Performancing‘s Best Travel Blogs poll didn’t include me in the voting. Perhaps that’s appropriate. But then, if you’re reading this, there’s some chance that you value my posts greater than the time it takes to read them. So if that’s the case, consider voting for ‘Other’ and writing in ‘View from the Wing’. Thanks!
About Gary Leff
More on Why Fuel Surcharges Matter, and Why Your Free Tickets Will Soon Cost More Money
It occurred to me after writing my post on fuel surcharges yesterday that another factor driving the move towards ‘fees’ apart of ‘prices’ is <I>commissions</i>. It’s highly unlikely that a new fuel surcharge will actually result in a higher total price paid by consumers (otherwise airlines would have already raised their prices). Rather, fuel surcharges are a shift in the components of the price paid for airfare. Commissions (or ‘overrides’) generally aren’t paid on surcharges, just base fares. So take this simple illustration. An airline with 100 million passenger enplanements annually charging a $5 fuel surcharge each way won’t really make an extra $500 million dollars. But it will exclude that $500 million from commissions. Assume that the surcharge applies to only 80% of those passengers, and is paying commission on only a quarter of…
Fuel Surcharges and an a la carte future for air travel pricing?
Upgrade: Travel Better has an extensive post on fuel surcharges and the idea that airlines might start ‘unbundling’ fares such that you buy fuel separately from your entrance onto the aircraft… and speculates that this could lead to unbundling of oither services as well — like food, baggage, early boarding, and legroom. Fuel surcharges are really just ‘disguised’ price increases. They aren’t some magic formula for airline profits. Fares are presumably at a market price indicative of what a seat might sell for. So how are fuel surcharges even beneficial, if the market won’t bear a meaningfully higher price for airfare? And why not just attempt a price increase? Fuel surcharges set a price floor. The airline precommits not to lower prices beneath that level. So even if a fare goes to zero the airline…
Redeem Continental Miles for Helicopter Flights?
Continental has started offering complimentary helicopter flights to Newark for business class passengers flying to Europe, Asia, and select other destinations. Paid business only, no upgrade or award customers need apply.That’s a good perk when the helicopter schedule matches your schedule, and when the two helicopter departure locations are convenient. The interesting thing for me, though? The moderator of the Flyertalk Continental forum adds this nugget: You can tack a helicopter flight onto a reward ticket for 10k miles each way. Interesting way to add a bit of a more unique experience to an award redemption! I’ve never seen this discussed anywhere though, so anyone with experience please chime in!
Did a Northwest Flight Attendant Hijack a Northwest Plane 35 Years Ago?
New York Magazine has a fascinating piece on D.B. Cooper and a look into the only skyjacking case that has ever gone unsolved. That night changed aviation history. It started in Portland, Oregon, when a man walked up to the flight counter of Northwest Orient Airlines. He was wearing a dark raincoat, dark suit with skinny black tie, and carrying an attaché case. He had perky ears, thin lips, a wide forehead, receding hair. He gave his name, Dan Cooper, and asked for a one-way ticket to Seattle, Flight 305. The ride was a 30-minute puddle jump. He sat in the last row of the plane, 18-C, lit a cigarette, and ordered a bourbon and soda. The plane took off and he passed the stewardess a note. Thirty-five years later there may be a hint…
How Government Spends Taxpayer Money Wisely
I’ve blogged about the inanity of the Essential Air Service Program (eg here and here). Now Alex Tabarrok is on the case. Per-passenger subsidies on flights (many of which average 3 passengers or less) are greater than the subsidies to Amtrak. In most cases, passengers just drive to larger airports for non-stop flights, but airline and airport lobbying keeps the waste alive. Alex cites a USA Today piece noting a just-approved subsidy for Atlantic Southeast Airlines (a Delta regional affiliate and the single worst airline operating in the continental United States) to pay 60% of ASA’s cost to fly two round-trips a day between Macon, Ga., and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, 81 miles away. The airline projects that passengers will pay an average of $78 for a one-way ticket – and that flights, typically on…
Why Do Rental Car Companies Charge for an Extra Driver?
Sometimes travel just doesn’t make any sense, and looking for logical explanations is a fruitless task. Here we have David Friedman in search of an economic explanation for rental car companies charging extra for an additional driver. Some car rental companies–including Thrifty at the Boston Airport, where we picked up a car yesterday–charge a significant amount if you want to have two different people allowed to drive the car. It’s hard to see why their cost is any higher if my wife and I take turns driving, instead of her doing all of it. And one might think the risk of accidents that damage their car would be less if we were free to have me drive when she is tired. So why the charge? A vexxing question to a law professor and economist (son…
New Year’s at the Westin Diplomat, or Learning About the Beauty of Shoulder Season the Hard Way
Regular readers of this blog will know that I absolutely adore the Westin Diplomat outside Fort Lauderdale. It’s without a doubt the best Starwood property for Platinum recognition. They have about 86 suites in the upgrade pool for platinums, many being corner suites with wraparound balconies looking out at both the Atlantic Ocean and Intracoastal Waterway. Additionally, they have an absolutely lovely club lounge on the 33rd floor with both indoor and outdoor seating, also looking out both at the ocean and waterway. The club offers three food presentations daily, nice flatscreen televisions, and a bountiful selection of newspapers (I can even grab my Sunday New York Times there without much difficulty).It’s a big property to be sure, but they’ve always managed their size well. In the past the valet has been quick to grab…
I Hate Trip Insurance
Only buy insurance for expensive items you couldn’t afford to replace. Most people shouldn’t buy extended warranties and shouldn’t buy travel insurance. If you can afford to replace the item, save the money from the insurance and self-insure. Insurance for inexpensive items is generally a bad buy, that’s why it’s profitable for companies to offer, on the whole the premiums will be greater than the payouts. That’s true even after adjusting for adverse selection, a recognition that many buyers will be precisely the people who believe they’ll wind up with a valid claim. You’re still betting that the company standing behind the warranty or insurance will be around to pay out. And you’re betting that you can make them pay out, without the effort in doing so being more costly than the value of the…
Is that a spare battery in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
The TSA’s new rules on batteries are going to get plenty of press, and my thoughts will be hardly original. Suffice to say that it took me awhile to figure them out, I can’t imagine how this will translate to the median traveler … and to TSA screeners who will be forced to understand the difference between lithium metal, lithium ion, and NiMH batteries and calculate watt hours of unlabeled batteries. Short version, you can no longer pack spare batteries in your checked bags. And you can only carry on two spare batteries (how will screeners know if you limit any single item going through an x-ray machine to two batteries?). And those spare batteries are limited by a formula that requires more chemistry than I remember from college, but the TSA assures that cell…
