Posted by Seth on May 24, 2012 under Flying, News | 
JetBlue has been big on their "Even More" suite of products. Starting with Even More Legroom a few years back and recently expanding to Even More Speed (priority security lines) and Even More Space (board first for overhead bin space), the product suite has been growing over time. The latest addition appears to be in-seat power on board.
Odds are they aren’t really going to call it Even More Power, but the concept is definitely there. The new A320 deliveries they are taking starting this year will have 110V and USB power ports installed in the rows which are also "Even More" everything else. This development was rumored starting this morning and unofficial sources suggest that the newest aircraft in the fleet, N804JB, is configured with the power outlets and is currently undergoing FAA certification for the new setup. It is not clear yet at what pace the existing 120ish A320s will be retrofit or whether the 50ish E90s will be similarly configured.
This is a great move in advance of the upcoming in-flight satellite connectivity solution that the company expects to begin deploying later this year. The only down-side is that the deployment is limited to the paid upgrade seats. Still, better than nothing and certainly a welcome development for the roughly 30% of the customers on the A320s who will have access to the plugs.
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Posted by Seth on May 22, 2012 under Flying, News |
When Southwest bought out AirTran they were quite up front about their desire to get rid of the 717s in their newly acquired fleet. Thanks to a new agreement between Delta and their pilot union, it seems like there is a deal on the table which will allow them to do precisely that. Assuming the pilots ratify the new contract Delta will lease 88 of the 717s from Southwest, putting them in to operation while also retiring the DC9-50s and some CRJs as well. The replacements will be in a capacity-neutral manner, which suggests more aircraft will be retired than will be brought in based on the seating densities.
The good news in this move is that fewer tiny regional jets generally should lead to a better in-flight experience for passengers. The bad news is that it may also lead to decreased frequencies as there will be fewer planes flying. Plus, the AirTran 717s are not known to be the most comfortable aircraft in the skies. That said, they are equipped with gogo’s in-flight internet service and Delta is also a customer of gogo so that should see the connectivity remaining in service.
As part of the deal with the pilots to bring the 717s into the fleet Delta will also be allowed to increase the number of 76-seat jets they have operated by regional carriers. These are not mainline pilot jobs, but the total number of regional pilot positions will likely remain steady as the smaller regional jets are retired and these are brought in to the fleet.
The overall position with the pilots at Delta seems to be quite positive these days. More flying will be mainline which means more pilots working for the parent company rather than a regional affiliate. It also seems relatively good for customers, with fewer of the small CRJs and the new planes all offering wifi and first class cabins. Seems to be mostly smiles all around.
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Posted by Seth on May 21, 2012 under News |
In-flight internet provider Gogo has teamed up with AeroSat to offer Ku-band satellite connectivity to their customers. This offering will augment the other solutions the company has, including the current air-to-ground solution and the forthcoming ATG4 and Ka-satellite services. By adding this service option the company expects to be able to provide service to any customer anywhere in the world. The move also means that satellite-based service will be available later this year rather than 2-3 years down the line when the Ka-satellite services are expected to finally come online world-wide.
Said company CEO Michael Small,
Ku is the here and now satellite technology and will allow us to service airline clients who want an overseas solution today. However, in many cases we see this as a bridge technology that will allow us to offer overseas service until Inmarsat’s Global Xpress Ka satellite service is available.
The AeroSat solution is an established, reliable product which is currently installed on nearly 400 aircraft world-wide. By going with a proven solution the company will be able to more quickly ramp up the service offering.
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 May 8, 2012 under Internet, News |
In-flight internet provider Gogo has announced a deal to purchase a 1 Mhz slice of spectrum from competitor LiveTV in order to increase the amount of bandwidth available to their product. The deal is subject to approval by the FCC and is expected to close later in the year. LiveTV had previously designated the spectrum for their Kiteline product, a system that never really took flight and which was formally terminated two years ago.
“In many ways, Gogo has continued to expand its Air-to-Ground network and will soon launch ATG-4, which is expected to significantly improve capacity,” said Gogo’s president and CEO Michael Small. “Acquiring the 1 MHz spectrum license from LiveTV will play an integral role in our continued expansion activities and help us deliver a performance boost for end users.”
Even though this will essentially consolidate the entirety of the spectrum used for Air-to-Ground services into a single company, it seems that allowing this to proceed is still the best option for consumers. There are other competitors – via satellite – also in the space so the theoretical monopoly doesn’t really exist. And that is the only justifiable explanation I can see for the FCC to consider blocking the move.
The biggest surprise, in many ways, is that the deal took this long to reach. LiveTV is still supporting the old Airfone network and customers in a limited manner so there is some income associated with that network. Still, the JetBlue subsidiary has long ago given up expanding the use of that spectrum. In other words, it is sitting largely idle and adding minimal value to the company and to the traveling public. Then again, with only one suitable customer for the spectrum purchase, I can understand taking a bit of time to negotiate a good deal.
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Posted by Seth on May 6, 2012 under News |
Several months ago United Airlines announced that they would be changing the configuration of the 757-200 aircraft they have running in their "premium service" routes between New York City‘s JFK airport and both Los Angeles and San Francisco. The changes include removing the first class cabin and replacing the business class seats with the flat-bed models used on their transatlantic 757 service. It also means adding in more economy seats and changing from an all Economy Plus layout to both regular economy and Economy Plus. The target date for the conversions to begin was sometime in the second half of 2012 but nothing more specific was ever announced. Looking at the timetables today, however, it appears that a bit of information about a possible start date for the conversion has been sighted.
Flight number 161 is operated by a sCO 757-200 with lie-flat seats.
The change appears to start on September 1, 2012. In many cases I’d discount changes such as this one which show up on weekends, particularly with all the schedule changes that United is running on weekends still. This one, however, changes the operating carrier of the flight on that route making it seem much more likely to be legit.
The change makes sense for a number of reasons. The company will need to pull at least one aircraft out of service at a time to fit them with the new configuration. This move comes after the peak summer season for trans-Atlantic trips, allowing the company to shift a properly configured 752 over to the route and to provide the new premium service to customers. It isn’t enough seats – 10 fewer than the new config will eventually have – to offer it to everyone, but it is definitely better than putting a non-flat bed config on the route.
The sCO 752 also has the new AVOD IFE system and Economy Plus seating, but it does not have gogo wifi, unlike all the other p.s. aircraft. It remains to be seen which in-flight connectivity solution the p.s. planes end up with after their conversion but I’d bet on them ultimately having the Panasonic-supported satellite-based system. They might have to go with gogo in the interim if the new system isn’t ready yet, but I would expect them to end up there eventually.
The overall conversion timeline is still somewhat in question, but this is a pretty good indication that things are finally getting started.
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Posted by Seth on February 24, 2012 under frequent flyer, Internet, News, points, Wandering Aramean Travel Tools |
As part of my small obsession with travel I’ve come to build a number of tools that help in searching for good deals, upgrades, award seats, airport lounges, UNESCO World Heritage Sites and many other things. I’ve mostly been focused on the functionality of the sites, trying to get as much data "out there" to as many people as possible, as I think that’s the most important aspect of these tools. But I also realize that there is something to be said for making the tools look good, and that improving the UI and the usability of the site will also increase the odds that someone will use it and find it helpful. To that end, I’m happy to announce a number of updates to the Wandering Aramean Travel Tools website.
Most of the improvements have come to the fare data searches. The data is now sortable on all columns, loads much faster and allows for much faster correlation of the information at hand. The other important aspect of these changes is that they allow me to more quickly add additional types of fare data to the site as I come up with more fun stuff to share.
Here’s what the new interface looks like:
Clicking on any of the column headers will sort the data (though I don’t really know why you’d want to sort on fare basis!?!) and you can page through the data using the controls at the bottom of the dialog.
I’m working on bringing back the flight search functionality that ITA killed off in December, getting fare validity details into the displays and I’ve got a few other ideas percolating about as well. If there’s something in particular you’d like to see added to the suite just holler. If I can find the data there is a pretty good chance I’ll build it.
Finally, I’ve removed the registration requirement from many of the tools on the site. Turns out that I thought it was cool to have at one point but I never actually did much with the registrations so there isn’t much point in walling off the data that way. You’ll still need to register for the automated fare/inventory alerts (otherwise I wouldn’t be able to send the alert emails) but most of the data should be wide open. If there’s something that isn’t that you’d like to see drop me a line.
Posted by Seth on February 3, 2012 under Internet, News, Review |
JetBlue rolled out an updated website and also launched an iPhone app today, marking the carrier’s first foray into mobile apps and also a significant update to the online presence. The new website is much brighter (lots of orange) and the TrueBlue program gets a lot of love on the new site, showing at least three different places on the main page. I’m not a huge fan of the slide-out menus that move the rest of the page around, but there they are.
Overall the website changes appear to be mostly aesthetic, which is fine. Unfortunately, however, they managed to leave the one bit of the old site that is pretty awful on the old platform. The online check-in process is still the same flash-based mess that it has been since the Sabre migration happened. That was the one bit that really needed help and it didn’t get any. There are other bits of the site, like the airport guides, that have a rather unfinished feel to them. Hopefully those get touched up soon enough.
The mobile app, on the other hand, is a pretty solid offering overall, particularly for a v1.0 product. It offers flight booking, management, tracking and check-in functionality, all the basics that a mobile app should have to be useful. But it also has more.
The flight booking option is a slightly different interface than the other mobile apps I’ve seen, most notably in the seat selection, which comes on a scroll wheel rather than a seat map picker. I’m not sure if it is good or bad, but it is definitely different. It can also use geolocation to display default departure airports based on where you are, which is a neat feature, though not necessarily incredibly valuable.
There are some bugs in the flight booking interface still (remember, it is a v1.0 product), so scrolling down to the bottom of the page can result in seeing things like all the error messages that might be displayed if something goes wrong, but that doesn’t seem to interfere with the actual functionality so not a huge problem. I expect that those will be cleaned up soon enough.
The in-flight entertainment guide is pretty basic, but it includes a list of the DirecTV channels available and the movies showing, along with reviews. The in-flight section also has details on the food and snack options, including wine pairing suggestions such as Sauvignon Blanc with Terra Blue chips (apparently the citrus finish is great with the salty chips).
The highlight of the app, to me, is the "My trips" section. The display of upcoming trips is intuitive and offers up all the appropriate information on a single screen. The online check-in, social media share (Twitter and FaceBook) and "Pick me up" email features are also very nice. The flight review bits on the mobile app are arguably better than those on the main website.
And, there is more available via the trip interface. Tap on the city and you get access to the City Guide section of the app. In addition to airport information the City Guide includes tips on sights, dining and activities in the destination cities. Strangely, I cannot find any way to access that information other than via a scheduled trip, but it is nice to see that the company is working on making that happen. Hopefully they can add more content (it is somewhat sparse right now) and they expose it more directly in the near future. It would also be nice to see this content make it into the main website; it does not appear to be there right now.
Speaking of things that I hope to see in the future, there is a section in the flight booking portion of the site, both on the main website and the iPhone app, called "Add extras." Currently that section only says, "The flights you have selected don’t offer any upgrades," so there is nothing that can be selected but it certainly opens up a number of possibilities for things that might be coming. This is separate from the Even More Space seating option, though that might be something that is listed here. But there could be other things as well. This is definitely an interesting revelation that I’ll be keeping an eye on.
Overall the app is a much bigger leap forward than the website updates. Both are nice, but the app is very impressive, particularly in the my trips section. Hopefully the Android app which is expected soon will be similarly functional and both will continue to improve, fixing the little bugs that are showing today.
Posted by Seth on January 5, 2012 under Flying, Internet, Review, Trip Reports |
There were many, many reasons I was excited about coming home from our New Years trip to Sri Lanka. One of them was the opportunity to fly on an Emirates Airbus A380 in first class. And a couple weeks ago, when Emirates indicated that they were activating the OnAir in-flight internet service on the A380s I got even more excited as I’d have the opportunity to take the system for a spin. So here I am, somewhere over Turkey, enjoying all that the internet has to offer.
OK, not really all of it. Actually a very limited subset of it, but that’s per my choice. When they announced the plan Emirates suggested that they had a rate plan in mind that would allow customers to readily use the system for a flight to London at a very reasonable price point. When I logged on to the system these were the pricing options I was given:
The numbers are reasonable, I suppose, given the costs of providing the service. And metering the bandwidth will certainly help keep the speeds reasonable for the folks who are willing to pay to use it. The problem is that it also really limits the things that can be done in-flight. At least without paying the running overage rate. At least the sign-up process gives you the option of having the system stop at 25MB rather than just keep running (though that is an option as well). And they give you a running tally of your consumption.
The system also does some other cool things, like incredibly heavy JPEG compression on the terrestrial gateway to keep image sizes down. Still, I logged on and, before I had actually launched any apps or loaded any web pages my computer had managed to slurp up 2.2MB of data. Sure, that’s something going on with my computer (I should probably figure out what) but had I purchased the lower tiered product I’d be nearly half done.
I can check emails, but running an RDP/Citrix session to do real work would be quite bandwidth intensive. And I find myself limiting the sites I’m willing to visit, trying to save my bytes to make them last through the flight. Like I said, I cannot say that I blame them, but it is a bit frustrating to have the product price be so potentially high. I’d love to update the Travel Tools site or check on a few clients I’ve been neglecting over the past two weeks during my travels. And I’d rather do it now than in the lounge when I’ll be enjoying the spa treatment or spending the time with my wife. Alas, my expense account doesn’t run that deep.
The performance is decent enough. Most webpages are loading at somewhere around 3G speeds I’d say. A bit of latency, but it isn’t all that horrible. The jitter is pretty wild though.
Overall I’d say that the service lives up to expectations for a basic connectivity system. At this price point I’m not really in a financial position to give it a true workout doing real work, but it certainly is effective for the basic stuff. And if you can keep your data consumption below 25MB (which is harder than it sounds), the price for international travel, considering the systems that are involved, is actually pretty darn good.
Posted by Seth on December 24, 2011 under Internet, News |
In-flight internet provider gogo filed the necessary papers to raise $1MM in an IPO last week. Yeah, it was the last business day before Christmas so perhaps they hoped people wouldn’t be paying too much attention, but that’s rarely the case. Of all the numbers, perhaps the most significant in their filing is the uptake rate, a number that the company has been loathe to release previously. And now it is pretty clear why.
A quick bit of analysis from APEXMary and NYCAviation suggests that the uptake rate is <5%. Yikes!
To be fair, there are plenty of aircraft operating on routes that are simply too short for there to be any reasonable demand. That isn’t going to help the uptake numbers at all. But they’re quite proud of the number of planes with the system installed so they need to account for that. And the cost to equip the smaller planes is not likely particularly cheaper than the cost for the big planes. And they’ve got most of their airline partners locked in to 10 year contracts, to there is plenty of time to continue growing the revenue.
Another interesting number is that they are realizing about $0.41 per passenger. The good news is that this number is a huge increase over the $0.26/passenger for the same period the previous year.
Also interesting is that about half of their revenue (though mostly on the equipment side, not the services side) is from business aviation. And that side of the business realizes about $1,800/month in revenue per aircraft.
The company has grand plans and a pretty solid technology path for going forward. But it remains to be seen if they can keep the growth up long enough to actually become profitable. Raising $100MM from the IPO will certainly help extend the timeline to realize such, but the new technology implementations are going to be capital intensive again so that will likely be a challenge to those numbers.
Plenty of interesting data to mull over this holiday season.
Posted by Seth on December 16, 2011 under Internet, News |
Qantas announced today that they will be fitting their Airbus A380 aircraft with the OnAir SwiftBroadband connectivity suite, providing in-flight internet connectivity on trans-Pacific flights between Australia and the United States. The move brings WiFi connectivity to the fleet type but not GSM/GPRS mobile services so there will not be the option for in-flight voice or SMS/text services. The service trial is expected to start in February.
This is a similar system to that which Emirates will be using on their A380 fleet as announced earlier this week. It will also allow Qantas to remain competitive with United Airlines, which has announced intentions to outfit its entire fleet with WiFi, including the 747s they are flying to Australia.
No word on pricing yet, and the trial in February is for "business and first class passengers" according to one report, though I don’t know how they’ll keep the WiFi signal only on the upper deck. More details as they come out.
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