MAXjet Sale to NCA Sports Will Not HappenAugust 12 2008
Pssst….wanna buy whatever the hell is left of MAXjet? Well, it looks like you can: the airline announced that its sale to NCA Sports (a charter company) has fallen through. No idea what you’ll get if you buy it, but I’m sure it’ll be a bargain.
Northwest Writes Off Midwest InvestmentAugust 08 2008
In yet another sign that the end may be near for Midwest, Northwest Airlines wrote off its $213 million investment in the carrier - a move that suggests Midwest actually may be worthless at this point. MIdwest also just announced declines in passenger traffic for July, a month when most airlines are seeing strong growth. Looks like we’re heading to a sad end for a once great little airline.
2 Flights Always Late in JuneAugust 07 2008
USA Today once again published the list of the 25 most delayed flights, and (quite impressively) two flights were delayed every single day. Well done. American’s flight 1639 from JFK to San Juan was delayed 100% of the time at an average of 2 hours and 8 minutes (bueno!) and Comair 5292 from Minneapolis to JFK (surprise) was delayed an average of 2 hours and 3 minutes. In fact, the top 5 most delayed flights were all to or from the New York area (I’m so proud!). It’s worth checking out the list before booking to at least give yourself a small bit of hope for getting where you’re going on time.
Allegiant Reports 95% Load Factor of JulyAugust 05 2008
Allegiant reported a 95% load factor in July (ie, it filled 95% of its available seats), a number that is absolutely unheard of. I’m going to keep harassing you with Allegiant minutia until they get the respect they deserve.
(As always, for full disclosure, I own a small number of shares in the carrier).
Air Asia X Exec Says Airline Is Considering Charging by Passenger WeightAugust 05 2008
An executive for Malaysia’s Air Asia X told a conference that if fuel were to hit $200/barrel, the airline would consider charging passengers by how much they weigh. He later clarified the remark, saying that even though the airline may actually start weighing passengers to calculate aircraft weight, it would be “difficult to implement” a fare-by-weight system. That said, don’t be shocked when some airline does actually try this.
The OTR on the Road FridayJuly 31 2008
No stories from us on Friday as we head to beautiful, incredibly-hard-to-get-to Springfield Illinois.
My only airline-related note about this trip is that I am flying American out of Newark on a reward ticket and I wanted to change my flight to depart from LaGuardia (American allows you to change reward tickets for free if you’re not changing the cities.) Since Newark and LaGuardia are considered “co-terminals” (ie, they’re considered the same city when booking a round-trip ticket), I thought I could make that change without paying the $150 fee. Several supervisors and I whole lot of confusion later, I was told I could not. One person said I could standby at LaGuardia. One res agent said I could not standby at LaGuardia. One got increasingly frustrated as I asked how it could be a co-terminal when it comes to roundtrip ticketing, but not co-terminals when it comes to changing the reward ticket. It led to this conversation:
Res agent: It’s only considered the same city if you’re booking an open-jaw ticket, not a roundtrip ticket. This isn’t an open-jaw ticket.
Me: I’m flying out of Newark and into LaGuardia - if that’s considered a roundtrip ticket, why can’t I change the city?
Agent: Because it’s only the same city if you’re booking an open-jaw, not when you’re changing the reservation.
Me: (nicely) That doesn’t really make any sense.
Agent: I spoke with my supervisor, and that’s what she said.
Me: Can you give me an example of when that would apply?
Agent: No sir, I can’t.
And really, that’s when it hit me: Nobody knows the rules. That’s why I’m fascinated with this industry. The rules are so complex that nobody knows them. And just when you think you know the rules, you find out you’re wrong. Some things are incredibly flexible (for 50k miles you can fly to Paris and back from Budapest on a reward ticket without any problem), yet some things are incredibly inflexible (Newark and LaGuardia are both considered the same city and different cities.) Some things are generous (note Delta’s now-expired 9,999 bonus miles for a $25 Avis rental), and some things are not (Continental’s half-elite-points policy for cheap tickets not booked on their website). Sometimes an agent will be incredibly helpful (such as when an America West agent let me fly from Columbus to Washington, DC, to see my then-fiance even though my ticket was from Columbus to New York), and sometimes they can be unbelievably stubborn (not allowing standby for free even though the plane is basically empty).
The whole thing is a crapshoot. A game. A gamble. And that’s why so many of us love it. And when you travel frequently, you love it that much more - while hating it at the same time. Think about it - who knows if the agent will charge you $50 for standby, or if they’ll just let you on the plane? Or when you call the night before a flight where you want to standby if the agent will tell you how many seats are left. Or the odds that they’ll fill up. Or if they’ll let you fly into Fort Lauderdale even though your ticket says Miami. Or if you’ll get upgraded. Or what the food will be. Or if there’ll be food. Or whether the flight will take off at all. Or whether you’ll get a hotel room for the canceled flight. Or whether the lounge has free drinks. Or no drinks. Or whether you can open-jaw that reward ticket to Hyderabad while returning from Bangkok. Who the hell knows? You can study this stuff forever, and just when you think you know what’s going to happen - poof! - it all changes.
I’ve heard people refer to “agent roulette” where you just keep calling back until an agent gives you an answer you’re happy to hear. They don’t know the rules either. Sometimes an agent isn’t aware of the whole game, and sometimes they are. Unfortunately sometimes they put a note in your record because they know you’re playing a game. That can backfire on your next round of roulette.
Listen to the words I’ve been using: crapshoot; roulette; odds. It’s all a game. Every aspect of it. The points, the rewards, the chance, the possibilities, the probabilities. Flyertalk has hundreds of threads about all the games. We don’t love flying; we love the game around flying. Hell, flying is just the necessary evil for those who want to play the whole game. No one likes the city of Atlantic City; they like the gambling. The flying around from Houston to Omaha is just the price you pay for the nonstop gaming action.
That’s all to say that I was so annoyed after my first phone call to American to find out why Newark and LaGuardia were both the same and different cities. But after I left the city ticket office today - more confused than when I first called about this whole thing - I was as happy as could be. I played the game and lost. But at least I got to play.
Did Delta Make a Woman Crawl to Her Connecting Flight?July 30 2008
I have no idea whether this is true, and something about it smells funny, but in this post from the Consumerist, a Delta passenger with muscular dystrophy says that Delta employees made her crawl off a plane to make her connection because a wheelchair couldn’t be located. Dunno…
OpenSkies Drops Coach, Increases Prem+ CabinJuly 29 2008
OpenSkies has decided to drop its small (and kinda sad) coach cabin and replace those 30 seats with 12 (quite nice) Prem+ seats for its flights to Paris and Amsterdam. Their 757s will now hold 64 passengers. On the plus side, I wouldn’t be shocked if those Prem+ seats are available at a nice sale price during the slow seasons since they can’t fill the planes with low-fare coach seats. Keep an eye out…
Yes, Those Emirates A380s Will Have ShowersJuly 29 2008
When airplane manufacturers show off their new models, they often include bells and whistles that will never actually make it in the air (piano lounge, bowling alley, whatever). But Emirates just announced that its A380s will actually have showers for first class passengers. The showers provide 5 minutes of showering time each. The perk will require the plane to carry an extra 500 kg of water, the weight of which they are hoping to offset by removing paper in seatbacks (I’m not sure if that exactly balances out, but there ya go).
Virgin America Launches “Main Cabin Select” (aka, Exit Rows)July 28 2008
Following in JetBlue’s footsteps, Virgin America has launched what it’s calling “Main Cabin Select” - you may know it as, “we’re going to charge you for exit rows and bulkheads.” Oh, they’ll also throw in free food and movies. No word on pricing yet, but I’ll assume it’ll be similar to JetBlue - something like $25 for shorthaul and $50 for longhaul. You can purchase beginning in mid-September for flights in mid-October.
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