Posted by Seth on January 27, 2012 under Flying, Trip Reports | 
Take a random, tiny airline with a handful of prop planes flying the islands of Hawaii and give them a little bit of encouragement and what happens? Something ridiculous like this. Mokulele is a regional operator in Hawaii, flying a few Cessna aircraft on hops within the islands. And now they’re aiming big, really big.
The company has received approval to operate scheduled charter service from Honolulu to Rockford, Illinois and continuing service to London‘s Stansted airport. Of course, they won’t be doing this with their Cessnas. They are chartering a 767-200 aircraft to run the operations. I cannot imagine that it will be a particularly comfortable in-flight experience, nor a particularly cheap one. We are talking about roughly 18-20 hours wedged into a tight, charter seating configuration with minimal amenities.
Still, the lines and the operator have me pining for a chance. Oh, and I’m going to be in Hawaii anyways at the beginning of June thanks to the inaugural Hawaiian Airlines JFK-HNL service, so I’ve got the opportunity.
Now to see just how ridiculous it prices.
Hat tip to the folks at NYC Aviation for sharing the details on this one.
And, as always, thanks to GCMap.com for the cool maps.
Posted by Seth on January 26, 2012 under News |
There have been a few stories today about the unveiling of the American Airlines 777-300ER cabin interior configuration. Most of them (including Ben’s) have been rather effusive, raving about the new Business and First class cabins. And, no doubt, the press photos of those look pretty nice.
But there is a third photo included in the press release, the shot of the economy cabin:
The good news is that the photo shows a pretty nice individual IFE screen, universal power plugs and a handset to control the IFE, meaning reduced likelihood of someone tapping on the back of your seat the whole flight. And those are all good things, but there’s one really big bad thing, too. The seating configuration appears to be incredibly tight. Based on this point of view it appears that the cabin will have a 3-4-3 configuration, bringing American in line with Emirates and Air France for offering one of the most cramped coach cabin configurations in modern aviation. The aisle actually looks ridiculously narrow, too, making me wonder if this is even a real shot of the cabin, but if it is that looks like a VERY uncomfortable coach experience.
Some back of the napkin math based on the size of the power ports and the representation of things in the image suggests that the seats are about 17" wide, maybe a tiny bit less. That’s quite a bit tighter than their current economy products, especially compared to their current long-haul configurations. And they’re articulating – or "slidey" – seats, which means the legroom gets worse when reclined. Ouch.
There was some suggestion that there is going to be a "Premium Economy" product rolled out as well, but no details on that in these photos or in the release. That leaves me a smidge skeptical. Adding that to match their oneworld alliance partners would make sense in many ways. It is also the fastest growing segment of seating in the industry. Then again, when starting from zero relatively recently, it is easy to make "fastest growing" show up. It would be a first for a US-based carrier, so it is worth keeping an eye on.
The premium cabins look quite nice. Matching Cathay Pacific for the business class seat is particularly nice. But most passengers are going to be stuck in those economy seats and it looks painful. I hope it is better than that makes it appear.
It also seems that American has decided in the past 8 weeks to shift the planes from the originally announced service to London, putting them on the Dallas-Sao Paulo route instead. That’s a pretty inefficient utilization plan for the newest, nicest, planes, so they must think they’re going to drive some serious premiums on the route. Good luck.
Posted by Seth on January 26, 2012 under Flying, frequent flyer, News |
Today’s quarterly earnings conference call from JetBlue had a few interesting bits of information that was unveiled, giving insight into future developments that can be expected from the carrier. The company reported a profit for both Q4 2011 and the full year, but there are also some very real challenges that the company is facing in 2012. As one person said on the call, "The honeymoon we enjoyed prior to this period is over."
A lot of the news which I found most interesting was around the "Even More" products that the company sells. What started with Even More Legroom seats offering additional pitch in the cabin has expanded to Even More Space (offering pre-boarding to ensure overhead bin space) and Even More Speed for access to priority security lines in many airports. This service started in 15 airports and recently expanded to 9 more. And selling the service resulted in $120MM of incremental revenue for the company in 2011. That’s a huge number, more than 20% of the total incremental that the company saw in the year.
Given the high revenue realized from the offering, it is not surprising that the company is expanding the number of seats for which it can be purchased. Specifically, the company confirmed that they will be adding 8 more seats to their Embraer E90 planes in the Q2/Q3 timeframe this year. Full details aren’t yet available on the announcement (seems to be a bit of a pattern there lately) but a quick review of the seat map suggests that they can get away with sliding a couple rows behind the exit row around and not really have to change too much else around, so long as they’re willing to keep the 34" pitch that the E90 has. If they go for the 38" that the A320s have they could also do that behind the exit row with minimal impact to customers, changing the other seats in that section from 33" to 32" pitch. Either way, it looks to be a positive change for the company to make more EML seats available.
Beyond the Even More bits, the honeymoon comment piqued my curiosity. The company had a huge growth spurt a few years back, taking on a bunch of new airplanes in a very short timeframe. Those acquisitions are now hitting the magic point in the life of an airplane known as a "C-Check." The maintenance costs for the C-Check and engine restorations on the aircraft are significant and the number of planes the company has going through that process in the next couple years is quite high. The result is a spike in maintenance costs. JetBlue has worked with their maintenance suppliers to mitigate the costs somewhat, but it will still be a challenge for the company in the coming years. And that’s all with a fleet that is still only 6.1 years old on average with a maximum age of 12 years.
There was mention of the new Hawaiian Airlines partnership, but no additional details shared there. And it was suggested that 5-7 new partners will be coming online in 2012, with links at Boston and Orlando likely rather than just at New York City. I’m betting on JAL being a partner via Boston with their new service there starting soon, but who knows.
Other than those bits, not a whole lot of interest. Plenty of accounting mumbo jumbo but nothing that seems especially significant at this point. And there are still a number of open questions, like where the company stands on rolling out additional benefits for their most frequent customers or many of the partnership details with Hawaiian. I guess patience will have to suffice.
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Posted by Seth on January 25, 2012 under Hotel, Review, Trip Reports |
Booking a hotel on the morning of arrival can limit the options available somewhat. That said, I’ve actually been pretty lucky in general with such an approach, scanning a list of available properties and sussing out a quality hotel at a bargain price. That’s just what I discovered at the Hotel Eurostars Berlin. A beautiful, brand new property with a comfortable room adjacent to the Friedrichstrasse train station in the heart of Berlin and it was less than $100 for the night and earned points in the Welcome Rewards program from hotels.com.
I tend to avoid hotel chains a bit, but this was an exception to that. Partly because it isn’t a chain I had ever heard of and partly because the reason I avoid them – generally overpriced – didn’t apply. I’m glad I did as the hotel was near perfect for my needs.
The property is new construction which opened in April 2011. It is clean and fresh, with a relatively modern vibe. If they installed dimmer switches in the halls and upped the music levels in the lobby I could almost see it being a W hotel. It isn’t quite that trendy, which is a good thing in my book, but the décor definitely has that vibe in some ways.
The room itself was great. Plenty of space to move around (this was definitely the largest room I had through the week in Europe) and the bed was quite comfortable. The TV offered up a pretty good selection of channels and the desk had plenty of outlets, though strangely there was no chair. Not sure if that was an oversight or on purpose. I just used the chair in the corner and it was fine, but that was definitely an interesting discovery.
The bathroom was relatively huge and nicely appointed, particularly the shower.
Add in complimentary WiFi – the front desk clerk asked how many devices I had so she could give me the correct number of vouchers – and being directly adjacent to a major train station only one stop down the line from the Hbf and I was quite happy with pretty much everything about the place. It served as a great base of operations. Walking to the Brandenburg Gate area was about 10 minutes and connections to the TXL Airport Bus at the Hbf were incredibly easy. That’s not to say I didn’t get lost in the Hbf for about 30 minutes on my arrival, but the departure was much less a problem.
Overall, I’d recommend this hotel without hesitation, even for folks who aren’t quite as "aggressive" in their hotel budget efforts. It is a full service hotel in a prime location at a very reasonable price.
Posted by Seth on January 25, 2012 under Dining, Flying, Review, Trip Reports |
A trip from Stockholm to Istanbul shouldn’t take 4 days. That said, it can if you want it to thanks to the joys of airline scheduling and the rather impressive route network of Star Alliance within Europe, I managed to schedule just such a trip, with stops along to way to see friends and also three new (to me) cities. First on that list was Berlin and the flight down was on SAS.
The flight was relatively quick and uneventful. I actually remember very little of it thanks, in part, to a rocking hangover. But nothing really happened that was at all special. I was hungry so I bought the chicken salad snack box during the flight (all food AND beverages were BoB only!). The Swedish version of pasta salad isn’t really my thing, but it wasn’t bad. The chicken and the lettuce part of the salad were pretty good. I’d call it overpriced in general, though not really so bad once you figure in both the Scandinavia and airplane markups.
The most memorable bit of the flight for me was the final approach into Berlin’s Tegel airport. It was right a sunset and that let to some great views of the suburbs, Tegel airport and the general area as we made our way down.
Like most flights, this one wasn’t really all that special, either good or bad. That’s just the way I like them.
Tags: Berlin, Dining, EuroHopping, Flying, in flight, Photos, review, Star Alliance, Stockholm, Sweden, Trip Report
Posted by Seth on January 24, 2012 under Flying, News |
Spirit Airlines is protesting the new fare rules requiring full disclosure of all costs for a flight, claiming that the government is requiring them to hide the taxes from their customers. And they’re doing it in style. Their main homepage now shows this when you visit:
If you click the link offered you get this:
Thanks to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s latest fare rules, Spirit must now HIDE the government’s taxes and fees in your fares.
If the government can hide taxes in your airfares, then they can carry out their hidden agenda and quietly increase their taxes. (Yes, such talks are already underway.)
And if they can do it to the airline industry, what’s next?
As the transparency leader and most consumer-friendly airline, Spirit DOES NOT support this new USDOT mandate. We believe the better form of transparency is to break out costs so customers know exactly what they’re buying.
The scary thing here is that I almost actually agree with them.
It is true that, by requiring the big, final price number to be displayed to the customer the actual tax burden is obfuscated. So they’re not really wrong there. But that obfuscation also prevents all sorts of other fees from being hidden, the sorts of fees that Spirit is famous for. And that’s a good thing.
Plus, at the end of the day, most customers care much less about how much of the fare is for taxes and how much is for the airline. A $300 ticket is a $300 debit on my credit card. Whether the airline keeps $150 or $250 of that doesn’t skew whether I think it is a good price for the trip.
Besides, there is nothing stopping Spirit from showing the full breakdown underneath the all-in price. That way they can continue to be a "transparency leader and most consumer-friendly airline" as they always have.
Posted by Seth on January 24, 2012 under Hotel, Review, Trip Reports |
Like many of my stays these days my goal in Stockholm was to find a room which balances a convenient location and decent price with being clean and functional. I didn’t have too much to go on in terms of guidance, other than knowing that the western-branded chains were asking far more than I normally like to pay for a night so I went to my usual resource, hotels.com, and popped in my dates.
Serving up a room for two at about $100/night, Frey’s Hotel passed the sniff test and I booked, hoping for the best. The location was great, directly across from the train and bus station and a block from the metro entrance.
The room was small. There’s no getting around that. One of the beds was more like a couch converted to have a mattress instead of cushions, but it was basically the same as the other bed so no big deal there. And there was enough room to move around in the room and to stow our bags, though not much more than that. Not quite a shoebox, but we certainly wouldn’t be hosting parties in there.
The bathroom was a bit more cramped but, again, they made it work. The shower doors swing out of the way when not in use to allow a bit of room to move around though when actually using the shower there isn’t a ton of space.
The room rate also included a buffet breakfast which was pretty substantial. A variety of meats, cheeses and breads were available. There were also eggs and breakfast meats. I’m not a huge breakfast guy but I definitely hit the buffet hard our first morning to fortify for the long day and to hedge against the high food prices in Stockholm. The second morning I managed to sleep through breakfast (and almost through checkout) thanks to a great night out, but I’m assuming the meal service was quite similar.
Overall, the room matched our needs pretty well. I got a few points in my Welcome Rewards account and saved a chunk of cash over the other options. I also saw two rooms at the Sheraton (about 3-5 minutes down the block) and they were certainly a bit larger and a bit nicer, but they were also quite a bit more expensive (though I didn’t run through my list of corporate rates to compare completely) and I’m not so sure it was worth the extra cash. Plus, a bunch of friends were staying there so I got to crash the party in the lounge one night anyways.
Posted by Seth on January 24, 2012 under points |
Here’s the thing about marketing – it only works when you’re actually able to effectively convince someone that they need to buy what you’re selling. And one of the first steps in that process should be to actually understand what you’re selling and how much it costs. Apparently the folks sending emails at OnePass missed that memo this week, at least if the email I just received is any indication.
It is amazing, really, that 255,712 miles might only just be enough points to make it to select cities in Asia. They don’t even mention which cabin of service, but that is actually enough for two business class tickets to anywhere in Asia. I guess if you "select" all cities served by Star Alliance of them that still counts as "select cities" in their world?? Oh, and it is also more than enough for a trip to Australia or New Zealand, unless I’m flying up front at the rule-buster levels; no need to actually buy more.
It is crap like this that gives marketing a bad name.
Posted by Seth on January 24, 2012 under Trip Reports |
Stockholm’s city hall, situated on the waterfront more or less in the center of town, presents an image of great history and heritage. This belies its real age – only about 100 years old – but the work is impressive. The building is used to conduct the business of the city, of course, with the 101 seat legislative room shown off as part of the tour. But that is, at best, the fourth or fifth more impressive part of the building.
Vying for that top honor are a few other rooms. There is the Blue room, so named because the architect originally wanted to have the walls covered in blue plaster. This is also the largest room, built to look like an Italian piazza, with columns and arches surrounding the great space. The original plans also called for the room to be open at the top so that visitors could enjoy the space under the night sky, however that was scrapped one they realized the weather was not particularly cooperative on that front. This is also the room where the Nobel banquet is held each year.
Adjacent to the Blue room is the Gold room. This one actually lives up to its name, with the walls covered in mosaic that includes gold leaf in the tiles. The history of the city is told through the mosaics, including a massive display at one end showing Stockholm sitting at the crossing between East and West, with the US flag, Eiffel tower and a Native American headdress representing the west while elephants and Istanbul represent the East. It is a bit of a stretch, but I give them credit for trying.
My personal favorite room holds a number of tapestries in it. The cloth works are beautiful and the room is built specifically for them, with the size of the recesses where they hang perfectly sized. The room is also used each Saturday by the city to conduct civil marriage ceremonies. The ceremonies are quick – the long version is about 5 minutes – and they are something of an assembly line process, but they are also open to anyone who signs up (there is a bit of a waiting list to get a slot) and the setting is quite lovely.
As for the council room itself, it looks a lot like most other parliament rooms, though the ceiling is a bit different. The blue background is supposed to represent the open sky (similar to the blue room) and the beams across the top have a passing resemblance to an inverted ship, supposedly linking to the Viking history of the area, though there is some debate as to whether that was actually part of the design or not. Either way, it is pretty.
There is a bit of Nobel history also on display, mostly focusing on the gala dinner held each year honoring the award winners. A full place setting is on display and I must say that there is a whole lot of flatware involved for just one meal.
I was very impressed by the tapestries, and the Gold and Blue rooms were neat to see. Not the most amazing tour I’ve ever been on, but a good way to pass an hour or so while in town.
Posted by Seth on January 23, 2012 under frequent flyer, News, points |
The partnership with Hawaiian Airlines marks a number of firsts for JetBlue. While all the details are still not yet available there is enough information in the press release about the partnership to identify these developments, all of which seem to be quite positive.
For starters, Hawaiian will be, subject to government approval, adding their code to some JetBlue flights. None of the previously established interline agreements have included such a marketing offer. This is not particularly significant from an operational perspective but for pricing reasons this should allow fares to be sold that are not necessarily additive via the connecting city. That’s a big step for JetBlue and a great benefit for the customers in terms of pricing.
The other major first is that the deal will permit not only accrual of points in both programs – on all flights, unlike the limited partnership with American Airlines – but it will also permit redemption on all flights:
Hawaiian and JetBlue have reached a preliminary agreement to allow members of each carrier’s frequent flyer program to earn and redeem loyalty points or miles for travel on either carrier. Under this agreement JetBlue’s TrueBlue members will soon be able to accrue points on any Hawaiian-operated flight, while HawaiianMiles members will be able to earn miles on any JetBlue-operated flights. Similarly, frequent fliers will be able to redeem their points or miles for travel on either carrier’s network, bringing new, much-requested destinations to each program’s loyal members.
The details on earning and redemption rates are scarce at this point. And the two programs are quite different, with Hawaiian operating a more traditional model (points earnt by distance flown; redemption calculated by zones) while both earning and redemption rates in the JetBlue TrueBlue program are more tightly tied to the fare on the flight. Obviously there will need to be some reconciliation between these two schemes along the way.
The arrangement also marks the first time that a JetBlue partner will operate from the JetBlue terminal at JFK airport. There is at least one gate in T5 which can support the Airbus A330 aircraft that Hawaiian will be flying in to New York City, though it remains to be seen what the impact is on the waiting areas with a 294-passenger aircraft using the space; the JetBlue A320s max out at 150 passengers.
Still a number of questions to be answered, but lots of positive developments so far.
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Posted by Seth on January 23, 2012 under Trip Reports |
I actually generally enjoy touring cemeteries. They offer a great view of history and also are generally quite peaceful places to visit. A short ride on the metro south of Stockholm sits the city’s most famous cemetery, Skogskyrogården. The space was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 thanks to its unique landscape and architecture and given my mild obsession with visiting such sites, this seemed like a decent way to spend a couple hours. The cemetery was built in the early 1900s so the history isn’t particularly extensive, but the serenity and beauty of the space make up for that a bit.
The landscape is quite beautiful. The entire space is not occupied with graves (though there are about 100,000 on the grounds and about 2,000 funerals held annually) so there is also open space available to wander through and vistas from which the surrounding areas can be viewed. The space is also built to take advantage of the natural space, with the forests integrated into the plan rather than cut away to make room for the site.
And, perhaps most impressive, the individual graves are quite lovely. The density is high (way more markers than there is space for bodies that they are marking) so I’m not entirely sure how that works out but many of the markers are also quite well maintained, showing the love of the current generation for previous ones.
It was a cold, gray day, with snow on the ground. Walking the paths cut through the trees and seeing the occasional candle lit marking a memorial was incredibly beautiful.
There are a number of chapels scattered around the grounds. These are only available for visiting as part of the guided tours which do not run in the dead of winter but we sill could peek in the windows of a couple of them. I particularly enjoyed the Heliga korsets kapell but the others didn’t really do much for me, at least of what I saw.
After a couple hours out in the cold the beauty of the space was outweighed by the numbness in my fingers and toes. Plus, the sun had set and it was getting dark in a hurry, with not much in the way of light available in the cemetery itself. It was time to head back into town.
I’m not entirely sure why the Skogskyrogården is considered so special as to rate a designation as a World Heritage Site but it was enjoyable to walk around for a bit. And without that designation I almost certainly wouldn’t have seen it, so I suppose that’s something.
