Posted by Seth on January 29, 2010 under News | 
Continental Airlines announced this morning that they will be increasing service between London and their Newark hub starting this summer. The increases – up to four daily departures beginning at the end of March and five daily beginning at the end of October – will be mostly operated by the carrier’s Boeing 757-200 aircraft; one of the daily flights will remain on the 777-200s.
In addition to the increased frequencies, Continental has committed to operating all these flights with their new fully flat Business Class product, effective June 1, 2010. It is the first time in recent memory that Continental has committed to including a specific product that only exists on a subset of its fleet on a specific route. The carrier generally avoids such commitments since they generally cycle their planes through their route network very aggressively rather than dedicating specific planes to specific routes. They get increased utilization from the planes but it also increases the troubles when they have mechanical issues and it prevents planes from being dedicated to routes.
The original timeline for the new lie-flat BusinessFirst seats is actually pretty slow; the 777s and 757s aren’t scheduled to be completed until mid-to-late 2011. But two 777s were ferried to Hong Kong – the site of the retrofits – recently increasing the speed of the deployment. And the 757s can be cycled through the upgrade pretty quickly as well. This is good news for passengers as it means getting the new product out into the fleet faster. The increased service also means more options for customers who are delayed in getting to Newark on connecting flights and more opportunities for connections to London-based Star Alliance partner bmi.
It is also worth noting that the increase in service is coming from Newark rather than the other potential option: Cleveland. Continental has previously run seasonal service to London from the Hublet but that was cut at the end of last summer. Rather than reinstating it there this year’s increase is going to Newark. This speaks to the increased flexibility of having the 757 in Newark and to the higher demand in Newark versus that of Cleveland. The good news for the folks there is that they have a lot of options (ORD, IAD, YYZ, YUL, etc.) that allow them to avoid connecting in Newark if they choose thanks to partners.
Here’s what the new schedule will look like:
Effective March 27, 2010, the airline’s Heathrow schedule will be as follows:
To London/Heathrow
New York/Newark CO18 9:00 a.m. 9:20 p.m. Daily 757-200
New York/Newark CO28 6:40 p.m. 6:45 a.m.+1 Daily 777
New York/Newark CO112 7:20 p.m. 7:40 a.m.+1 Daily 757-200
New York/Newark CO110 8:00 p.m. 8:20a.m.+1 Daily 757-200
Houston CO34 3:45 p.m. 6:55 a.m.+1 Daily 777
Houston CO4 6:25 p.m. 9:35 a.m.+1 Daily 777
From London/Heathrow
New York/Newark CO29 10:25 a.m. 1:15 p.m. Daily 777
New York/Newark CO113 10:50 a.m. 1:55 p.m. Daily 757-200
New York/Newark CO111 12:05 p.m. 3:15 p.m. Daily 757-200
New York/Newark CO19 6:30 p.m. 9:40 p.m. Daily 757-200
Houston CO35 8:40 a.m. 12:40 p.m. Daily 777
Houston CO5 11:40 a.m. 3:50 p.m. Daily 777
Effective Oct. 30, 2010, Continental’s Heathrow schedule will be as follows:
To London/Heathrow
New York/Newark CO18 9:00 a.m. 9:20 p.m. Daily 757-200
New York/Newark CO28 6:25 p.m. 6:20 a.m.+1 Daily 777
New York/Newark CO112 7:15 p.m. 7:25 a.m.+1 Daily 757-200
New York/Newark CO110 9:20 p.m. 9:25 a.m.+1 Daily 757-200
New York/Newark CO114 10:10 p.m. 10:15 a.m.+1 Daily 757-200
Houston CO34 3:50 p.m. 6:50 a.m.+1 Daily 777
Houston CO4 6:35 p.m. 9:35 a.m.+1 Daily 777
From London/Heathrow
New York/Newark CO115 8:40 a.m. 12:05 p.m. Daily 757-200
New York/Newark CO29 10:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m. Daily 777
New York/Newark CO113 11:15 a.m. 2:45 p.m. Daily 757-200
New York/Newark CO111 12:35 p.m. 4:05 p.m. Daily 757-200
New York/Newark CO19 6:00 p.m. 9:30 p.m. Daily 757-200
Houston CO35 9:20 a.m. 1:40 p.m. Daily 777
Houston CO5 11:40 a.m. 4:05 p.m. Daily 777
Posted by Seth on January 27, 2010 under News, Trip Reports, frequent flyer, media coverage |
Back in November when me and 220 other aerophiles were jetting around in a chartered Boeing 757-300 there were a couple reporters along for the ride. They each focused on different aspects of why all all of us were there and what motivates us to travel as much as we do. Some of them got it and some of them most certainly did not. But none of them managed to relay the story quite as eloquently as Greg Lindsay, writing in the February 2010 issue of Condé Nast Traveler magazine.
His article, Triumph of the Air Warriors captures the spirit of that specific trip as well as the joy that many frequent flyers find in hunting down deals, identifying loopholes and otherwise fighting back just a little bit against a system that is decidedly stacked against the customer.
"I call it Airworld," Bingham says in the novel by Walter Kirn on which [Up in the Air] is based. "The scene, the place, the style. . . . Airworld is a nation within a nation, with its own language, architecture, mood, and even its own currency—the token economy of airline bonus miles that I’ve come to value more than dollars. Inflation doesn’t degrade them. They’re not taxed. They’re private property in its purest form."
For you, Airworld is the nowhere you pass through on your way to a meeting or a vacation. It’s the series of tubes from security to your gate, and to the rental car lots, chain hotels, and fast-casual restaurants. At every stop, if you’re savvy, you earn precious miles. American Airlines launched the first frequent-flier program almost 30 years ago on a lark; United followed suit a week later. Therein lies the tale—and many free trips to Hawaii. These led to real-life Clooneys endlessly chasing miles—and who knows what else.
And that’s what it is for me. The chase of the miles. The hunt for bargains. The chase for new cities, airlines, aircraft or just random trips that I’m just crazy enough to take. Lindsay spoke with a couple dozen “Air Warriors” – residents of AirWorld – about their adventures. And the stories we tell are full of frivolity, challenges and conquests. From one guy’s tale of his earliest memory – falling down the stairs of a 747 as a three year old – to a story of a mass revolution against an airline’s declining product quality, the stories are great reads.
Plus, I’m quoted a few times in the article; I’m sure that contributes to my appreciation of it.
You can read it here (http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/articles/502250) or pick up a copy on the newsstands. The print version has a pretty awesome photo, too.
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Posted by Seth on January 21, 2010 under Trip Reports |
It has been a long couple weeks on the ground in New York City. Sure, I’m having plenty of fun but I’m also working a lot more than usual so getting back into the air is a great pleasure that I get to indulge in this weekend. And it really is a bit of indulgence – probably more fun than I should have in any given weekend.
First up today is the trek from New York to Seattle. I’m flying via Chicago to meet up with some friends who are based there. Plus it is my first opportunity to use my Continental Star Alliance Gold credentials while flying with United Airlines so that’s been fun to see how it plays out. Oh, and it means free drinks thanks to a large supply of coupons provided by one of the guys in the group. Today is two flights and gets me across the country but that’s just the beginning for the weekend.
After a couple days in Seattle we’re flying down to Houston on Continental. We’ll spend a day there doing some things with the carrier and then it is on to San Diego on Sunday. I’ll be flying on US Airways via Phoenix because of the significant cost savings. That’s five flights and three cities over four days.
The trip home will be equally entertaining. On Monday I fly San Diego – Los Angeles – Portland – Seattle – Newark on a combination of United, United Express and Continental. I get three new routes and a new aircraft type – the Embrear 120. Yeah, it is a tiny turboprop and I don’t expect it to be particularly wonderful in terms of the in-flight experience, but it does get me very, very close to closing out the entire Embrear product line in terms of aircraft flown. This is the second time I’m trying for the E120 and last time I was the victim of delays so I missed it. I’m hoping that I can get it more quickly than I did the upper deck of the 747; that was way too many tries.
On the plus side, the lounges have all been nice thus far. The Bloody Mary at the Presidents Club in LaGuardia this morning was perfect, as always. The Goose Island brew at the newly remodeled Red Carpet Club was excellent; I’m a fan of local beers in the lounges. And the drink certs on the flights have come in quite handy. The plane is now out of rum and gin; yeah, we’re having a great time here. More of the same is expected this weekend in air world. It is a great place to visit frequently.
Posted by Seth on December 13, 2009 under News |
The negotiations of the USA-Japan open skies treaty have been ongoing for quite a while now. This latest round of talks, held last week, was actually extended by a day to allow for the final details to be ironed out since they were so close. And ultimately the deal that they struck seems to be a very fair and very good one for the airlines and for customers.
Tokyo Service
With the exception of Tokyo all destinations in Japan are now accessible with unlimited frequencies by all American and Japanese carriers. That is a significant step forward. The Tokyo market, however, is key to pretty much all service to Japan and the agreements reached on that front are quite interesting. Both airports – Haneda and Narita – will remain slot controlled due to the significant demand for service to those airports. And the number of slots that US-based carriers have at Narita will actually decrease a tiny bit. But there’s a good reason for that.
Tokyo’s Haneda airport – the more convenient and desirable destination for most passengers headed to Tokyo – is opening up to more international flights starting in 2010. Some of those flights will be potentially operated to the United States under this deal with as many as four daily flights permitted. That is going to be a very significant benefit for whichever carrier manages to secure those slots. There are a number of restrictions on the new Haneda slots, including late night departure times which aren’t particularly ideal. But it is better than nothing.
Anti-trust Immunity
There are some other interesting nuggets that came out of the agreement as well. Anti-trust immunity (ATI) will be permitted on the US-Japan routes for the first time ever. While there will still be specific applications required for such operations the ATIs will permit coordination of schedules, service and fares for partner carriers on routes between the two countries. The Star Alliance carriers of ANA, Continental and United Airlines are best position to take advantage of the ATI opportunities and they’ve already announced their intentions to do so. The three carriers expect to be able to better coordinate their offerings and streamline operations. In addition to the Star Alliance three, JAL will likely take advantage of the ATI opportunities once they figure out which suitor they’re going to dance with in the bankruptcy/bailout recovery effort. Both Delta and American Airlines are still pursuing the carrier aggressively and being able to apply ATI policies to the operations following whatever deal might be reached will be rather beneficial to whichever partnership comes out of that deal.
Extra Freedoms
Finally, both countries will be removing restrictions on fifth freedom routes. Fifth freedom flights are some of my favorites because the routes seem strange when viewed out of context. They are flights operated between two countries, neither of which the airline is based in, where the airline is permitted to sell seats only on that route. There are a number of such flight in Asia particularly, such as Air France flying between Bangkok and Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. And there are a few in the USA, like Cathay flying from Vancouver to New York City’s JFK airport. As part of this agreement fifth freedom flights will the permitted without restriction by Japan or the United States. This is great for carriers that want to grow their route maps onward from Japan or the USA. These “add-on” segments generally help to make flights that might otherwise not be profitable happen, so there is an increase in service between markets. Plus there is the opportunity to grab the “other” flight generally rather cheap and have some fun flying on different carriers.
The loser on this bit is most likely Delta which acquired a number of route authorities ex-Tokyo when they bought Northwest Airlines recently. That purchase gave them a number of slots and authorities from Tokyo and now all the other carriers who desire such will be able to get in the game on those flights, assuming they can find the slots. Also, the third country will still need to approve the fifth freedom flights so it isn’t completely open, but there are many more opportunities now for many more carriers.
Mostly good, but potential gotchas
Overall, agreements such as this are generally a good thing for passengers. The increased opportunities for carriers to provide service generally means that where they think there is a market airlines will try, at a lower cost than if they had to buy route authorities to provide such service. The ATIs are always a bit of a toss-up as they essentially permit collusion and price-fixing between partners. As long as there are enough non-partnered carriers in a market that generally isn’t a problem but it is something that always causes a bit of apprehension as it can lead to higher prices due to less competition. Still, there’s a lot of potential good news out of this agreement. Now we just wait to see how it actually plays out.
Posted by Seth on December 10, 2009 under points |
Ending a relationship that has spanned over 20 years, Delta and Singapore Air have announced an end to their frequent flyer partnership. As discussed by Lucky and Gary the partnership will be coming to an end on May 15, 2010. The rewards on Singapore Air used to be a great value for folks collecting SkyMiles. Now that the premium seats are much harder to find (though I’ve got a couple for Christmas!!) the value really isn’t there so much. Plus, with Delta growing their global footprint directly and also with their membership in SkyTeam and Singapore Air’s membership in Star Alliance it doesn’t really make sense for the partnership to continue from any perspective.
Get working on those redemptions if you’re still interested. The clock is ticking.
Posted by Seth on December 5, 2009 under points |
It was somewhat inevitable that the Star Alliance partner award chart would change once US Airways announced the changes to their own metal rewards a month ago (Coverage from Lucky here). And with as bad as the new scheme is for those rewards (numbers went up and now multi-tiered like Delta) it was not too far a stretch to assume that the Star Alliance reward chat was going to get ugly. And it did. A number of the rewards stayed the same price to be sure but plenty of them also went up in price, many more than 25%. Ouch. Here’s the full analysis…
Trans-Atlantic
North America to Europe and to South America are going up somewhat significantly in cost, from 20-25% depending on the cabin. Rewards will now be 60/100/125K depending on the cabin. Previously a coach reward was 50K and business was 80K. The business reward used to be a tremendous value at the 80K number. Not so much any more, though both of the premium cabins are still a better value than the other US-based Star Alliance partners.
Hawaii
Hawaii is bearing the brunt of the bad news. It seems to be involved in most of the worst increases. Coach seats from the mainland to the islands are increasing from 35K to 40K points round-trip. That number matches Continental’s new chart though US Air has business and first for 70K each while Continental charges 80K and 100K respectively. Fine, a 5K increase isn’t all that egregious, but that is a low number compared to a few others. Hawaii also is seeing rates to Europe and South America increase to 60/100/125K round trip. These numbers are the same as the cost from mainland North America so the value is pretty good, though they’re still increases of as much as 25% which isn’t great.
Reward travel from Hawaii to the South Pacific is taking one on the chin in a somewhat irrational manner. Rewards in that region go from 75/95/130K to 80/120/160K, a rise of about 15-20% at the top. But the strange part is that those costs are higher than North America to South Pacific rewards (80/110/140K) for much shorter trips. And the premium cabin service on the shorter ex-Hawaii trips aren’t as nice as those from the mainland, though the actual ticket costs probably are higher. Similarly, it is no longer cheaper to get from Hawaii to the Middle East than from the mainland to the Middle East. Both clock in now at 80/120/180K (no change from N. America, increases from Hawaii.
Caribbean
Maybe someone in US Air HQ is jealous of folks living the island life. Travel within the Caribbean is also taking a huge hit in redemption values. Previously travel within the region was 15K for a coach seat. The new rewards will ring in at 20/40/80K, pretty much matching Continental and similar to United, depending on the preferred cabin of travel. Trips from the islands to South America, Europe and the Middle East are also going up (60/100/125K, 60/100/125K and 80/120/180K, respectively) putting those categories in line with the rewards from the mainland and Hawaii.
Middle East
As noted above, getting to the Middle East will increase in cost from both Hawaii and the Caribbean. On top of that, travel within the region is increasing 12-33%, depending on the cabin. Rewards will now go for 30/35/45K points rather than 20/30/40K. The percentages are worse than the actual number increases on these so they really aren’t terrible. Indeed, the numbers are still better than United and Continental who come in at 30/45/60K for those rewards.
Summary
Reward price increases always suck. There’s no two ways around it. And there are no rewards that went down in cost on the new Star Alliance Reward Chart from US Air. There are some new rewards available (forward cabin within the Caribbean) so that is a nice touch. And the fact that nothing really changed in Asia is rather pleasing. Indeed, the fact that they made this change and things don’t completely suck is actually rather refreshing, even if there is still some devaluation in play.
For the most part the rewards are still less expensive than the other Star Alliance options in the USA. That alone makes the US Airways Dividend Miles program still hold some reasonable value. Not a ton of value, especially given the other issues the carrier has, but still pretty reasonable value in their rewards scheme. And they still do not block partner award inventory like United is known to do, a huge plus. Still, I probably am not going to be out buying large pools of Dividend Miles for rewards anytime soon, even if they can be had at about .8 cents/mile when purchased in bulk this holiday season.
Posted by Seth on December 1, 2009 under News |
Following a month in the shop at Hong Kong, Continental’s first Boeing 777-200 to be painted in the Star Alliance livery scheme arrived in Newark today, completing its first revenue flight in the new colors. This is the second plane to be done up in the new livery, following on the heels of a 757-200 that was painted in advance of the party celebrating Continental joining the alliance at the end of October.
The somewhat disappointing news for Continental passengers is that the plane, N78017 aka Ship #17, did not also receive the new lie-flat seats in its BusinessFirst cabin while in for the paint job. It apparently has to do with needing a delay in final certification of the first plane flying around with the seats before the others can be converted. The good news is that another plane, Ship #15, rolled into the maintenance hangar and is being fitted with the new seats now.
Speaking of the new seats and 757s, word is that the first 757-200 to receive the lie-flat BusinessFirst seats is also being worked on right now, with a hopeful return-to-service date of prior to Christmas. It is Ship #133, aka N17133, and it is currently undergoing the refit in Houston.
Good stuff!
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Posted by Seth on November 25, 2009 under News |
There was a somewhat surprising announcement out of London this morning from regional airline bmi: they’re making some rather significant cuts to their fleet, destinations and staffing levels. There will be a loss of nine aircraft in total – over 25% of the fleet. Two of the planes beign removed from the fleet are A330s. This essentially kills any chance of longhaul service coming back to the bmi fold.
Destinations being cut include Kiev, Ukraine; Tel Aviv, Israel, Brussels, Belgium and Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Brussels route will be picked up by Star Alliance and Lufthansa Group partner Brussels Airlines. There is no indication that the other destinations will see service restored via a partner or other means. Most of these cuts take effect in the second week of January 2010.
And then there are the job cuts. The carrier expects to trim about 600 employees from their ranks and did not rule out additional cuts in the future. Not good at all for those affected by these cuts.
Looking past the cuts there is a rather glaring question out there: What is left of bmi? Sadly, the answer seems to be not all that much. They still hold a ton of slots at London’s Heathrow airport but even the value of those is dropping lately. Still, with the carrier now quickly rolling into the fold of the Lufthansa group (the new CEO either just started or is starting very soon) it makes a decent amount of sense to shift what few viable assets there are around in the organization to places where they make the most sense. Sure, bmi still offers a reasonably competitive regional network around the British Isles and Ireland, and they also have some decent coverage into the Middle East and former Soviet states. And they’ve got pretty decent connections from Heathrow to other Star Alliance partners. But they’re still a small fish in a big pond and having trouble remaining competitive.
Could the carrier remain as a holding company for the slots, slowly doling them out to other airlines in the Lufthansa group (or selling them for real money)? Few to zero direct operations but most of the routes would still be covered and customers would still have options within the alliance.
Things aren’t looking particularly great over at Donnington Hall. They haven’t been for a while now and it doesn’t seem that they’ll be turning a corner anytime soon. Not good at all.
I’m not panicking about my stash of points in their program. Yet. But I am looking at cashing in a couple redemptions sooner than not just to hedge my bets on their rather advantageous reward chart. The points won’t just disappear but the Miles+More scheme isn’t as rewarding for me.
Posted by Seth on November 18, 2009 under News, points |
The dance of buyouts and other aid offers surrounding Japan’s JAL sped up a bit overnight with Delta leading the effort from SkyTeam to offer over USD$1Bn in cash and loans to the beleaguered carrier should they be willing to defect from the OneWorld alliance. American Airlines offered back a similar amount, though without the need for $300MM in alliance-switch penalty guaranties. Yes, things are truly interesting over in Japan these days.
But with the two airlines in question hemorrhaging cash these days there is a rather important question that needs to be answered: Where are they getting the money to make such offers?
The answer, it would seem, has a lot to do with frequent flyer points. Lately the only way the airlines seem to be raising any cash is by selling their points to credit card companies. Both American and Delta have recently signed deals to raise funds from Citibank and American Express, respectively. So the airlines are selling a ton of points to third parties and then turning around to use that cash in an attempt to buy JAL. Yup, they’re trying to buy an airline with points. Not quite as crazy as getting a boob job using points though almost certainly a better value on a dollars/point ratio.
As for the actual effects of the loans/merger/buyout/bailout/whatever we’re calling it, that isn’t particularly clear. JAL holds the largest share of takeoff and landing slots at Tokyo’s Haneda airport and they are definitely worth a fair amount of money. Of course, that value depends on having a Japanese economy that is functional and able to push passengers onto the flights.
Perhaps Delta is looking to recreate the Pan American route network buy purchasing 5th freedom rights around the world. Then again, that didn’t work out so well for Pan Am.
And maybe they’re actually trying to drag SkyTeam out of its current position of the “we got picked last” alliance, though I’m not really sure that picking up an almost bankrupt carrier really helps on that front. Still, having the JAL route network would be a huge boon for SkyTeam, though perhaps not quite as significant as the hit OneWorld will take from losing their only representation in that region.
It doesn’t seem likely that anything will actually be decided in the immediate future so there will be plenty of time to watch this one play out. And it should be a rather entertaining dance to watch.
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Posted by Seth on November 12, 2009 under News, Trip Reports |
I’ve never been particularly coherent or eloquent about explaining my passion for travel. Fortunately there are some professional writers out there that I can babble at who seem to make pretty decent sense of my ramblings. During last week’s crazy adventure across Europe we were accompanied by Scott McCartney, a WSJ writer. He’s posted a video this morning showing just a few of the things that we got to experience during the week.
That left ear you see in the opening sequence is mine. I’m also the guy drinking from one of the glasses in the drink try while collecting the empties from passengers. Typically me.
