Southwest Airlines is considering offering assigned seating. Boarding by numbered cards, or more recently by group, was a cost saving measure. But reduced costs for technology may make the savings negligable and the customer service benefits attractive.
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Speculation continues about Atlantic Coast
Atlantic Coast Airlines, the regional carrier which derives more than 80% of its revenues from its express carrier relationship with United (primarily based at Dulles), has been the subject of much speculation recently. The airline has failed to iron out the details of its contract with United. United wants reduced costs and Atlantic Coast doesn’t want to budge. Atlantic Coast has threatened to go it alone.Along comes Mesa, another regional carrier, with an offer to purchase Atlantic Coast. Mesa flies under the banner of several carriers and would be well positioned to grow a relationship with one of many major airlines. One of those airlines is in fact United.In the latest chapter of the drama, speculation abounds that Virgin may be interested in taking a stake, perhaps along with Mesa. Mesa CEO Jonathan Ornstein is…
Old mindsets die hard
In a story without any new news hook, the Detroit News reports that Northwest is at a standstill with its unions over pay and benefit reductions.Union contract negotiation is long and ‘laborious’ and full of posturing on both sides. Recently, the pilots union offered to forgo a contracted raise, and Northwest rejected the offer as too little. Presumably Northwest will have to pay the raise as a result. Months go by without contract discussions. Northwest said they’d file for bankruptcy if they didn’t achieve cost concessions by a certain date. That date passed and Northwest hasn’t filed.No wonder non-union carriers are cleaning the old dinosaurs’ clocks.
Automatic registration for United promotions
Dave Friedman has put together a website to automatically register you for all known United Airlines promotions. Just enter your Mileage Plus number, hit register, and you’re done. Watch the bonus miles pile up!
Delta American Express bonus
Enroll and earn 100 bonus Delta miles on every $100+ purchase you make on the Delta American Express in December.
Passed along without comment
Opening a Window on North Korea’s Horrors
Can’t get upgraded? Sue.
A new US class action lawsuit is challenging Korean Air’s rules for mileage upgrades. A U.S. resident in California brought a class legal action against Korean Air, arguing the airline company charged him an extra $200 for his ticket when he asked the company to upgrade his economy-class ticket to a business-class one using his accumulated flying mileage. … The company explained the plaintiff had to purchase a different ticket because upgrading one’s seat using their flyers’ mileage can only be done when the ticket is valid for more than six months. The one the plaintiff had originally purchased had the validity period of only three months. The plaintiff asked the court to order a suspension of their business practice arguing the practice was unfair because it was not stated in their service contract while…
Protectionism in Malawi
The government of Malawi has ordered that official travel be on Air Malawi when the national airline flies the route. The argument in favor: “It is a good thing, but it all depends on the government budget in terms of how often the said public officials will be allowed to travel,” said Perekamoyo. He described the move as a “small bonus” to the airline, saying travel by public officials just contributes about a third to the airlines total revenue. The argument against: One senior government official at the Ministry of Finance who did not want to be named said that directive was not in line with the doctrine of liberalisation, saying Air Malawi must not be protected, but should be left alone to compete. But an official at Air Malawi did not want to be…
That’s the way to do it
Singapore Air is offering more reward choices and lowering some mileage requirements. Singapore is introducing one-way awards and unrestricted awards (for more miles) for premium class travel. The second is a good, new option — as long as they don’t add restrictions to the old point level awards that make them unuseable, foring flyers to spend more points for the same thing. But I’ll hold my cynical self and celebrate the added benefit.
Airline elite status matching
Interested in switching loyalty to another airline? But you would hate to give up the elite status on your primary carrier to do it?Many airlines will see that you’re an elite with one of their competitors and offer to start you out at a comparable level in their program in order to induce your business. Over at Flyertalk.com I posted a pretty comprehensive discussion of which airlines will match existing elite status, and how to go about requesting them to do so.
