With Mexicana shut down a few days ago there have been announcements by some airlines of new routes to Mexico and added frequencies.  From the excellent Airline Route blog, we have the following changes made in the past month (since Mexicana started dropping services):

• Aerolineas Argentinas – new route Buenos Aires to Mexico City
• AeroRepublica – new route Bogota to Mexico City
• Air Canada – extra Montreal to Mexico City flights, and new route Vancouver to Mexico City
• Alaska – extra Los Angeles to Mexico City flights
• Avianca – extra Bogota to Mexico City flights
• British Airways – adding codeshares on some American Airlines flights to Mexico
• LAN Peru – extra Lima to Cancun and Lima to Mexico City flights
• United – extra Los Angeles to Mexico City flights
• Virgin America – new routes San Francisco and Los Angeles to Cancun
• Westjet – new route Quebec City to Cancun

Further changes are expected in coming weeks.

I’ve been a member of Virgin Blue’s Velocity Rewards program for a while but have, until now, never bothered with using their flexible points+cash redemption awards.  I didn’t see a lot of point when the award cost is a direct function of fare and the points saved is about 1 point per cent, ie not great value.  However, this flexibility is great for clearing out an account without wasting odd amounts of points.

What other programs can you do this with?

Mexicana has stopped all their flights from 28 August 2010, including their domestic subsidiaries Mexicana Link and Click (source BBC).  The airline initiated bankruptcy proceedings a few weeks ago and has been operating a reduced schedule without taking any future international bookings (but continuing to sell domestic tickets). 

The previous return to leasors of a significant proportion of their fleet, and now this grounding is not a good sign for travellers with tickets to fly on Mexicana.  The Mexicana customer help website in English has not yet been updated, but the Spanish version has some information.

Mexicana Group deeply regrets the inconvenience this will mean for their clients. We ask for your understanding, continue to make every effort to minimize inconvenience to our passengers. In the case of passengers who began a stretch of their journey with Grupo Mexico, and have scheduled to fly after the date and time indicated, please visit the websites and telephone numbers at the bottom. Priority is given to unaccompanied minors, people traveling with children under 3 years and people with special needs.
For passengers who have not started your trip, we recommend carefully explore other transportation alternatives.
The application procedure is described in refunds mexicanainforma.com (Tickets purchased in the U.S. and Canada – Tickets purchased in Mexico and elsewhere), as well as in the following Helplines:
5448-8634
5998-5998
in Mexico City

01800-837-6150
01800-801-2010
from anywhere in the Republic

1-888-882-9994
1-877-801-2010
for the United States and Canada

In other countries please contact the local office of Mexicana.

A reminder the $14 fee for USA’s visa waiver visa in drag (aka ESTA) kicks in 8 September.  You don’t have to wait for your current ESTA approval to expire to seek another so there is no reason not to apply in the next week for a new approval.  Type in cbp.dhs.gov after the http:// and click on ESTA.

The site was very sluggish when I renewed my ESTA so it might be a good idea not to wait until the last minute in case of problems.

Oneworld airline Mexicana continues to operate on a severely reduced basis (at least for international flights).  Updates of Mexicana flight cancellations are available at this link.

It has been a turbulent week for the airline.

• Many (but not yet all) leased aircraft have been returned.  I haven’t been able to pin down how many aircraft Mexicana actually owns – media reports several different figures (eg Forbes 9 and other sources as low as 3) – but it apparently isn’t many.
• Mexicana has a new owner with the purchase by a consortium of local businesses and the pilots union (source Reuters). 

While we await further announcements on their plans, at the moment Mexicana continues to operate almost day to day.  My previous advice for travellers with tickets on Mexicana still holds.

One of my tickets I unfortunately needed to cancel and get a refund. Fortunately it was a refundable fare, with a small penalty. The fare was not refunded in a time I’d consider reasonable.  While I understand some airlines have a policy of taking around 4 weeks to process a refund in part to discourage speculative bookings of refundable fares, this particular case goes far beyond this timeframe. Other airlines are happy to refund instantly (funds are back on my credit card the same day) and I’ve even heard of someone getting a refund processed before the original charge was put through!

How long do you think is reasonable for a refund to take?

Strikes at BAA‘s 6 major UK airports (excluding Gatwick and Manchester) have been called off (source BBC).  If only BA’s (British Airways) never-ending cabin crew strike threats were solved as quickly.

A little over a year since Qantas withdrew from the New Zealand domestic market in favour of their low cost subsidiary Jetstar, comes news that Pacific Blue is also pulling out (source NZ Herald).  The last flights are on October 17, less than 3 years after they commenced domestic flights in NZ.  It isn’t an unexpected moved as Pacific Blue has been in a difficult market position – worse frequencies and fewer routes than Air New Zealand thus difficult to win over business travellers, and more expensive than Jetstar for the most price sensitive flyers.

Passengers with bookings are being rebooked on Air New Zealand.  Pacific Blue’s flights between Australia and New Zealand will have a modest increase in frequency.

I flew on the very first Pacific Blue domestic flight in New Zealand, and the last Qantas flight. I’m tempted to fly the last flight too – the reduction in competition cannot be good for travellers.

The 2 biggest South American airlines, LAN and TAM have announced plans to merge with the new airline to be called LATAM. 

If it goes ahead then either LAN (and subsidiaries) will switch from Oneworld to Star Alliance, or TAM (and subsidiaries) will switch from Star Alliance to Oneworld.  Either way there will be a significant effect on airline alliance coverage in South America.  The following analysis is based on the current route networks – there may be some changes following the merger.

If LATAM is in Star Alliance

Oneworld will lose the following destinations from their network:

• Argentina – El Calfate, Iguazu, Mendoza, Neuquen, Rio Gallegos, Salta, San Carlos de Bariloche, San Juan, Tucuman, Ushuaia
• Chile – Antofagasta, Arica, Balmaceda, Calama, Concepcion, Copiaco, Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Iquique, La Serena, Osorno, Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas, Temuco, Valdivia
• Colombia – Cartagena
• Ecuador – Cuenca, Galapagos
• Falkland Islands (Malvinas) – Mount Pleasant
• French Polynesia – Papeete (Tahiti)
• Peru – Arequipa, Cajamarca, Chiclayo, Cuzco, Iquitos, Juliaca, Piura, Pucallpa, Puerto Maldonado, Tacna, Tarapoto, Trujillo, Tumbes

Star Alliance will add the following destinations to their network:

• Argentina – Cordoba, El Calafate, Iguazu (note TAM already flies to Iguazu Falls on the Brazilian side), Mendoza, Neuquen, Rio Gallegos, Salta, San Juan, Tucuman, Ushuaia
• Chile – Antofagasta, Arica, Balmaceda, Calama, Concepcion, Copiaco, Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Iquique, La Serena, Osorno, Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas, Temuco, Valdivia
• Colombia – Cartagena, Medellin
• Ecuador – Cuenca, Galapagos, Guayaquil
• Falkland Islands (Malvinas) – Mount Pleasant
• Peru – Arequipa, Cajamarca, Chiclayo, Cuzco, Iquitos, Juliaca, Piura, Pucallpa, Puerto Maldonado, Tacna, Tarapoto, Trujillo, Tumbes

Star Alliance will also finally gain a link between the South Pacific and South America – directly on Santiago to Auckland and Sydney, as well as indirectly via Papeete.

If LATAM is in Oneworld

Oneworld will add the following destinations to their network:

• Brazil – Aracaju, Belem, Boa Vista, Campinas, Campo Grande, Cuiaba, Curitiba, Florianopolis, Fortaleza, Goiania, Iguazu Falls (note LAN flies to Iguazu on the Argentinean side) Ilheus, Joao Pessoa, Joinville, Macapa, Maceio, Manaus, Natal, Navegantes, Palmas, Porto Alegre, Porto Seguro, Porto Velho, Rio Branco, Santarem, Sao Luis, Teresina, Vitoria

Star Alliance will lose the following destinations from their network:

• Bolivia – La Paz, Santa Cruz
• Brazil – Aracaju, Belem, Boa Vista, Brasilia, Campo Grande, Cuiaba, Curitiba, Florianopolis, Goiania, Iguazu Falls, Ilheus, Joao Pessoa, Joinville, Macapa, Maceio, Manaus, Navegantes, Palmas, Porto Alegre, Porto Seguro, Porto Velho, Rio Branco, Santarem, Sao Luis, Teresina, Vitoria
• Uruguay – Montevideo

Aeroplan has introduced lifetime elite status for those who’ve flown a lot on Air Canada and Jazz.

1 million status miles for lifetime elite (Star Alliance gold)
2 million status miles for lifetime elite for yourself and a nominated partner (Star Alliance gold)
3 million status miles for lifetime super elite for yourself and lifetime elite for a nominated partner (Star Alliance gold)

My post summarising all the lifetime elite statuses has been updated.  The new Aeroplan lifetime status levels are relatively difficult to earn (there are easier qualification criteria for some other lifetime elite statuses, American AAdvantage for example counts all mileage earning), but also offer relatively generous benefits.

The Unite union, following a year of disputes and strikes by cabin crew at British Airways, is set to inflict yet more significant inconvenience on UK travellers (source BBC).  Workers at the BAA airports (Heathrow, Stansted, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Southampton) are set to strike soon forcing the closure of those airports.  Note Gatwick and Manchester are not BAA airports.  Dates are not yet announced but anticipated to be late August (a minimum 1 week notice is required).