Posted by Seth on May 10, 2012 under Flying, News | 
Odds are you don’t know the answer to this question. I know that I have no certain answer to it. But I do know that the most recent revisions to it carry tremendous potential impact on passengers, travel agents and airlines. The most recent rules took effect only earlier this year, meaning there haven’t been many opportunities for test cases. It looks like a pretty significant test case has just shown up. The above referenced cite is the rule the DoT uses to handle unfair and deceptive advertising practices. While it is focused on truly misleading or bait-and-switch actions where one price is advertised and then the fare changes after a ticket is purchased, it also appears to have potential impact on mistake fares.
Here’s the text of 49 U.S.C. 41712 § 399.88(a) :
It is an unfair and deceptive practice within the meaning of 49 U.S.C. 41712 for any seller of scheduled air transportation within, to or from the United States, or of a tour (i.e., a combination of air transportation and ground or cruise accommodations), or tour component (e.g., a hotel stay) that includes scheduled air transportation within, to or from the United States, to increase the price of that air transportation, tour or tour component to a consumer, including but not limited to an increase in the price of the seat, an increase in the price for the carriage of passenger baggage, or an increase in an applicable fuel surcharge, after the air transportation has been purchased by the consumer, except in the case of an increase in a government-imposed tax or fee. A purchase is deemed to have occurred when the full amount agreed upon has been paid by the consumer.
Airlines have, with some frequency, cited clauses in their Contract of Carriage when they load mistake fares into the GDSes and sell them. Korean Air canceled a whole bunch of flights to Palau last year and British Airways did the same to customers who were ticketed to India (self included) prior to that. In each case the airline claimed that the fares were simple and obvious errors and therefore they could absolve themselves of their obligations simply by refunding the charge.
The DoT seems to feel otherwise these days. In fact, this specific type of case is directly addressed in their Second Final Rule on Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections FAQ:
Does the prohibition on post-purchase price increases in section 399.88(a) apply in the situation where a carrier mistakenly offers an airfare due to a computer problem or human error and a consumer purchases the ticket at that fare before the carrier is able to fix the mistake?
Section 399.88(a) states that it is an unfair and deceptive practice for any seller of scheduled air transportation within, to, or from the United States, or of a tour or tour component that includes scheduled air transportation within, to, or from the United States, to increase the price of that air transportation to a consumer after the air transportation has been purchased by the consumer, except in the case of a government-imposed tax or fee and only if the passenger is advised of a possible increase before purchasing a ticket. A purchase occurs when the full amount agreed upon has been paid by the consumer. Therefore, if a consumer purchases a fare and that consumer receives confirmation (such as a confirmation email and/or the purchase appears on their credit card statement or online account summary) of their purchase, then the seller of air transportation cannot increase the price of that air transportation to that consumer, even when the fare is a “mistake.”
A contract of carriage provision that reserves the right to cancel such ticketed purchases or reserves the right to raise the fare cannot legalize the practice described above. The Enforcement Office would consider any contract of carriage provision that attempts to relieve a carrier of the prohibition against post-purchase price increase to be an unfair and deceptive practice in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712.
Seems like good news for consumers, right? Well, that depends on whether the airlines are actually held to the rule. Both Korean Air and ANA, among others, are now facing just such a question after a “mistake” fare for travel from Burma/Myanmar to pretty much anywhere in the world was available last week. The “mistake” came about due to a currency devaluation, essentially causing a few zeroes to disappear from fares. When just a few were being purchased here and there it was no big deal. Once the deal was widely publicized, however, hundreds were purchased and the airlines realized they had a problem.
They managed to pull most of the fares pretty quickly though some were still available several days later. But what to do about the hundreds of tickets already issued? For obvious reasons the airlines want to cancel them; in many cases the costs to cater for the passengers, much less carry them, are greater than the fare paid. The airlines are going to lose money on these fares. But does that give them the right to unilaterally cancel the flights?
At least for now, the carriers seem to be erring on the side of “Yes” for that question. Both Korean and ANA have contacted the booking agents and most tickets booked at the mistake rate have been canceled. But that doesn’t mean the DoT actually approves of such an approach. Korean seems to be taking the approach that since they never changed the fare and instead simply canceled the tickets they are not in violation of the rule. ANA has similarly responded that the “genuinely regret the circumstances that prompted [a complaint]” and that they are “now in contact with the appropriate agencies and departments.” Vayama, one of the booking agents which was party to many of the tickets issued has claimed, in part,
The DOT Ruling was set up in part to prevent unfair and unethical business practices associated with pricing on the part of airlines… [T]he cause of the dramatic decrease in fares out of Rangoon was not the result of unfair or unethical business practices on the part of the airlines.
… Although we have no way of knowing at this time how the DOT will rule on this case, we are confident that the actions taken were NOT in an effort to unfairly or unethically impact any customers.
All three seem to be of the opinion that, because it was truly an accident that they should be excused from the rule. I can certainly understand the position of the airlines in this case. Maybe they shouldn’t be held responsible for a country devaluing its currency by a few decimal points. Then again, they’re the ones who publish the fares and they’re the ones who have control over such things, so maybe they should be held accountable. After all, what is the threshold for really an accident versus not?
One thing is certain: the DoT has quite a doozy of a first test for their revised rule. They’ve shown little sympathy with respect to fines handed out relative to the 3-hour tarmac rule since that went into force so perhaps that is a hint as to their consumer-friendly leanings these days.
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Posted by Seth on April 19, 2012 under News |
As part of their bankruptcy restructuring American Airlines will be closing four Admiral’s Club locations, the company has announced. The closings are happening reasonably quickly – one at the end of June and three at the end of July – and in three of the four locations there is not a partner lounge alternative on offer.
The lounge in Panama City, Panama will be closing at the end of June. With only four daily departures, all on 737-800s, apparently the necessary volume of premium customers to justify the cost of maintaining the facility wasn’t there. United Airlines and Copa jointly operate a lounge in Panama City still but that isn’t affiliated with American or its partners. No word yet on whether premium cabin passengers will be invited to use that lounge but it seems unlikely.
The July closings include the lounges at Dulles, Kansas City and Santo Domingo. Similar to Panama City, the flight frequencies do not appear to support the lounges. At Dulles there is still a British Airways Terraces Lounge so passengers can take advantage of those facilities. Santa Domingo has a lounge operated by oneworld partner Iberia which should be able to handle some overflow of customers, depending on operating hours. American currently operates the only lounge in Kansas City so there are no other options for passengers looking for such a facility.
On top of the announcement of the closing of a call center in Tucson this is not a particularly positive week for the AMR workforce.
Posted by Seth on April 6, 2012 under frequent flyer, News, points |
Now that the necessary government approvals have been received for the absorption of bmi into IAG, parent of British Airways, the company is confirming its exit date from Star Alliance. In just two weeks’ time – April 20th is the target date – bmi will withdraw from the global alliance group as it transitions into the IAG fold and the sale is completed. The company released a FAQ on its Facebook page with some information.
Nothing particularly surprising in the FAQ, really. They note that existing award reservations will be honored, which is only appropriate. They have also stated that they are working to extend some alliance benefits for members, even after they leave the group:
Q. After completion will I still be able to use my benefits on other Star Alliance carriers?
bmi is working with Star Alliance member carriers to ensure that once bmi begins to withdraw from Star Alliance there are opportunities for Diamond Club members to continue to receive certain benefits on the Star Alliance network for an agreed period of time. We will update you as soon as more information becomes available.
This would likely apply to lounge and baggage benefits for top-tier elites, a useful set of benefits to keep as existing tickets are cycled out of the system. Cutting those benefits when they existed at the time of ticketing would be most unfortunate for passengers.
Oh, and Virgin Atlantic is still considering an appeal of the approval, though it seems unlikely to have any impact.
Anyone have a suggestion for what to do with 58K Diamond Club points??
Posted by Seth on March 23, 2012 under Review, Trip Reports, Wandering Aramean Travel Tools |
The Brussels airport terminals are split into three distinct areas. There is a Schengen zone (Terminal A) and two non-Schengen zones. One (Terminal T) is used for the Brussels Air flights to Africa while the other (Terminal B) is used for all the other flights that are non-Schengen. There are lounges in all three areas, depending on the carrier and its destinations. And, like most airports, the quality of the lounge depends greatly on the airline operating it.
For my flight to Montreal we were in the B terminal and mostly were set up in the Brussels Air lounge there. The lounge is a bit dated, but not horrible, really. It does get quite crowded in the morning with all the North America departures leaving around the same time. We did manage to find a few seats together and some room to relax, but it took effort. The snack options in the morning are pastries, cereal and juices. There is also alcohol available self-serve. For me, it seemed that the most appropriate breakfast was the chocolate croissant (the one from the grocery out in the terminal was better) and a Leffe Brown. Turns out I was right; the flavors went pretty well together.
Being the inquisitive guy that I am, I also took a look at the other lounges available in the terminal. There are three others, Jet Airways, British Airways and a third party Diamond Lounge.
I didn’t visit the Diamond lounge this trip but I was there last time I passed through. It has showers and a broader selection of snacks than the Brussels Air lounge. It is also the Priority Pass lounge in the terminal for folks who have that access. Nice enough, but nothing particularly special.
The British Airways lounge at BRU was surprisingly nice and quite spacious. It happened to be empty while I was there which didn’t hurt that effect but it appeared to be about the same size as the Brussels Air lounge and they have many fewer potential passengers at any point in time. The décor was reasonably modern and the food and drink selection was comparable to the Brussels Air lounge.
The Jet Airways lounge in Brussels was quite nice. They were apparently closing up as the flights both to North America and to India had all departed (though the hours on the website suggest it is open all day) but I managed to walk through quickly before they locked the doors. It makes sense that it is so nice, given that Brussels is a hub for them and that they focus more on service in many ways than other carriers. It had the best food selection of the lounges in the terminal and also more different seating areas and space than the others.
Finally, while I didn’t visit it this trip, I figured I’d share a couple photos from the Sunrise lounge. This is the Brussels Air lounge newly built in Terminal T for serving the Africa departures and it is quite nice, on par with the Jet Airways lounge in B. Given the opportunity, it is very much worth a visit.
Posted by Seth on February 24, 2012 under Flying, News |
As noted on AirlineRoute.net, Delta will be cutting two London routes this spring, Atlanta – Gatwick and Miami – Heathrow. The final eastbound flights will be on 16 April 2012 with the final return the following day.
Like most carriers, Delta launched their London service into Gatwick in 1978 because they had no rights to fly into Heathrow. With the cutting of this Atlanta route the carrier is ending their service at that station, having moved all service to Heathrow.
The Miami route is a more recent development. It was added in March 2011 as part of the approval of the BA/AA/IB ATI and their required divestiture of routes in certain markets, namely Boston and Miami. Delta picked up both of those routes and apparently the Miami route isn’t so profitable for them.
It is hard to know if this is really good or bad news for the London-USA market. Certainly the carrier cutting routes suggests that the market is soft in some areas, though it can also be seen that the the trimming of inventory is going to tighten the market and increase fares.
Related Posts:
Posted by Seth on February 13, 2012 under Flying, News |
OpenSkies, the British Airways subsidiary operating all-Business Class configured 757s between Paris and New York City is no longer an all-Business Class carrier. The company has announced that, effective June 16, they will be adding “Eco Class” to go with their Biz Seat and Biz Bed products.
As part of this change the Biz Seat product will be renamed Prem Plus and see the recline of those seats reduced to 130 degrees from the current 140. There will also be a reduction in the number of seats in that section, to 22 28 from the current 40-72.
The total number number of passengers on the 757 will increase to 114, still far below the ~175 that most other carrier operate the aircraft with on transatlantic flights. And all passengers will receive personal in-flight entertainment via tablets. Plus, a bit of back-of napkin math suggests that the pitch in the Eco section will be about 33″ which is a step up from most coach products across the pond. No doubt that the experience will still be pretty good.
But it is a definite retreat from the all-premium product position that the company had previously embraced. Apparently the yields just aren’t there.
Posted by Seth on February 9, 2012 under frequent flyer, points, Wandering Aramean Travel Tools |
Since the introduction of the Avios loyalty program from British Airways and Iberia there has been much gnashing of teeth, frustration and – occasionally – excitement about the redemption options that the program offers. Short-haul flights, in particular, can be a tremendous value, as can regional flights within Europe and even a few long-haul flights where a non-stop routing is available. When a connection is involved, however, the points required can span quite a range meaning that identifying the smarter connection point is more of a challenge and not something that British Airways does a very good job of publishing on their website.
Good thing I like building tools to help clarify frequent flier program data like this. Welcome to the Avios Redemption Calculator.
Put in your preferred city pair and the tool will search connections based on published routes and the Avios award schedule and spit out various non-stop and single connection routing options and their costs.
It is definitely interesting to see how the cost can vary by more than 100%, depending on the routing chosen.
The tool is still somewhat a work in progress as I’ve got a few more bits I want to add to it, especially more partner carriers, but the base functionality is up and running and pretty solid in my initial testing. Give it a try and see what you can come up with.
Posted by Seth on January 18, 2012 under Dining, Flying, Review, Trip Reports |
By the time we got to London we had been on the go roughly 34 hours. Sure, a decent amount of that time was spent in the glorious confines of Emirates‘ A380 First Class Suites but we were still pretty beat. The last flight of our vacation was all that remained – British Airways from Heathrow to JFK – in first class on the 747-400. When booking the flights I did my best to ensure that we would have the new first class product so as to hopefully experience the best that BA has to offer. When we got home I actually had to go back and double check to make sure that the product we saw was the new one; the experience itself wasn’t defining enough that I knew.
Yes, I had just come off of Emirates and their Suite so I’m sure that my point of reference is somewhat skewed. And I’m a bit disappointed that we couldn’t get a spa treatment in the Concorde Room lounge, though that is in part due to our short connection and my not pre-booking because of uncertainty with the connection times. But the seat itself was not particularly impressive, especially not for a first class product.
There is no doubt that the seat is good on privacy, but it isn’t particularly large. And, unlike other first class seats I’ve flown in, the British Airways seat tapers somewhat dramatically at the foot. Not enough to be uncomfortable to fly in, but I’m also not nearly the tallest or widest passenger they’re going to be dealing with; I’m actually probably smaller than average for the F cabin.
On the plus side, the soft product on board was incredibly good. I slept nearly the entire flight in the quite comfy PJs I was offered so I didn’t really eat or drink much, but the bits I had were very tasty. At the top of my list was one of the appetizers, a seafood dish that was delicious and also quite nicely presented.
I’ll give a bit of a pass on the lounge bit as missing the spa treatment was at least partially my fault. That said, the quality of the food served was, well, British. Not bad, but also not particularly awesome or inspired. And the soft product was very, very nice, definitely first class. But the hard product on board – the seat – really was a bit of a let down. I understand that the new seat – particularly the iFE options are better than the old one. To me that’s more a comment on how bad the old one was than an endorsement of the new product.
At this point I’d say that there are a number of business class products that I’d probably take over the BA first option, unless BA is pricing first at the business class price. In this case it was more or less free as an add-on to the Emirates fare home from Sri Lanka so I’m not really upset about it, but I was definitely expecting better from BA. I literally had to check after the flight to figure out if I really was on the new product. That’s probably not the impression they’re trying to leave with customers.
On the plus side, snagging seat 1K and getting to look out the front of the plane was pretty awesome.
Tags: A380, Airbus, Boeing, British Airways, Dining, Emirates, in flight, London, NYE2011, Photos, review, Trip Report
Posted by Seth on December 22, 2011 under frequent flyer, News |
A binding agreement has been signed regarding the sale of Lufthansa subsidiary bmi to IAG (the consortium which owns British Airways and Iberia). The sale is still subject to regulatory clearance – no small issue considering the impact on slots at Heathrow – but the two companies expect the deal to close in Q1 2012. Lufthansa expects the impact of the sale to be off their books by the end of next year while IAG will spread the costs of the acquisition and restructuring over a three year period.
IAG only wants the mainline operations of the bmi portfolio. As part of the deal Lufthansa is still shopping the bmi regional and bmibaby units to other potential suitors. If the bmibaby brand is not unloaded there are "significant" price reductions to be accounted for. And Lufthansa is still on the hook for the pension plan of bmi employees. At the same time, IAG will receive up to 56 additional slot pairs at Heathrow, further growing their position as the largest operator there.
IAG CEO Willie Walsh offered up the following comments:
Buying bmi’s mainline business gives IAG a unique opportunity to grow at Heathrow, one of our key hub airports. Using the slot portfolio more efficiently provides the option to launch new longhaul routes to key trading nations while supporting our broad domestic and shorthaul network.
This deal is good news for the UK as we will maintain a comprehensive domestic schedule including Belfast. Our plans to expand our longhaul network would guarantee growth by making Britain better able to compete on a global scale. It will also help maximise Heathrow’s position as a world class hub airport.
Customers will benefit from access to new destinations, more convenient schedules, enhanced frequent flyer benefits and greater investment than had been possible for loss-making bmi.
Sure, maintaining the schedule is easy. The real question is what fares will look like without competition on the routes. It is rare that losing a competitor in a market makes things better for the customer.
I really do need to redeem the last of those Diamond Club points quite quickly.
Announcements from IAG and Lufthansa.
Posted by Seth on December 19, 2011 under Flying, News |
Millions of dollars have been spent to learn the answer to this question. Thus far, all indications are that it is not possible. But that doesn’t stop folks from trying. Apparently there is another billionaire out there looking to become a millionaire, because someone is apparently going to give it a another shot.
Odyssey Airlines is the supposed name of the upstart which is expected to launch operations between London‘s City Airport and New York City‘s JFK with a Bombardier CSeries jet in an all business class configuration. This service would compete directly with the twice daily service offered by British Airways on Airbus A318 jets, with the added advantage of not requiring the fuel stop in Ireland on the west-bound leg.
The operation would launch in 2014 or 2015, assuming the timeline for the aircraft deliveries doesn’t slip. Oh, and there is apparently no one out there who actually works for Odyssey Airlines, so none of these details can actually be confirmed, but that hasn’t stopped many from reporting on the potential.
Breaking into the aviation market is horribly difficult and expensive. Doing it on one of the most heavily trafficked routes – NYC-LON – where there are something like 30 daily frequencies split between at least 5 carriers is even more challenging. And doing it in an uncertain market where fuel costs are significantly higher than they were last time a couple upstarts tried to break in is almost certifiably crazy. On the plus side, the new aircraft will have lower operating costs, but that doesn’t come anywhere close to guaranteeing success.
Also of interest is that the company involved has supposedly ordered 10 aircraft. That’s way too many to operate only on the NYC route so it can be presumed that there might be other routes considered as well. I can think of a few others in the same range that would be likely candidates, but they are also heavily contested and there isn’t a whole lot of room on the margins to make it work.
Don’t get me wrong – I hope it actually launches and that I get a chance to fly on Odyssey. But, much like Maxjet, SilverJet and eos before them, I don’t expect that opportunity to last long.
Related posts:
Posted by Seth on November 20, 2011 under Flying, Trip Reports |
I like to think that I have a pretty solid grasp of how revenue and inventory management work together within the airlines to control the price of a flight. I understand fare rules, inventory allocations and routing rules and I can generally figure out what’s going on. Heck, I’ve even built tools that help find the information and distill it to simple numbers. So I was incredibly surprised this weekend when I went to purchase a few "local" flights for our New Years trip to South Asia. Needless to say, the numbers were not playing nice.
I got an award flight into India using my OnePass miles from Continental and a revenue ticket on the return from Colombo, Sri Lanka on a combination of Emirates and British Airways. That part was relatively easy, though I did run into some issues booking one of the return options (now since discarded) via EgyptAir from Bangkok. But that was nothing compared to the crazy I experienced trying to buy the domestic flights in India and the short hop from Chennai to Colombo.
Here’s a screen shot from the ITA pricing engine for one of the flights we wanted:
Pretty simple, really. Based on that we should have been able to get the flight for about $200 without much trouble, right? So I started checking around a few different booking engines. Thanks to the various referral link/rebate options for flight bookings I was checking three different engines, Expedia, Vayama and CheapoAir (n.b. – those links earn me that rebate if you use them). The rebates offered vary so there is some flexibility in figuring out which is best deal but, all else being equal, I should be able to get the published fare from each, right??
Not at all.
For that flight which nominally cost $200 the options I got were $257 or $247 from Vayama and CheapoAir, respectively:
Exact same flight, date, time and fare bucket, but a price that was 25% higher. Zoinks! Fortunately Expedia was able to book the flight at the "correct" price for that one.
For the flight from Chennai to Cochin a few days earlier, however, CheapoAir was about $50 less than Expedia and actually ended up being less than the published price in ITA thanks to a coupon that they had published, a coupon that didn’t work on the above itinerary.
Similarly, for the flight to Colombo the ITA price seemed decent enough, with flights at the right time for what we wanted:
Once again, Vayama was terribly over-priced, even including the click-through rebate earnt:
And Expedia was still showing the published ITA rate:
But don’t forget to check the operating carrier, too. A quick visit to the SriLankan website pulled up this price:
That converts to USD $213 at the current exchange rates, a full $80 less than the fare published in ITA and a whopping $140 less than what Vayama wanted for the exact same rate.
So, is there a moral to the story? Maybe it is this: Airfare pricing is horribly inconsistent and near impossible for mere mortals to effectively and easily compare. It also further enforces my fears of how much worse it could get if the airlines continue to pull information out of the GDSes and move towards their direct sales model. In this case the direct model ended up saving me a few bucks, but only after quite a bit of digging to find the best price.
It really shouldn’t be this hard.
Related Posts:
Tags: award, Bangkok, British Airways, Chennai, Cochin, Colombo, Continental, EgyptAir, Emirates, frequent flyer, India, Jet Airways, Kochi, Madras, NYE2011, points, Sri Lanka, SriLankan
