Posted by Seth on March 3, 2010 under News, frequent flyer | 
Continental’s announcement this morning that they will begin charging non-elite members for the seats with the most legroom has raised a number of questions. The company released an internal memo to all employees explaining some of the details behind the program. Here’s what it had to say:
Questions and Answers about CO’s Premium Seat Program
Why not just continue giving the better seats away for free? It has worked for years.
CO is focused on making money, and we aren’t going to be able to do that by doing the same things we have done in the past. There is additional revenue from new products, like extra legroom seats that are already in our coach cabin, that we have not effectively unlocked in the past. It makes no sense to give away the best seats in coach to non-Elites for free. So we are changing that, and will bring in new sources of revenue we’ve not tapped in the past.
Will our customers be willing to pay for extra legroom on the aircraft?
Yes. Certain customers strongly value having more space on the aircraft. On the other hand, some customers don’t value extra space. Customers will pay for the things that they value, and extra legroom is one of those things. Many other airlines like United, Virgin America, Singapore and British Airways have successful programs selling extra legroom.
Which seats on our aircraft are classified as premium seats with extra legroom?
Initially this program is focused on selling seat assignments for exit row seats that have extra legroom. We expect to start selling bulkhead seat assignments in the future. The exact seats that will be available for sale will vary by aircraft type. For example, not every exit row seat has extra legroom, and those seats would not be included in the program.
How much will the premium seats with extra legroom cost?
Pricing will vary based on numerous market characteristics, including length of the flight. We’ll experiment with various prices, and that will give us solid data upon which to base future pricing decisions. For example, extra legroom seats between IAH and EWR might be offered at $59. Certain days like holidays or weekends might get discounted pricing. All check-in applications like continental.com and kiosks will have the prices of seats at check-in.
If the only seats left on the aircraft are premium seats, will we force passengers to pay extra for them?
This is a pretty unlikely scenario, but if it happens, we won’t require a passenger to pay extra to obtain a seat assignment.
Will pass riders have to pay in order to obtain a seat with extra legroom?
No. Pass riders will be given these seats for free when they are available. Charging non-Elite revenue passengers for these seats should increase their availability to pass riders, as there will be customers who don’t value the extra legroom enough to pay for it.
None of the answers are particularly surprising – except for where they expect folks to pay $59 for an exit row from Houston to Newark – but the tone of the email definitely is. Continental’s inclusion of British Airways and Singapore Air in the list of companies that sell extra legroom is also quite interesting considering that those airlines actually have a wholly separate product that they are selling, not just a couple seats on the plane, and their Premium Economy product comes with other benefits as well. And while the bulkhead seats generally offer extra legroom there are also compliance issues with selling those seats. Continental will need to be very careful about that while ensuring that they can meet their obligations for passengers with limited mobility.
Also of note is the comment about bringing in “new sources of revenue” that have not been previously tapped. This leaves the door wide open for the airline to start charging for even more individual benefits than they do today. From the complimentary “meals at mealtime” to carry-on baggage, it is hard to take anything off the table at this point.
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Posted by Seth on March 3, 2010 under News, frequent flyer |
Continental Airlines announced today a new plan to charge for some of their most coveted seats – those with extra legroom. The seats will remain available for top-tier elites to assign in advance with no charge. Non-elite customers who want to sit in them will have to pay during the check-in process to have access to the seats. Pricing has not been announced but it will vary based on the amount of extra legroom, seat recline and flight duration, among other things.
Most interesting in the announcement was this bit:
Extra legroom really means extra legroom. The seats that we’ll be selling have at least 7 inches of extra legroom. Specifically, our mainline aircraft will offer 10-12 extra inches on average, whereas our Continental Express aircraft will be closer to 7 extra inches
There are only two on the 737-700s, three on the 757-200s and 9 on the 757-300s. The 737-800 and 737-900 planes will have 12 seats each in this configuration. Not too bad, though most of these seats are likely to be filled with OnePass elite members. Plus, I’m not really convinced that the exit row seats on the 737-800 and 737-900 planes really have 10″ of extra legroom. I’ll be bringing my tape measure next time I’m on board.
The seats will be available for purchase starting on March 17, 2010 and will only be available at check-in, not in advance.
Of course, this does open the window for an Economy+ style operation similar to what United Airlines offers. United’s E+ does not offer as much extra legroom as Continental is suggesting and it will be difficult for Continental to maintain this offering while increasing the number of seats available in this setup; their 10-12 inches minimum extra space would be very difficult to accomplish without removing a lot of other seats. Still, the opportunity – and the billing infrastructure – will be in place.
Posted by Seth on March 2, 2010 under News, Trip Reports |
A few months back the news came out that the Department of Transportation would be issuing significant fines against airline operators when they had flights delayed more than three hours between the runway and the gate. The rule hasn’t actually done into effect yet – there are a couple weeks left until enforcement begins – but several airlines appear to be already running their operations in line with the new rules? The net effect of the change in the airlines’ behavior? Thousands of canceled flights across the country.
This should not come as much of a surprise to the traveling public but apparently it is. It seems that the airlines are choosing to cancel flights much more aggressively now when faced with a severe weather situation and they are doing so without any real obligations to their customers. It is not a good thing at all. But it is apparently what society thought they wanted so it is what we’re now faced with.
It is interesting to hear the spin that airlines are putting on their new policies. Take the line from Continental President and CEO Jeff Smisek about the company’s Operations Center policies:
During difficult weather our [Operations] team … works to pre-cancel flights in order to minimize inconvenience for our customers.… [The plan] not only allows Continental to minimize disruptions for passengers during irregular operations, it also permits us to return our operations to normal as quickly as possible after a weather event.
And there is no doubt that parts of this is actually true. It does appear that the airlines are able to get back to normal operations generally pretty quickly after a weather event, though it isn’t completely obvious that it is any better than before. There are, however, some parts that don’t seem to quite live up to the expectations being set. Things like the airlines simply canceling out all of their regional and express operations for a days at a time are not good for customers. When the ability to actually complete travel is frequently delayed two or more days from the weather event it is hard to see how that is minimizing disruptions for passengers. When airlines are unwilling to pay the cost of accommodating their customers on the airlines that are operating the situation becomes even more difficult, especially when the reasons given for the cancelations are less than wholly accurate.
And it isn’t just one or two airlines that take the wholesale cancelation approach. In the past month there have been a number of weather events in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States and many carriers have taken this approach to handling the situation. Southwest, Delta, jetBlue, United and US Airways have all done it at one more more airports for one or more days. That’s hundreds of thousands of passengers displaced because of thousands of flight cancelations.
But it could be worse. More troublesome than just canceling all the flights and telling everyone to go home is when a carrier cancels all their flights across the board and then starts putting a few back into operation. There are simply too many moving bits to keep track of to keep everyone informed. At Newark last Friday I watched as thousands of passengers, self included, were given the run-around while flights were reinstated, moved to new gates, delayed or canceled again and otherwise left with misinformation.
For my own flight a call from the lounge to the gate indicated that I was the only passenger who had not yet boarded the flight and that they were getting ready to depart without me. A quick sprint to the gate showed a much different reality. They were still trying to find a full crew to get on the plane and get us out of there. I’m not sure if the agent in the lounge just didn’t want to deal with me anymore, if the woman at the gate was less than truthful or if no one knew what was going on at all. But it truly sucked from a passenger perspective.
And I was one of the lucky ones. I actually made it on to my flight with only a 5.5 hour delay and with an upgrade. Two other friends in the airport had no reasonable choice other than to cancel their travel plans completely. Ditto for two other guys supposed to make the trip out to Las Vegas for the weekend with us. So what is good for the customer about these new policies?
There are plenty of problems in the airline industry today but this new approach doesn’t solve many of them, other than to avoid DoT fines. Thanks for looking out for the consumers there. Y’all screwed up on this one pretty good.
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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 5, 2010 under Trip Reports |
Fly enough and strange things are bound to happen. I haven’t had to evacuate a plane or deal with oxygen mask deployment yet but I’ve had my share of aborted take-offs and “go around” missed landings. Those are unsettling but I actually understand what is going on in those cases and it doesn’t really seem all that bad when it is happening. Flying from San Francisco to Los Angeles today on my way to Hawaii I got to experience a final approach that was unlike any other. And I got a bit spooked by it.
The pilot had the Channel 9 audio feed on so I was able to listen to the cockpit communications throughout the flight. I heard the discussions of the weather with the controllers and our pilots’ requests to deviate around the worst of it. That was all good stuff. But having access to that audio also probably contributed to me freaking out a bit when we made a strange left turn about 30 seconds before touchdown. What I heard was something to the effect of:
Tower, this is United 817. We’re seeing wide variations on the localizer for runway 6R. It is all over the place.
The localizer is the radio beacon that broadcasts out the location of the runway so that the plane’s autopilot functionality can glide it it to a safe landing. If the plane is off course the autopilot will hone in on the localizer and correct the course. But if the localizer goes wobbly bonkers then the plane will change course to “correct” even if that means actually heading away from the runway.
And that’s exactly what our plane did this morning. The good news is that the pilots reacted quickly and professionally. They disengaged the autopilot, corrected the course of the plane and brought us in for a completely normal landing. Except the part where we briefly were headed in the wrong direction.
The pilot and ATC folks had a brief conversation about the incident while we were still flying. They checked with the plane behind us on the approach path to see if they saw the same issues with the localizer (they did) and then things continued on normally. Once we were finally on the ground the pilot gave the tower another tongue lashing about the localizer and clarified that it was the runway localizer and not the glide slope indicator (another piece of the autopilot system) that was having problems. And that was pretty much the end of it.
As we were deplaning I mentioned the event to the pilot and we chatted briefly about it. It was only after that conversation that I fully grasped the severity of what had happened. Probably a good thing as we were safely on the ground at that point and freaking out a bit wasn’t as significant an issue. But I was definitely feeling spooked by the event.
No real reason to freak out, I know. The pilots knew exactly what they were doing the whole time and they fixed the issue quickly and perfectly. In fact, had I not been listening to Channel 9 I’m not entirely certain I would have even known something went amiss during the approach. But it was still a bit freaky. Certainly not enough to prevent me from getting on the next flight, but a bit freaky.
Sadly the LiveATC.net feed of KLAX is offline right now so I don’t have access to the actual tower communications to get the verbatim conversation that happened with our pilot, the pilot behind us and ATC. I may have to dig a bit more to see if I can find it.
Posted by Seth on February 5, 2010 under Trip Reports, points |
For a guy who doesn’t really love Hawai’i I seem to go there an awful lot. It is hard to complain too much when the airlines offer up a $250ish fare from the New York City area as it is a trip worth a bunch of miles, but I generally don’t really enjoy being there. Of course, I blame that on having stayed in Oahu, specifically in Waikiki Beach, when I get there. I know that there are supposed to be better bits to see and this time around I’m finally going to give that a try. I’m headed to the Big Island.
Today’s trip is a four flight affair, starting with a departure from Newark at 6am and finishing with a puddle-jumper flight from Honolulu to Hilo scheduled to arrive at 8:30pm tonight. Just enough time at each connection to hop into a lounge or two for a snack and then on to the next flight. Assuming everything connects OK (which seems pretty likely so far) I shouldn’t have any troubles other than the fact that it is about 20 hours in transit from my apartment to the bed at the other end.
Map from the totaly awesome Great Circle Mapper tool
Perhaps the best part about the first flight today (EWR-SFO) is that the plane is mostly empty. Normally when flying on United Airlines I’d perform some sort of “upgrade flirt” at the counter or in the lounge to try to get a seat in the Economy Plus section for free (I know it is coming soon enough with Continental OnePass reciprocity but I’m impatient) but this morning I didn’t even bother. The First Class cabin may be booked full on this A319 but the back is wide open. There are at least 10 half rows that have one or zero customers seated there. I traded my seat up near the exit row for 22E, a middle seat in the back.
Just after takeoff I was happily asleep in my lie-flat coach seat, trying to imagine if it would really work with a second passenger cuddled up next to me as Air New Zealand thinks they’ll be able to sell with their new SkyCouch seats. And I still don’t see it working, at least not for customers over 5’ 6” tall.
I awoke from my 3+ hour snooze to one of the more disgusting views I’ve seen on a plane. This:
Seriously, it isn’t your house. I know that it isn’t particularly crowded on board this morning but keep your feet down. Yuck!
Only 15 hours yet to go on this trip. Plenty more nap time and writing time to come.
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Posted by Seth on January 29, 2010 under frequent flyer |
Nearly a year ago American Airlines sent a letter to the IRS defining about 40 different “services” that the carrier offers to its customers. They asked for specific rulings on each of the 40 with respect to § 4261 of the IRS code, the section that covers the specific activities for which the airlines are required to collect and remit taxes. In general such a document wouldn’t be all that interesting, but there are a couple things that this particular one has in it that are worth noting. The impact on taxes for baggage fees has already been covered, and that is reasonably interesting, but there are two specific entries in the services list that describe potential future offerings. These are the two bits that piqued my interests most.
- Service P allows Members to purchase “bonus” Miles (i.e., double or triple miles) on certain flights to be credited to the Member’s Account. Currently, this service is occasionally offered to members free of charge on a limited-time basis. However, Taxpayer is preparing to offer Service P for a fee.
United Airlines currently offers a program similar to that identified as “Service P” above. They call it their Award Accelerator and it is generally a pretty bad deal; the points are too expensive. Continental also offfers something similar with their “Extra Mile” promo every year. So American wouldn’t be breaking new ground with such a more. Still, it would be an interesting move to see American attempt to further monetize their frequent flyer program and cash in on the obsession with points.
- Service CC allows Members to redeem Miles for the purchase of air transportation on Taxpayer’s website. At the time this letter ruling request was issued, Taxpayer was not charging a fee for Service CC. Taxpayer is, however, contemplating implementation of a fee for this service. The fee would be charged at the time of ticketing.
This one is a bit more worrisome from the consumer perspective. It suggests that AA is considering adding a booking fee for reward ticket reservations made through the website. Currently most airlines charge for such reservations when they are booked through the call center. Extending that out to bookings made online would be quite a leap. Currently there are a couple airlines that have such “convenience fees” for bookings but it would be quite a shock for a legacy carrier to start down that route. The verbiage is sufficiently different – “contemplating implementation” versus “preparing to offer” – that it doesn’t seem likely such charges are imminent, but it is out there now and intriguing enough to raise an eyebrow or two.
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Posted by Seth on January 21, 2010 under Trip Reports |
It has been a long couple weeks on the ground in New York City. Sure, I’m having plenty of fun but I’m also working a lot more than usual so getting back into the air is a great pleasure that I get to indulge in this weekend. And it really is a bit of indulgence – probably more fun than I should have in any given weekend.
First up today is the trek from New York to Seattle. I’m flying via Chicago to meet up with some friends who are based there. Plus it is my first opportunity to use my Continental Star Alliance Gold credentials while flying with United Airlines so that’s been fun to see how it plays out. Oh, and it means free drinks thanks to a large supply of coupons provided by one of the guys in the group. Today is two flights and gets me across the country but that’s just the beginning for the weekend.
After a couple days in Seattle we’re flying down to Houston on Continental. We’ll spend a day there doing some things with the carrier and then it is on to San Diego on Sunday. I’ll be flying on US Airways via Phoenix because of the significant cost savings. That’s five flights and three cities over four days.
The trip home will be equally entertaining. On Monday I fly San Diego – Los Angeles – Portland – Seattle – Newark on a combination of United, United Express and Continental. I get three new routes and a new aircraft type – the Embrear 120. Yeah, it is a tiny turboprop and I don’t expect it to be particularly wonderful in terms of the in-flight experience, but it does get me very, very close to closing out the entire Embrear product line in terms of aircraft flown. This is the second time I’m trying for the E120 and last time I was the victim of delays so I missed it. I’m hoping that I can get it more quickly than I did the upper deck of the 747; that was way too many tries.
On the plus side, the lounges have all been nice thus far. The Bloody Mary at the Presidents Club in LaGuardia this morning was perfect, as always. The Goose Island brew at the newly remodeled Red Carpet Club was excellent; I’m a fan of local beers in the lounges. And the drink certs on the flights have come in quite handy. The plane is now out of rum and gin; yeah, we’re having a great time here. More of the same is expected this weekend in air world. It is a great place to visit frequently.
Posted by Seth on January 18, 2010 under News |
The Department of Transportation announced on Friday that United Airlines has been assessed a fine of $30,000 for failing to properly disclose fares inclusive of taxes on their website. Specifically, there was a 60 hour period during which United failed to include the 7.5% Federal Excise Tax in fares displayed at www.united.com. Although they quickly resolved the issue when confronted with the error the carrier was still hit with a rather notable fine, mostly because this was the second such violation in a short period of time.
In August United had a similar violation for which they were fined $75,000. Half of that fine was suspended for a one year period pending any further violations of the regulation. They barely made it four months of that probationary year before committing a similar violation, however, meaning that they were required to pay not only the new $30,000 fine but also the $37,500 still pending from the previous violation.
Whoopsie!
Posted by Seth on January 15, 2010 under News |
Continental loves their hubs. They have historically had an incredibly intense focus on offering only hub-and-spoke service, to the point that non-hub routes could be counted on your fingers, sometimes only requiring one hand. Things are changing, however, and the non-hub route map is growing.
Late last year Continental announced several non-hub routes serving Hawaii from Los Angeles and Orange County. Today they’ve announced service between Portland, Oregon and Anchorage. The service will be seasonal for the peak summer months and not particularly well timed for connections from Newark but it will serve the local market and other west-coast feed (from United , I suppose) reasonably well. From the release:
The flight from Portland International Airport (PDX) will depart at 6:10 p.m. and arrive at Ted Stevens International Airport (ANC) in Anchorage at 8:55 p.m. The return flight will depart Anchorage at 1:25 a.m. and arrive in Portland at 6:15 a.m. Continental will operate the flight with a Boeing 737-800 with 160 seats.
I might need to start using my toes to count the non-hub routes soon. Nice to see some growth in the industry.
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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!
