Posted by Seth on January 30, 2012 under Trip Reports | 
I had a grand plan for transiting three different cities across Europe on consecutive days. Sure, I’d sleep a couple hours each night, but I was also going to spend most of the 20-ish hours on the ground at each stop exploring the town, eating their food and drinking their booze. It was a grand plan, alright, but the execution was a bit lacking.
My first stop of the hopping was Berlin, a city I’d heard great things about and one I was quite excited to visit. I even sortof knew what I wanted to see while I was there. Sortof. OK, other than the Brandenburg Gate and the Holocaust memorial, nothing at all. But I’d figure it out, right? After all, I always have.
The bus in from the airport was incredibly easy (except the ticket machines don’t make change for bills larger than 10 Euro) and 20 minutes or so later I was in front of the beautiful, towering, modern Hauptbahnhof. I knew my hotel was just a stop or two away from there so I headed inside. Sure, I spent the next 20 minutes or so wandering around lost in the enormous station, trying to find the appropriate S-Bahn train, but I didn’t mind at all. The station truly is beautiful.
And then, after dropping my bag in the hotel I was back out. I had only an hour before I was due to meet a friend for drinks and dinner and that really isn’t much time in a city as grand as Berlin. But I knew the two things I wanted to see and they were only about a 10 minute walk from the hotel; I was doing fine.
The Gate is pretty. They light it up lovely at night. And I even got a couple photos of it that I don’t particularly hate, which is somewhat impressive given that I had no tripod, the exposures were painfully slow and it was pretty darn cold outside so I was shivering a lot.
From Brandenburg Gate I headed around the corner to see the Holocaust memorial. It is beautiful. It is amazing. It is rather intimidating to walk into when it is dark outside. The photo here is a VERY long exposure, making it appear reasonably light outside. Truth is that the sky was the same darkness as the Brandenburg Gate photos above. Still, thanks to the miracles of modern technology I got the pretty cool picture below.
And then my hour as a tourist was up. I had to race to the U-Bahn to meet up with my friend. I found the station, figured out which track and caught the next train going my way. I was rather confused 2 stops later when they made the "Last Stop" announcement (though at least they repeated it in English). Apparently there were track works in progress and I was supposed to find a replacement bus to the next major station. At this point I became acutely aware of just how hard it must be for the tourists in New York City who are forced to navigate the constantly changing construction projects we have, all without the benefit of any communication in their native language. Even with the little bits of English on the signs it was a challenge. I made it, eventually, but it wasn’t easy.
I also had grand plans for the morning, to see more of town before my noon-ish flight onward to Munich and then Ljubljana. Alas, when I awoke I discovered that there had been a schedule change at some point previously and I was now faced with a 5 minute connection in Munich rather than the originally booked 30 minutes. The airport is easy, but not that easy. A panicked phone call to the folks at Continental (this was an award ticket) got me booked on the next earlier Berlin-Munich flight which meant I’d make my connection. It also meant scrapping my plans for a morning in Berlin.
And so, the entirety of my tourist time in town was an hour (plus an awesome dinner with an old friend). I definitely saw a lot in that hour and had a blast, but it also would be a disservice to Berlin to say that I saw the city. Guess I’ll just have to go back.
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Posted by Seth on January 26, 2012 under Flying, frequent flyer, News |
Today’s quarterly earnings conference call from JetBlue had a few interesting bits of information that was unveiled, giving insight into future developments that can be expected from the carrier. The company reported a profit for both Q4 2011 and the full year, but there are also some very real challenges that the company is facing in 2012. As one person said on the call, "The honeymoon we enjoyed prior to this period is over."
A lot of the news which I found most interesting was around the "Even More" products that the company sells. What started with Even More Legroom seats offering additional pitch in the cabin has expanded to Even More Space (offering pre-boarding to ensure overhead bin space) and Even More Speed for access to priority security lines in many airports. This service started in 15 airports and recently expanded to 9 more. And selling the service resulted in $120MM of incremental revenue for the company in 2011. That’s a huge number, more than 20% of the total incremental that the company saw in the year.
Given the high revenue realized from the offering, it is not surprising that the company is expanding the number of seats for which it can be purchased. Specifically, the company confirmed that they will be adding 8 more seats to their Embraer E90 planes in the Q2/Q3 timeframe this year. Full details aren’t yet available on the announcement (seems to be a bit of a pattern there lately) but a quick review of the seat map suggests that they can get away with sliding a couple rows behind the exit row around and not really have to change too much else around, so long as they’re willing to keep the 34" pitch that the E90 has. If they go for the 38" that the A320s have they could also do that behind the exit row with minimal impact to customers, changing the other seats in that section from 33" to 32" pitch. Either way, it looks to be a positive change for the company to make more EML seats available.
Beyond the Even More bits, the honeymoon comment piqued my curiosity. The company had a huge growth spurt a few years back, taking on a bunch of new airplanes in a very short timeframe. Those acquisitions are now hitting the magic point in the life of an airplane known as a "C-Check." The maintenance costs for the C-Check and engine restorations on the aircraft are significant and the number of planes the company has going through that process in the next couple years is quite high. The result is a spike in maintenance costs. JetBlue has worked with their maintenance suppliers to mitigate the costs somewhat, but it will still be a challenge for the company in the coming years. And that’s all with a fleet that is still only 6.1 years old on average with a maximum age of 12 years.
There was mention of the new Hawaiian Airlines partnership, but no additional details shared there. And it was suggested that 5-7 new partners will be coming online in 2012, with links at Boston and Orlando likely rather than just at New York City. I’m betting on JAL being a partner via Boston with their new service there starting soon, but who knows.
Other than those bits, not a whole lot of interest. Plenty of accounting mumbo jumbo but nothing that seems especially significant at this point. And there are still a number of open questions, like where the company stands on rolling out additional benefits for their most frequent customers or many of the partnership details with Hawaiian. I guess patience will have to suffice.
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Posted by Seth on January 23, 2012 under frequent flyer, News, points |
The partnership with Hawaiian Airlines marks a number of firsts for JetBlue. While all the details are still not yet available there is enough information in the press release about the partnership to identify these developments, all of which seem to be quite positive.
For starters, Hawaiian will be, subject to government approval, adding their code to some JetBlue flights. None of the previously established interline agreements have included such a marketing offer. This is not particularly significant from an operational perspective but for pricing reasons this should allow fares to be sold that are not necessarily additive via the connecting city. That’s a big step for JetBlue and a great benefit for the customers in terms of pricing.
The other major first is that the deal will permit not only accrual of points in both programs – on all flights, unlike the limited partnership with American Airlines – but it will also permit redemption on all flights:
Hawaiian and JetBlue have reached a preliminary agreement to allow members of each carrier’s frequent flyer program to earn and redeem loyalty points or miles for travel on either carrier. Under this agreement JetBlue’s TrueBlue members will soon be able to accrue points on any Hawaiian-operated flight, while HawaiianMiles members will be able to earn miles on any JetBlue-operated flights. Similarly, frequent fliers will be able to redeem their points or miles for travel on either carrier’s network, bringing new, much-requested destinations to each program’s loyal members.
The details on earning and redemption rates are scarce at this point. And the two programs are quite different, with Hawaiian operating a more traditional model (points earnt by distance flown; redemption calculated by zones) while both earning and redemption rates in the JetBlue TrueBlue program are more tightly tied to the fare on the flight. Obviously there will need to be some reconciliation between these two schemes along the way.
The arrangement also marks the first time that a JetBlue partner will operate from the JetBlue terminal at JFK airport. There is at least one gate in T5 which can support the Airbus A330 aircraft that Hawaiian will be flying in to New York City, though it remains to be seen what the impact is on the waiting areas with a 294-passenger aircraft using the space; the JetBlue A320s max out at 150 passengers.
Still a number of questions to be answered, but lots of positive developments so far.
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Posted by Seth on January 23, 2012 under frequent flyer, News, points |
Hawaiian Airlines and JetBlue will announce today a partnership for both travel and their frequent flyer programs. The deal comes on the heels of the recent announcement of new service by Hawaiian Airlines with the upcoming launch of non-stop service between New York’s JFK and Honolulu. While the Hawaiian service doesn’t start up until June, the deal will start sooner, with the carriers routing passengers via Los Angeles for one stop service on interline itineraries.
JetBlue has been steadily growing their roster of interline partners but one one of those – American Airlines – has any form of points reciprocity set up. This deal will include at least some reciprocity on the frequent flyer side. Full details are yet to come, but it is nice to see benefits in both the flight and loyalty programs coming to fruition.
More details to come as they are made available…
Posted by Seth on January 10, 2012 under Flying, frequent flyer, News |
As part of their bankruptcy reorganization efforts American Airlines has announced that they are cutting the longest route in their network, the flights between Chicago and Delhi, India. The flights are being terminated as of March 1, 2012. Live from a Lounge (a local on the India side) and One Mile at a Time (a quite vocal AAficionado) have both weighed in on the topic, mostly with disbelief. To me the surprise is really that it took the bAAnkruptcy to do the route in.
At least one analyst out there says the route was losing $40MM annually. And naturally you’re going to cut anything that isn’t profitable in a reorganization, right? The problem with that approach is that, at this point, nearly everything American touches is not profitable; they’ve got the inverse of the Midas touch. The real question should be whether a route can be profitable, not whether it is right now. And in the case of the Delhi flight, the answer is still no.
It is the longest route in their system, roughly 7500 miles in the air each way. That’s a whole lot of fuel that needs to be carried so the plane can make it to the destination, and that fuel has increased significantly in cost since the route was launched in 2005. It seems that even if the company could get the labor costs down, their stated goal in the bankruptcy process, the other fixed costs of the route are still too great.
The same analyst who asserts the $40MM annual losses also suggests that there are a few other routes which are hemorrhaging cash and which seem primed to be cut: New York-London, New York-California, Chicago to Delhi, Beijing and Shanghai and Miami to Buenos Aires. Seems unlikely to me that all those are going to be touched. The London routes gets the advantage now of ATI, something that was far too late in being granted by the authorities on both sides of the Atlantic. That should help significantly for margins on that service. The transcon market is an interesting one and I could see some changes come, but I doubt they’ll fully retreat. And the South America service seems to have way more potential than the Asia routes, putting it squarely in the "potentially could be successful" category.
Could the Beijing and Shanghai routes be on the out? Loads to China are down and the yields are likely following. At the same time, however, getting back into that market is incredibly challenging. Plus, there aren’t particularly great onward connections if you look to partners. It seems much more likely that the China routes could be profitable and that they’d stick around a least a bit longer.
The other consideration for American, more than individual routes, is the combined effect of cutting too much on the route map. Their international network was already somewhat anemic outside of Latin America and further cuts won’t help that. Even with partners and the ATI agreement, it is hard to market and sell flights to corporate contracts when you don’t actually have service to the destinations they need to serve. And a merger with US Airways, JetBlue or Alaska Airlines isn’t going to solve any of those problems.
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Posted by Seth on January 3, 2012 under News |
US Airways has announced their intentions for new service at Washington, DC‘s National Airport thanks to the 42 slot pairs they received from Delta Airlines in exchange for the slots at LaGuardia. The carrier will be adding service to 11 cities, 8 of which do not currently have flights to DCA. These are the first of two sets of routes which will be added by the carrier.
The routes in green – Little Rock, Birmingham, Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach, Tallahassee, Fayetteville, Jacksonville and Islip are all cities with no service to DCA currently. The cities in blue are additional frequencies from US and the red are new to US but with other competition on the route.
I’ve gotta say, comparing this map and the one Delta put together for their LaGuardia service, that this looks pretty pathetic. Maybe I’m completely ignorant in the world of route yields and these are all markets with huge amounts of pent up demand for service which will result in great revenue premiums on the routes. I’m betting more that they’ll be cool lines to fly once for the aerophile in me.
Oh, and US Airways has also indicated that they’re increasing from 175 current daily flights to 230+ as part of this swap, though the swap only included 42 slot pairs. It is not clear where the 20 missing slots are coming from.
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Posted by Seth on December 28, 2011 under frequent flyer, points |
Yeah, I said it. So did Chris Elliott recently, and perhaps for the only time ever I’m going to mostly defend his point of view on this topic. I think he went too far in suggesting that all customers should walk away wholesale from the programs and that the programs are "corrupt and corrupting" (especially without explaining what he means there). And I disagree that there is a problem with only some passengers enjoying all the benefits of the programs. But there is definitely a large group of folks for whom focusing on the points is absolutely not the smart play.
Sure, collect them if you’re making the transaction anyways, but don’t be too disappointed if they expire (or use a service like GoMiles.com to help prevent them from expiring). And certainly don’t let points drive you to irrational spending decisions, like paying markedly more for the exact same product, just to earn a trivial number of points. That’s foolish even for the folks who can actually benefit from the programs and doubly so for folks who don’t benefit from them.
For the vast majority of travelers there are only two things that matter: price and schedule. And for most of those folks it is only price. Yes, there are significant differences in the way the travel experience will play out depending on which carrier you fly on. The difference between flying from New York City to Ft. Lauderdale on JetBlue or Spirit Air could not be more dramatic for a pair of products that are arguably the same thing, 1000 miles in a coach seat. But at the end of the day, if the Spirit flight is notably less expensive they’re going to sell seats to a chunk of customers.
The other thing to remember is that the vast majority of travelers are not actually particularly frequent fliers. The number of folks actually flying 25,000 miles or more annually is a terribly small subset of the total traveling public. For the folks who are actually flying a lot – and 25,000 miles annually is just the tip of that iceberg – there is absolutely value to be had in the programs. And even for some folks looking to rack up crazy amount of points via credit card transactions (hopefully with someone else’s money) there is value in the programs. But, again, that 25,000 annual number seems to be a pretty smart place to start as a threshold considering the fees and opportunity costs of directing spend to different cards.
The most surprising and also internally inconsistent claim made in that column is that the programs, started to help differentiate the airlines in a deregulated environment as the service levels started to rapidly decline, should somehow find a way to provide the same benefits for everyone. The programs are, for the most part, rewarding the folks who provide the most value to the airlines. Just because a passenger thinks they’re being loyal by making sure their once per year trip is on the same airline doesn’t mean they are actually a loyal customer. They certainly are unlikely to be a profitable one to the carriers. By providing incentives – mostly in the form of improved service levels in some form or another – to their most profitable customers the airlines are generating exactly the type of symbiotic relationship that good marketing should build. It isn’t at all clear why this is a bad thing in his view.
Are the programs perfect for everyone? Of course not. The implication that they should be is a pretty ridiculous leap that Elliott makes and one that unfortunately detracts from the very accurate part of his claim: most folks do not benefit from the programs. I certainly do, but I also know which of my friends and family to guide more towards loyalty and which to guide more towards always buying the cheapest fare, based on travel patterns and reward goals. The vast majority of the scenarios tend towards avoiding the loyalty programs, or at least not using them to drive purchasing decisions.
And anyone who says otherwise is either ignorant or lying to you.
Posted by Seth on December 24, 2011 under Trip Reports |
It was a rough start to Hanukkah this year. Thanks to some moderately poor planning on my part as well as travel the first three nights were more or less a blur. The first was celebrated at home but we were in the midst of packing for our trip to India and Sri Lanka so there was less actual celebrating than there probably should have been. Nights two and three would have likely resulted in arrest had we tried to light the menorah, thanks to the fact that we were on airplanes at the time. Cue night four.
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| The caretaker, lighting some of the oil-burning lamps in the chandelier |
By the time the fourth night rolled around we had finished our thirty-odd hour trek from New York City to Kochi. Sure, we were horribly jet lagged, but we still headed out to see some of the local sights, including theParadesi Synagogue, the oldest in India and one of the older continually operating congregations in the world. It was a Friday, however, and that meant no tours available (despite the advice of the guide book, though I shouldâve known better). But there was a phone number on a paper taped to the wall mentioning services.
Six years ago, when planning our first trip to India a visit to this synagogue was one of the things I was very excited by. Sadly, I couldnât make it work that time around. This time, however, we were here and it was both a Friday night and a holiday. There was no way I was going to miss the opportunity. Yeah, I made the call.
The local Chabad house runs services with a small group of ex-pats who live in the area and whatever visitors they happen to have in town that week. In our case the group numbered about 40, though only 20 counted according to their traditions. Still, we were invited inside to celebrate Hanukkah and the Sabbath, and we did in a very Indian way.
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| Inside the synagogue |
The synagogue building dates to 1568 so there is more than a little bit of history inside the walls. The story of the Cochin Jews is actually pretty well documented elsewhere and I donât have anything new to offer to that context so Iâll save that part of the story for others to tell. But we did get to experience the synagogue in a rather different way than most tourists, and not only because we got to keep our shoes on.
Normally visitors are required to remove their shoes to help protect the floor tiles. There are several hundred of the tiles, each hand painted and unique, imported from China. Theyâre just one of many beautiful and distinctive bits that contributes to the overall character of the building.
There are the chandeliers, many of which are still oil-burning rather than electric. At one point during services the power went out and we had a couple minutes by candle-light that was truly inspiring. There is the double pulpit, one upstairs and one in the middle of the ground floor. And there is the impressive collection of torahs, one of which is crowned by an actual gold crown gifted to the community by one of the local maharajah.
And, of course, we were there for Hanukkah, so there was the lighting of the menorah that night prior to shabbat starting. Theyâre old school, with an oil-burning model that was pretty cool. And unsurprisingly, it was a bit of a pain to get lit. Still, the sound of the community singing the prayers and songs together was a very uplifting moment.
We met a few of the others in the group that night, in no small part due to the fact that everything was conducted only in Hebrew and there were some issues following along with the service. No matter the reason, it was still a great way to meet a few locals, some tourists and a couple of guys who are making a documentary about the community. Iâm pretty sure Iâll be in some of the B-roll footage.
There was a 5th night coda to the celebration; the restaurant we dined in tonight happened to be the where the public menorah is lit every night so we got to share that experience again. And this time I had a beer with me. Still, it had nothing on the experience of celebrating the holiday in a 450+ year old building and with a community that runs back well longer.
Posted by Seth on December 22, 2011 under Dining, Flying, Trip Reports |
Flights from New York City to western Europe are generally too short for anything remotely resembling a good night’s rest. In many cases even a chance of a decent nap is pretty low. The key to having a chance, however, is to be done eating before clearing the edge of Canada. That generally means at least 4.5 hours until landing, leaving a 4 hour window for sleep before the attendants have to put the cabin back together for arrival.
And so I was watching the in-flight map as we departed Newark for Frankfurt last night, trying to figure out how we were doing on the meal as we headed east. When the appetizers showed up we were over Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Not good for hoping to be done with the meal before clearing Canada. On the plus side, the food was quite good, a pleasant surprise in quality and quantity. I even managed to skip the Fernet Branca, going to sleep without that flavor in my mouth for the first time in a long time on a Lufthansa long-haul flight.
By the time the meal was done we were 3:45 out from landing. I slept almost all of that, even in the angled seats of Lufthansa business class. We were fortunate to arrive to a gate at the terminal rather than a remote stand and from there wended our way through the terminals and the SkyTrain to find some lounge time.
Our onward flight to Chennai departed from B42, directly adjacent to the new Terminal B Senator Lounge. The new lounge is quite a welcome improvement over the old B lounge, though it still suffers from crowding at the peak morning departure bank; the wait for a shower was about 30 minutes and our layover wasn’t long enough to make that work.
And then it was time to head out to the gate and board our flight to Chennai. Another 8.5 hours in the sky with Lufthansa as we begin this crazy adventure.
Tags: Canada, Chennai, Dining, Frankfurt, in flight, India, Lounge, Lufthansa, New York City, Newark, NYE2011, Photos
Posted by Seth on December 19, 2011 under Flying, News |
Millions of dollars have been spent to learn the answer to this question. Thus far, all indications are that it is not possible. But that doesn’t stop folks from trying. Apparently there is another billionaire out there looking to become a millionaire, because someone is apparently going to give it a another shot.
Odyssey Airlines is the supposed name of the upstart which is expected to launch operations between London‘s City Airport and New York City‘s JFK with a Bombardier CSeries jet in an all business class configuration. This service would compete directly with the twice daily service offered by British Airways on Airbus A318 jets, with the added advantage of not requiring the fuel stop in Ireland on the west-bound leg.
The operation would launch in 2014 or 2015, assuming the timeline for the aircraft deliveries doesn’t slip. Oh, and there is apparently no one out there who actually works for Odyssey Airlines, so none of these details can actually be confirmed, but that hasn’t stopped many from reporting on the potential.
Breaking into the aviation market is horribly difficult and expensive. Doing it on one of the most heavily trafficked routes – NYC-LON – where there are something like 30 daily frequencies split between at least 5 carriers is even more challenging. And doing it in an uncertain market where fuel costs are significantly higher than they were last time a couple upstarts tried to break in is almost certifiably crazy. On the plus side, the new aircraft will have lower operating costs, but that doesn’t come anywhere close to guaranteeing success.
Also of interest is that the company involved has supposedly ordered 10 aircraft. That’s way too many to operate only on the NYC route so it can be presumed that there might be other routes considered as well. I can think of a few others in the same range that would be likely candidates, but they are also heavily contested and there isn’t a whole lot of room on the margins to make it work.
Don’t get me wrong – I hope it actually launches and that I get a chance to fly on Odyssey. But, much like Maxjet, SilverJet and eos before them, I don’t expect that opportunity to last long.
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Posted by Seth on December 19, 2011 under frequent flyer, News, points |
JetBlue has added another interline partner to its portfolio, inking a deal with Singapore Airlines to provide through service at both JFK and Newark airports in the New York City area. The agreement allows for connections at Newark to JetBlue’s service to Boston, Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale. At JFK there are many more destinations available. Customers will be able to purchase a single ticket and have through check-in, including baggage for the trip.
Noticeably lacking in the agreement, like most of the partnerships JetBlue has signed, is the ability to ticket directly via JetBlue’s sales channels and frequent flyer reciprocity. Like some previous partnerships it is likely that the purchase issue will be addressed at some point. Frequent flyer reciprocity is not so clear, though JetBlue has indicated they are at least looking at such options on a broad scale.
It will also be interesting to see how they handle through ticketing for passengers connecting to the Singapore-Newark route in terms of passenger comfort. That route is the longest currently flown in the world and is operated in an all business class configuration. Passengers connecting to JetBlue will also get a single-cabin configuration, but it is all economy. Admittedly, it is the most comfortable economy product flying in the USA today, but there’s still a marked difference in the service levels. It would be interesting to see JetBlue and Singapore Airlines work out a deal to get those passengers a complimentary upgrade to ‘Even More Space" seats or some other benefit to extend the "premium" experience as much as possible. Alas, I don’t actually see that coming.
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