There are some airlines serving NZ for the first time in 2011, ahead of the rugby world cup (and also some airlines returning after years of absence).  Announcements to date include:

• China Airlines – from Taipei to Auckland via Brisbane starting January
• Low cost airline Jetstar Asia – from Singapore to Auckland starting March
• Skyteam member China Southern Airlines – from Guangzhou to Auckland via Melbourne starting March
• Low cost airline Air Asia X – from Kuala Lumpur to Christchurch starting April
• Star Alliance member United Airlines (Continental) – from Houston to Auckland starting November (maybe)

The trans-Tasman flights will, as usual, have 5th freedom rights meaning they can be bought standalone.  Typically there is good award availability on these “tag” flights, and fares in premium cabins are low as the airlines try to win customers off more well-known competition (Air New Zealand, Qantas/Jetstar, Emirates and Pacific Blue).

As posted on Flyer Talk, there is a large devaluation of Miles & More premium awards from 1 January 2011, with many going up by over 20%.  Other changes include one-way awards will become 50% of the return award cost (currently 75%) and tweaks to some award rules.  Upgrade costs remain unchanged.

Time for me to cash in my stash, and re-evaluate my frequent flyer mileage-accrual plans for 2011.

Buried amidst the announcement of upcoming service changes for Air New Zealand Tasman, Pacific and domestic travel is news that a much valued perk of elite status is being removed.  Space+ seating on domestic and shorthaul international flights is considerable extra legroom and is a greatly appreciated status benefit.  On 737s there is currently an extra 5″ legroom (about 35″ total) and similar on A320 and 767.

The new offerings (still called space+) will be about 31-32″ pitch on all three aircraft (and also the domestic configured A320 which arrive soon to replace 737s) and limited to a handful of seats.  Regular shorthaul economy seats are about 30″, although some competing airlines offer considerably more (eg Emirates).

Note there remain a small number of 777 and 747 trans-Tasman and Pacific shorthaul flights which will continue to designate premium economy seating as space+.

Qantas has announced a raft of changes to their frequent flyer program which will become effective over a period of several months.

From 1 October 2010:

• GAIN Silver status requires 300 status credits to earn and 250 to requalify (down from 350 and 300 respectively).
• GAIN (temporary) Partner Gold status can be applied to anyone on reaching 2100 status credits (currently limited to partner residing at the same address).  Offer valid only until 3 May 2011 and cannot be combined with Platinum+ benefit (see next bullet point).
• GAIN (net) new Platinum+ benefit at 2400 status credits – a choice of Complimentary Gold (replaces current Partner Gold benefit), 3 complimentary Qantas valet parking or chaffeured transport invitations, or 50,000 bonus points.

From 1 December 2010:

• LOSS increase in award assistance and change fees (eg from 2500 to 3500 points)
• LOSS increase in points transfer fee
• LOSS removal of option to pay lost ticket replacement fee in points (cash fee is unchanged)
• GAIN reduction in replacement card fee (from A$25/2500 points to A$10/1000 points)

From 1 February 2011:

• LOSS Qantas Club members and Silver lose priority check in on domestic flights (benefit is retained for international).
• LOSS Platinum loses anytime lounge access, but can use lounges on arrival provided flying on Qantas, Jetstar, Jetstar Asia or Oneworld.

From 4 May 2011:

• GAIN Silver gets increased award availability for classic awards flying Qantas (an existing benefit for Gold and Platinum).
• LOSS 2nd increase in award assistance fee for international tickets (to 6000 points, currently 2500)
• LOSS increase in service fee, and these are added to any other applicable fees

From 1 June 2011 (travel date for tickets purchased on or after 1 December 2010):

• LOSS change in checked baggage allowance for domestic economy class from weight concept to piece concept (1 piece with maximum weight less than old limit).
• GAIN change in checked baggage allowance for domestic business class from weight concept to piece concept (2 pieces with maximum weight per piece).
• GAIN Qantas Club members, Silver, Gold, increase in checked baggage allowance for international business and first class (excluding travel via Americas)
• GAIN Platinum increase in checked baggage allowance for international all classes (excluding travel via Americas)

Overall changes are:

• negative for Bronze (no status)
• negative for Qantas Club
• mixed for Silver – lose some benefits and gain others
• negative for Gold (due to the higher fees)
• mixed for Platinum – lose some benefits and gain others
• small positive for Platinum+ even though the threshold is higher there are more options which helps those for whom the current Partner Gold benefit is worthless

It’s official – Ethiopian Airlines has announced they will be joining Star Alliance.

This will significantly improve coverage of Africa by the alliance, which has been a problem area for all 3 alliances (less so for Sky Team which has Kenya Airways).  The intra-Africa network of Ethiopian is very complementary to the current members EgyptAir and South African Airways, which mainly cover countries at the north and south of the continent respectively. In addition there are longhaul flights from Washington, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Bangkok.

WHile a lot can change in the next year or so until the actual entry date in the alliance, I have taken a quick look at their Sheba Miles frequent flyer program. 

Status is blue (3000 miles or 2 flights), Silver (25,000 miles or 20 flights) and Gold (50,000 miles or 40 flights). Status bonus 25% for Silver and 75% for Gold.  200% miles for business class.  Class of service and status bonuses appear to be excluded as elite qualifying miles.

There is a 5,000 mile referral bonus but according to the site it only posts when the new member qualifies for Blue status.   Please contact me if you want to refer me.  There is also currently a 1,000 mile sign-up bonus which posts instantly, but unlike Aegean this does not count as elite qualifying miles.

Edited to add – if you have flown Ethiopian Airlines there is also a survey with 2,000 bonus miles and a chance to win a free flight.

From 1 October American Airlines’ Admirals Clubs in USA will have free booze (spirits, beer and wine) bringing them into line with the international Admirals Clubs and lounges of most other airlines (United’s Red Carpet Club now being a notable exception).

So at last it will mean an end to fiddling around with drink chits (available for non-AA Oneworld elite members on entry).

Germany has introduced an air passenger tax effective immediately for travel dates from 1 January 2011.  (Hat tip John Macilree.)

It works similar to the UK APD tax – rates based on distance to destination, German transits are exempt and certain domestic flights are also exempt (joy rides and flights to some islands).  The initial rates are (1) €8 to 2500km, (2) €25 2500-6000km, (3) €45 6000+ km.  Distances are all based on the location of the capital city and its distance from Frankfurt airport.

Thus category (1) includes all of Europe (incl Russia) plus part of northern Africa and Turkey.  Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Kosovo, Latvia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, and United Kingdom.

Category (2) includes the middle of Africa (incl Egypt), Caucasus region, Middle East region and Asia as far as the stans.  Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgzstan, Lebanon, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.

Category (3) is everywhere else – ie southern Africa, North America, Central America, South America, Asia from China and India eastwards, Australia and the Pacific.

Given the stated intention to produce revenue rising to €4b by 2014, I bet the rates will increase from the initial settings.  Full text of the legislation is available here.

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.

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.

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.