Monthly Archive for November, 2008Page 3 of 4

An Air France Surprise from Toulouse

Published
by
Dan Webb
on November 11, 2008
in Air France
. 0 Comments

I was told by a friend yesterday (thanks for passing it along!) that an Air France A320 is sitting in Toulouse in a nice retro livery to celebrate the airline’s 75th anniversary. It will supposedly be shown at a ceremony in Paris late this week. I’m guessing it will resemble this scheme, as shown on the Caravelle.

Apparently the rumor/news has also hit JetPhotos.

No pictures have leaked yet, sadly.

This should be cool because as far as I know I don’t think Air France has done any special liveries in the past. (Though apparently some aircraft wore stickers for the 1998 World Cup.)

Southwest Teams Up With Volaris

Published
by
Dan Webb
on November 11, 2008
in Southwest and Volaris
. 0 Comments

I had suspected in the past that Volaris would be a good partner for Southwest, and it actually happened. If you’re not familiar with Volaris, it’s a Mexican LCC that is only a bit more than two years old. The airline (according to ATDB) currently operates 18 A319s and 2 A320s, and has orders for a few more aircraft during the next couple of years. I think this new codeshare is great for both airlines.

A partnership gives Volaris some great opportunities – the airline currently does not serve the United States (Volaris will be doing all the transborder flying though), and Mexicana (joining Oneworld soon) and Aeromexico (Skyteam) already have established United States routes, so this will help them compete.

But this agreement is also great for Southwest, and I think it is a move that will make the frequent flyers out there happy. One of the main complaints oI have heard about Southwest and Rapid Rewards is that there is a limited number of international and vacation destinations for reward travel. So this agreement (assuming Rapid Rewards credits could be used to get travel on Volaris) adds some nice, sunny destinations for frequent customers to visit. The Caribbean and Hawaii are still two large vacation destinations that are missing, but Mexico is a good step.

Interestingly, next year one will be able to purchase Volaris tickets for transborder flights before the codeshare is in place (the same thing is happening with WestJet). For those keeping score with Southwest alliances, the WestJet codeshare is planned to be in place at the end of next year, and Volaris is planned to come online early 2010.

So, Southwest is slowly building up their own alliance. Let’s see who joins next. I am very to see who Southwest will choose for European and Asian partners (if there are any on the horizon).

Incredible: Pilot Lands Plane After Stroke

Published
by
Dan Webb
on November 10, 2008
in Random
. 0 Comments

Via Yahoo News:

LONDON – A British pilot who was suddenly blinded by a stroke during a solo flight was talked safely down by a military pilot, the Royal Air Force said Friday.

Jim O’Neill asked for help after he was went blind 40 minutes into a flight from Scotland to southeastern England last week. The BBC reported that O’Neill, flying a small Cessna aircraft, lost his sight 5,500 feet in the air.

Read the whole story here.

Embraer Considers a Larger Jet

Published
by
Dan Webb
on November 10, 2008
in Embraer
. 0 Comments

Sorry for the late post! I started it early this morning as usual but the day just ran away from me. Southwest announced a partnership with Mexican carrier Volaris today. I’ll write on that tomorrow. Now to today’s regularly-scheduled post:

This was a story from last week but I still wanted to cover it. Reuters reports:

Brazil’s Embraer is considering whether to develop a slightly bigger commercial plane to target a market niche in between regional jets and the larger airliners made by Boeing Co. and Airbus, a company executive said on Tuesday.

From reading the article it seems that Embraer is thinking of an aircraft in the size range of the CSeries, and I think the sales of that aircraft will affect what Embraer does. So far, only Lufthansa has made anything resembling a committment for that aircraft.

Personally I would love to see Embraer make an aircraft that would directly compete with the 737 and A320 families rather than be in between RJs and those aircraft, simply because it would mean more competition. If there were three (or four) companies competing in this area I think there would be some very interesting results. I think the other vendors are aware of this. This is pure speculation on my part, but look at this paragraph from the news article:

In a news conference in Sao Paulo on Monday, Airbus Chief Executive Thomas Enders said that the European manufacturer was open to developing a plane with Embraer in the future. Enders was scheduled to visit Embraer’s main factory in Sao Jose dos Campos on Tuesday.

But I also think if Embrarer were to make an aircraft for that market it would be in good shape. Right now Boeing and Airbus are busy working on the 787, 747-8, and A350 (respectively). Embraer could try to enter the market before Boeing and Airbus release their replacements. At the same time, that run the risks that Boeing’s and Airbus’ new aircraft could be more technologically advanced.

But again, just my thinking. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing how Embraer and Brazil grow in the future. I really do think Brazil is one of the most exciting emerging markets out there.

Saturday Links #18

Published
by
Dan Webb
on November 8, 2008
in Saturday Links
. 0 Comments
  1. Interesting: WestJet is teaming up with oneworld, though is not joining the alliance.
  2. Refreshing: United is reversing its decision to raise the second bag fee from $25 to $50.
  3. AirTran launched its Columbus operation this week.
  4. Air Canada had a loss in the third quarter.
  5. Delta is launching Paris service from Raleigh and Pittsburgh. Cranky has all the details.
  6. JetBlue isn’t the only airline ramping up Caribbean service from Boston – so is US Airways.
  7. Aer Lingus has voted to strike soon.

Southwest Announces MSP Schedule

Published
by
Dan Webb
on November 7, 2008
in Northwest and Southwest
. 0 Comments

As was announced earlier, Southwest is going to begin service between Minneapolis and Chicago’s Midway airport. But it wasn’t until yesterday that a schedule was announced, when Southwest updated its entire schedule.

I compared the Southwest and Northwest schedules on the second day of Southwest’s service – March 9. Southwest will have 8  flights from Chicago to Minneapolis – a total of 1,096 seats. On the same day Northwest will operate 3 E175s and 7 A319s on the route, for a total of 1,126 seats. Sadly, I don’t have older Northwest timetables so I can’t telll if this is an increase from the past. But clearly Southwest means business here as they are basically matching Northwest’s capacity on the route.

It should be noted that Northwest, United, and American all fly to Minneapolis from O’Hare as well, so Southwest can provide some competition there as well for O&D passengers.

Fares are going to start at $69 each way, which is a decent decrease. The Middle Seat Terminal had a good post about fares yesterday.

Overall I’m excited to see what happens on the route. Will Northwest fight Southwest on this one? Many certainly think so. I’m especially interested in the makeup of Southwest’s passengers on the route – how many are O&D passengers and how many are connecting passengers. And of course, I wonder if and how Southwet will expand in Minneapolis over time.

Delta and Northwest Begin to Standardize Fees

Published
by
Dan Webb
on November 6, 2008
in Delta and Northwest
. 2 Comments

Now that the Delta-Northwest deal has closed, the two airlines are now standardizing their operations – and yesterday the airline issued a press release on how fees are becoming standardized.

The first part of the announcement is the best, I think. The fuel surcharge for booking award travel originating in the US and Canada is going away. Yay! Also, the fee for curbside check-in is going away. It was only $3, but I think it’s still nice. The fee for booking tickets (both paid and award) over the phone is being reduced to $20 from $25.

Finally, Delta is going to adopt Northwest’s idea of charging for seat reservations for some of the nicer seats in coach, which will range between $5-$25. Elite members in WorldPerks or SkyMiles will still have free access to nicer seats:

SkyMiles Medallion members, WorldPerks Elite members, SkyTeam Elite members and passengers confirmed in Y or B class may select a “Coach Choice” seat at no additional charge when checking in online or at a kiosk within 24 hours of departure. Coach Choice Seats represent less than 10 percent of all seat assignments available on Delta-operated flights. SkyMiles Medallion and WorldPerks Elite members will continue to enjoy access to preferred seating (i.e. select bulkhead, exit row and forward cabin-seating) without a charge at the time of booking.

Also, the bag fee policy is shifting, and there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that Delta will now charge $15 for the first bag like Northwest. The good news is that the charge for the second bag is coming down to $25. So, if you’re a traveler with two checked bags it will now be $10 cheaper each way. Here’s one tidbit regarding bag fees I found interesting:

“The increase in bags being carried on board Delta aircraft this year tells us that customers are not differentiating Delta as the only major airline not charging for a first checked bag,’” said Steve Gorman, Delta’s executive vice president and chief operating officer.

I have a theory about this – but sadly I cannot prove it. I mentioned awhile back that Southwest said during its media call that many travelers were still not aware of Southwest’s no-fee policy. I think many consumers are just assuming that the industry as a whole is charging for both bags, and aren’t necessarily taking the time to compare fees. Remember, these fees are still a few months young and non-frequent travelers are still adjusting to them.

Note: Fellow BoardingArea blogger Jared Blank also provided his insight on this one.

BA Introduces Mobile Check-In

Published
by
Dan Webb
on November 5, 2008
in British Airways
. 0 Comments

Okay, so this isn’t the biggest of news but I did receive an e-mail about this last week and I thought it was worth sharing, as it should be useful for passengers. Here’s part of the press release I received:

New York, NY – Oct. 30, 2008 – British Airways today announced the launch of its remote check-in service, allowing travelers to check-in for flights from any location through their mobile devices. Mobile check-in is made possible by the British Airways mobile Web site, powered by Usablenet, and is a easy-to-use, free service available across global markets in 11 languages with no need of additional downloads or software.

By logging on to www.ba.com/mobile with any Web-enabled mobile device, customers can access the British Airways timetable, as well as select seats and check-in individuals, groups and families for departure or return flights in real time.

“We are proud to be the first UK airline to offer a remote check-in service in 11 languages,” said Chris Carmichael, British Airways innovation and planning manager. “We recognize that our customers have busy lifestyles, and by offering greater accessibility, we hope to enhance their overall travel experience.”

Southwest’s Surprising Traffic Results

Published
by
Dan Webb
on November 5, 2008
in Southwest
. 0 Comments

It’s the beginning of the month, and as usual the airlines are starting to release their October traffic results. While I haven’t looked at all of the results yet, for most of the airlines it seems to be similar to September – a drop in RPMs but with a corresponding cut in ASMs that keeps load factor fairly constant. Last month, Southwest witnessed a similar drop in RPMs but ASMs increased a little bit, resulting in a drop in load factor. But this month, both Southwest’s ASMs and RPMs went up about 2.9%. Load factor was 70.4% – only a 0.1 point difference compared to October 2007.

Overall, I’m impressed. I wonder if Southwest is getting a boost in terms of passengers as a result of the other capacity cuts or its more aggresive marketing campaign.

We’ll have to see…

United Changes Mileage Plus

Published
by
Dan Webb
on November 4, 2008
in United
. 0 Comments

First, have you voted yet?

Now, United has announced some changes to Mileage Plus. The biggest thing that I noticed is that the airline has decided to start charging for some upgrades. I believe American was the first to start this concept, back during the summer.

So let’s give a good example…a domestic upgrade. Until the changes take effect, an upgrade will cost 8,000 miles for more expensive fares, and 15,000 for the cheaper fares. Now, for the cheaper fares travelers will have to pay a $50 fee.

Another aspect that some travelers might dislike is Hawaii upgrades. Previously the same numbe of miles as a domestic upgrade was needed, but now that has increased, and the co-pay could be as high as $500.

To be completely honest, I’m not entirely pleased. I completely understand charging more miles for an upgrade depending on what fare a passenger books. The concept of charging for an upgrade just seems to dimish the qualiyt of the perk, in my opinon. I think it should be a complimentary upgrade, not a more expensive seat for a discount. I guess I would have preferred United increasing the milage requirement a bit more.

But, I’ve never flown United in my life, so why should I complain. :D

On the positive side, United is restoring the 500 mile minimum on miles earned for its elite members, and it is even restoring that perk retroactively, which impressed me to be completely honest.

You can see the current award chart here and the new one to take effect next year here for comparison purposes.

Ben over at One Mile at a Time has a couple of great posts on this as well – here and here.