Delta cutting international routes in 2012

Posted by Seth on November 22, 2011 under Flying, News | 6 Comments to Read

Faced with "poorly performing" routes and an uncertain economic future, Delta has announced that they are trimming six international destinations from their Atlanta hub in 2012. One of the destinations, Shanghai, has been an on-again, off-again operation with limited service (currently only 2x weekly). The other destinations being cut – Athens, Copenhagen, Moscow, Prague and Tel Aviv – were all seasonal destinations which are not being reinstated as originally expected in the Summer ’12 season. Oh, and the timing of these cuts is a bit of a smack at the ATL airport authority. The airport’s new international facility is scheduled to open in 2012 right as demand is apparently drying up.

A few seasonal destinations from New York City are also being cut by Delta, including Manchester, U.K.; Budapest, Hungary; and Berlin.

But it isn’t all cuts for Delta. They are picking up the slack for SkyTeam and anti-trust alliance partner Air France, operating the Seattle – Paris route starting in March the day after Air France leaves the market. On that route it is most likely a fleet utilization issue as the two carriers share profits and expenses on many transatlantic routes thanks to the ATI arrangement. Delta will also be adding service between Detroit and Paris, likely for similar reasons.

There’s a lot more red on that map than green.

The debacle that is Avios, and a few gems it offers

Posted by Seth on November 18, 2011 under frequent flyer, News, points | 9 Comments to Read

When British Airways and Iberia announced a couple months back that they were integrating their loyalty programs under the Avios moniker there were a whole bunch of folks (mostly based in the USA) who were pretty upset at the potential issues it could raise. At that time I took a somewhat measured approach, suggesting that there are a few areas in which folks might see benefits, mostly for those in the UK or Europe. Now that the details are out and we can look at the numbers I’m still not certain, but the program mostly seems to be a debacle unless you live in the UK or Spain and only fly on simple trips.

You didn’t want to connect, did you?

The single-partner award chart isn’t nearly as bad as previously expected, with a catch. Awards on a single partner now do not permit connections. If you require a connection for your itinerary then you redeem an award for each flight. That means JFK-EZE on AA would be one price (25K one way in coach) but connecting via Miami would add 7,500 to that total; connecting via Dallas is 10,000 more. So if you can position yourself to get to a hub gateway (or if you are lucky enough to actually live in one) then the numbers can be quite reasonable still. I queried ~150 city pairs on routes operated by wide-body aircraft by Cathay Pacific, Qantas and LAN and found a few routes where the numbers aren’t completely awful. But that assumes you’re at the gateway and want to go to the hub. A pretty significant catch to be sure.

Also on the connection front, it appears that folks based in Europe are going to feel the pinch of award prices rising. A trip from Istanbul to Paris sees a 4,500 point surcharge over a trip from Istanbul to London. Not all that surprising considering the rate on London-Paris is 4,500. In other words, even if you stay on BA metal for the journey you get hit with a connection penalty. This applies to flights originating in the USA as well, and the up-charge might be even more than you’d expect (ORD-LHR is 20,000; ORD-CDG is 25,000 while MIA-LHR and MIA-CDG are both 25,000). In other words, the award charts are very inconsistent and nearly impossible to decipher with any reasonable sense of reason.

Multi-partner Awards

The multi-partner award chart is unchanged and is shown below. With this scheme you are permitted up to 8 segments on an award, including an open jaw stopovers so long as the stopover is on the direct point of travel. That basically means only at hubs, which is also not particularly great, but also not atypical.

Some "gems"

So, what are these "gems" I referenced in the thread title? There are a couple to talk about.

If you’re looking for flights operated by international configured aircraft and hoping for a bargain there are a few routes that come up as quite reasonably priced. Some have gone down from the prior charts, though, again, no connections are permitted any more so there’s that problem. Still, take a look at some of these routes with the decent redemption pricing (o/w, economy):

Comparing those numbers to other carriers I’ve compiled data on suggests that the program isn’t a complete fiasco, so long as you can avoid that pesky connection problem.

Also, it is possible to redeem 10% of the regular Avios award price for an infant in lap which is a nice feature and most certainly not one that most programs offer. But that’s a pretty small consolation.

Upgrade or downgrade?

In the end, I believe that the overall changes to the program are quite negative for most customers. Yes, there are a few bright spots where award costs have gone down and those should be celebrated, but for most customers the connection penalty will be a rather steep price to pay to make the Avios retain value. That said, if you live in a hub or in a spoke with good frequencies there is the slight chance that the program can be made to work for you.

I’m quite happy that I’m not sitting on a pile of Avios right now, even being in NYC where I have the advantage of many non-stop options. If it comes to that I’ll just move some Membership Rewards points over and leverage the program that way.

Check out some other views on the changes from these noted loyalty bloggers:

• Lucky’s posts
• Avios points not pricing correctly – One Mile at a Time
• British Airways clarifies some Avios changes – One Mile at a Time
• TPG’s thoughts:
• British Airways Avios Program Worse Than I Expected

Related Posts:

• Updates to the British Airways program coming soon

Flying the A380 on the cheap

Posted by Seth on May 14, 2010 under News | 4 Comments to Read

Looking for an opportunity to experience the Airbus A380 but not willing to commit a ton of time or money to that search? Air France just might have the solution you’re looking for. The airline has announced that they will be operating one of their A380s on the London Heathrow – Paris route 3-4x weekly this summer. This will be the only short-haul route that the aircraft operates on and the fares aren’t bad at all.

The fares range from £80 in coach to £280 in business class. Service will be offered once daily on Saturday, Sunday and Mondays all summer long, as well as Fridays in July.

I just checked my schedule for the summer and I don’t have any weekends in either Paris or London, at least not yet.

Flight Path LAX: A different layover distraction

Posted by Seth on April 27, 2010 under Trip Reports | Be the First to Comment

For years now every time I’ve read anything or talked to anyone about what to do during a layover at Los Angeles International Airport the answer has been simple and singular: Plane spotting from the In-n-Out. I’ve done that a few times now and been quite happy with it. But I also discovered this weekend that there is another option for folks on a layover, one that is more educational, less fattening and every bit as cool to an aerophile like me: Flight Path LAX.

Flight Path is a museum and learning center is a non-profit organization formed 15 years ago as part of an effort by the operators of the airport to honor the 75th anniversary of its founding. In the intervening years the facility has blossomed into a phenomenal collection of models, photographs and memorabilia, all of which celebrates the history of flight in Southern California. The museum is situated in the Imperial Terminal, on the grounds of LAX. The terminal has served a number of purposes over the years, from operating as the MGM Grand terminal for shuttles to the casino in Las Vegas to the charter operations facility for private flights at the airport. And they’ve got the photos on the walls to prove it.

The museum has one of the largest collections of aviation uniforms out there. They have almost all of the mumus that the United Airlines flight attendants wore on the Hawaii runs in the 60s and 70s. They have several of the paper dress uniforms that the TWA attendants wore on their premium runs to London, Paris, Rome and New York City. Our guide was Eleanor, a former Flight Attendant for United and a woman incredibly knowledgeable about the industry and its history had a number of stories to share with us about those paper uniforms, including how they were hemmed to fit each attendant (scissors) and how the businessmen “flirting” with them would accidentally brush their cigarettes up against the attendants, risking the uniforms going up in smoke (and coming off). They’ve got hot pants from Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) and several generations of Pan Am uniforms, among others.

The paper dress uniforms from TWA, 1968. On the left is the Rome outfit; Paris on the right.	Pacific Southwest Airlines’ uniform from the 70s.

The museum also has a pretty impressive collection of in-flight service sets, ticket stubs, napkins, models and just about anything else that has an airline logo on it from the past 100+ years of flight. The breadth of the collection is rather astounding.

As part of our tour we were also treated to a bus ride around the airfield. I’m pretty sure this isn’t part of the regular visits, but if you can arrange it I highly recommend doing so. We all loaded up onto a bus and cruised around the airport, mixed in among the baggage trailers, maintenance trucks and crew vans. It was wonderful to be up close with the planes and see the operations from that perspective; it is much different than from inside the terminal.

Finally, the museum has a DC-3 parked out on the tarmac outside. The aircraft was built in 1941 and served in commercial service and as a private airplane before it was retired and eventually moved to the airport. We were quite lucky during our tour and were actually permitted to go inside. It sounds like this is somewhat common – more so than the bus tour – but it was still a special treat. The interior is still in its private plane configuration and it looks quite lavish for the era it was flying in.

No, they don’t have a Double Double available. And you cannot hop on the Parking Spot shuttle to get there (though the Embassy Suites El Segundo is right across the street, maybe a 5-10 minute walk). But the museum is open five days per week, Tuesday – Saturday, from 10 am to 3 pm and admission is free. It is absolutely worth visiting for a peek back at the history of aviation in Southern California and around the globe. You can even watch the video that includes the airport’s theme song. It is a classic (made it to #54 on the pop charts in the USA)!

Related Posts

• Plane-spotting at LAX
• A room with a view

Air France joins the A380 Club

Posted by Seth on October 30, 2009 under News | Be the First to Comment

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)

Hit-and-run tourism

Posted by Seth on August 5, 2008 under Uncategorized | 2 Comments to Read

I was reading one of Lucky’s posts over at One Mile at a Time and started thinking about the concept of the “3 Perfect Days” series from United. The few times I’ve flown on United I’ve actually looked forward to reading those articles, and in a few instances they actually were about places I was head on that trip or an upcoming one. Considering how infrequently I fly UA I found that pretty coincidental.

Lucky’s post got me thinking about the fact that I’m a hit-and-run tourist. No, I don’t go around crashing cars into pedestrians (though I do have a spotty driving record overseas). But when I head out to see a place, spending more than two or three nights in one place seems strange to me. I actually had only one limitation put on my honeymoon itinerary planning – no single night cities. I managed to plan it that way (for the most part) and we had a great trip, but I still like the shorter stays and getting to see more places.

Could we have spent more time in Bangkok? Maybe. But I don’t think that we would have enjoyed our additional time more than the initial three nights there. Ditto for our two nights in Paris. Though I’m sure we could’ve continued to eat the great food, the other aspects of the touristing there weren’t so great. And I actually felt that more than one night in Venice was too much, each of the three times I’ve been there, so there are times the hit-and-run approach makes sense.

I’ve also been to plenty of places that I want to go back to, where the 2-3 nights isn’t enough. But even for those places I’m not sure I’d stay too much longer on subsequent visits. I like getting my exposure to the places a little bit at a time, and circling back later to see more. Of course, you run the risk of circling back later to find out that the sight you wanted to spend more time at is gone, but I look at those situations as an opportunity to find something new to see.

And there are certainly plenty of new (to me) things to see out there in the world.

OpenSkies: New route and fewer seats

Posted by Seth on August 2, 2008 under Uncategorized | Be the First to Comment

The BA subsidiary OpenSkies announced last week that they will launch their second route, New York – Amsterdam on October 15, 2008.  And they’ll be doing so with 18 fewer seats on their planes.  When they launched their service earlier this year they had Business, Premium Economy and Economy seating.  They’ve decided that the demand for the Premium Economy product is high enough that they will be pulling out the regular Economy seats and replacing them with more Premium seats.

So apparently now the all premium cabin airline is back again, this time with two classes of service that are both premium, just one more premium than the other. 

Also, this move means that OpenSkies will be operating from both of the main European hubs for the Air France/KLM conglomerate.  I guess it is payback for Air France going after the London – Los Angeles route.

The final chapter of the all-business airline saga closes

Posted by Seth on July 2, 2008 under Uncategorized | Be the First to Comment

And then there were none.

After a flurry of all-business transatlantic airlines sprouted up over the past few years the last surviving member of the group, L’Avion, has agreed to a buyout from British Airways. The operational assets, including planes and airport slots from L’Avion will be merged into the OpenSkies subsidiary. This effectively gets OpenSkies a strong toe-hold at Paris’s Orly airport and adds a couple more 757s to the fleet. It should allow for additional growth of the OpenSkies route map as planned and previously announced.

I’m reasonable certain that the planes will switch to the OpenSkies config of Business, Premium Economy and Economy, which should also help them remain solvent, something the all-Biz carriers couldn’t do.

Fly OpenSkies 2-4-1 this summer

Posted by Seth on June 20, 2008 under Uncategorized | Be the First to Comment

I’ve posted about the new BA subsidiary OpenSkies previously.  They’re looking to start flights from a number of European cities to New York to take advantage of the recent Open Skies treaty.  They launched their service this week with their JFK-Paris Orly route.

And now they’re looking to boost bookings on the flights, offering 2-4-1 deals for travel this summer in the Business and Premium Economy cabins.  You have to book using a special code available from this page.  Both passengers have to be on the same flights, the free ticket still has to pay $100+ in taxes/fees and the free seat doesn’t earn points, but it is still a nice way to sample the new product a little cheaper than otherwise.

Happy flying.

SilverJet closes up shop

Posted by Seth on May 30, 2008 under Uncategorized | Read the First Comment

The last operating all-premium carrier on the NYC-London route, SilverJet, has ceased operations as of this morning due to an inability to raise additional financing. They had actually announced that they’d reached terms with a group in UAE to provide them with some cash, but when they went to draw on the loan last week the money didn’t show up.

From the announcement on their web site:

Your belief in us was shared by our investors – but regrettably, due to unforeseen circumstances, they were unable to unlock the finance that we needed. As a result, we are very sad to announce that from 30 May 2008, we will cease operations and we are no longer able to honour flight reservations.

And so now all three premium carriers on the NYC-LON route have shut down. The only carrier still operating as an independent in that market is L’Avion which operates a NYC-Paris flight. And before you write off the concept of an all-premium flight operation, it is worth considering that there are some routes that seem to support it just fine. KLM operates Houston-Amsterdam on a 737 in an all-Biz config (contracted service provided by PrivatAir). Singapore Air has converted their A340-500s to all-Biz seats for the SIN-EWR route. Lufthansa has a
similar arrangement to KLM, with PrivatAir operating some flights for them as well. In the Lufthansa case they have actually used the PrivatAir operation to break in some new routes, upgrading them to full-size planes with normal seating arrangements once they have proven the demand. That makes me think that the demand issue is more one of the carriers and the routes, not the business model.

Considering how saturated the NYC-LON market is in seats – thousands daily, many of which are big and comfy – and that the corporate contracts drive more of the business than individual flying, I’m not all that surprised that these carriers struggled. Ironically, choosing less popular routes might have actually let them be successful, as would operating smaller or more efficient planes (like PrivatAir).

Adapting to local dining customs

Posted by Seth on May 28, 2008 under Uncategorized | Be the First to Comment

One of my favorite bits of travel is the different dining habits/customs of our destination. When in Spain, dinner is nice and late, following an early round of tapas. Italy has a similar evening/night split for snacks and dining. In Asia, dining on the roadside was very common, either a grab-and-go snack from a vendor or sitting at tiny plastic tables in tiny plastic chairs on the sidewalk in Saigon, slurping up pho while trying not to break anything. I love these experiences, partly for the food and partly because we get to see the culture of those places not just from the displays in a museum.

So I was particularly saddened yesterday walking to the subway on my way home from work. It was about 7:30pm and I passed a family walking cross-town. They were headed east from the Times Square area, seemingly back towards their hotel. Laden with the requisite shopping bags I noticed one in the mix that was rather disappointing – leftovers from The Olive Garden. So at 7:30 they were done with dinner, and it was an Olive Garden dinner.

Don’t get me wrong – I don’t hate the Olive Garden. I like the salad and bread sticks (or I did last time I had them, which was probably 8 years ago), and I’m sure that there are places where it is the best option for “Italian” food that is available. But it pains me to see folks choosing that over one of the dozens of local places that are available in NYC that provide a better meal and a much more realistic view of dining in the city.

While in Paris we had a fabulous dinner at a great little restaurant. My wife claims that it is the best meal she’s ever had, and she’s probably right. But our 8:30pm seating had us in with all the other Americans, though we were at least on the later side of that group. Only as we finished up dining did we see some locals start to trickle in around 10pm. The meal was delicious, but I cannot help but think we got shorted a bit on the experience because of the timing. And I think that this family drew the same short straw with their dinner last night, too.

Maybe it is just because I’m obsessed with food, but I think that making the leap to the local dining culture is as important as anything else you do on a trip. And in New York that means no Olive Garden. Oh, and no licking your fingers in India. That’s a good way to end up on the couch/in the bathroom for two days until the Cipro kicks in, but that’s a whole different story…