Posted by Seth on March 18, 2010 under News | 
jetBlue has made some waves in the transcon market with announcements this past week. The carrier is moving service around in the Los Angeles market to better reflect consumer demand. The main shift comes in the form of transcon service moving out of Long Beach, the carrier’s west coast hub, and into Los Angeles International Airport where they introduced service last year.
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| A view inside the Long Beach terminal |
The crux of the change is an increase in service on between LAX and the hub at New York City’s JFK airport. Starting July 1 service will increase from two flights daily to four. At the same time, transcon service from Long Beach will shrink by two flights, one each to Boston and JFK (hat tip to Dan for figuring out where the cuts came from). Considering the peak of eight daily flights between JFK and Long Beach this drawdown to only two daily is rather significant.
It appears that the market demand for transcon service in the Los Angeles area is heavily focused on LAX. That makes sense in many regards. But the overall number of flights at Long Beach don’t seem to be decreasing too much. Takeoff slots at Long Beach are highly coveted and jetBlue holds a lot of them. So cutting transcon flights does not necessarily mean a decrease in the total number of flights from Long Beach. More likely those slots will be leveraged by regional service on the west coast.
In this way the carrier is segmenting the service on the west coast between transcon customers and regional passengers, reducing the number of connection opportunities. But given the relatively low number of decent connections that existed previously the overall impact of that cut should be low. And the increased revenue from the new transcon operations should make up for it. LAX is still the premiere airport for the longer service options while the convenience of Long Beach is great for passengers making quick hops up and down the coast. Everyone wins.
Posted by Seth on March 15, 2010 under News |
For the past couple years Continental Airlines has made a point of advertising the fact that they still serve complimentary “meals at mealtime” for their passengers, even on domestic flights in coach where other carriers have all cut back service. That era is coming to an end later this fall as the carrier follows the trail blazed by a number of other US-based carriers: Buy on Board meals. The new purchased meal option will be offered on most domestic routes under six hours in duration as well as many Latin America routes. Intercontinental and longer international routes, as well as the longest of the domestic flights, will continue to have complimentary meals offered.
Perhaps most telling regarding this change is the quote offered by Executive Vice President Jim Compton:
Our traditional free-food model has served us well for many years, but we need to change to reflect today’s market and customer preference.
Yup, it is actually the customers who are clamoring for the opportunity to buy meals on board. Or demanding fares that aren’t profitable. Either way, definitely the customers’ fault.
To be fair, Continental has been watching the numbers for quite some time now and, just like their decision to initially not charge for a checked bag, they aren’t seeing any return on that goodwill towards customers. One executive recently noted that customers simply weren’t booking to Continental because of the meal on board; their corporate Twitter account said the same thing in reply to an earlier tweet of mine on the topic.
@WanderngAramean It’s true. We know that economy-class customers have not selected airlines based on free meals.
Sure, they loved to poke fun at other carriers in the past with some entertaining TV ads on the topic:
But at this point they’re simply following the cash flow in the right direction. The sad part is that this does mark the end of an era in commercial air travel in the United States. It also means that there is still the potential for more bits to be sold off as unbundled services. Exit-row seating was announced just a few days ago. Now this.
What’s next?
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Posted by Seth on March 12, 2010 under News |
Sun Country Airlines, a small carrier based in Minneapolis that focuses mostly on leisure routes, has announced their intentions to start transatlantic service this summer, connecting New York City to London’s Stansted airport once weekly. The service will depart from New YorkMinneapolis on Friday evenings with return flights scheduled on Sunday mornings. The aircraft will remain at Stansted overnight on Saturday.
The Stansted airport is only marginally truly a London airport. It is about 45 minutes and £18 away from Liverpool Station by express train. Still, it opens a fourth airport offering service to New York City back up to London residents and it offers some convenience for residents in the northern suburbs.
The Stansted – New York route was served previously by Eos airline, an all-business class carrier, and American Airlines. American fought Eos aggressively on price, and the upstart carrier eventually was forced into bankruptcy and a cessation of operations. Shortly thereafter American suspended service on the route noting that it was not profitable. The Dallas-based carrier has not yet indicated whether they intend to restart operations on the route given the new competition but it seems unlikely.
The service is expected to be operated on the carrier’s 737-800 aircraft making Sun Country the only operator of coach or mixed configuration 737s crossing the Atlantic at this time. The necessary ETOPS certification was accomplished in late 2009 so there are no limitations to offering the service at this point. Pricing and final schedule details have not been released and initial inquiries to the Sun Country press office have not yet been returned.
UPDATE (17 MAR 10): The service will be from Minneapolis with a technical stop in Gander on the Canadian coast, not via New York City. So very disappointing for me.
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Posted by Seth on March 12, 2010 under News |
When I find a great deal on air travel I’ll buy a couple tickets. If the price is right having two or three of the same trip isn’t so bad. But some folks in Scandinavia when a bit further than that recently when Norwegian Air Shuttle offered a 1 Dutch Crown (~$0.20) sale fare to introduce their new Copenhagen – Karup service. One customer purchased more than 450 of the sale tickets. Others purchased 50-100.
OK, so that’s somewhat strange, but maybe they really like flying. It is possible, right? Maybe possible, but not what actually happened. In this case the tickets were all purchased under assumed names by employees of a Norwegian Air Shuttle competitor, Climber Sterling. The competitor bought out all the tickets to prevent real customers from buying the seats. Oh, and a couple of the offenders are even members of the Climber Sterling Board of Directors.
Of course, the CEO from Climber disavowed all knowledge of the fiasco, calling it “misguided loyalty” on the part of the employees. Sure…whatever.
Posted by Seth on March 11, 2010 under News |
Good reasons for flight delays are very few and far between. Still, it seems that Air Canada discovered a pretty decent one, albeit by accident. Call it a passenger revolt that was successful.
Apparently the passengers on a scheduled Vancouver – Montreal flight a couple weeks ago simply refused to board the plane and the flight was delayed waiting for them. The flight was scheduled to depart right around the time that the Olympics gold medal match for men’s hockey went into overtime. Passengers watching on the televisions in the airport terminal refused to get on the plane, choosing to watch the end of the game instead.
Good for them, I say. Every now and then the airlines need to be reminded that the customers are the reason they are flying.
Links:
Posted by Seth on March 10, 2010 under Trip Reports |
When jetBlue announced their $10 fare sale for yesterday and today I figured out that there was one destination on the list I could make a day trip out of: Burlington, VT. It was a new airport for me as well as a state I’d never visited. Plus, the timing on the flights would let me get in and out with enough time to do a few things on the ground and still get a decent night’s sleep at either end of the trip.
I lined up a decent itinerary and shared it with some friends. I was laughed at. A lot. Fine; I reworked the itinerary and found some new options. The Ben & Jerry’s tour was out – too short and focused on kids rather than the actual manufacturing process – and a visit to the Vermont Pub & Brewery was in. Cabot cheese was on the list, too. Still a pretty full day up in Vermont.
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| One of my favorite views – on the AirTrain at JFK |
Then I got on the plane and ran into a whole bunch of other folks also taking advantage of the $10 10th birthday fares. There was a couple who came down to New York City for dinner last night, a business man who made some surprise visits to customers and a large group of guys on their way to a day of skiing. As we started discussing itineraries my plans changed again. VBP was sneered at for mediocre beer (in retrospect I agree) and the Cabot tour was scratched as too far out of town. Plus, there’s another event in NYC tonight at 6pm that I wanted to be home for.
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| Lots of liveries on display at JFK T5 this morning |
So the new itinerary was simple: skip the rental car and just take a cab downtown. Wander along the lakefront until the bars open for lunch. Drink beer and eat pub grub. Return to the airport two and a half hours after leaving and head home. And that’s exactly what I did.
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| Lake Champlain from the Burlington waterfront |
The waterfront area is quite beautiful and the work they’ve done on the boardwalk and ferry terminal is impressive. Downtown Burlington is quaint and quiet, except for the “Free Tibet” rally being held at City Hall. Overall, the experience fit exactly what I expected of a sleepy New England town. From the 75 year old cab driver who was 5mph below the limit the whole ride to the quiet green in front of city hall to the over-zealous TSA agents hoping that I was their “Big Catch.” It shows signs of a life that starts when the college kids wake up and are done with classes in the evening but none of those places were open at noon.
On the plane I was warned off of Vermont Pub & Brewery as just not being that great. Unfortunately, it was all that was open at 11:30am on a Wednesday, so it got my business. I had a flight of six beers, only two of which I actually enjoyed. Still, it was better than a poke in the eye. Plus, it was 40 degrees and not a cloud in the sky so I was able to enjoy my beer outside. That was a special treat.
After beer it was off to find lunch – a quick gyro at Alhi Baba’s – and back to the airport. On the standby list, through security and to the gate just in time for my standby to clear and to hear final call for passengers. Perfect timing.
I’m sure that I missed plenty in Burlington today. Gravy fries at Nectar’s, for example. I’ll have to go back and spend a day or two rather than an hour or two. It seems worth it.
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http://boardingarea.com/blogs/thewanderingaramean/2010/03/crazy-10-birthday-sale-from-jetblue/
Posted by Seth on March 8, 2010 under Flying, News |
As part of their efforts to monetize the extra leg room provided in certain exit and bulkhead seats, Continental Airlines has introduced new seat maps for their online booking engine. The new maps are prettier than the old ones and they have the added bonus of identifying the extra leg room seats on the maps so folks booking will know which seats they won’t have access to until check-in, at which point they’ll have to pay more money for the pleasure of sitting there.
Which seats are “special” on the continental fleet? It depends on the plane type (the unlabeled plane in a 757-300):
Not a whole lot of special seats in the fleet (16DEF are special on the 752 but are blocked from booking for all customers until close to departure).
The new seat maps are currently in testing and will go live on the continental.com website on the 17th of March, along with the new seating policy.
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Posted by Seth on March 3, 2010 under News, frequent flyer |
Continental’s announcement this morning that they will begin charging non-elite members for the seats with the most legroom has raised a number of questions. The company released an internal memo to all employees explaining some of the details behind the program. Here’s what it had to say:
Questions and Answers about CO’s Premium Seat Program
Why not just continue giving the better seats away for free? It has worked for years.
CO is focused on making money, and we aren’t going to be able to do that by doing the same things we have done in the past. There is additional revenue from new products, like extra legroom seats that are already in our coach cabin, that we have not effectively unlocked in the past. It makes no sense to give away the best seats in coach to non-Elites for free. So we are changing that, and will bring in new sources of revenue we’ve not tapped in the past.
Will our customers be willing to pay for extra legroom on the aircraft?
Yes. Certain customers strongly value having more space on the aircraft. On the other hand, some customers don’t value extra space. Customers will pay for the things that they value, and extra legroom is one of those things. Many other airlines like United, Virgin America, Singapore and British Airways have successful programs selling extra legroom.
Which seats on our aircraft are classified as premium seats with extra legroom?
Initially this program is focused on selling seat assignments for exit row seats that have extra legroom. We expect to start selling bulkhead seat assignments in the future. The exact seats that will be available for sale will vary by aircraft type. For example, not every exit row seat has extra legroom, and those seats would not be included in the program.
How much will the premium seats with extra legroom cost?
Pricing will vary based on numerous market characteristics, including length of the flight. We’ll experiment with various prices, and that will give us solid data upon which to base future pricing decisions. For example, extra legroom seats between IAH and EWR might be offered at $59. Certain days like holidays or weekends might get discounted pricing. All check-in applications like continental.com and kiosks will have the prices of seats at check-in.
If the only seats left on the aircraft are premium seats, will we force passengers to pay extra for them?
This is a pretty unlikely scenario, but if it happens, we won’t require a passenger to pay extra to obtain a seat assignment.
Will pass riders have to pay in order to obtain a seat with extra legroom?
No. Pass riders will be given these seats for free when they are available. Charging non-Elite revenue passengers for these seats should increase their availability to pass riders, as there will be customers who don’t value the extra legroom enough to pay for it.
None of the answers are particularly surprising – except for where they expect folks to pay $59 for an exit row from Houston to Newark – but the tone of the email definitely is. Continental’s inclusion of British Airways and Singapore Air in the list of companies that sell extra legroom is also quite interesting considering that those airlines actually have a wholly separate product that they are selling, not just a couple seats on the plane, and their Premium Economy product comes with other benefits as well. And while the bulkhead seats generally offer extra legroom there are also compliance issues with selling those seats. Continental will need to be very careful about that while ensuring that they can meet their obligations for passengers with limited mobility.
Also of note is the comment about bringing in “new sources of revenue” that have not been previously tapped. This leaves the door wide open for the airline to start charging for even more individual benefits than they do today. From the complimentary “meals at mealtime” to carry-on baggage, it is hard to take anything off the table at this point.
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Posted by Seth on March 3, 2010 under News, frequent flyer |
Continental Airlines announced today a new plan to charge for some of their most coveted seats – those with extra legroom. The seats will remain available for top-tier elites to assign in advance with no charge. Non-elite customers who want to sit in them will have to pay during the check-in process to have access to the seats. Pricing has not been announced but it will vary based on the amount of extra legroom, seat recline and flight duration, among other things.
Most interesting in the announcement was this bit:
Extra legroom really means extra legroom. The seats that we’ll be selling have at least 7 inches of extra legroom. Specifically, our mainline aircraft will offer 10-12 extra inches on average, whereas our Continental Express aircraft will be closer to 7 extra inches
There are only two on the 737-700s, three on the 757-200s and 9 on the 757-300s. The 737-800 and 737-900 planes will have 12 seats each in this configuration. Not too bad, though most of these seats are likely to be filled with OnePass elite members. Plus, I’m not really convinced that the exit row seats on the 737-800 and 737-900 planes really have 10″ of extra legroom. I’ll be bringing my tape measure next time I’m on board.
The seats will be available for purchase starting on March 17, 2010 and will only be available at check-in, not in advance.
Of course, this does open the window for an Economy+ style operation similar to what United Airlines offers. United’s E+ does not offer as much extra legroom as Continental is suggesting and it will be difficult for Continental to maintain this offering while increasing the number of seats available in this setup; their 10-12 inches minimum extra space would be very difficult to accomplish without removing a lot of other seats. Still, the opportunity – and the billing infrastructure – will be in place.
Posted by Seth on March 2, 2010 under News, Trip Reports |
A few months back the news came out that the Department of Transportation would be issuing significant fines against airline operators when they had flights delayed more than three hours between the runway and the gate. The rule hasn’t actually done into effect yet – there are a couple weeks left until enforcement begins – but several airlines appear to be already running their operations in line with the new rules? The net effect of the change in the airlines’ behavior? Thousands of canceled flights across the country.
This should not come as much of a surprise to the traveling public but apparently it is. It seems that the airlines are choosing to cancel flights much more aggressively now when faced with a severe weather situation and they are doing so without any real obligations to their customers. It is not a good thing at all. But it is apparently what society thought they wanted so it is what we’re now faced with.
It is interesting to hear the spin that airlines are putting on their new policies. Take the line from Continental President and CEO Jeff Smisek about the company’s Operations Center policies:
During difficult weather our [Operations] team … works to pre-cancel flights in order to minimize inconvenience for our customers.… [The plan] not only allows Continental to minimize disruptions for passengers during irregular operations, it also permits us to return our operations to normal as quickly as possible after a weather event.
And there is no doubt that parts of this is actually true. It does appear that the airlines are able to get back to normal operations generally pretty quickly after a weather event, though it isn’t completely obvious that it is any better than before. There are, however, some parts that don’t seem to quite live up to the expectations being set. Things like the airlines simply canceling out all of their regional and express operations for a days at a time are not good for customers. When the ability to actually complete travel is frequently delayed two or more days from the weather event it is hard to see how that is minimizing disruptions for passengers. When airlines are unwilling to pay the cost of accommodating their customers on the airlines that are operating the situation becomes even more difficult, especially when the reasons given for the cancelations are less than wholly accurate.
And it isn’t just one or two airlines that take the wholesale cancelation approach. In the past month there have been a number of weather events in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States and many carriers have taken this approach to handling the situation. Southwest, Delta, jetBlue, United and US Airways have all done it at one more more airports for one or more days. That’s hundreds of thousands of passengers displaced because of thousands of flight cancelations.
But it could be worse. More troublesome than just canceling all the flights and telling everyone to go home is when a carrier cancels all their flights across the board and then starts putting a few back into operation. There are simply too many moving bits to keep track of to keep everyone informed. At Newark last Friday I watched as thousands of passengers, self included, were given the run-around while flights were reinstated, moved to new gates, delayed or canceled again and otherwise left with misinformation.
For my own flight a call from the lounge to the gate indicated that I was the only passenger who had not yet boarded the flight and that they were getting ready to depart without me. A quick sprint to the gate showed a much different reality. They were still trying to find a full crew to get on the plane and get us out of there. I’m not sure if the agent in the lounge just didn’t want to deal with me anymore, if the woman at the gate was less than truthful or if no one knew what was going on at all. But it truly sucked from a passenger perspective.
And I was one of the lucky ones. I actually made it on to my flight with only a 5.5 hour delay and with an upgrade. Two other friends in the airport had no reasonable choice other than to cancel their travel plans completely. Ditto for two other guys supposed to make the trip out to Las Vegas for the weekend with us. So what is good for the customer about these new policies?
There are plenty of problems in the airline industry today but this new approach doesn’t solve many of them, other than to avoid DoT fines. Thanks for looking out for the consumers there. Y’all screwed up on this one pretty good.
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Posted by Seth on March 1, 2010 under Trip Reports |
I knew that something was wrong on Sunday morning when I didn’t get the confirmation email from Continental informing me that I was checked in for my return flight to Newark on Monday morning. I figured that my reservation was messed up thanks to the chaos at Newark on Friday trying to get out after the snow there and that it wasn’t too big a deal. Most likely just out of sync and a relatively trivial task for the agent to resolve when I called in. I was out at the NASCAR race all day and didn’t have time to deal with calling until around 8pm and that’s when I received some rather disturbing news from the reservations agent I spoke with. According to her I had “requested to cancel the reservation because I would be traveling on an alternate carrier instead.”
Say what?
Yes, I spoke to a dozen or so different agents throughout the day on Friday trying to get a new reservation put into place. But at no time did I actually ask for the ticket to be canceled. And the agent I was speaking with on Sunday evening continued to insist that was the case. After a couple minutes of my explaining that there’s no reason I’d cancel the return only and that I had actually flown on my original flight to get to Las Vegas she got a supervisor to reinstate the reservation so it wasn’t too big a deal. But it was definitely a bit disturbing to hear that I was talking to agents and requesting things, especially when I knew it to be untrue.
Even more strange was the time of the supposed request I made. I made a second call in to Continental to try to get some more information about the cancelation. Specifically, I asked what time I made this supposed request since they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) give me the name of the agent who I told to cancel the trip. Apparently Continental is the first airline to offer cell phone service in-flight in the United States as I was en route to Las Vegas on a Continental flight at the time.
Eventually the second agent and I figured out what happened. For some reason I was marked as a no-show on the outbound flight and the remainder of the ticket was forfeited. This is pretty typical of most airlines (jetBlue is the only one I know of that doesn’t do this as a matter of course) though it was definitely worrisome that I was listed as a no-show for a flight I actually took. I wonder what the other 220 folks on my flight had to deal with to get home. At least the second agent was willing to actually read through the details of the reservation history and get to the bottom of the situation, unlike the first agent who really seemed more focused on blaming me for canceling the trip.
All’s well that ends well, though this past weekend was certainly not Continental’s finest moment in terms of handling irregular operations.
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