Posted by Seth on May 14, 2010 under News, frequent flyer, points | 
AirTran is no stranger to poking fun at other airlines and doing what they can to poach frequent flyers from those carriers. They basically have no shame in that regard. And why should they? Marketing is all about going after the customers, right? Being able to do so with a sense of humor is an added bonus. In the case of their latest promotion, they’re going after the Midwest/Frontier combination in Milwaukee, and once again they’re being creative about it.
For starters, they are offering a status match to anyone who holds Midwest Miles Aspire or Executive status. Those customers can become AirTran A+ Elite simply by submitting a request. Considering the reciprocity between the AirTran and Frontier programs that is now coming to an end this makes sense as an effort to hold on to those customers.
And then there is the creative part. AirTran is also offering Midwest Miles members the opportunity to earn AirTran A+ credits simply by redeeming their Midwest miles. Yes, there are some restrictions. Midwest Miles members must redeem their miles for a charity donation through the Midwest program. Credit in the A+ program will only be earned at the 50,000 and 100,000 levels of donations/redemptions. But if someone chooses to redeem their miles that way they essentially can convert the reward miles from one program to the other – causing a donation to be made in the process – and the devaluation of the points isn’t all that horrible.
Like I said, quite a creative way to gain customers. And now that the new Midwest/Frontier is no longer Milwaukee’s hometown airline there is decent motivation for those customers to go looking.
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Posted by Seth on April 28, 2010 under News |
Just announced on the quarterly earnings conference call:
- 7x daily DCA-BOS
- 1x daily DCA-FLL
- 1x daily DCA-MCO
That makes a lot more sense than trying to get Charlotte or JFK on the schedule. There is competition on all these routes, most notably from US Airways on all three routes, but also from Delta, American Airlines, Spirit Air and AirTran.
The new flights put JetBlue in the drivers seat on traffic between Boston and the DC area, with 18 daily departures amongst the three airports. The fight for Boston is going to be fun to watch…
The new flights are bookable now at jetblue.com, with some good sales out there for travel prior to December 15, 2010.
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Posted by Seth on April 10, 2010 under News, frequent flyer |
I like when the airlines offer frequent flyer promos for a number of reasons. First off, there’s the opportunity to earn a ton of extra points. But most promos don’t apply to most customers so there is another aspect to it that I find interesting. The promos are often used by the airlines to improve bookings on routes where there is heavy competition or where the loads are otherwise not performing all that well. When the promos are system-wide it is an even stronger signal that the airline is looking to drum up business in an hurry.
A few weeks back there were a rash of bonuses announced on the Baltimore – Boston route as Southwest, JetBlue and AirTran began fighting in earnest for market share on the route. In the past couple weeks another set of routes has seen a targeted bonus pop up: premium cabin trans-continental routes. Delta fired the opening shot in that battle offering up huge numbers of miles for service in their relatively new BusinessElite product on flights between New York City’s JFK and both Los Angeles and San Francisco. Passengers buying paid business class tickets can earn 50,000 points for each round trip flown on the routes. For passengers with slightly less deep pockets there are 25,000 mile bonuses available for folks flying on the most expensive coach fares, most of whom will be riding in the BusinessElite seats anyways. The promo is valid for travel from April 1 to May 30.
American Airlines responded earlier this week, essentially copying the Delta offer. At least they didn’t have the gall to call their regular economy seating “premium economy” fares.No word yet on whether Virgin America or United Airlines – the two other carriers with a premium product on the transcon routes – will be responding to this fight. Some additional coverage of the NYC transcon promos can be found here.
It seems that business travel is recovering a bit but perhaps not as many companies are offering paid premium cabin travel for the domestic transcons anymore, pitting the carriers against each other in an effort to grab the lion’s share of that shrinking market.
American has also launched a rather creative tiered promotion for service to their newest destinations. The carrier is adding service to 17 destinations in the coming months and passengers who fly to more than one of those destinations will receive progressively more bonus points, up to 100,000 if they can get to 10 of the airports. This promo also requires registration and runs through the end of July.
And then there’s Southwest Airlines. Forget targeted promotions. Rapid Rewards has a wide-open promo running right now. All fares and all routes are eligible with the lower fares receiving double credit (one bonus point for each itinerary) and Business Select fares receiving 2.25-3 credits per itinerary depending on distance traveled. The promotion is valid for travel through May 26, 2010. Wholesale promos like this hearken back to the crazy promotions that most the legacy carriers were running double elite miles promos in an effort to build new bookings. The Southwest promo is only good on new bookings so they’re doing what they can to generate more revenue in the short term. Is this a bad sign for Southwest? Are future bookings and revenue numbers that weak? We won’t really know for a couple months yet when the financial reports come out, but seeing promos like this are always a red flag to me regarding a carrier.
Lots of opportunities to earn a ton of points right now, assuming you’re flying on these carriers and on these routes. Have fun!
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Tags: AirTran, American Airlines, Boston, Delta, frequent flyer, JetBlue, Los Angeles, New York City, points, San Francisco, Southwest Airline, United, Virgin America
Posted by Seth on March 26, 2010 under News |
One of Southwest’s recent commercials has a bunch of their baggage handlers flashing their painted chests at an AirTran plane with the slogan “Bags Fly Free” spelled out. Cute, right? Well, the folks at AirTran have a bit of a sense of humor about the situation and they’ve responded online with this “ad” that they would run if they really cared. Or so they claim.
I love when the airlines have a sense of humor about themselves and their competitors. Behaving too seriously just isn’t believable.
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Posted by Seth on March 25, 2010 under frequent flyer, points |
Who knew that the Boston – Baltimore route was so coveted? Apparently Southwest, AirTran and jetBlue are convinced it is. The three carriers have launched a bit of a price and points war on the route this week. For starters, there is the fare – starting from $49 each way plus tax. That’s not too shabby, especially considering the pretty wide open availability of seats at that price unlike some sale fares that are quite limited.
On top of the good price, however, all three airlines are also offering bonus miles on the route. AirTran is offering double A+ Reward points while jetBlue is offering triple TrueBlue points. Southwest is also offering a bonus. Registration is required for both promotions.
Neither offer is enough to get me to go out of my way to fly the route, but always good to know that there are still some pockets of competition where the airlines are vying for your business.
UPDATE: Updated noon Friday EDT to reflect Southwest’s participation in the fun.
Posted by Seth on March 23, 2010 under News |
When last we met, Delta and US Airways were in the middle of negotiations on one of the largest airline operations reallocations in recent memory. The two carriers were going to be trading over 150 slot pairs at New York City’s La Guardia and Washington, DC’s National airports. But that was seven months ago and since then both the US Air pilots’ union and the FAA have had some comments about the proposed move. The FAA was insistent that some of the slots be given over to limited incumbent carriers or to new entrants at the two airports. As of yesterday it appears that some agreements have been reached to make the swaps happen.
Delta will be giving up 15 of its 125 new slot pairs at LaGuardia, selling five each to AirTran, Spirit Air and WestJet. WestJet would be a new entrant at LaGuardia while AirTran and Spirit are considered limited incumbents based on their relatively minimal operations there. Spirit currently operates 11 daily departures, mostly to their hub in Ft. Lauderdale; AirTrain operates 18 daily flights to five destinations, 9 of them are to their Atlanta Hub. WestJet currently serves the New York City area with service to Newark airport and it is not clear whether they intend to move that service to LaGuardia or operate to both facilities going forward.
In Washington, US Airways will receive 42 new slot pairs, of which five will be ceded to jetBlue as a new entrant to the market. jetBlue currently has significant operations at Dulles airport but no service into National and has previously expressed interest in starting service there should slots become available. That opportunity appears to be on the horizon for them.
This deal is still subject to approval from the FAA and such approval should not be assumed. Previously the FAA suggested that 20 of the LaGuardia slots and 14 of the National slots would need to be shed. The proposal from the airlines doesn’t quite meet those targets. Still, with the number of other carriers involved it does seem likely that the deal will be approved. Of course, the pilots might still find a way to interfere.
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Posted by Seth on February 14, 2010 under News |
This one isn’t quite as awesome as the Kulula Air livery that was making the rounds on the internet last week, but the latest special livery from AirTran is pretty sweet. The carrier has partnered with McKee Foods to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the bakery’s best known brand, Little Debbie Snacks. I have a special place in my heart for those little bundles of excessively sweet and gooey goodness as I pretty much grew up on them so I’m sure that skews my view of the livery a bit. I’m OK with that.
Oh, the airline is running some contests and whatnot associated with the plane, too. Whatever. If they aren’t serving Fudge Rounds or Oatmeal Cream Pies or Star Crunch on board it shouldn’t really count.
Some more info on the promos and the livery here and here.
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Posted by Seth on August 22, 2009 under Internet |
Earlier in the month there was some big news from in-flight internet provider Row44 – they received approval from the FCC to operate their gear on airplanes in the USA. The other shoe dropped yesterday, with Southwest announcing that they are going to be equipping their entire fleet with the system.
Southwest Airlines and Row 44 are continuing plans to roll out wi-fi beginning in the first quarter of 2010. Beginning this fall, Southwest will be moving to the next step of certifying Southwest’s full fleet with plans to begin fleetwide rollout of the Row 44 satellite service in the first quarter of 2010. The airline has been testing the service on four aircraft since Feb. 2009 and has received fantastic Customer feedback on the product.
Their plans for deployment fleet-wide are not the first (AIrTran Virgin America have previously committed to fleet-wide deployment) but they are the broadest. By far. Southwest operates over 3200 flights/day on about 550 planes. That is a lot of systems for Row44 to sell and a lot of coverage to provide.
The pricing has still not been determined (or at least not announced) so that remains a big question mark. Southwest is different than the other carriers offering WiFi in that their average stage length is much shorter – only ~650 miles per flight. For a per-flight subscription they’d likely have to charge much less than the others to have a fairly valued offering. Or they could just offer a 24-hour plan to cover all the hops on Southwest that day. That makes more sense given the flight patterns and route scheme that Southwest uses.
More coverage from Runway Girl, who apparently got a head’s up prior to the official announcement.
Posted by Seth on August 12, 2009 under Uncategorized |
When airports restrict access to their facilities – generally through the use of slot controls – those slots can become incredibly valuable. Access to slots at London’s Heathrow airport have long been some of the most expensive out there, along with those at Narita, Washington National and New York’s LaGuardia. Those last two are the subject of a number of trades and swaps this week amongst carriers there, with some major shifts in service coming as a result.
The first salvo in the swaps was news that Continental and AirTran are making a trade. Continental is giving up six slots at Washington National and four at LaGuardia in exchange for ten slots back at Newark. Those ten slots represent the entirety of AirTran’s schedule at Newark. They’re ceding the market. This is great for Continental as AirTran generally provided downward pressure on fares. Plus it allows Continental to further strengthen their hold on their fortress hub in the New York area.
That trade is child’s play compared to the major deal that Delta and US Airways negotiated and announced today (US Announcement // DL Announcement). Delta will be trading 42 slot pairs at Washington National to US Air in exchange 125 slot pairs at LaGuardia. Delta will also be giving US Air some slots for service to Brazil and Japan. And to top it all off, Delta is going to trade terminals with US Air at LaGuardia, with US Air moving all their operations to the Marine Air Terminal while Delta takes over the US Air terminal.
These changes are nothing short of huge. US Air is slashing their US Express service from LaGuardia, removing 26 destinations from the map. They’ll keep the Shuttle, as well as mainline service to Charlotte and Wilmington, NC and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, PA.
Delta will be replacing the turboprop service that US Express runs with various jets – regional or otherwise – and will be turning LaGuardia into a true hub operation for the northeastern US. Delta will be adding service to 30 cities across the region, including more than a dozen that are currently served by US Express. They will also be constructing a connector between the two existing terminals – theirs and the US Air terminal – to make a single terminal capable of handling their operations.
In Washington, US Air will be adding 15 new destinations, including replacing Delta service on several routes that are being cut. And, similar to Delta’s efforts at LaGuardia, US Air claims that they will be increasing the average aircraft size to add additional passenger capacity in the same number of total slots.
In the end it does not appear that any cities that currently have service from either National or LaGuardia will be losing it, but I also haven’t seen all the details so I’m not positive on that. Still, the changes in operations are quite significant, particularly the way Delta is converting LaGuardia into a true hub operation. Losing the Marine Air Terminal will be a significant loss for the Delta Shuttle operations, but they’ve degraded those so much lately that it doesn’t really matter all that much. And now US Air will have that incredibly convenient terminal. Too bad they won’t really fly many places from there.
Posted by Seth on May 21, 2009 under Trip Reports |
Continental and jetBlue have announced some new routes over the past couple weeks, looking to capitalize on fun, sun and, in one case, subsidy money and demand. Sure, the economy is still hurt and the airline industry is still struggling, but there are little bits of expansion happening anyways as specific markets still appear ripe for the taking.
In Continental’s case the market is Biloxi, Mississippi. The carrier has contracted with Grand Casino Biloxi and the IP Casino Resort to subsidize the costs of operating flights between the casino town and two Florida cities – Tampa and Jacksonville. The fares are not super-cheap; they still cost ~$120 each way at the bottom end of the range – but they are at least providing service. AirTran used to operate similar flights for the casinos but chose to not renew the contract in January so there is clearly some questionable history on the routes. Continental will operate the flights using an Embrear ERJ-145 through its regional carrier Continental Express.
JetBlue announced today their intent to expand their service into Jamaica, adding daily non-stop flights to Kingston from their hub at New York’s JFK, subject to government approval. This is on top of the Montego Bay flights that began service today. Air Jamaica has been struggling of late and this certainly cannot be good for them. Relatively speaking jetBlue operates a reliable and friendly service and has nicer planes. There is only so much bad that “champagne flights” can make up for, and Air Jamaica has gone way past that historically so it is nice to see that folks needing to get between New York and Kingston will have another option available.
Service to Kingston will mark jetBlue’s 14th international destination, a significant growth in the Caribbean region over the past couple years. Those markets appear to have much higher yields than the transcon markets that jetBlue has been trimming down lately. Yes, they are keeping the transcons, but they are not growing them and aren’t working too hard to build that aspect of their business. After all, it isn’t a particularly profitable market.
JetBlue has also announced a return of their seasonal service to Nantucket for the summer and a fare sale on the Montego Bay flights. If Jamaica in the middle of hurricane season is your thing the fares are actually pretty good – $129+tax each way.
Get out there and fly!
Posted by Seth on January 10, 2009 under Uncategorized |
For those of you at home asking when the gutting of the airline loyalty programs is going to end, don’t look to Delta for any short term relief. They have announced that as of March 1, 2009 they are removing the free reward change benefit for all elites.
The ability to freely change and redeposit reward reservations is one of my absolute favorites that the airlines offer. I was pretty annoyed when Continental announced that they were jacking the fee up for such changes to $150 for everyone but their platinum elites. But Delta has upped the challenge, choosing to remove the benefit for ALL their customers, including their elites. Even worse, this will affect all the NorthWest elites, too, as their program is now pretty much run by the same rules that govern the Delta program.
Delta’s justification? Well it isn’t particularly a good one, but at least it is grammatically correct:
Thank you for contacting Delta Air Lines.
Industry-wide capacity reductions have resulted in fewer seats available for award travel. In an effort to preserve award seat availability for the entire SkyMiles membership, we made the difficult decision to no longer allow free-of-charge redeposits and reissues of award tickets by Platinum members effective March 1, 2009. While we recognize this benefit is important to our Platinum members, we have found that many of these award seat bookings were being held to the last minute and in some cases never flown. Many members including our most-valued Platinum Medallions, were deprived of the opportunity to use those seats. Please also note that Platinum Medallion members are not charged the Award Ticket Fee for reservations ticketed less than three weeks before travel.
Your selection of Delta is appreciated, and we will always do our best to merit your confidence and support.
Sorry, Delta, but I’m not buying the excuse. See, reward inventory is made available when the airlines don’t think that they can sell the seats. Plus, if the seats are not occupied at the time of departure someone gets the upgrade instead. I’m just not buying that Delta is really losing money with the existing policy. Of course, they’ll make a lot more money as they start charging all their customers more to use their miles, but it isn’t like they were really losing much prior to this.
I’m actually pretty shocked that they are going this far against their top tier elites. I think that the fallout is going to be pretty ugly. Sure, they have some markets where they are too dominant, but even the folks in Atlanta have options (Airtran) for a lot of routes, and Minneapolis will in March, with Southwest coming to town. It is early enough in the year that there is still time to jump ship and start qualifying for elite status in a different program. I’d strongly consider it were I a Delta customer.
