Posted by Seth on May 30, 2008 under Uncategorized | 
The last operating all-premium carrier on the NYC-London route, SilverJet, has ceased operations as of this morning due to an inability to raise additional financing. They had actually announced that they’d reached terms with a group in UAE to provide them with some cash, but when they went to draw on the loan last week the money didn’t show up.
From the announcement on their web site:
Your belief in us was shared by our investors – but regrettably, due to unforeseen circumstances, they were unable to unlock the finance that we needed. As a result, we are very sad to announce that from 30 May 2008, we will cease operations and we are no longer able to honour flight reservations.
And so now all three premium carriers on the NYC-LON route have shut down. The only carrier still operating as an independent in that market is L’Avion which operates a NYC-Paris flight. And before you write off the concept of an all-premium flight operation, it is worth considering that there are some routes that seem to support it just fine. KLM operates Houston-Amsterdam on a 737 in an all-Biz config (contracted service provided by PrivatAir). Singapore Air has converted their A340-500s to all-Biz seats for the SIN-EWR route. Lufthansa has a
similar arrangement to KLM, with PrivatAir operating some flights for them as well. In the Lufthansa case they have actually used the PrivatAir operation to break in some new routes, upgrading them to full-size planes with normal seating arrangements once they have proven the demand. That makes me think that the demand issue is more one of the carriers and the routes, not the business model.
Considering how saturated the NYC-LON market is in seats – thousands daily, many of which are big and comfy – and that the corporate contracts drive more of the business than individual flying, I’m not all that surprised that these carriers struggled. Ironically, choosing less popular routes might have actually let them be successful, as would operating smaller or more efficient planes (like PrivatAir).
Posted by Seth on May 28, 2008 under Uncategorized |
One of my favorite bits of travel is the different dining habits/customs of our destination. When in Spain, dinner is nice and late, following an early round of tapas. Italy has a similar evening/night split for snacks and dining. In Asia, dining on the roadside was very common, either a grab-and-go snack from a vendor or sitting at tiny plastic tables in tiny plastic chairs on the sidewalk in Saigon, slurping up pho while trying not to break anything. I love these experiences, partly for the food and partly because we get to see the culture of those places not just from the displays in a museum.
So I was particularly saddened yesterday walking to the subway on my way home from work. It was about 7:30pm and I passed a family walking cross-town. They were headed east from the Times Square area, seemingly back towards their hotel. Laden with the requisite shopping bags I noticed one in the mix that was rather disappointing – leftovers from The Olive Garden. So at 7:30 they were done with dinner, and it was an Olive Garden dinner.
Don’t get me wrong – I don’t hate the Olive Garden. I like the salad and bread sticks (or I did last time I had them, which was probably 8 years ago), and I’m sure that there are places where it is the best option for “Italian” food that is available. But it pains me to see folks choosing that over one of the dozens of local places that are available in NYC that provide a better meal and a much more realistic view of dining in the city.
While in Paris we had a fabulous dinner at a great little restaurant. My wife claims that it is the best meal she’s ever had, and she’s probably right. But our 8:30pm seating had us in with all the other Americans, though we were at least on the later side of that group. Only as we finished up dining did we see some locals start to trickle in around 10pm. The meal was delicious, but I cannot help but think we got shorted a bit on the experience because of the timing. And I think that this family drew the same short straw with their dinner last night, too.
Maybe it is just because I’m obsessed with food, but I think that making the leap to the local dining culture is as important as anything else you do on a trip. And in New York that means no Olive Garden. Oh, and no licking your fingers in India. That’s a good way to end up on the couch/in the bathroom for two days until the Cipro kicks in, but that’s a whole different story…
Posted by Seth on May 27, 2008 under Uncategorized |
For those of you earthbound by rising ticket prices, you should’ve bought tickets from the Hawaii “sale” yesterday. Or, as a more reasonable solution, check out this screen saver program. It creates a “fly-through” experience on your desktop, providing a collection of simulated animated views out an airplane window. The images are real – the motion is simulated. It looks pretty darn cool.
And for those of you more interested in the underwater part of life, check out some screen caps from the same developer’s not quite yet released “Cubicle Flood” screen saver.
Posted by Seth on May 26, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Looks like a new Hawaii fare war has cropped up. This time the combatants are Continental and United, with each offering sub-$300 fares from the other’s hub(s) to Hawaii. This time around there are some nicer options than the last time.
On Continental the deal is for flights from Los Angeles to Honolulu. On United, however, the fare sale is available from Continental’s Newark and Houston hubs to both Honolulu and Lihue. For those who look to get away when heading to Hawaii, the availability of the fare to LIH is a great option. Plus the United routings are way longer than the Continental option, making the cost per mile somewhat reasonable.
Fares are available through to February ’09, with some blackout dates here and there. I’m booked in for one, and may try for another to top off my bmi account with some UA flying before October rolls around and my count resets for next year.
Update (10:04pm EDT 5.26): Looks like CO has added Philly and Pittsburgh as options, so this is looking better and better.
Posted by Seth on May 23, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Route cuts are getting more and more common these days, but the vast majority of the announced cuts to this point have been in the domestic US market, as that is generally where the fares cannot justify keeping up the service. Delta has made some moves in the past week or so to significantly cut international routes, often considered to be cash generators, not cost centers. Some of the routes being cut are brand new (or not even launched yet), and some are long-standing routes that have been running for years.
Here’s a list of the routes being cut:
Atlanta-Edinburgh
Atlanta-Fort de France
Atlanta-Pointe Pitre
Atlanta-Tobago
JFK-Bucharest
JFK-Dakar-Nairobi
JFK-Gatwick
JFK-Guatemala City
JFK-Lagos
JFK-Orly
JFK-Punta Cana
JFK-Santiago (DR)
JFK-Santo Domingo
I was booked on that JFK-ORY flight but was fortunate to have been able to change to an EWR-AMS-IST routing rather than the JFK-ORY//CDG-IST routing I originally had, so not such an issue for me.
Posted by Seth on May 21, 2008 under Uncategorized |
American Airlines, the last holdout of the legacy carriers in the decision to start charging for checking two bags, has taken the lead in the effort to charge for ALL checked luggage. Faced with a $3 billion expected increase in expenses due to fuel and other costs, AA has chosen to charge $15 for the first bag checked. They will also be increasing other charges, retiring a number of planes (~45-50) and cutting jobs as well as ~10% of their domestic capacity at the end of ’08. The new baggage charge goes into effect on June 15th.
I’d like to think that this won’t affect me personally since I haven’t checked a bag in a couple years now, but with more and more people pushed to pay for their bags I foresee more carrying them on. That means longer lines at security and less available space on the plane. Bad news indeed.
Posted by Seth on May 21, 2008 under TSA |
I don’t hide my contempt for the TSA, at least not particularly well. I’m not really all that impressed by their overall modus operandi, which is to fight the last battle instead of looking forward to the next one. Plus there is the issue of fighting against statistically unlikely events. The chances of something “bad” happening (and I’ll leave it up to you to decide what “bad” means) are generally very low. If you’re looking at a catastrophically “bad” event then the chances are minuscule.
Cory Doctorow writes a lot on civil liberties and similar topics. His column this week focuses on these extremely rare events and how society chooses to focus on them, since we feel we can actually prevent them. In reality, we aren’t preventing them – they were incredibly unlikely to happen anyways. But we can claim credit for preventing the next disaster thanks to our great efforts. The TSA likes to point out that there hasn’t been another hijacking of a plane since they took over screening. But they also haven’t actually stopped anyone from trying, and there is actually no evidence that airport screenings have even dissuaded anyone from planning an attempt. And yet here we are, putting up with ridiculous policies enforced in a haphazard and inconsistent manner, all in the name of preventing some event that almost certainly isn’t coming. It is a sad way to go through life, and one we need to break out of as a society.
Posted by Seth on May 20, 2008 under Uncategorized |
I’m actually not sure that there was a delayed flight, but considering that the flight attendant and pilot were both in jail instead of at the airport, I think the odds are pretty good. Bad things to have written about you:
Just as the helicopter joined the search, police found Bradford hiding behind a shed wearing nothing but a wristwatch and flip-flops, the documents state.
At least they weren’t trying to crash the plane by setting it on fire.
Posted by Seth on May 20, 2008 under Uncategorized |
OpenSkies, the British Airways subsidiary focusing on non-UK flights from the USA has received approval from the US Department of Transportation to begin selling tickets on their planned flights between New York’s JFK airport and Paris’s Orly. They also reiterated their plans to add Brussels and Milan, Amsterdam and Frankfurt to their portfolio as they grow out their routes.
OpenSkies/BA is the first carrier to go after the recent Open Skies treaty negotiated between the US and EU. All the other new traffic has been destined to London’s Heathrow from US-based carriers. And while I get that some people see Heathrow as a “premier” airport for connections and/or travel to London, I don’t see the value in adding another 2000 daily seats there, which is basically what has happened. There are a ton of other cities that can benefit from service and connections, and OpenSkies seems to be the only carrier making a go of it. They’ve also established a code-share agreement with L’Avion, a French all-business class carrier in order to obtain the slots at Paris’s Orly airport. So it looks like they really are moving forward, despite the threat of strikes from BA’s pilot’s union over the new group operating on a different contract and pay scale.
Time will tell, but things are continuing to move forward, despite the threat of strikes and record fuel prices. The folks at BA must really think they’ve got it figured out with this plan.
Posted by Seth on May 19, 2008 under Uncategorized |
A squirrel hopped on to the high voltage power lines that feed Los Angeles International Airport this morning, disrupting the electrical supply to the airport and causing all the air conditioning to shut off. Three hours later the airport maintenance guys were only able to get two of the terminals back up and running. That shouldn’t be a problem on a day where record heat is expected, right??
And the article actually reports that, “The squirrel’s condition was not immediately available.”
Top notch writing. There’s another very badly written sentence in the story as well, but I won’t give them the benefit of reproducing the crap.
Posted by Seth on May 19, 2008 under Uncategorized |
The NYC MTA has released another batch of retired subway cars to be recycled as artificial reefs along the East coast of the United States. As the city’s subway system modernizes the old cars are being stripped down and then sunk off the coast, producing reefs that are expected to draw fish and tourists. This isn’t the first time they’ve done it, but it is a reminder to me that I need to plan a scuba trip to go experience riding the MTA underwater.
