In yesterday’s New York Times, Louis Uchitelle told the story of United Airlines’ Indianapolis maintenance center. It was hugely productive and brought in revenue from other airlines outsourcing their own maintenance work. Labor relations deterioriated and so did productivity. The airline gave in to union demands for wages, but those wages meant that maintenance costs were far above competitive alternatives. So the airline outsourced work and layed off workers.But the point of the piece is an interesting insight into job training programs. Very few of them actually funnel people into work, and it’s often the case that what unemployed workers lack isn’t training.An interesting read.
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for March 2006.
Dick Cheney’s Hotel Preferences
The Smoking Gun makes public the Vice President’s (frankly rather modest) requirements for his hotel suite when he travels. Cheney does like his suite at a comfy 68 degrees. And, of course, all the televisions need to be preset to the Fox News Channel… Decaf coffee should be ready upon his arrival along with four cans of caffeine-free Diet Sprite. And when Cheney is traveling with his wife Lynne, the second family’s suite needs an additional two bottles of sparkling water. Mrs. Cheney’s H2O should be either Calistoga or, curiously, Perrier… Smoking Gun seems vexed by the statement, “[i]f the hotel would like to put a gift in the suite please let the Advance Office know ASAP.”Presumably they’re unfamiliar with the practice of luxury hotels providing small items of interest or value to their guests.…
Tim Winship Interviews the Heads of Frequent Flyer Programs
Tim Winship of FrequentFlier.com has an interesting piece in OAG interviewing leaders with the mileage programs at American, Delta, and United. American’s Kurt Stache comes off especially well — detailed answers, straight answers, and helpful answers. Part of it must be that he’s in an easy position — the American program offers plenty of opportunity for earning and is very good on the redemption side as well. No need to duck questions, though he doesn’t answer everything “for competitive reasons.” Still, I appreciate his candor. Oddly, United’s Kenneth Feldman relies much more on marketing-speak and evasion. I say oddly because the United program is also a very good one, with much to be proud of. Jeff Robertson of Delta comes off somewhere in between, he’s obviously in a difficult position with his airline in bankruptcy…
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E.U. Issues Airline Ban
I first raised Ariana Afghan Airlines safety issues two years ago. An open secret in Europe has been that the airline is a ticking timebomb waiting for a crash, but nothing was done at the behest of US diplomacy, which wanted to see the Afghanistan carrier succeed. Now that the E.U. has created an airline blacklist, Ariana Afghan is on it along with 91 other carriers, mostly from Africa. Some of this is certainly grandstanding, and no doubt politics comes into play in the creation of the list (and just because an airline isn’t on it doesn’t make that carrier necessarily safe). I notice that North Korea’s Air Koryo is on the list. Readers will correct me if I’m wrong (comments are open) but I’m not aware that Air Koryo flies to Europe to begin…
Elite status matters
The Upgrade Travel blog takes on Joe Sharkey’s New York Times declaration that he’s done with airline elite status. Upgrade Travel blog grants that status isn’t as meaningful as it once was (I wouldn’t grant such a thing, actually), but points out the obvious — the problem isn’t elite status per se, the problem is that Continental doesn’t deliver the goods. My Star Alliance Gold status still gets me access to nice lounges around the globe, ability to reserve the better economy seats (without a fee a la Northwest), higher baggage allowances, faster checkin, and shorter waits at security lines. (Not to mention the bonus miles, which he says he can’t use.) And if Joe has problems redeeming awards on Continental (who doesn’t, Skyteam offers poor availability more or less across the board) then his…
Marriott to Display “All-In” Pricing
Mar
21
2006
Hotel Hotsheet reports that Marriott will roll out “Total Trip Pricing” — a commitment to show “all in” costs for their hotel rooms on their website. In other words, taxes, surcharges, and resort fees will be fully disclosed. Small steps towards a better world…
Hertz to Impose No-Show Fees on U.K. Customers
Hotels have moved to become more like airlines over the past few years, with non-refundable internet prepaid rates and moving back the deadline for cancelling a guaranteed room without penalty (often now it’s 6pm the day before checkin instead of day of — and some resort properties require much earlier cancellations, even weeks). Airlines themselves have become more like airlines, with most change penalties moving from a pittance up to $100 (though the odd route on some carriers is still $50 mostly as a result of competitive requirements, Alaska is generally $50 across the board and JetBlue is just $25). It’s remained something of a mystery why rental cars haven’t been able to move to a penalty-laden pricing model. But Hertz appears to be making baby steps towards changing that. They’ve announced their intention to…
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Northwest lies about the advantages of charging for premium coach seats.
Mar
21
2006
Last week I mentioned that I didn’t think Northwest’s move to charge for ‘premium’ seats in coach (which, outside of exit rows, aren’t in any way actually better) was a big deal. For infrequent flyers it’s neutral or a positive, the opportunity to access seats — though not meaningfully better — otherwise were mostly available to Northwest elites. For frequent flyers it’s more or less a non-issue: if you’re regularly flying Northwest and spending much time at all in coach you should be changing airlines. The only positive Northwest has is its domestic upgrade program, which isn’t just complimentary but also something they regularly deliver on. Still, charging elites for something they used to get for free (without even anything new offered up in return) is never a good thing. But what really irks me…
