending Service to 15 Cities

Jun 13th, 2008 | By Jared Blank

Continental announced the list of flight cancellations and the 15 (!) cities it will no longer serve. I’ll paste the whole thing here, but just know that NY Times business travel columnist (and fellow Boarding Area blogger) Joe Sharkey will not be happy to see his nonstops from Newark to Tucson disappear. Also [...]

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US Airways: Fee Fi Fo Fum, I Smell the Blood of $2 Sodas

Jun 12th, 2008 | By Jared Blank

US Airways announced a massive overhaul of their entire operation yesterday, including (but not limited to), reducing their domestic capacity by 8%; laying off 1,700 employees; charging $15 for a checked bag; all-but-shuttering their Las Vegas late night flights; charging $25 for domestic phone reservations and $35 for international; eliminating the mileage bonus for Preferred [...]

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United Adds a First Bag Fee…Plus, See All the Fees in One Place

Jun 12th, 2008 | By Jared Blank

United has now joined American in charging $15 for the first checked bag.  Look for the other dominos to fall this week.
In other fee news, the guys at FareCompare (who are even more nuts about the minutia of the airline industry that you and I are), have created a full list of every fee the [...]

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Peru Suspends Aerocondor

Jun 12th, 2008 | By Jared Blank

Bad news if you have a flight on Peruvian domestic carrier Aerocondor:  The government has suspended the airline over safety concerns.  Strangely enough, Aerocondor is being permitted to fly charter flights but not scheduled service.

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Don’t Put Silverjet in a Corner (Or, Yes, Silverjet Is Coming Back)

Jun 12th, 2008 | By Jared Blank

Beyond all logic and reason, it looks like Silverjet will be re-launching in the next couple of weeks.  The airline has received an investment from an Irish group and, assuming all the papers gets signed etc etc etc, they hope to be flying once again from London Luton to Newark & Dubai.
(On a side note, [...]

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Delta to Cancel Contract with Pinnacle Due to Late Flights (That Delta Scheduled…)

Jun 11th, 2008 | By Jared Blank

I know most of you don’t care about the relationships between airlines and their regional partners, but bear with me for about 3 sentences:  Delta told its regional partner Pinnacle that it will be canceling a 10-year agreement they have because Pinnacle’s on-time record isn’t meeting standards.  Pinnacle, in response, said that they told Delta [...]

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You Have a Not-Bad Chance to Win 2 Free Business Class Tickets to Paris

Jun 11th, 2008 | By Jared Blank

If you’re already registered with FlyerTalk (it’s too late if you’re not), they are giving away 2 round trip business class tickets on OpenSkies, the new mostly-business-class airline from British Airways.  The details are here, but the basics are you leave from New York on their inaugural flight on June 19 and return June 22.  [...]

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