Posted by Seth on May 10, 2012 under Flying, Internet, News | 
American Airlines announced that they are moving forward with a retrofit of their long-haul fleet, updating the cabin interiors to improve the premium cabin experience. Mostly. The upgrades will expand the deployment of the new business class product, previously announced for the 777-300s which the company will begin receiving later this year. It will also mean the removal of the first class cabin on those aircraft, continuing a trend in both the global and the US markets to limit the long-haul premium cabin offerings to select markets with demonstrated demand. The retrofits are slated to begin in 2014.
The new business class seats will be retrofit into the carrier’s 777-200ER aircraft and into a portion of their 767-300ER aircraft. The 767-300s which are not reconfigured will be retired from the fleet.
The carrier has also indicated that their Main Cabin Extra configuration, offering an additional 4-6″ of legroom, will be part of the redesign on the 763s and 772s. On the 772s there will be 5 rows of these seats, 45 of the 215 total economy seats. On the 763s there will be only two rows of Main Cabin Extra, 14 of the 181 total economy seats. Customers holding elite status in the AAdvantage program, as well as with oneworld partners, will have access to the MCE seats.
The new cabin configuration will also include major upgrades to the in-flight entertainment systems and in-flight connectivity options. The IFE system for the 772s has impressive spec’s. It will have roughly 700 hours of audio and video available, up to 120 movies, 180 TV programs, 350 audio selections and 30 games. In business class the screens will be 15.4″ while economy will have quite generous 9″ screens. All seats on the 772s will have 110V outlets and USB plugs as well.
UPDATE: AA has confirmed that the regular main cabin seats will be 3-4-3 on both the 777-200 and 777-300ERs, and without any extra pitch. That’s going to be quite tight.
The satellite-based WiFi service will allow for global connectivity for customers. That said, no vendor has been chosen for the implementation yet so there is plenty of time for the company to see how the various options in the market shake out in the coming months, particularly as others add similar service, to pick the correct product for their fleet.
The 763 refits will not include the new IFE systems; the company will continue to rely on personal tablets for business class passengers on those aircraft for the IFE systems. The 763s will also not receive the WiFi connectivity. Combine that with the very limited MCE seating and those might just become the aircraft to avoid in the American long-haul fleet.
I’ve read through the release now a few times, looking for some hint of a magic paragraph previously missed which makes the planned upgrades tremendous. I still cannot find it. The release has many exciting phrases like “among the first in the industry” and “Business Class suite.” These plans, unfortunately, seem to be mostly playing catch-up to the rest of the industry. The “new” business class seats are based on the same product that US Airways just completed deployment of on their A330 fleet. The IFE upgrades are great, assuming you’re on the 77s; the 763s, not so much. And the seating density of the new seats raises a few red flags.
Type for type, United will offer more premium cabin seats (admittedly not all with direct aisle access) and more economy seats with increased legroom., along with a comparable IFE and connectivity scheme. And United is rolling out the seating and IFE config this year, not starting in 18 months. Delta is similarly ahead of American in the offering, both in terms of timing and product.
I have to give AA credit for trying to build a buzz about the announcements. The press conference included a number of bloggers and other social media folks, trying to tap in to the newer venues for sharing such announcements. And the bit I managed to catch on Twitter suggests that it has worked in come circles. Still, the implementation of these changes are 20 months off. It is going to be hard to keep the buzz alive that long.
There is no doubt that it is increasingly difficult to both offer a top-notch product and to do so in a manner that allows a company to remain competitive in the ever-changing market. In this case, however, it seems that American is barely even able to play catch-up, much less leap ahead. And if this is supposed to revitalize the company, inspiring creditors to ride out the bankruptcy and see a strong future for the carrier I’m very concerned about their strategy. The phrase “too little, too late” comes to mind.
For a different, and somewhat more positive, take on the new seats check out Gary’s post here; he was at the event where they were unveiled.
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Tags: American Airlines, bankruptcy, Delta, Flying, IFE, in flight, internet, OneWorld, PaxEx, United, United Airlines, upgrade, US Air
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 March 21, 2012 under frequent flyer, News, points |
German carrier airberlin has officially joined the oneworld alliance this week, bringing a bit of good news to the group which has seen its share of trouble the past couple months. Airberlin has been moving towards this point for quite some time, with its bilateral relationships with other alliance carriers being built up recently; now all alliance benefits will also be available.
In recognition of the carrier joining the alliance many of the members are offering double miles promotions for flights on airberlin. They generally require registration prior to flight so make sure to check the details of your program (AA promo info here) for flights between now and May 15, 2012.
Similarly, airberlin is offering a double miles bonus for flights on all other oneworld partners over the same timeframe (AB promo info here). That’s actually a rather broad promo; not too shabby.
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Posted by Seth on February 3, 2012 under frequent flyer, News |
Kingfisher was dealt a potential death blow yesterday when the airline was suspended from IATA’s ticketing clearinghouse due to reported non-payment. The clearinghouse is used by hundreds of airlines to process payments for interline tickets and other multi-carrier transactions. Roughly 80% of interline transactions worldwide are settled through the system so being suspended is a huge blow to the carrier.
The company claims the suspension was triggered automatically by the IATA systems when a technical glitch prevented their scheduled payment from reaching the clearinghouse:
As a result of a recent internal system failure, certain credits did not hit our ICH account in time, triggering an automatic suspension. Kingfisher would like to confirm that all its dues via ICH have been settled in full and it has absolutely no outstanding due as of date,
Despite claiming to be current it appears that IATA has not yet commented or reinstated the carrier to the systems.
Adding fuel to the fire is the announcement today that the planned February 10, 2012 ascension of Kingfisher into oneworld is being delayed, with no revised date yet announced. FlightGlobal is carrying the story, with quotes from both oneworld and Kingfisher executives on this latest development. Said oneworld CEO Bruce Ashby:
These are turbulent times for the airline industry in India and many other parts of the world. We have been working closely with Kingfisher Airlines over the past months and it has become increasingly clear recently that the airline needs more time to resolve the financial issues it is confronting before it can be welcomed into Oneworld. Will work with Kingfisher Airlines with the aim of setting a new joining date once it is through this current period of turbulence.
This delay is somewhat reminiscent of the frequent delays that Air India suffered in their attempts to join Star Alliance over the past few years. Those efforts were eventually scuttled after multiple delays.
Without access to interline booking revenue is seems unlikely that Kingfisher will be able to realize the revenue needed to pull themselves out of their financial morass. With many unpaid or severely delayed bills the future of the carrier is very much in question. It is not surprising that the alliance is not interested in bringing the carrier on board as their liabilities for interline travel could be significant.
This is a serious blow for oneworld, as another member carrier, Malev, ceased operations today, also under financial pressures they could not overcome.
Not a good day in the aviation world at all.
Hat tip to Flying With Fish for the head’s up on this one.
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Posted by Seth on February 3, 2012 under News |
Hungarian flag carrier Malev has ceased operations following demands from creditors that certain balances be paid immediately or in advance. The carrier has been struggling for many years; those debts finally caught up. The move grounds the airline’s fleet, stranding several thousand passengers and leaving the company’s ~2,600 employees with an uncertain future. The shutdown was apparently precipitated but ground handlers in Tel Aviv demanding payment up front for services. Similarly, a plane in Dublin was not permitted to depart, supposedly citing the company’s accumulated debt as the reason.
The airline is relatively small, but they do hold 27 routes out of Budapest where they are the sole carrier. While it is likely that other carriers will step in to pick up some of those routes such changes will take time and in the interim a number of passengers will be inconvenienced by the service termination.
The move is also a blow to global alliance oneworld, of which Malev is a member. The group is adding other carriers, including Air Berlin and Kingfisher, but those carriers are also struggling somewhat financially.
This cessation follows that of Spanair from last week. Truly a sad time in the skies over Europe.
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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 18, 2012 under News |
American Airlines is changing their beverage service policies, adding free wine and beer to the menu for economy cabin passengers on long haul flights starting in February 2012. The policy will apply to flights between the USA and Europe, Asia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay.
"Offering complimentary beer and wine to our loyal customers in all classes of service allows American to better align our product offering with fellow oneworld® alliance members and is another example of our commitment to enhance the travel experience," said Rob Friedman, American’s Vice President – Marketing. "Our customers asked for complimentary beer and wine, and we listened. Starting Feb. 1, when a customer travels internationally onboard American, we invite them to have a drink on us."
This makes a lot of sense with respect to aligning the product with oneworld members where the flights are covered by the antitrust immunity deal which is supposed to give passengers the same experience, regardless of which carrier operates the flight.
Bottoms up!
Posted by Seth on December 20, 2011 under frequent flyer, News |
Kingfisher and global alliance oneworld have set a date for the Indian carrier to join the alliance. But there still appear to be many hurdles that must be surmounted for that to actually happen. Assuming everything goes as planned the join date is February 10, 2012.
But that’s a rather significant assumption given the way things are going for the carrier lately. They’ve been slashing routes, struggling to pay fuel bills, seeing flight cancelations and otherwise having trouble running their operations. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it was reported today that the company has not been paying its taxes. They’re in the hole $25MM – two years worth of payroll tax withholding – to the Indian government, on top of all the private debt they’re holding. Supposedly there are investors looking to offer a new loan but they’re awaiting reports on the viability of the company. This latest news certainly won’t help those reports.
Not good news at all, either for the airline or the alliance. Oh, and for oneworld there are also the issues of the American Airlines bAAnkruptcy, Air Berlin’s financial struggles and new ownership stake from Etihad and the labor strife at Qantas. Really a lot of uncertainty in that alliance these days.
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Posted by Seth on October 7, 2011 under frequent flyer, News, points |
In advance of German airline Air Berlin joining the oneworld alliance they are setting up the necessary agreements with other members for frequent flyer earning and redemptions. The partnership with the American Airlines AAdvantage program went into effect this week. This is mostly good news, but there are definitely some facets of the new partnership that are less than rewarding.
Business class fares will earn 100% base miles and an additional 25% class of service bonus. OK, the bonus isn’t the best out there but at least there is something. And most coach fares credit at 100%, too. The real bummer, however, is at the low end of the charts:
Only 25% earnings for the discounted coach fares is a rather unfortunate rule. Looking at a few fares on common routes the cost to buy-up to the higher fare to get the full credit can be rather significant. One route I checked – Munich to Reykjavik – sees the base fare jump from $108 to $435 to move from the lowest fare that earns 25% to the lowest that earns 100%. If you’re looking to earn points on Air Berlin flights expect to pay a tidy sum to get any reasonable number of them.
On the redemption side things are a bit better. With partners the AAdvantage redemption chart is still region based so the only requirement will be finding award inventory on Air Berlin flights. And the company offers a few additional destinations that are otherwise not served by alliance partners as well as additional frequencies and routing options for many destinations.
Overall, more partners is a good thing and this definitely fits that bill. But the earning rates are brutal at the low end of the spectrum – just like with many other European carriers – so caveat vector.
Posted by Seth on September 24, 2011 under frequent flyer, News, points |
The proposed merger of South America’s two largest carriers, LAN and TAM, precipitated many questions. Perhaps the most significant from frequent fliers was the future of the loyalty program. LAN is a member of the oneworld alliance while TAM recently joined Star Alliance. A merged program will have to pick one of those with the decision having great significance in the South American travel market.
Thanks to the Chilean government it appears that the decision has been made and that the carrier will be remaining in oneworld.
The Chilean Tribunal de Defensa de la Libre Competencia (Court of Defense of Free Trade) handed down their approval for the two carriers to merge this week with a laundry list of conditions attached. Here are details on a few of the most significant conditions:
Numbers 1 & 4 require that LATAM give up 4 landing slots in Sao Paulo to allow another carrier to establish service on the Sao Paulo – Santiago route in order to maintain a competitive fare environment on that route. Additionally, LATAM is prohibited from dumping inventory onto that route within 15 minutes of the newly scheduled service once the new entrant has declared their interest in operating the service. Rule 13 also prohibits the new carrier from raising fares on the route versus their aggregate historical averages for one year.
Number 9 requires that LATAM not oppose any foreign carrier’s application to operate with additional freedoms on domestic Chilean routes or to provide service that would otherwise be seen as cabotage. This would effectively allow tag-on flights for long-haul carriers or regional flights within Chile for other airlines in South America. LATAM is required to endorse such requests without demanding reciprocity.
And then there is number 6:
Latam deberá renunciar, dentro de un plazo que no exceda 24 meses contados desde la fecha en que se materialice la Operación consultada, al menos a una de las dos alianzas globales en que a esa fecha participan sus partes, LAN y TAM. En ningún caso podrá pertenecer a aquélla en la que también el grupo Avianca/Taca sea miembro o asociado, o se encuentre en proceso de ingresar.
Within 24 months of realizing the merger the airline is required to resign from at least one of the two global alliances in which is currently participates. Moreover, the carrier must not be in the same alliance as Avianca/Taca, the other powerhouse merging carrier in South America. With Avianca/Taca moving rather quickly down the path of joining Star Alliance this clause leaves oneworld the only rational result.
The other options are to go independent, a tough move to make in that region, or to try for SkyTeam. But with Aerolineas Argentinas set to join SkyTeam it doesn’t seem likely that the competition courts would be too happy to see such a move. They could also try to thwart the entrance of TACA/Avianca from Star Alliance if they want to stay with the group. That would be a most interesting political move and a most unlikely one as well.
The court ruling lays out a pretty clear framework for the carriers to work within and a reasonable timeline through which the changes must be made. Unless the Brazilian government comes up with a major surprise on their conditions for the merger it looks like this one is ready to happen in early 2012 with all the details finally falling into place.
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Posted by Seth on September 20, 2011 under Flying, News |
Every now and then I find myself wondering if there isn’t a better way to get access to some nugget of data related to travel. More often than not I’m disappointed to find out that the answer is generally that the tools aren’t available. When I can, I try to change that. Welcome to my latest effort: The Round-the-World Fare Comparison Tool.
The tool holds nearly 13,000 data points for fare pricing from 197 different airports around the world (one per country for most countries). There are nearly 100 different fare types in the system, including not only RTW fares but also some regional options like Circle Asia, Circle Pacific and Circle Japan options.
That’s a whole lot of data that needs to be managed and filtered. I certainly won’t go so far to claim it is perfect yet – the site is very much in beta right now – but there are options to sort by point of origin, fare type and cabin of travel available right now and more in the works.
Currently there are six different airlines being used as data points for the fares, two each from the three global alliances. In nearly every case the fares match but there are enough quirks and variances that I’m keeping all the data in there and available. The fares do not include taxes, fuel surcharges or aircraft-specific fees but the goal of the tool is to facilitate comparing prices between alliances or to figure out the best place to start a trip rather than get to final pricing.
Here’s what it looks like if you choose a specific origin country/airport:
The different cabins are color-coded so you can quickly see the different types of fares available to you.
Want to search by fare product. Here are the nearly 100 available to you:
Pick one and you’ll get a clickable, color-coded map:
The green icons represent the cheapest 20% of the markets for that specific fare while the red are the most expensive 20%.
I’m still working on options for other ways to "slice and dice" the data. Got a suggestion or an idea of a view that would be useful? Leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do.
In the mean time, give the tool a whirl and let me know what you think. And check out some of the other tools while you’re on the site. You might be surprised at how useful they can be.
