Posted by Seth on November 23, 2011 under News | 
JetBlue and WestJet were the winners of the auctions for landing slots at New York City‘s LaGuardia airport and Washington, DC‘s National airport according to reports. JetBlue had made it clear that they intended to bid on the slots and their win there is not particularly surprising. WestJet is a slightly bigger surprise (and only won at LaGuardia); the carrier appears ready to attack the "golden triangle" commuter traffic from Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal to New York.
On the JetBlue side there isn’t any particular indication yet of what the routes will be used for (or even an official confirmation that they won). With an equal number in both DC and LaGuardia it would be possible to take on the US Airways and Delta Shuttle operations, though that also seems unlikely; the market doesn’t need a third player in that space. There are enough other routes that could be operated from the two airports which makes Shuttle service seem unlikely. And with $72MM invested in acquiring the slots it seems to make sense that they’re going to want to maximize revenue, not just attack other established markets.
Most surprisingly to some observers is that Southwest apparently declined to bit at both airports. Southwest was the main instigator of troubles with the previous efforts to distribute the slots so their absence from the auction is somewhat surprising. That said, with their purchase of AirTran the need to acquire slots through the auction process was rather diminished.
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Posted by Seth on March 11, 2010 under News |
Good reasons for flight delays are very few and far between. Still, it seems that Air Canada discovered a pretty decent one, albeit by accident. Call it a passenger revolt that was successful.
Apparently the passengers on a scheduled Vancouver – Montreal flight a couple weeks ago simply refused to board the plane and the flight was delayed waiting for them. The flight was scheduled to depart right around the time that the Olympics gold medal match for men’s hockey went into overtime. Passengers watching on the televisions in the airport terminal refused to get on the plane, choosing to watch the end of the game instead.
Good for them, I say. Every now and then the airlines need to be reminded that the customers are the reason they are flying.
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Posted by Seth on March 18, 2008 under News |
My quick trip up to Montreal last weekend had me asking this question over and over again, just about every minute that we were outside and I still have not come up with a reasonable answer to it. I get that there is a lot of snow up there, and I get that the streets are narrow, making it harder to plow. And I get that they have universal health care, so when someone slips and falls and injures themselves they can get treatment. But that still doesn’t explain at all why none of the sidewalks were shoveled clean nor salted. Literally none. Most areas had relatively clear sections of sidewalk, but nothing resembling the well groomed sidewalks of NYC. Seriously, there were places that the ice/snow was 6″ deep on the sidewalk where people are expected to be walking. Perhaps I’m just bitter because I slipped and fell flat on my ass while carrying a couple cases of beer (no, I didn’t break any of the beer bottles). But it still seems ridiculous to me that they don’t really bother to shovel the sidewalks. The street clearing was actually pretty interesting. Because the snow won’t melt until the city thaws out later in the spring they actually truck the snow out to the suburbs. We saw some of that happening and one of the dump sites. It is a pretty inefficient process, but the only option they have, I guess.
The other interesting thing about Montreal – something that I keep (and kept) forgetting – is just how much they speak French there. Everything starts off that way, with them reverting to English only as a second option. I didn’t run into any situations on this trip where someone didn’t also speak English, though that has happened before. And my feeble French skills were no match for just about everything they threw at us. I was mildly useful on menus, but otherwise not so much.
As for notes about the rest of the trip, everything was pretty good. The Residence Inn Downtown was in a decent location, just a block or two off the main strip there, and the rooms were nice enough.
Our dining focused on sushi and steak, and both were well done. The sushi was for lunch at a place called Hasuka, I think, but I can’t find that online now, so I’m not sure. It was at Crescent and Maisonneuve, I think. Then again, I had been drinking beer for most of the previous 24 hours so my navigation skills might be a bit off. If you happen to stop in, don’t have the Montreal roll. That was a mistake. I’m not sure when someone decided that citrus belonged in sushi, but I’m pretty sure they were wrong.
Steaks were done at Moishe’s. They have five or six steaks on the menu but our crowd managed to only pick two of them, the bone-in filet and the ribeye. Both were delicious and large. The appetizers selection isn’t all that comprehensive, but we were more focused on the beef anyways so that isn’t all that big a deal. They also have a pretty good wine list from which to choose. This is the second time I’ve been there – both for bachelor parties – and it has stood the test of time.
We also managed to find time to relax in a cigar bar for a couple hours, the appropriately named Stogies. A pretty nice place, though I wouldn’t have minded if the ventilation systems were actually working better.
Overall, a great weekend trip and a great city to visit.
Posted by Seth on March 14, 2008 under TSA |
After four weeks on the sidelines (and almost 3 months away from Continental), I’m finally back in an airport and about to get on an airplane. The tremors and twitches have mostly subsided as I enjoy a pre-departure Bloody Mary in the lounge, and I am slowly drifting back into the travel pattern habits.
No miles earned on this trip, as I’m flying on a reward ticket. No upgrades either, both because it is a reward seat and because it is on an ERJ where “every seat is like first class.” And it’s only an hour in the air, which after my past few flights of transcons and trans-Pacific flights seems like a commute, not a real trip. And I think I lost my noise-cancelling headphones and MP3 player. I can’t find them anywhere, though it is possible that I managed to “clean them up” at some point. That’s really going to throw my whole flight habit off when I don’t have them available.
On the flip side, I’m back in the air, crossing a border (albeit to a country I’ve already been to a few times) and experiencing air travel again, so all is well.
Also, a quick plug for Continental’s PDA Flight Info tool that I wrote about a few weeks ago. I’m booked on a flight later this afternoon but trying to fly out this morning so I can get a head start on drinking Canadian beer. I woke up this morning and was able to check the details of the flight, including whether anyone else was on standby and if there were seats available. Looking at it right now there are seats available and I’m number 1 on the list. Looks like an early flight up to YUL, and foiling the TSA and FAMs who I had a long talk with during my security screening this morning (they wrote down all my flight info and seat number, but I probably won’t be in that seat anymore).
Update to add: I did clear the standby, and I didn’t have to camp out at the gate to find out. The PDA tool is awesome!
