Posted by Seth on February 10, 2010 under News | 
The Mid-Atlantic US coast is suffering some of the worst snow in years today. The airline industry is experiencing the most cancelations on a single day in over 8 years – over 4,000 flights canceled today according to USA Today, and that doesn’t even include Southwest’s schedule. Needless to say that tens of thousands of customers are affected and the airlines are all responding to the storm. Of note, however, is that each airline is responding somewhat differently. Sure, they’ve all put out a press release essentially stating that customers can make changes “for free” to affected itineraries. But just how free are those changes?
It turns out that for most carriers the “free changes” are anything but. Getting a seat could cost hundreds of dollars and the airlines aren’t particularly cooperative or sympathetic in many cases. Even when the changes are truly free there are limits and caveats the customers face. Just how different are the policies? Here’s a quick summary.
At the most liberal end of the spectrum is New York City-based jetBlue. The carrier has implemented a no fee, no fare difference policy for affected customers. The main caveat is that all travel must be rebooked prior to the original scheduled departure time. But other than that the policy is quite friendly. Customers can book until until February 28 to reschedule their trips. Not too shabby.
American Airlines is up at the same level as jetBlue though they are somewhat more restrictive in rescheduling of the travel. AA is not charging any change fees or fare differences for changes so long as the rescheduled travel occurs by February 14.
Delta has matched AA’s policy. No change fees and no fare differences assuming the origin/destination are the same and travel is completed by February 14th.
Closely following these three in customer-friendly policy is United Airlines. United is permitting a waiver of change fees across the board and also of fare differences for travel rescheduled within 48 hours of the originally scheduled flight. For travel pushed farther than that any fare differences are borne by the customers. So a cheap advance-purchase ticket that is rebooked for a week from now may incur a significant charge to make the change as the cheaper fare buckets are unlikely to be available.
Three other major carriers – Continental, US Airways and Southwest – have implemented a no change fee policy (Southwest never charges one anyways). In each case, however, the airline is requiring that the same class of service be available for rebooking without charge. Lacking that availability customers must either pay the fare difference – potentially hundreds of dollars per ticket – or fly standby and hope to grab a seat. Neither is particularly appealing. The details of the policies for those carriers are spelled out here: Continental, US Airways, Southwest.
Are such variations in policies enough to drive your booking tendencies? And are they fair? After all, it isn’t the customer’s fault that mother nature decided to assault the mid-Atlantic this week, right?
Posted by Seth on February 9, 2010 under News |
There is serious snow due in the mid-Atlantic – stretching from Washington, DC to New York City – between this evening and tomorrow. Depending on which forecast you believe the accumulations will range up to 18” in various areas. And the airlines are pretty much just giving up. The realize that odds are they won’t actually be able to operate anywhere close to on schedule so they simply aren’t bothering to try. Here are some of the highlights from a couple carriers.
Continental: (details)
- LGA – All flights canceled effective 8am Wednesday, February 10
- EWR – All flights canceled for February 10 except for the three long-haul arrivals already in the air (TLV, DEL, BOM) when the decision was made this afternoon
- PHL – All flights canceled until at least Wednesday night
- PIT, BWI, DCA, IAD – All service canceled until 11am Thursday, February 11
- PVD – Likely cancelation of service to CLE on the afternoon of February 10
jetBlue:
will suspend the majority of operations to and from the following cities for Wednesday, Feb. 10 due to a forecasted severe winter snowstorm:
- John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia in New York City
- White Plains/Westchester County Airport
- Newark Liberty Airport
It seems that only one runway is expected to be in operation at Dulles and nothing at National. Newark is going to be pretty much shut down. LaGuardia and Philly, too. I’m really glad that I’m not flying during this mess. I just hope that the system is functional enough by Sunday that my flights are operating.
Posted by Seth on January 8, 2010 under points |
Amtrak is pretty good at keeping promos alive for their Guest Rewards program. They expire every few months but there is always another promo right behind it. This winter is no exception and there are two promos out there now for folks who ride in the northeast corridor (Washington, DC – Boston).
Promo number 1 is for Acela riders, a/k/a folks on expense accounts who don’t mind paying double to save minimal amounts of time. And, yes, I’ve done it, too. The promo is for one free round-trip Acela ride for three paid trips (or six paid one-ways). Not too terrible a deal as you also earn the regular AGR points on the rides. The freebie will be valid from June 1 – August 31, 2010 and is not valid for peak weekday trains. A minimum spend of $85 each way applies, a maximum of two one-ways can be credited per day and a maximum of 8 reward can be earned so there isn’t a huge arbitrage opportunity here, but for folks who are regularly riding on Acela the deal is pretty decent. Registration is here.
Promo number 2 is for non-Acela riders in the northeast corridor. The details are reasonably similar though the spend minimum is lower. Thanks to Gary for sharing the details on that one.
I do find it somewhat interesting that I got the Acela promo rather than the regional trains one. I guess they are mining their data pretty well to figure out who does what more often. I appreciate that.
Posted by Seth on January 8, 2010 under Mileage Run |
Interesting in a weekend getaway to London? Wanna more than double the number of miles you travel to get there?
There’s a “sale” of sorts on right now for flights between New York City and London that isn’t all that phenomenal, especially for travel only into mid-March. Seriously, a $650 fare is nothing to write home about normally. But this one is somewhat unique in that a permissible routing is via Los Angeles, California. That more than doubles the miles involved (and roughly triples the travel time) making it a somewhat better value for folks looking to accrue miles.
The fare requires a Saturday night stay and expires March 15th. The timing of the flights via LAX mean that there is a forced overnight in London. Happy trails!
Posted by Seth on December 23, 2009 under Flying, News |
The weather last weekend from Washington, DC to Boston was pretty miserable for folks looking to fly. I had a blast watching the almost foot of snow pile up on the back deck and then wandering through Manhattan the following morning but I know that the airports, airlines and passengers didn’t fare so well. Just how badly they fared, however, is interesting to look at.
In Washington, DC, both United and Delta cancelled all of their flights in and out for the duration of the storm. They didn’t have much choice as the airports were shut down for several hours. United got back up and running pretty quickly while Delta was a bit slower to get started. It makes sense as Dulles is a major hub for United. Plus, Delta did send in a few extra planes late on Sunday to help move passengers around.
In New York City there were also a large number of flights canceled. Delta, United, jetBlue and Continental all had to cancel a number of flights. jetBlue seemed to keep operating the longest, running flights into JFK well after the others had stopped on Saturday night. Yes, it was still snowing, but the airport had their ground operations crews working hard to make sure that the runways were safe and jetBlue had just a few extra planeloads of passengers that they didn’t end up stranding. Again, it is a hub operation so it makes sense that they were focused on keeping things operating as much as possible.
JFK is also a hub for Delta, however, and they didn’t come out of the snow too well there. They canceled the vast majority of their transcontinental flights out of JFK on Sunday (only 2/11 flew) while the other carriers operated about 80% of their transcon routes. Delta didn’t send one single plane from JFK to Florida on Sunday. After the snow had stopped. They should have had crew available since those folks didn’t fly on Saturday. Ditto for aircraft. Yet they didn’t. Why not?
The icing on the cake for Delta, of course, is that with all the cancelations and the increased load factors in play right now – a function of the holiday travel season and significant capacity cuts in the industry – they aren’t able to get passengers rebooked very easily. This came to a head yesterday when police were called to handle passengers delayed 3 days trying to get back to Haiti. When the folks think that Haiti is better than the service and facilities you’re providing you know there are some serious issues. At least Delta finally stepped up and added a special flight for today to get those folks home.
Continental seemed to come out of the mess relatively unscathed. Sure, they canceled a bunch of flights just like everyone else, but they didn’t seem to have too many crises come out of the efforts. And they were able to get up and running on Sunday morning with a pretty full schedule operating.
US Airways proved true to form from a customer service perspective. They were boarding and upgrading non-revenue passengers rather than paying customers. They told standby passengers that flights were full and then sent the flights out with empty seats. Bad form.
And lest anyone think the troubles were isolated to the United States, folks over in Europe didn’t fare much better. Combining two package tour companies going out of business in the past week and some storms there and things are not good. Brussels was closed for several hours as were the London airports. Fortunately British Airways had some spare wide-body aircraft around to help cover for the cancellations but things aren’t pretty there either.
With predictions of a White Christmas in NYC this year we could be looking at a repeat performance again this weekend. I’m glad to be flying out on Thursday evening before the fun really starts.
Posted by Seth on December 16, 2009 under New York, Screening Management SOP, TSA |
Nothing like calling the boss onto the mat in front of Congress to get some answers when a mess happens in government. Not that it is likely much will change – and certainly not quickly – but the Homeland Security Committee of the United States Congress held hearings this afternoon regarding the breach. The hearings are entitled “Has the TSA Breach Jeopardized National Security? An examination of What Happened and Why.” Sadly, there is virtually zero chance of actually getting an answer to the questions, and even less of a chance that real change will come out of this. Still, the government rolls slowly on.
After a full hour of testimony it does not appear that anyone – neither congressfolk nor TSA officials – actually understand the significance of what has happened. The hour of testimony featured a couple rather pointed questions and they went unanswered. I followed up with some public affairs folks regarding open inquiries I have and I was stonewalled. And the most pressing questions simply were not asked.
Why was the document published?
A rather significant chunk of the discussion was focused on why the document was public at all. Ignoring the redaction problems that came up that should be a non-issue. Having the SOP in public is a good thing for the traveling public. In fact, having all the screening SOPs out there is the only fair and reasonable way to treat the public. The current approach treats all potential passengers as criminals and leaves them at the whim of the TSO they interact with at any particular moment. Having the actual rules in the open would permit the public to actually know their rights and exercise them rather than be subjected to a power-tripping agent having a bad day. Acting TSA Administrator Gale Rossides acknowledged that there are a dozen other SOP documents that the TSA currently uses for passenger screening operations. All are considered SSI and therefore are more or less unknown to the public.
Despite media claims to the contrary the document is not a roadmap to anything. Sure, there are a couple things that probably didn’t need to be out in the open, but they are not creating an inherently more dangerous travel environment at all. Legitimate security doesn’t depend on the ignorance of those being policed. It depends on well-trained folks responding to legitimate threats and acting on real intelligence information. Sadly the TSA does not provide that and having this document out in public does not change that situation.
Moreover, the TSA has essentially committed to not using the Internet for dissemination of redacted documents in the future. Any SSI document that needs to be shared with potential contractors will likely be held in a “reading room” or other similar facility at a TSA office. This will increase the burden on the contractors trying to fill these contracts and provide no reasonable increase in security or any other palpable benefits to the American people.
Information lockdown
In a move that can only be described as knee-jerk and over-the-top Rossides testified that TSA has instituted a “full operational lockdown” regarding the further sharing of SSI information. This lockdown applies to all documents containing SSI data. Most troubling, this lockdown also includes a restriction on sharing the appropriate information with members of the Congressional committees that have oversight of the TSA. Not only do they not want the public to see the documents, they also will not allow the congressmen and women who have a direct responsibility to review and understand the operations access to the current version of the SOP documents.
The TSA has held briefings and information sessions with congressional staffers and provided “access” in that way but no real access. When pressed on this issue Rossides acknowledged that she was aware of the legal obligation the department was under to share such information but insisted that she could not do so at this time. Congressmen Dent (R-PA) pressed the Acting Director on this issue quite aggressively. He suggested that the TSA was not willing to share the information because they felt congressfolks were likely to leak it or for some other similar reason. He also noted that this is the first time such a request has not been affirmatively responded to in a timely manner. Why now? Why is this one different? Rossides wouldn’t say, but she was insistent that such action was necessary. Equally troubling was that Congresswoman Jackson-Lee (D-TX) – the chair of the subcommittee – was supportive of the Acting Director’s decision to not provide the document in a timely manner. It was not immediately clear why
Targeting the wrong issues
A significant portion of the testimony focused on the IDs that were published in the document and what changes, if any, would need to be made to the IDs or processes surrounding them. Sorry, Congresswoman Jackson-Lee, but you’re barking up the wrong tree on this one. The pictures in the document were nowhere close to detailed enough to allow someone to make passable fakes from them. And that isn’t even considering the part of the “layers of security” the TSA uses that never actually verifies that the person on the photo ID is really the person traveling or that the ticket is really valid. Quite simply, checking IDs isn’t providing any security and even if it did someone desiring a fake would have better luck on Canal Street in New York City than dealing with those images.
Another significant line of questioning was focused on the use of contractors in the handling of SSI data inside the TSA. Specifically, it seems that one of the folks at the heart of producing the document for publication was a contractor at the time it was posted online (he has since become a full-time employee). Congresswoman Jackson-Lee was rather caught up on the idea that somehow there is a difference between a contractor and a full-time employee. There didn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason behind that distinction but she was more than willing to make it. Several times. Indeed, we can expect to see legislation in the new year restricting the handling of SSI from contractors. So very, very unnecessary.
Who has the document?
Congressman James A. Himes (D-CT) was rather blunt in the one question he asked, “No organization doesn’t make mistakes. The question is how well an organization learns from the mistakes. Is anyone looking to see who has downloaded it?” That’s right…forget about how it got out there, let’s focus on who is reading it and what we can do about that. Other congressfolk have inquired about any potential legal recourse that can be pursued to force websites hosting the document to remove it. That horse has already left the barn, but there’s no reason Congress can’t go out and start shooting horses randomly on the plains, or something like that. Except that there is a VERY good reason they cannot. It is 44 U.S.C. 3506(d)(4)(B). It states:
With respect to information dissemination, each agency shall—
(4) not, except where specifically authorized by statute—
(B) restrict or regulate the use, resale, or redissemination of public information by the public;
That’s the truncated version of the code but it basically means that the neither the TSA nor anyone else can do anything about it once the document is out in the open. That hasn’t stopped the congressfolk from posturing but nothing will come of it.
In that same vein, the actual reply to Congressman Himes’s query was rather chilling. Acting Director Rossides stated that The Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General office – the same folks conducting the inquiry into the TSA’s publication of the document – has compiled a list of who downloaded the document from the Commerce Department website and that they are working to reconcile that list against other lists they might have. They are also working on lists of who is hosting the document. It isn’t entirely clear what these lists will be used for since possession and distribution of the document is completely legal, but the DHS is compiling lists, just in case. This is a rather disturbing admission on the part of the TSA and DHS.
When asked what could be done about the copies of the document that are floating about the Acting Director offered the following suggestion: “I would hope out of their patriotic sense of duty to their fellow countrymen [people hosting copies] would take [the document] down. Good luck with that. Patriotism means acting for the good of the country, not for the good of a few folks who have made mistakes in running an organization which seeks to deny basic liberties covered by the Constitution when it is convenient for them.
Two useful questions
Lest the above make it seem that the hearing did not address anything useful it is worth noting one specific line of questioning that appeared to catch the Acting Director a bit off-guard and to really drive to the point of the charade that the TSA seems to be playing with this event. Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) noted that, as is the case with any government document, the new versions build on the old versions. So the fact that there have been six revisions since the redaction mistake came out might not really be significant. The only reply that the Acting Director could muster is that the bulk of the information in the document is not SSI so that doesn’t really matter.
Congressman Cleaver also asked a very pointed question when Rossides noted that she felt the air travel system was safe. Specifically he asked if she would have actually admitted in an open session that she thought the answer was no. They parried a bit over words and there was never a “true” answer, but it definitely caught the Acting Director off-guard.
The Acting Director Responds
Acting Director Rossides made a couple statements during the hour-long session that suggested she might actually understand the gravity of the situation. That, or she’s been in Washington long enough to know what to say. Among the responses she offered:
I regret this occurred and take full responsibility for the mistake. Our response was swift, decisive and comprehensive. Passengers will fly safely…because of the layers of security in place.
We need better processes in place and tighter controls on how we handle sensitive information. We’re going to have to make sure that we have designated personnel…who are trained and really truly understand.
The actions of one or a few can … seriously impact the credibility of the agency.
Perhaps most significant because of what it implies about the previous behavior of the agency, the Acting Director offered up this nugget: the agency has asked the National Security Agency (NSA) to come in and work with them. The NSA has had documents published publicly for many years now explaining the importance of proper redaction and how to correctly accomplish it. Now that they’ve messed it up once the TSA has apparently decided to ask the NSA to come in and teach them how to do redaction correctly. It is great that they are finally (apparently) getting it right, but this has been a long time coming.
Ultimately the Congressional inquest does not appear to have had much affect on the behavior of the TSA. They’re still doing whatever they want and even when pressed on the issues they simply decline to answer. This is not good at all.
Related Posts
Posted by Seth on December 16, 2009 under Flying |
The wake-up calls most definitely suck, but sitting on a plane, watching the sun come up over the horizon might just be one of the most beautiful things to watch. It makes the lack of sleep completely tolerable.
I originally planned to sleep in the extra hour this morning and catch the 7am flight from New York City to Washington, DC. For some reason, however, I was laying in bed rather wide awake at 3:45am and so I made the decision to get up and catch a sunrise at 24,000 feet. Not too shabby.
Yes, the bright spot in the middle is Times Square.
Posted by Seth on November 13, 2009 under News |
Yeah…that’s me quoted in this article on cnn.com, making the point that it isn’t just leisure travelers or “kettles” who are responsible for the problem. And I stand by my claim: “Business travelers never want to check a bag; they want to get off the plane and go.” Those are the passengers who likely wouldn’t have to pay the checked bag fees but they (we, really) carry-on anyways. And many times it is two bags in the overhead and nothing at the feet. After all, that little bit of leg room is precious.
I really have to laugh at the claim in the same article by Joe Brancatelli, an “expert” on frequent flyer habits. His claim that “[Business travelers] know the rules…and they’re prepared to hit the rules,” is a farce. They know the rules and they also know that as customers with status in the frequent flyer programs they are going to board first, take up as much space as they want and not care about anyone else. Oh, and they’ll pitch a fit if someone suggests that they aren’t allowed to carry the bags on.
Every time I see one of those fits pitched it is by someone claiming to have status or more power or who is never going to fly said airline again. And every time I laugh my ass off.
I flew from Los Angeles to New York City earlier this week on Virgin America. I watched as about 40 bags were gate checked. I chatted at baggage claim (my bag was WAY too big to fit at the end of a 10 day jaunt) with one of the passengers who was late to board and had to gate check her bag. She “packed a smaller bag specifically to avoid waiting at baggage claim.” Of course, when the bag came out I chuckled a bit as there was no way it should have been a carry-on. But who’s fault is that? Checking that first bag would have cost her $20 so I can understand wanting to avoid that, but no one was enforcing the sizing rules telling the customers that they have to check the bags. As for all the customers who had to check their bags – not one whining, complaining or fit-throwing among them.
It isn’t a problem for the most part in Europe. Either the agents are enforcing the rules much more strictly or there is better self enforcement. But the same problems do not exist there at nearly the same level. I don’t know why, but it just works better there.
I doubt the airlines are going to step up and spend the cash on the extra man-hours it would take to have their agents effectively police the situation. They certainly don’t seem inclined to do it for a long enough period of time that they actually manage to change the behavior of the traveling American public. Then again, with the TSA prohibiting customers from effectively locking bags and the constant stream of stories about theft and loss in the baggage handling departments I can’t blame anyone for not wanting to gamble with their bags that way. It is a lose-lose situation. And it sucks for everyone.
Posted by Seth on October 30, 2009 under News |
Air France took delivery of their first Airbus A380 this morning with an inaugural flight from Hamburg to Paris. The carrier is the first European operator of the type and the fourth globally. The promo photos certainly make it look pretty, but there are some scary realities that come with it. The plane is expected to begin transatlantic operations at the end of November on the New York – Paris route.
The Air France configuration is, by about 15%, the most densely packed of the seating layouts seen to date. Sure, it could be worse – Emirates has suggested an all-coach configuration for some regional flights – but this is the most packed the plane has shown up thus far. And despite claims that Premium Economy is the best money maker for airlines Air France has chosen to not add that cabin of service to the plane. It is hard to tell if that is a comment on the value of that cabin on flights or something else, but it is an interesting development, especially considering that they already have a similar product, Alize, on several of their aircraft.
Either way it is always nice to see new planes entering service. One of these days I’ll manage to fly on one of the A380s. And next week I get to visit the assembly line and see where they’re made!
(Photo from FlightGlobal/TwitPic)
Posted by Seth on October 29, 2009 under News |
jetBlue, already the largest carrier at Boston’s Logan airport, announced today that they are looking to expand that lead in a big way. The New York City-based carrier is adding about 20 flights to their schedule in Boston, expecting a total of 78 daily flights to be operating by summer 2010. Only one new destination in the mix – a once-weekly flight to Montego Bay, Jamaica – but a whole slew of cities will be seeing additional frequencies. Among them:
- Two additional daily flights to Chicago/O’Hare (for a total of three)
- Two additional daily flights to Raleigh/Durham (for a total of three)
- One additional daily flight to Baltimore/Washington (for a total of five)
- One additional daily flight to Charlotte (for a total of three)
- One additional daily flight to Denver (for a total of two)
- One additional daily flight to Fort Lauderdale (for a total of four)
- One additional daily flight to San Diego (for a total of two)
- One additional daily flight to San Francisco (for a total of two)
- One additional daily flight to Washington/Dulles (for a total of seven)
- Four additional weekly flights to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (for a total of one daily)
- One weekly flight to Montego Bay, Jamaica (for a total of one weekly) (a)
- And more to come!
All this expansion comes in the face of some competition showing up at Logan, specifically in the form of Southwest. Actually they seem do be doing it in order to directly challenge the folks from Dallas. Noted Robin Hayes, Chief Commercial Officer for JetBlue, “JetBlue has a great fare and 78 great flights for you in Boston — that’s no small peanuts!” The “peanuts” reference seems to be a repeated reference at Southwest, with jetBlue differentiating themselves by providing up to 6 snack choices on flights, not just peanuts. A similar comment was made when jetBlue joined the Boston – Baltimore fray just a couple months ago.
It is worth noting that jetBlue has no additional aircraft deliveries scheduled for at least the next 15 months. That means that all these additions will have to come from a combination of increased utilization and cuts from existing routes. No real idea yet on which flights are potential losers, but it seems likely that a few frequencies will disappear elsewhere on the schedule to accommodate this.
Between New York and Boston jetBlue has done a pretty impressive job of establishing their presence in the markets. Combine that with the fact that they are actually making money these days and things are looking might fine for them right now.
Related Posts:
Posted by Seth on October 12, 2009 under Uncategorized |
Road closures, heavy police presence, annoying news stories about various world leaders. Nothing good can come out of the UN General Assembly meeting each fall in New York City. At least, that’s what I used to think. Now I know better.
In addition to all the headaches and whatnot that come from the meetings there is also one truly phenomenal opportunity for aerophiles – plane spotting at JFK. As the gateway to NYC, JFK receives scores of international dignitaries during the week leading up to the big meeting and there is a similar outflow after the sessions conclude. And the planes that show up are a lot of fun.
These are planes that don’t make it to the United States very often. Ilyushins and Tupolevs. Airbus A300s and A310s. Even an A342 and a Boeing 747SP – one of the originals – arriving in from Iran. Gambia sent a 727-100 and Burkina Faso sent a 727-200.
It is, quite simply, plane spotting nirvana.
Here are a couple thumbnail images from some of the folks who were out spotting this year. I’m going to need to check out the schedule for next year and see what I can do to be out by JFK for this event.
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| Gambia’s 727-100 |
Iran’s 747SP |
Russia’s IL-62 |
Good stuff.
