Archive for the 'Continental Airlines' Category
June 27 2008
Continental has changed its standby policies to give passengers a bit more flexibility (for a price). For a $50 fee ($25 if you’re gold or platinum), you can change your flight to any other flight that is scheduled for within 12 hours of your original flight, provided you do it within 24 hours of your original flight time. The good news for Continental flyers is that it can also be 12 hours after the original flight, which was not necessarily the case before. Yes, they’re charging more for this service (ah the days of free upgrades), but having that flexibility is useful, especially for business travelers.
Continental Airlines | No Comments » 
Print This Post
June 26 2008
According to this thread on Flyertalk, Continental is eliminating its beloved sundaes in business class on transcon flights.
Now, I enjoyed the Continental sundaes as much as anyone (frankly, if Osama Bin Laden gave me a sundae I’d probably enjoy it). I think we can all agree that sundaes, as a rule, are a good thing.
By definition, then, eliminating said sundaes would be a bad thing. And, if you read the thread, you’ll see that everyone there considers this a bad thing.
But read that thread again: have you ever seen more whining by grown adults over having a sundae that (for the most part) they didn’t pay for taken away from them? I know that you (or your company) paid for the $1500 ticket to LA, but does that really entitle you to a sundae? And couldn’t you go crazy and head on over to Baskin Robbins when you get there and spring the $6 for a sundae? (I mean go nuts — expense it!)
I’ve been saying for a little while that the airlines should be extremely up front about everything they’re eliminating and the reasons why they’re being eliminated. What most of the people in the thread above (and what I’ve heard elsewhere) is that they hate the nickel and diming aspect of the stuff being taken away. I don’t argue with that. Which is all the more reason every major carrier should be sending out a letter outlining the changes they’re making, the amount of savings each entails, and an overview of how bad the fuel situation has gotten.
I think that most business travelers feel that they’re generally taken advantage of by the airlines, that airlines spend their time trying to figure out ways to take advantage of them. And I guess that feels true much of the time.
But it may be better to think of it this way: high fares and no frills IS normal. What we’ve had for the past whatever number of years has been abnormal. The sundaes, the $800 transcons in business class, the upgrades, the multicourse meals, the blankets, the pillows, the cheap frequent flyer tickets, the free booking over the phone, the free checked baggage, the free movies and TV, the alcohol. All of it - that was gravy that we should’ve been paying for in the first place. But we didn’t, and we all had about 20-30 years (depending on when you start from) of ridiculous perks at (mostly) low fares. Adieu to that.
Now we’re just stuck with the still-unreal-when-you-sit-and-think-about-it $400 roundtrips across the country and now we have to spring $8 for a sandwich at Subway before we get on board. Boo hoo to us.
We have to change our mindset - the sundae was always just the cherry on top.
Continental Airlines | 2 Comments » Print This Post
June 23 2008
I was away when the Continental/United tie-up was announced and everyone else has already commented on this already. I won’t bore you with a long blah blah blah about it, I’ll bore you with a short point:
- We’re at least a year from this being implemented.
- Many of the details haven’t been decided, so it’s difficult to know what it really means for frequent flyers. In general, Continental flyers should be happy because the Star Alliance carriers have far better international products in business & first class, so you’ll enjoy nicer travel when you’re flying on a reward ticket to Asia. The domestic upgrade situation hasn’t been decided yet, so while frequent flyers of both airlines are probably grumbling that upgrading won’t be as easy anymore, it remains to be seen what will happen. Keep this in mind: Continental’s much-touted free domestic upgrades for elites isn’t nearly as great as it sounds anymore. Upgrades on transcon flights are nearly impossible to come by at every level - Continental flyers may decide they like the United program better because (gasp) they’ll actually be able to upgrade.
As I said, it’ll be at least a year before any of this happens so we can all calm down now.
Continental Airlines and United Airlines | No Comments » Print This Post
June 05 2008
Continental joins American and United in announcing significant job cuts and capacity reductions in the coming year. The airline said that it will cut about 3,000 jobs, and reduce mainline departures by 16% in the 4th quarter of this year (that represents about 11% of the available seat miles). Most of that will come from domestic mainline routes (international will increase a bit in Q4 and decline next year). And in a classy move, the CEO and President will not take salaries or bonus for the rest of the year.
I said it yesterday, and I’ll say it again: shrinking capacity this drastically is not an easy decision and one that will have further implications down the line. Less capacity will drive up fares, which are already much higher than they were last year. Airlines are beginning to see changes in leisure travel due to these higher fares. Plus, as I said, hub-and-spoke carriers need spokes feeding the hubs. When you start shrinking significantly, the economics of the whole operation start to break down. I’m not saying that this reduction will let the airlines hit that point, but it’s something to look for.
I’ve seen a number of articles comparing this time in the airline industry to the period after 9/11, but that was different - that was a demand issue. And airlines were able to stimulate demand with low fares (granted they paid for that in a big way later, but they got people on those planes). This is a cost issue, and there’s only so much cost you can cut out of the operation. Airlines may be able to sustain 1 more round of these types of cuts but that’s about it - here’s hoping the fuel prices come down before it’s too late.
Continental Airlines | 2 Comments » Print This Post
June 04 2008
Continental is rolling out an interesting program called Million Miler for long-time frequent flyers: if you’ve flown 1 million miles with the airline they will grant you and a companion lifetime Silver Elite status. 2 million miles gets you Gold; 4 million gets Platinum. Sure, 1 million flown miles is a ton of miles. But if you’ve flown that much, it’s great to be rewarded, and it’s also really nice to see an airline think of a way to build loyalty as a way to increasing revenues (rather than slapping on additional fees, which I’m sure are coming regardless).
In any case, nice job Continental.
(A number of people have written to me noting that Delta has a similar program. Noted.)
Continental Airlines | 2 Comments » Print This Post
April 27 2008
Continental Airlines gets all the credit in the world for their announcement yesterday that they will not continue their merger talks with United Airlines, instead they will persue some sort of vague alliance involving American Airlines and British Airways. Until that’s a done deal, it’s not really worth speculating about (you can find that elsewhere), but just know that an alliance is a much better call than a merger.
Unlike the bullshit-filled nonsense that Delta & Northwest emailed out when they announced their link-up, Continental sent out a note that may or may not have been bullshit but had one of the most insightful sentences I’ve seen written by an airline exec: “We have significant cultural, operational and financial strengths compared to the rest of the industry, and we want to protect and enhance those strengths — which we believe would be placed at risk in a merger with another carrier in today’s environment. “ Imagine that - in this environment, an airline executive talking about all the great things about their airline, and how those things need to be protected. Crazy.
In the meantime, United and US Airways may end up back together and the success of that merger will rest in large part on who is going to run the combined operation (hint: let’s hope they’re in Phoenix). The two airlines have a past history together, which should alleviate some of the pains of combining the carriers. We’ll see…
Continental Airlines | 1 Comment » Print This Post
April 22 2008
British newspaper The Guardian has a report (via USA Today) saying that Continental’s 757s flying trans-Atlantic routes have “run low on fuel” on 96 occasions last year (Continental flies more 757s trans-Atlantic than anyone else). They suggest that these planes are not meant to fly such distances and that the five-fold increase in “minimum fuel declarations” by pilots and then makes the piece extra scary by tying the story together with a 1990 crash by an Avianca jet that had run out of fuel in New York.
Down in paragraph 317, the article notes that there is a difference between “minimum fuel declarations” and “fuel emergencies” - the former is a scary-sounding moniker that means the flight cannot be delayed any longer without cutting into reserves, while the latter means the plane has to land immediately (thanks to an Ask the Pilot article that gives further explanations about this topic).
As the Ask the Pilot article (and a great deal of other article’s he’s written) notes, stories like this are sensationalized garbage. There is no emergency at hand. No Continental plane 757 has come anywhere close to running out of fuel. I’m guessing this story would never have been written if the phrase “minimum fuel declarations” were called something else. The Guardian should know better…
Continental Airlines | 6 Comments » Print This Post
February 19 2008
(Thanks to View from the Wing):
Continental has eliminated what has been considered their best OnePass reward: the 135,000 first class ticket to Australia on Qantas. (Their 105,000 mile business class ticket was also a great deal.) These tickets now cost 285,000 and 190,000 miles, respectively. You used to have to call 330 days before you wanted to fly to secure one of these, so they were hardly easy to get, but they were a steal. Now, not so much.
Continental Airlines | No Comments » Print This Post
February 19 2008
The NY Times is reporting that Delta and Northwest are close to announcing a merger, an announcement of which will supposedly be shortly followed by Continental and United joining forces.
You’ll read plenty of commentary about these mergers elsewhere, so you don’t need me to analyze the minutia, but let me say this: if you thought flying last summer was rough, just wait until 4 of the country’s largest airlines are trying to jam themselves together during the summer travel season. We will be in a level of disaster that we’ve never even considered. Ask your friends who fly US Airways how well their merger went. Now envision that on a much larger scale. Plus thunderstorms.
One word for your summer travel plans: drive.
Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines and United Airlines | No Comments » Print This Post
January 30 2008
Good news for Continental fans: the airline will install JetBlue’s LiveTV on nearly of all its fleet beginning in early 2009 (the whole process will take about 18 months). Wi-Fi will also be available (for free) so you can use your blackberry in the sky.
First class passengers will get the television for free, while coach passengers will pay $6 (a fee I’ll gladly pay not to have to watch Two and a Half Men, which is what I generally have to watch on Continental.)
Continental Airlines | No Comments » Print This Post
Next »
Continental Improves Standby Policy (But You Have to Pay)