Posted by Seth on December 22, 2011 under frequent flyer, News | 
A binding agreement has been signed regarding the sale of Lufthansa subsidiary bmi to IAG (the consortium which owns British Airways and Iberia). The sale is still subject to regulatory clearance – no small issue considering the impact on slots at Heathrow – but the two companies expect the deal to close in Q1 2012. Lufthansa expects the impact of the sale to be off their books by the end of next year while IAG will spread the costs of the acquisition and restructuring over a three year period.
IAG only wants the mainline operations of the bmi portfolio. As part of the deal Lufthansa is still shopping the bmi regional and bmibaby units to other potential suitors. If the bmibaby brand is not unloaded there are "significant" price reductions to be accounted for. And Lufthansa is still on the hook for the pension plan of bmi employees. At the same time, IAG will receive up to 56 additional slot pairs at Heathrow, further growing their position as the largest operator there.
IAG CEO Willie Walsh offered up the following comments:
Buying bmi’s mainline business gives IAG a unique opportunity to grow at Heathrow, one of our key hub airports. Using the slot portfolio more efficiently provides the option to launch new longhaul routes to key trading nations while supporting our broad domestic and shorthaul network.
This deal is good news for the UK as we will maintain a comprehensive domestic schedule including Belfast. Our plans to expand our longhaul network would guarantee growth by making Britain better able to compete on a global scale. It will also help maximise Heathrow’s position as a world class hub airport.
Customers will benefit from access to new destinations, more convenient schedules, enhanced frequent flyer benefits and greater investment than had been possible for loss-making bmi.
Sure, maintaining the schedule is easy. The real question is what fares will look like without competition on the routes. It is rare that losing a competitor in a market makes things better for the customer.
I really do need to redeem the last of those Diamond Club points quite quickly.
Announcements from IAG and Lufthansa.
Posted by Seth on December 19, 2011 under frequent flyer, News |
Etihad has purchased a 29.21% stake in German airline airberlin, becoming the single largest shareholder and taking two seats on the board. The move is not surprising – outside investment in the struggling carrier has been expected for some months now – while the full impact remains to be seen. Perhaps the most significant immediate aspect of the partnership is that Etihad has committed $255MM to ensure aircraft deliveries in the near term.
Among other effects of the move, airberlin will be shifting their Middle East connectivity (only 4x weekly) from Dubai to Abu Dhabi to link up with the Etihad hub there. That’s a drop in the bucket compared to the 25+ flights that Etihad operates to Germany each week from their hub, but it does shift the market a bit. The two carriers plan extensive code-sharing across their networks initially with hopes of receiving anti-trust immunity in the near future.
The two carriers will also be aligning their loyalty programs, permitting earning and burning across carriers and reciprocal elite recognition and earning.
Finally, the two intend to investigate joint procurement opportunities to reduce costs in fleet deployment and procurement, MRO and other functions.
Gaining access to the German market has been something of a challenge for the middle-eastern carriers and Lufthansa has expended a lot of energy protecting the market from Emirates, Etihad and others. This investment shakes up those efforts quite a bit.
Posted by Seth on December 13, 2011 under frequent flyer, News, points |
Ethiopian Airlines became the third African carrier to join the Star Alliance network this week, growing the alliance to 28 carriers. Of those 28, 16 provide service to Africa, covering 110 airports in 48 countries. The move also integrates Ethiopian into the fare and award products, though some integration on fare products won’t occur until January 2012.
The move also integrates the carrier into frequent flier earning across the alliance. Thus far I’ve seen earing details for Asiana, Continental, United Airlines, Turkish, TAP Air Portugal, Air Canada, Lufthansa‘s Miles & More and Agean Airlines. Those earning rates have been incorporated into the calculators on the Travel Tools site. Generally speaking most of the carriers are providing 100% earning rates for all economy fares and a bonus for business class fares. Full details about the rates can be found on the Travel Tools Update here.
Tags: Africa, Agean, Air Canada, Asiana, Continental, Ethiopian Airlines, frequent flier, frequent flyer, Lufthansa, points, Star Alliance, TAP Air Portugal, tools, Turkish Air, United, United Airlines
Posted by Seth on December 12, 2011 under Flying, Internet, News |
Emirates has announced the activation of the OnAir in-flight internet service on their Airbus A380 fleet. The service, available today on 11 of 19 and installed from the factory on new deliveries starting in mid-2012, will allow for WiFi data service as well as GSM voice and data services for mobile phones.
The price-point for the service ranges from ~$7.50-$15, depending on the device type and amount of data consumed. They expect that the plans will more than meet the needs of their users based on testing they have performed over the past several months. The prices are lower than what Lufthansa charges for their services across the Atlantic so that should help with customer adoption.
Hopefully the A380 I’m flying in January is one of the 11 with the service active. I’d love to give it a try at that price point.
More from Emirates on the announcement here.
Posted by Seth on November 22, 2011 under frequent flyer, News, points |
April 2012 is going to be a busy month for Star Alliance. That’s when Copa and Avianca-Taca are expected to become full members of the global alliance, culminating a process that has been ongoing for many months now. The official invitation to join was extended just earlier this month and it seems that the integration process will be completed incredibly quickly by global alliance standards. Normally the integration takes 12-18 months (or even longer if you’re Air India) but these carriers plan to do it much faster.
For Copa the process shouldn’t be too hard. They already use the same OnePass loyalty program as Continental and that will merge into the new MileagePlus program from United. There will still need to be bilateral agreements drawn up with the other alliance members and some adjustments on the inventory and computer systems side of things but they are pretty far ahead in the game.
For Avianca-Taca there is definitely some more work involved. Although the carrier has frequent flyer relationships with Star Alliance members United and Lufthansa there are still more steps required to get fully integrated. Still, Copa CEO Pedro Heilbronn confirmed that join date for both programs so it looks pretty good, at least for now.
One interesting bit about Copa joining the program is that, as of today, there are no long-haul flights into the Panama City hub from overseas. There are connection options from Dulles, O’Hare, Los Angeles, Houston and Newark, giving great integration to the United Airlines network, but not much beyond that. It will be interesting to see if joining into Star Alliance can bring some more long-haul traffic into that hub.
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Tags: Avianca, Chicago, Continental, Copa, frequent flyer, houston, Los Angeles, Lufthansa, Newark, Panama, points, Star Alliance, Taca, United, Washington DC
Posted by Seth on November 9, 2011 under frequent flyer, News, points |
Following on the heels of this summer’s award chart adjustments that saw many awards increase in cost it appears that Aeroplan, the loyalty program associated with Air Canada, is also adjusting the surcharges they levy on certain award redemptions. Specifically, it appears that the YQ fuel surcharge, to date only levied against redemptions on Air Canada flights, is now applying to flights operated by Lufthansa, Austrian and a few others.
This trend is not a new one. Recently American Airlines began charging the YQ surcharge on flights operated by partner British Airways. Delta charges a similar fee for flights originating outside the USA, even if flown on Delta airplanes, while not charging where the flights originate in the USA. Needless to say, the development is a costly one for customers.
With Aeroplan as one of the last great redemption options for the American Express Membership Rewards program this move also devalues those points a bit. Not great news at any level.
More over at View From the Wing.
Posted by Seth on September 17, 2011 under Flying, frequent flyer, points |
There are lots of different ways to maximize the value of award redemptions. Some folks look only at the cash value of the ticket were it purchased directly. Others look at the cabin of travel. Or the total distance covered. Or the number of points required.
I’ve used all of those metrics at one point or another, but my most recent redemption doesn’t hit on any of them. The goal of this particular redemption was to maximize the number of cities I could visit on a single one-way redemption. Officially the rules say a one-way award can have only a starting point and an ending point. I’ll be visiting four different cities on my current schedule.
I’m taking full advantage of the fact that a connection on an international itinerary is defined as anything less than 24 hours in the same city. Combine that with the relatively short travel distances in Europe and it turns out that there are a lot of ways to hop scotch across the continent without paying all that much extra. Here’s what my trip looks like:
Flying from Stockholm to Istanbul is a hair under 1400 miles; my routing is 1855. Not all that much longer in total travel distance but I’ll be spreading my travel out over 4 days rather than just a few hours. Stops are currently scheduled in Berlin (20 hours), Ljubljana (22), Skopje (23) and Istanbul (destination). Only one of the hops requires a connection – 30 minutes in Munich. I also get to fly some fun aircraft types and a new (to me) airline, along with new airports and countries. Not too shabby for only 12,500 points plus about $100 in taxes.
Building the award was surprisingly easy. I started by looking at flight timetables and route networks for the various Star Alliance carriers in Europe. The goal was to find mid-day flights that would allow me to get between cities while there was still a bit of daylight but also to be able to wake up each morning at a reasonable hour rather than silly early. Avoiding the early morning flights also makes it easier to actually keep the 23ish hour connections alive as the earlier flights make it harder and harder to stack the flights.
Once I had a framework for the trip I searched out the award inventory directly using ANA‘s website. Every single flight I wanted had award inventory available. With the specific flights in hand I called the reservations line at Continental. I fed the flights to the agent one at a time and when she pressed the magic "go" button it priced correctly automatically. No need to go through manual pricing or anything else for this one; we were both quite surprised at that. But it is booked and confirmed.
Now I just need to get my flight to Stockholm and home from Istanbul booked. But that should be easy, right??
Tags: ANA, award, Berlin, Continental, EuroHopping, frequent flyer, Istanbul, Ljubljana, Lufthansa, Munich, points, Skopje, Star Alliance, Stockholm, Turkish Air
Posted by Seth on August 18, 2011 under Review, Trip Reports |
The Thai Airways lounges in Bangkok have been oft regaled. Their first class passengers, particularly, are well spoilt with hour-long massages and excellent dining options. Alas, my trip was only departing in business class so I was relegated to the lesser service. I know that the first class treatment must be nicer but the business class option was pretty darn impressive.
Check-in was handled well, with the added bonus of having seats at the check-in counters rather than having to stand while dealing with bag tags and seat assignments. I would have been happier if they tagged my bags all the way through to my final destination rather than just to Johannesburg, but that ended up not making a difference as I had to claim and drop the bags again anyways after clearing customs. And the private security and immigration facilities just for premium passengers was terrific, not in the least because I was the only one in line as I passed through.
Thai operates a bunch of lounges at Suvarnabhumi Airport covering First and Business Class passengers as well as Star Alliance Gold elite members. But they reserve access to the largest lounge for only premium cabin passengers. The services were, in my experience, nearly identical at the main lounge as in the others. Most notable was the presence of a duty free shop inside the biz lounge. And the dedicated lounge was much larger. None of the lounges were particularly crowded while I was there, but I attribute that mostly to my off-peak departure time (6pm) more than anything else. I can imagine that the *G lounges would get quite crowded at peak departure times.
All of the lounges offered up plenty of beverage options as well as various snack foods, ranging from soup to steamed buns to shumai to noodles. I’m drooling again just remembering them.
All the talk I’d previously heard about the first class departures spa and massages neglected to mention that business class passengers also get a complimentary treatment. No, it isn’t an hour long nor a full body work over, but you do get a choice of four half hour treatments. I didn’t realize this until I’d already spent an hour – and most of my preflight lounge time – sitting in the dedicated business class passenger lounge. Whoopsie. Fortunately there was just enough time for me to get my shoulder and neck massage prior to the flight. But shame on me for not doing the research I should have.
Following my massage it was time to meander out to the gate area – about 15 minutes away – and prepare for the flight itself. Thanks to the quality of the pre-flight pampering I was afforded in the lounge and the spa I wasn’t too worried about the in-flight experience.
I’ve been in the Lufthansa First Class Terminal and their dedicated First Class Lounges. I’ve been in the Virgin Atlantic Upper Class lounge. And I’ve been in any number of lounges operated by other carriers for elites and business class passengers. Putting aside the cool factor of the drive from the FCT to the airplane, I’m not sure that much out there beats the quality of the pre-flight pampering that Thai offers is pretty impressive. In the heat of the moment, relaxing following my massage with a glass of tea, I was convinced that it was the best ever. I’ve backed down from that a bit, mostly because the dining options that Lufthansa offers for the FCL/FCT are better by far than the business options that Thai has.
But I could quite reasonably argue that the Thai product is the best Business Class option I’ve experienced. Up against Virgin’s flagship Clubhouse in London‘s Heathrow I’d say that Thai does a quite respectable job. Less crowded, easier access to the spa treatments and better tasting food, if not quite the same variety. No waitress service but the open self-service bar didn’t suck.
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Tags: Bangkok, elite status, London, Lounge, Lufthansa, Photos, RTW2011, Star Alliance, Thai Air, Trip Report, Virgin Atlantic
Posted by Seth on August 9, 2011 under frequent flyer, News, points |
I’ve written many times about my love for free award changes as a top-tier elite. It is one of the most valuable benefits of airline status to me and one that I use a ton. It is not uncommon to find that a better seat/route/time might open up with award inventory just a day or two prior to departure as the operating carrier realizes that they will not be able to sell the seats and they are willing to take some points off the books in exchange. In fact, my most recent Lufthansa first class experience was a direct result of one such change, with the seats becoming available about 48 hours prior to the flight and me making the change about 36 hours prior to travel.
Had I been using Delta SkyMiles that change would not have been possible.
In a new policy announced today and which takes effect on 15 August 2011, Delta has stated that all awards will be considered non-refundable and non-changeable at 72 hours prior to departure. This comes just two weeks after the announcement that the awards would expire at the time of departure. The change applies to all SkyMiles redemptions, including those of Diamond and Platinum elite members.
Customers who would book a mid or high tier award as a hedge against nothing being available would previously be able to change that award to a low tier seat – and save a lot of miles – if the award inventory opened up. And if those seats were to open up it was quite commonly 48-72 hours out. With this new policy making that change – from high/mid to low at 48-72 hours out – is now impossible. Sure, the passengers can take the chance that the low will open up anyways (Delta is spinning this change as something which will "make those seats available to other members and ultimately increase award availability."). But that’s a pretty stupid bet to make from a customer perspective.
There are a couple interesting things that the change shows. For starters, apparently there were 400,000 awards that were not flown (and presumably refunded) nor canceled prior to departure in the prior year according to the Delta representative announcing the change. There were 1,000,000 awards that were sitting booked at 72 hours out that were never flown. That’s a lot of award miles that would be forfeit should the customers not make appropriate changes. It is not hard to see where Delta got the idea to make this change.
Another interesting bit is that they made these two announcements only two weeks apart. That’s two adjustments to the same policy, a policy that had existed for a long time with no variation, announced so close together that it is hard to believe someone competent actually approved the timing of the decision. If you’re still considering changing it further, particularly when that further change is so similar to the initial one, why not just wait until you’ve made a final decision and announce the change then? Sure, the change sucks for customers. No doubt about that. But the fact that it was changed twice in such a short period is truly pathetic.
Finally, the announcement of the change and its retroactive impact on the validity of existing award reservations is questionable. The program terms includes conflicting information on that topic:
Delta and its program partners reserve the right to change program rules, benefits, regulations, Travel Awards, fees, mileage Award levels, and special offers at any time without notice. This means that Delta may initiate changes, for instance, impacting partner affiliations, rules for earning mileage credit, continued availability of Awards, or blackout dates. … Unless otherwise stated, the terms and conditions of the SkyMiles Membership Guide and Program Rules in effect at the time of your travel, request for a benefit, or other transaction will govern the transaction.
Those are the first and last bits of the same paragraph. It is not hard to believe that the last line says that the rules in effect when I conducted the transaction – issuing the award reservation – should apply to that reservation. Based on everything Delta has stated so far, however, they will be using the first line as their policy and applying this change to existing bookings as well.
Ultimately this is just another in the long line of changes made to the SkyMiles program that devalues the points for their members. At least in this case the folks in Atlanta know that the change is not going to be well received. Didn’t stop them from making it, though.
They’re not known as SkyPesos for nothing, folks.
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Posted by Seth on June 9, 2011 under Trip Reports |
It would seem that, sadly, this is going to be a rather short post. Yes, I’m quite happy that I got to spend a couple days in Frankfurt, Germany as part of the Lufthansa A380 Inaugural flight from San Francisco, but there really isn’t a ton to do in town. We got by and managed to not go too crazy, but it was tough.
The Altstadt ("Old Town") is where we spent most of our time while in town. It is convenient to the river and where our hotel was so that definitely helped keep us there. And what few tourist-focused bits of town exist are rather concentrated in that area (though we did head across the river for dinner both nights).
The European Central Bank is in the area, and it looks just like a bank building but with a nifty Euro logo out front. The Frankfurt Bourse is also in the area. They went with the more traditional bull & bear theme for their statues.
And then there is the Dom. Like any good European town, the city of Frankfurt is more or less centered around a town square, with the local cathedral not too far away. In the case of Frankfurt Saint Bartholomeus’s Cathedral (Dom Sankt Bartholomäus) is located just a block off the central square and it is one of the main tourism spots in town.
The location has had a cathedral for several hundred years but, like much of the town, this iteration is relatively new construction from after the war. The Dom served as the election site for emperors of the Holy Roman Empire as well as providing a site for the anointing of German kings. Today it is just a cathedral, with no special powers (and not even a Bishop’s seat) but it still serves as a focal point in the community, for tourists and locals alike. Plus, at 95 meters tall it is a great navigational beacon in town.
Within the main square there is some interesting history to go along with the very tourist-focused shops and the Römer, formerly City Hall and now used by the local government for a number of functions, including wedding facilities in some of the halls. There is a lovely statue of Justitia, holding the scales for judging and a sword for carrying out guilty verdicts.
The square also happens to be where we got a snack our first day in town. There is a cute little würst shop selling sausages of various persuasion, along with the requisite sides, and beer. It was certainly not the best food we had during the trip but given that the options just north of the square included a Subway I’m pretty sure we made the right choice. Besides, standing out in the square eating and drinking was a great opportunity to people watch.
And that’s pretty much it. We did spend some time in a couple different food markets (one on purpose and one by accident); that will be another post as there are too many cool photos in that one. We also took a quick trip out to Mainz for 30 minutes and that was more fun than the several hours we spent in Frankfurt.
Don’t get me wrong, Frankfurt isn’t bad, per se, but there are much better cities to visit in Germany if you’re looking for more traditional touristy things to do.
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