The poll results are in and it’s a landslide. The majority (62%) of Planereality readers (or at least those who voted) believe that US Airways will be the next airline brand to disappear. US Airways received over 3 times the number of votes as the runner-up, Alaska Airlines. I have my theories as to why. Relative to other US legacy carriers, US Airways has done little to expand internationally, developed no strategic partnerships, failed to engage their customers digitally, and they have played catch-up refurbishing cabins.
OK, so maybe they want to stay away from the herd mentality. That’s fine, but what are they doing to separate themselves form their competitors? What I am I missing? Your thoughts?

Airlines advertise and promote airfare sales throughout the year. Typically there are numerous sales taking place simultaneously. A lot of travelers receive sale notifications via email, twitter or perhaps seek them out on an airline’s website. I typically ignore these fare sales as what looks good on the surface often turns out to be an average sale fare at best.
Example: fares to Europe starting at $225 each way. Wow! Cool!
But when you add fees, taxes and fuel surcharges, the fare prices out at well over $1000… A thorn in the side of the frequent flier’s existence!

I decided to take a closer look at some current airfare sales to compare the advertised price vs. what the actual fare costs. Here are the random 6 I priced out:

1) European Carrier
SALE: Fall travel from US to Europe from $284 each way
(fine print: up to $260 surcharge + weekend surcharge)
Only 1 route at the advertised $284 (BOS-LHR)
I priced random dates 10/13-10/17 for BOS-LHR
Outbound fare was $562.92
Return (most basic fare unavailable) $736.20
Total Airfare: $1299
56% More than advertised!
By the way, I looked at Kayak and there were 19 carriers cheaper than $1299 for same dates

2) US Carrier
SALE: Fall travel to Hawaii from $344 roundtrip
fine print:  travel from 8/22-12/15
I priced same dates 10/13-10/17
LAX-HNL was $237 outbound & $237 return for total of $474
LAX-Maui (OGG) was $623 round-trip
37% & 81% more (respectively) than advertised

3) Asian Carrier
SALES: LAX-NRT $766 R/T
travel between 8/16–11/15
used same dates as above
priced at $882 Total
15% more than advertised

4) US carrier
SALE: flights to CA (listed under “deals”)
but no base fare no travel dates provided
the airline did give example routes (in case you don’t know what cities are in CA)
JFK-SFO $318 Total
Nothing to compare; but this price has you leaving NY at 6am and returning at 12:30am

5) US carrier
Flights to Delhi
from $516 each way was cheapest city pairing (IAH-DEL)
travel from 9/1-/9/30
fine print: up to $190 surcharge & Saturday stay minimum
example dates 9/15-9/20
$515 outbound + $515 return
$1073 all in
12% LESS than advertised (taking into account maximum surcharge)

6) US Carrier
SALE: Europe travel between 8/14-10/27
from $295 each way (for FLL-MAN) round-trip purchase necessary
$239 outbound $219 return
total $615
4% More than advertised

I was surprised at the results, admittedly assuming every flight I priced would be significantly greater than advertised. It’s really a mixed bag though! The moral? Take a minute to look at the fare sales, but don’t get too excited about the base price. Paying a bit more attention to these sales may save me a few bucks.

CONTEST: First person to name the airline that is running each “sale” in the COMMENTS section will receive a $25 AMEX gift card for their next trip.  Offer expires at 12 midnight Eastern Standard Time (12 hours from time of post)  Example: 1) tree top airlines 2) fuji air etc….
Boarding Area bloggers & staff cannot win. Check back in the comments section for the winner.

Mergers, acquisitions and bankruptcies take place in every industry. In many cases the brand which seems the least likely to be bought, merge or go out of business is the one that does. This got me thinking, which airline brand will be the next to disappear/go away/be absorbed etc…? Here are some that came to mind.  US Airways, Hawaiian, Alaska Airlines and JetBlue.  What do you think? Vote to the right or add your choice in the comments section.

There has been quite an uproar over Delta’s policy of charging soldiers returning from combat up to $200 dollars each for a 4th checked bag. A gross oversight?  Definitely. Should active military personnel be charged for extra bags when travelling on military orders? Absolutely not, but I have to give Delta credit on this one. Credit where credit is due, in fact.

I lived in Atlanta for quite some time, got to know many Delta employees and can tell you with certainty that these folks are a far, far cry from un-patriotic.  On countless numbers of flights I have flown, Delta flight crews, be it pilots or flight attendants, have made special announcements acknowledging active and former military personnel flying on the plane that day. In some instances even calling for a round of applause. 99.9% of Delta staff will go out of their way to accommodate military personnel, including upgrading those in uniform when space is available.

When was the last time you saw the aforementioned actions take place on a Virgin America flight? Huh? When?

Greater Atlanta, all of Georgia and consequently Delta have strong military ties (aka Fort Benning,  Fort McPherson, Robins AFB etc… )  Military service is not something taken lightly in these parts. Delta made an unfortunate mis-calculation and rectified the situation. Take it easy. Many thanks to all those who serve around the World!

Delta Airlines recently launched a service that allows passengers to track their checked luggage via Delta.com

I’m a lot confused and maybe even a little mis-informed. Why, in the name of all things lost luggage, would I want/need to track my checked luggage?  Shouldn’t getting my bags to where I’m going be expected… maybe even a given?

For the sake of discussion, lets just say, Mrs. Double Secret Airline Status gets to the airport for he flight to St. Somewhere, checks in, and checks in a suitcase. When she is seated on the plane, she whips out her I-Pad and checks to see where her bag is and finds out it is right underneath her… where its supposed to be!

Of course, there are other plausible scenarios.  Like, her suitcase is not on the plane:

A) but on its way to Breezy Point
B) still sitting in the airport
C) or on an earlier flight to her final destination where it will sit and wait to get stolen before she arrives

If any of these 3 scenarios occur, what is her immediate recourse? Pitch a fit with a flight attendant? Threaten to get off the plane? Ask that the plane is delayed to wait for her luggage? I mean, what can she do about it? If her luggage simply does not show up, she still has to go see an agent.

In other words, I just don’t see a passengers options being any different when they can track their luggage VS. if they could not track their own luggage. If anything it could make the flight experience worse: your bag ain’t on the plane and all you can do is stew about about it and include the flight crew in your misery for the entire flight. Delta is really just giving the passengers the same technology that the baggage handlers have, setting itself up for some fierce confrontations between passengers and airport staff. I suppose if you are trying to ease the work load of your ground staff, letting passengers do it themselves would be an option, but even then its probably less expensive to hire more employees than invest in this tracking system.

Ah, yes, how could I forget that big brother is about implement a rule that would require airlines to refund bag fees for lost or severely delayed luggage.  Maybe this was what Delta had on its mind when they launched this tracking service.

So is your bag “lost” if you know where it is, but its not where it is supposed to be?

Ever booked a flight online? A code-share flight actually being operated by another airline? No biggie…
until you try to select your seats and get a message similar to:

“We can let you chat with your Mom via Twitter at 30,000 feet but cant show you seats for our partner airline; yes, the same airline that we can figure out how to share profits and losses with.   Besides, when you get to the gate that carrier will let you have whatever seat you want”

I think you catch my drift, but just in case….  Despite all the synergies within mega alliances, one of the most seemingly basic functions, seat selection, is never available when booking code-share flights.
 
Its not that airlines cant figure how show someone else’s seat map, they just don’t want to.  If they did, frequent flyer’s of the booking airline would be competing with the frequent flyer’s of the operating carrier… competeing for pecking order as to who gets the most coveted (that’s a Wall Street Journal word) seats and/or upgrades.  If there was a pecking order, that would mean an airline and/or alliance actually has to define which carriers frequent flyer’s take priority… a.k.a the pecking order.  In turn, a traveller would have a fact based argument when speaking with a gate agent as to why he/she, a Treetop Airline Double Diamond flyer, is seated in the last row middle seat.

Don’t give me this “we can’t see each other’s inventory.”  That’s rubbish.  How then do you reconcile the books at the end of every quarter?  There are even websites that show inventory of every airline. Admittedly inventory is different than seat selection, but the technology exists.

Surely seat selection should be included in the laundry list of  “benefits” provided by airline alliances…

When I tell folks what it is that I spend the majority of my time doing, the follow up question is often:
“What’s the best airline you have flown?” or “What was your favorite airline?”

I don’t know that it is possible to compare apples to apples. In other words, how do you compare Air France Economy class from ATL-CDG to Qatar Airways Business Class to…. I guess that’s why travel magazines break the “best” airlines into 34 categories, so by the time you’re done reading it, you don’t have a clue what the best airline is.  It is understandable, however, as there are many ways to slice and dice it: long haul, short haul, new plane old plane, business, first, coach, continents, “low” cost, legacy etc….

Anyway, I have to answer the questions at hand.  Actually, the 2 questions are really the same. After all, what do you think would be my favorite airline… the worst one?! So here is my stab at ranking Planereality’s Top 8 Business Classes (in a particular order) 

What airline is your favorite?

1) Qatar Airways Business Class- bliss
2) Emirates Business Class – entertainment control as entertaining as the entertainment
3) Singapore Airlines Business Class – queen bed
4) Korean Air Business Class – service
5) All Nippon Airways Business Class – pinch of sea salt
6) Malaysia Airlines Business Class – relax
7) Cathay Pacific Business Class – machine
8 ) Thai Airways Business Class – jury’s out

Disclaimer: I have not flown every airline in the world in every class of service on every route.

Last week I had the opportunity to sit down with Harry Hohmeister, CEO at Swiss International Airlines since July of 2009.  On Mr Hohmeister’s watch, Swiss has won several awards including the 2010 Skytrax World Airline Award for staff excellence in Europe and best European Carrier in the annual airline ratings of Switzerland’s Bilanz business magazine. Swiss was also voted best airline of 18 European airlines by the readers of Which?

Mr Hohmeister and I were joined by Arved von zur Muehlen, Managing Director, Head International Markets, Swiss Airlines and Jacqueline Pash, Head of Corporate Communications, Swiss Airlines.

I was curious for an update on Swiss’ New First and Business Class products and how Swiss is handling the many external factors that the entire industry is faced with.  Below are a few excerpts from our discussion.

Thoughts Behind Rolling Out a New First Class Product…

Mr Hohmeister acknowledges that this is a risk.

“As soon as you take up that much space installing a First Class Suite/Seat you have taken a risk.  But how can you call yourself a premium airline and not have a true premium product?”

One way Hohmeister looks at Swiss’ 3 cabin model:

“Swiss wants to be the airline not only for middle management by offering a business class, but also for the CEO’s and wealthy entrepreneurs who would utilize First Class”

Arved von zur Muehlen added that there is also still a leisure market for First Class passengers.  Arved said he once received a letter from a gentleman in India who expressed disappointment “because he wanted to fly his family of 10 in First Class and Swiss only offered 8 seats in First”

The overall goal of Swiss’ First Class product is to provide comfort and service not just after you are seated on the aircraft, but rather from the “curb to your destination” (think limousine service)
If you are a Swiss First Class customer, the crew is briefed on your preferences before you travel.  They will know when you sleep, when you eat, what you read, whether you prefer white or red wine, regular or decaffeinated coffee.

The return on this investment?

“The image of the airline that the customer leaves with” says Hohmeister

Constant Challenges in the Industry & Being Flexible

We talked about all of the unpredictable, uncontrollable factors the airline industry has faced over the past 12 months.   Mr. Hohmeister was quick to point out:
“12 Months? How about the last 2 months… enough has happened in 2 months to last a lifetime”

I asked him how Swiss remains flexible and address these challenges?

Flexibility becomes a matter of “how fast you are able to react to a situation” says Hohmeister, “I feel we have a very capable management team that is very proactive as opposed to just being reactive.  You can’t just put a plane on the ground. This makes no sense for the passengers or the airline.  Yet at the same we will never ever compromise safety.   Safety is always priority number 1, number 2 and number 3 for Swiss Airlines”

Mr. Hohmeister referenced the 2009 financial crisis and the need to “take a close look at cost efficiency and staff efficiency”  He mentioned voluntary measures that were taken, including voluntary unpaid leave by some staff members and asking suppliers to be more flexible in their terms.

Most recently, Swiss has, on some days, rerouted their Zurich-Tokyo Narita flight through Osaka Japan with a stop in Hong Kong.

“By stopping in Hong Kong this gives us the ultimate flexibility to evaluate the situation in Japan on an hourly basis, receive a new flight crew, do maintenance and then determine whether we fly into Narita, Osaka, or somewhere else”

Being part of the World Class Star Alliance is something we are very proud of and “very beneficial” in terms of flexibility.

The New First & Business Class Cabins

Every Airbus A330 in the Swiss fleet will feature its brand new state of the art Business Class seat by the Spring of 2011.  In addition the Airbus A340 fleet will be equipped with the latest business class seat by mid 2011, at which point the entire long-haul fleet will feature the state of the art SWISS Business Class cabin. 

The A330 fleet will also boast the latest First class Interior which will include, among other things, new ASA fine bone china, restaurant size wine glasses by Riedel and larger personal televisions.

Overall, Mr. Hohmeister says all of Swiss’ initiatives are in an effort to “embrace the customer and build an emotional relationship with them”

Based upon Swiss’ financial results during their last fiscal year, I would say they are doing just that and then some.

I just booked an international flight from the United States to Europe with a mere 70 minutes between landing and the departure of my next flight.  Both flights are on the same airline.  This got me thinking (after the purchase of course) as to the consequences of missing my connection.  If I miss my connection for no reason other than not having enough time to clear any security and walk to another gate, will the airline put me on another flight at no charge?

I have missed connections on domestic flights a handful of times.  There was no issue (or cost) getting on the next flight, but the missed connection was always due to my previous flight arriving late.

To be sure, more unsure than ever as it turned out, I called 3 US based carriers to inquire about their connecting flight policies.  While there was a clear policy pertaining to domestic flights (for domestic flights it depends on the cause of you missing the connection AND what frequent flyer status you hold) I did not hear any clear cut answers regarding international flights and missed connections.  The only exception was that 1 of the airline phone agents said that if I was able to book it, it should be feasible.

So… the airline let me book an itinerray with a very tight connection, but will I make on to the 2nd flight without incurring any additional costs beside the cost of my original ticket? 

Has anyone experienced missing an international connection?  Anybody have any insight into specific policies of certain airlines on this matter?  Thanks in advance for your input!

Delta Airlines, United Airlines and American Airlines each offer an upgraded cabin and  special amenities on flights from JFK to San Francisco and Los Angles. These routes are travelled heavily by business travellers which make them highly competitive for the airlines as business travellers often pay more for air travel than the average consumer.
United & American, on paper, do not offer complimentary upgrades on these routes. The exception is American whose policy states that Executive Platinum members will receive an upgrade on any published fare.

Delta’s policy does not specify whether their trans-continental flights (JFK-LAX/SFO) are eligible for complimentary upgrades for elite status members, but I am about to find out.

Within 24 hours I am taking a trans-continental flight on Delta Airlines. My upgrade status is listed at “requested” and there are plenty of seats available in the first class cabin. Typically, on “normal” flights, Delta will process an Elite upgrade 3 to 5 days before the flight, based upon availability. I am nearly certain these upgrades (if there are any) will be processed at the gate.

Whether I am upgraded or not, it seems that Delta is the only airline of the 3 offering true (no full fares or miles involved) complimentary upgrades on JFK-SFO/LAX routes (I have not tried on AA or UA

Any American or United fliers care to comment on their experience on these routes? Did you receive a complimentary upgrade?

I try to be as fair as humanly possible when writing about airlines.  I feel that I am more reasonable than most critics, particularly those in the mainstream media.  Airlines are very easy to pick-on relative to other industries that may not have as much exposure to end users: the passengers.  Sometimes though, I just can’t resist pointing a few things out.

If you are going to require your male flight attendants to wear neckties, firmly suggest they button their top button. Otherwise their appearance looks like all hell and that defeats the whole purpose of the neckties.

Don’t make your flight attendants hawk credit cards during the flight. It is embarrassing and awkward… for the passengers and the FA’s themselves. And we all know, nearly no-one is flying on a 25,000 point award ticket.

PS- Please get rid of those pesky people in the airport shouting at people they don’t know, asking them to apply for a credit card in return for a free water bottle. I get it, you’re trying to raise ancillary revenue, but at what expense?

Thank you for letting me get this off my chest.  Now, back to being “nice”