Posted by Seth on May 23, 2012 under frequent flyer, Mileage Run, points | 
It is not at all uncommon for new routes to have fare sales associated with them to build hype and attract new customers. So it is not much of a surprise that United Airlines is doing exactly that with their new Denver-Tokyo route. What is somewhat surprising, however, is just how available the deal is.
Rather than booking the sale in one of their lower fare buckets, limiting the number of seats available, the current deal of $980 all-in ($298 r/t base fare) is actually booking in to the B fare class. That’s the second highest fare bucket in the coach cabin and it comes with no co-pays for miles-based upgrades (30K points each way) and it also earns 150% PQMs towards elite status. Oh, and it is basically wide open for availability any day you want to fly.
There was some concern yesterday that the fare was going to be updated and pulled from the system. It was updated, but the update actually wasn’t too huge a deal.
So, no, you can not book to join the inaugural flight on this deal any more, but any other trip in the first three weeks should be just fine. The fare has a 3 day minimum stay as well, so there’s an opportunity to explore Tokyo, too. The fare must be purchased by 24 May 2012, so another 36 hours or so before it vanishes. It certainly isn’t the best mileage run ever, but it is a pretty good deal and there is some 787 novelty value, too. Plus, it makes for a huge chunk of points in one trip.
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Posted by Seth on May 22, 2012 under Flying, News |
Looking to further leverage the value of the 787 Dreamliner on long, thin routes, United Airlines has announced today that they will be launching service between their Denver and Tokyo hubs starting in 2013. The route will begin with the 31 March 2013 departure from Denver; the first departure from Tokyo will be on 1 April 2013.
UA123 DEN1155 – 1500+1NRT 788 D 31MAR13-
UA122 NRT1640 – 1230DEN 788 D 01APR13-
Also of note on the schedule is that the total round-trip time for the flights is just over 24 hours. This means that there will be other connecting flights in and out of Denver to get the planes into position to operate the flights. Look for Houston-Denver to show up on the timetable operated by the 788 in the same timeframe.
Posted by Seth on August 22, 2011 under Flying, News |
The purchase of AirTran by Southwest was, in large part, to gain access to significant gate and slot portfolios at a few major airports where the company had previously had difficulty establishing a presence. So it should come as no surprise to see those operations leveraged in a way that better integrates with the route and operational structure that Southwest has built over the years. Southwest CEO Gary Kelly announced a number of new routes from Atlanta today at a meeting with local business leaders, kicking off the first notable shift of legacy AirTran resources to fill gaps in the Southwest network.
Starting on February 12, 2012 the company will add 15 daily frequencies out of Atlanta to five airports, four of which serve as hubs for the company’s operations. The new routes include service between Atlanta and:
- Austin – two daily nonstop roundtrips
- Baltimore/Washington – four daily nonstop roundtrips
- Denver – two daily nonstop roundtrips
- Houston Hobby – three daily nonstop roundtrips
- Chicago Midway – four daily nonstop roundtrips
Certainly not a major overhaul of the route network or even scratching the surface of the capacity the carrier has to work with in Atlanta. But it definitely shows the beginnings of the integration of Atlanta into a major point on the combined carriers’ network and how passengers will flow through the other hubs for onward connections. Expect to see similar moves at the other big airports the purchase came with (e.g. LaGuardia and Washington National) soon.
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Posted by Seth on July 7, 2011 under Mileage Run, Trip Reports |
I’m sitting on a United Airlines 767-300 somewhere over the Pacific Ocean right now, wondering just which screws are loose in my head today. Yeah, I’ve always been a little crazy, particularly when it comes to travel, but today might be the nuttiest yet. And so, as we pass the half-way point to Hawaii (I hope I win the contest!) I’m wondering to myself just what was I thinking. I chose to downgrade myself for no good reason.
My flight itinerary is reasonably simple, if not a bit circuitous. I’m booked from New York City‘s LaGuardia to Denver to Honolulu to Tokyo‘s Haneda airports on the outbound half of a weekend mileage run to Japan. By virtue of my elite status I received upgrades on the first two segments and I happily selected my seats in row 1 as I often do. There was a bit of a delay getting out of LGA but we did eventually and I even had time to grab some food in Denver during the connection. Sure, I was upgraded but I like choosing my own meal when I have the chance so I grabbed a burrito for the flight and made my way over to the gate.
Boarding was pretty simple and I was all set to curl myself into my assigned seat, 1J, and enjoy the flight.
The guy sitting in 1H asked if I’d mind trading seats with his wife in 2A. Window for window and while I’d be losing the bulkhead row that I generally prefer I’d get to be on the port side of the plane which, when flying into Honolulu generally means better views on the landing (similar to San Diego). All in all a relatively fair trade and it doesn’t cost me all that much to make two other people quite happy. I gladly accept. That’s when things get strange.
The man in 2B, acknowledging that it is a long shot, asks if he can "make it worth my while" to trade with his wife who is seated in row 17. That’s in the Economy Plus section of the plane, not the first class cabin. I’m pretty sure I shocked him and his wife when I said yes. More so when I refused to take the cash he tried to offer me in trade. I know I was a little surprised at myself.
And so I ended up with this view for the 6.5 hour long flight.
Needless to say, the Purser was quite confused when they started to take meal orders up front as there was no Mr. Miller to be found. She eventually tracked me down in 17J and she too was surprised that I made the trade of my own volition and without remorse. She admonished me just a tiny bit but was accepting of my explanation that I did it of my free will.
Here’s the craziest part of the whole thing: I’m not really sure I got that bad of a deal. The 767-300 domestic configuration on United is called the "ghetto bird" for a reason; the first class cabin really isn’t all that significant an upgrade over Economy Plus. I had the meal that I wanted. I had the drinks that I wanted (I have more than enough drink chits anyways and there may have been a comp or two as part of the trade). I have enough leg room that I can cross my legs when I feel like it. Yes, my seat is a bit narrower, but it isn’t sufficiently so that I really notice. So why help another couple on their way to Hawaii start the trip off a bit special?
Yeah, I know that I’m nuts. A part of me is wondering while writing this why I don’t really care. After all, I was sweating the upgrade before it actually came through. In the end, however, I legitimately do not mind having made the swap.
Definitely a few screws loose.
ps- Just bought my seat mate a beer with my drink chits. Gotta use ‘em some how, right?
Posted by Seth on December 15, 2010 under News |
As part of the merger between Continental and United Airlines, Southwest picked up 18 slot pairs at Newark. The first of those slots become available in March and that service was previously announced: 6x daily to Chicago Midway and 2x daily to St. Louis. The balance of the slots become available on June 5, 2011 and today the airline announced 4 new cities that will receive service at that time.
The new service is “connecting the dots” for Southwest in a big way. The carrier will serve Phoenix, Houston (Hobby), Baltimore-Washington International and Denver, all cities with significant existing presence. Perhaps most significant, however, is that the move puts Southwest in competition with the new United in a very direct way. Although they cannot compete on frequencies, Southwest will be offering direct competing service to four hub cities that the new United serves. Sure, Midway and Hobby are different than O’Hare and Intercontinental, but there is still going to be competition on routes that haven’t seen much in quite some time.
Chicago – Newark is priced with a significant premium for passengers on short, mid-week trips. With the new competition in place odds are that the new United will have to respond or see a decent chunk of business head to the south side. Houston is similar; this is the first time in recent memory that another carrier will ply the Houston – Newark route.
When JetBlue announced new service on the Newark – Boston route the pricing impact was significant. The prices for the initial launch sale in these markets are not quite as low as those JetBlue fares were, but with a max of $129++ each way there certainly is going to be some real price pressure in these markets and quite likely in many others that Southwest can provide connecting service to. It will certainly be interesting to watch for the Continental/United response to this move.
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Posted by Seth on April 12, 2010 under News |
Certainly a single data point is not a sufficient sample to extrapolate meaningful data from. But combined with the comments from the CEOs of both Continental and United Airlines, the number I heard on my flight yesterday from Denver to Houston was quite surprising and a strong vote of confidence in the new partnership between the two carriers.
Of the 130 passengers on the United flight more than half were connecting on to Continental flights in Houston to international destinations, mostly to Mexico and Central America, but also to Paris and Frankfurt. That’s a tremendous feed between the two networks. Really too bad that the flight was delayed and most of them likely misconnected, in large part due to the pain of connecting between the two carriers at that airport.
Continental operates a bus service to get folks between the terminals without having to re-clear TSA screening, and that is a great benefit to the passengers, but the bus transfer time was 20+ minutes yesterday, and that was skipping a stop in an effort to help a guy trying to get to Paris and onward to Beirut make his virtually impossible connection. Oh, and the 20 minutes only accounts for getting between terminals A and B. Onward connections to terminals C, D and E, where most of Continental’s flights operate from, require switching to the TerminaLink train, adding more time to the transfer process. Construction is in progress on extending the train all the way to terminal A which will remove the bus part of the transfer, but it is still not a great connection to have to make. The extension is supposed to be completed later in 2010, though there are some rumors that extended testing will further delay its use by passengers.
The best solution to the problem is to simply move the United gates into terminal C where they’ll be amongst the Continental gates, similar to the recent move by Continental in Denver to be amongst the United gates. With the number of passengers moving between the two carriers, such alignments are too smart to be skipped. Of course, it hasn’t happened yet in Houston (several other cities have seen such moves) and there isn’t a publicly announced timeline for such a move, though June has been bandied about as a possibility. United only needs two or three gates and Continental seems to have the excess capacity so hopefully this change will be completed sooner than not. Plus it will mean access to Continental’s Presidents Club lounges for passengers on United flights.
Posted by Seth on April 11, 2010 under Trip Reports |
A 4am wake-up call is rarely a good thing. Perhaps the only thing worse is when that call doesn’t come in and you’re expecting it. Fortunately I had set my alarm, too, so I didn’t miss my train, but it was annoying. On to the light rail from downtown Minneapolis to the airport at 4:07am and then through security in just a few minutes. Total time from my hotel room to the gate was about 50 minutes. Not bad at all, except that the Red Carpet Club wasn’t open yet.
The agent at the club did question my sanity when I mentioned in conversation that I didn’t find it all that strange to go hang out at the airport if not flying that day. Apparently she does. Such is life. The new RCC in Minneapolis is pretty nice. Small, but nice. Plenty of power outlets and both the RCC T*Mobile and the airport Boingo wireless work great there. And then, at 6am, it was time to start flying.
Minneapolis to Chicago. Chicago to New Orleans. New Orleans to Denver. Denver to Spokane. Certainly not the most direct route, but one of the more lucrative routes when it comes to accruing frequent flyer points, and that’s what this trip is all about. Explaining it to the flight attendants always is good for some strange looks but once they hear the value proposition – I’ll pay $500 in airfare now for enough points to get two flights to Europe or South America in the pointy end of the plane – they start to come around. Or they’re just being polite.
The flights were mostly uneventful. I slept through one of them, take-off to touch-down, and the other three saw nothing particularly interesting happen. I still find the United Airlines first class seats strangely uncomfortable. If I’m sitting upright like I have decent posture they just don’t feel right. Great if you want to slouch our slide your butt forward, but not so great to just sit in, at least to me. Friendly enough flight attendants and the food on one of the two meal flights was passable (not the eggs for breakfast). And then I was in Spokane.
Spokane is pretty much exactly as I remember it. I was last in town almost seven years ago for a wedding and there are only bits that I really remember but just as soon as we pulled off the highway and onto Division Street the memories came flooding back. There was the Perkins where we had the after-after-party from the wedding and the bar just across the way where the after-party was. And there was Frankie Doodle’s, home of the Texas-sized cinnamon roll. Just as large as I remember it and almost as delicious. It was worth waking up 5 minutes earlier than we otherwise would have to camp out in their parking lot and grab one for the flight, even if it did mean a second consecutive 4am alarm and fighting the line to get in when they opened their doors at 5am (yes, there really was a line to get in).
Just another day in air world…
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Posted by Seth on April 9, 2010 under Trip Reports |
File this week’s mileage run under “it seemed like a good idea at the time.” And it mostly still does, though the more I look at my itinerary and the timing on some of the flights the more I’m questioning my sanity. A total of more than 17,000 miles flown and the calculator says a hair under 100,000 bmi Diamond Club points earned. Not bad for a few days in the air and less than $500 in total airfare. Oh, and almost all of it is in first class. But, like any good story, there’s more to it than that.
The trip starts this morning with a positioning flight from Newark to Minneapolis, via Milwaukee. I think I’m earning a few points for my Delta SkyMiles account on these flights but I’m not positive. I’m also not too worried about it. The flights are short and the ticket was cheap. Plus, it is my first time flying on Midwest – way too late to get the classic experience, but better late than never – and a couple new lines for my map.
Tomorrow the real meat of the trip starts. A trip from Minneapolis to Spokane, Washington, routed via Chicago, New Orleans and Denver. The return on Sunday routes via Denver and Houston before finishing up in Chicago. I’m stopping in Chicago on Sunday night – and giving up a few miles – because bright and early on Monday morning I’m headed back to Spokane, this time on US Airways and via Phoenix.
Monday afternoon I actually stop flying for 26 hours and take advantage of the positioning to visit Idaho and play a round of golf at the Coeur d’Alene Resort. The course is supposed to be beautiful. Hopefully it still is when I’m done with it on Tuesday morning. I’m driving that afternoon and I’ve got an 8:40am tee time so I’ll probably be sober for the round, too. It has been a while since I’ve played golf and even longer since I did it without a few beers. Should be interesting.
Tuesday afternoon the crazy flying starts right back up, with Spokane – Chicago via Phoenix. Wednesday morning, about 6 hours after I get to Chicago, I turn around and do the Chicago-Phoenix-Spokane-Phoenix-Chicago run all over again. A 17 hour day of flying that should pretty much push me over to the top in terms of insanity. That wraps up the bmi earning for the week and is 98,738 Diamond Club points, give or take a few.
Finally, Thursday morning I fly Midway – LaGuardia on Delta. That one segment should earn me about 20,000 points thanks to the fly together bonus scheme Delta is running right now.
That was supposed to be the end of my travel week. Then I got a call from a potential client about a sales call in Maine on Friday. So Thursday night, after swapping out my suitcase at home, I get JFK – Portland, ME. I think I’m coming home on Saturday by train. That adds up to 17,466 miles flown according to the Great Circle Mapper.
All in all, a pretty ridiculous schedule but also a lot of potential for fun. And it could have been worse. At one point I had a trip to Germany for the day penciled in on Thursday night/Friday rather than Maine.
Up, up and away…..
Tags: bmi, Chicago, Delta, Denver, frequent flyer, Mileage Run, Minneapolis, New York City, points, United, US Air
Posted by Seth on October 1, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Southwest has announced plans to start service to Minneapolis – St. Paul International Airport (MSP) in March ‘09. The only route that has been announced so far is to Chicago Midway, but this is clearly an attack on Northwest and a pretty big bet on Delta scaling back MSP service in the coming months after the Delta/Northwest merger closes.
Considering the success Southwest has had in Denver going after United and Frontier, I am going to bet on them succeeding rather well on this bet. The biggest risk they face is Northwest/Delta getting into a pricing war and trying to undercut the fares and beat them out of the market. Prior to the merger Northwest would have never let it happen without a serious fight. But with Delta taking over this will just be a good excuse to show “lower demand for flights” and make “appropriate adjustments in the service frequencies” in Minneapolis.
This will be great for passengers there as long as Southwest ramps up service commensurate with demand, which I think they will do. They certainly have the fleet and route network available to do so.
Posted by Seth on June 25, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Following a spate of recent air rage incidents on flights a group in Denver plans to open a smoking lounge air-side at the airport in an effort to make the travel experience more relaxing. Of course, they plan to permit the smoking of marijuana in the lounge, not just tobacco.
They admit that they haven’t really thought through any of the legal issues of the plan, but they’re also the group behind the recent ballot initiative that had all penalties for possession removed, so they are pretty sure they’re on to something. Of course, with the removal of snacks on flights or the buy-on-board approaches that most airlines have, this could come back to haunt them, causing more issues for those with the munchies.
Yeah, it is pretty ridiculous, but also pretty funny.
