A group of business schools will take over failing French carrier Air Littoral. I suppose it’s a great way to test B-school theories, and will be interesting to watch!
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for December 2003.
Libya here we come!
President Bush has announced that Libya has agreed to reject weapons of mass destruction. This will presumably pave the way for lifting the travel ban on US citizens heading to Libya. And for mileage junkies, it will mean easier access to rock-bottom airfares ex-Tripoli and Bengali!
Justice Department investigating United and Mesa
The Justice Department has launched an antitrust investigation into United and Mesa for colluding to squash low cost competition at Washington Dulles airport.United Express carrier Atlantic Coast is in the process of rebirthing itself as a low cost carrier, while Mesa has bid for the airline and would presumably continue the United Express relationship.It’s fairly safe to say that Atlantic Coast is well-connected politically in the DC area and has had the support of Virginia Senator George Allen and is getting its money’s worth out of prestigious law firm Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher.What most of the country outside of my home turf of DC fails to realize is just how important political connections can be in matters such as these. An outstanding tactic on their part, although to my mind completely silly. Far from being…
Because automobiles are travel, too, and they run on gas
My friend Samir sends along a link to Gas Buddy, a collaborative website for finding the best gasoline prices in the area. Since gasoline prices change frequently and may vary by as much as 20 percent within only a few blocks it is important to be able locate the service station with the lowest priced fuel. GasBuddy Organization web sites allow consumers to both share information about low priced fuel with others as well as target the lowest priced stations to save at the pumps!
USAirways Moves to Unlimited Space Available Upgrades
USAirways just announced that they are moving to ‘unlimited space available upgrades’ (and thus eliminating upgrade certificates) in the U.S., Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean beginning in March 2004. They join Continental, Northwest, Alaska, Delta, and America West in adopting this model — leaving United and American requiring upgrade certificates.This means greater simplicity for members. It also means less revenue from purchased upgrade certificates. And it also means more competition for upgrades. In a model where every upgrade requires a certificate, and a frequent flyer isn’t given enough certificates to upgrade every flight, they don’t attempt to upgrade every flight. So lower level elites are able to upgrade more often as a result of less competition. But with unlimited (certificate-free) upgrades, every elite “attempts” to upgrade every flight, and thus upgrading is more difficult.More…
American antes up bonuses for January through March
American is matching (registration required) United’s first quarter flight bonus of up to triple miles during most of the quarter.
As Christmas approaches
You can track Santa on the NORAD website.
Czech freedom!
US airlines may not stand up to the US government when it comes to demands for private passenger information, but Czech Airlines is standing strong. Czech law does not permit turning over passenger information as required by US law for flights entering the United States.Never thought I’d feel like the Czechs has a leg up on us Yankees…
Free stuff
IBM has a short survey for a free gift (e.g. umbrella, calculator/currency converter/calendar). Don’t worry, I didn’t know what all the questions meant, either.
KLM extends elite status
KLM announced that all Platinum members will retain their status in 2004, regardless of whether they flew a single flight in 2003. All Gold and Silver members will retain their status provided they flew at least once in 2003.Plus elite members with a Dutch bank account who get an American Express card will have their status extended through February 2006 whether they set foot on a plane or not.
