Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

Northwest lies about the advantages of charging for premium coach seats.

by Gary Leff on March 21, 2006

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…

Northwest Elite Status for Asia Residents

by Gary Leff on March 19, 2006

Mar 19 2006

Northwest is again explicitly targeting Asia-Pacific frequent flyers with offers of an elite status match. Details are rather scarce on the website, certainly they’ll match up to Gold (mid-tier) but I wonder whether they’ll go to Platinum since they’re looking for any possible incremental revenue while in bankruptcy. Presumably matched status will last through the end of the year. No information is provided on what documentation is required of your existing status levels.In all likelihood this will operate in a similar manner as when they offered it in 2005, detailed discussion of which can be found at Flyertalk.com.

It pays to be a procrastinator

by Gary Leff on March 8, 2006

Mar 08 2006

Last month I reported that American Airlines was offering 2500 miles for test driving a Lincoln. (250 miles also on offer for watching a video about Lincoln.) Now they’ve upped the offer to 5000 miles for a test drive (and 50,000 miles for purchase, along with the original 250 miles for watching the video). I’ll finally get off my duff and go for a test drive this weekend! The new 5000 mile offer does say that it was targeted, though I have no idea if there’s actually a way for them to check who got this in their American Airlines eSummary. You might just use the old 2500 mile offer, but I’m going to use the new one.

Alaska to Pull Out of Dulles

by Gary Leff on February 25, 2006

Feb 25 2006

Alaska Airlines is pulling out of the Seattle-Washington Dulles market on June 4. This is a bummer because the Dulles outbound was the only way to connect in Seattle to the last Juneau non-stop of the day. DC-Juneau will now require a double-connection. I know this probably doesn’t affect more than a handful of people in the world, but it’s still disappointing. I am confused though about Alaska’s rationale, which includes both longer ground times to pad their schedules and improve reliability systemwide (which would imply lower aircraft utilizastion) and redeploying this aircraft on more profitable routes. It’s not clear to me that they can reasonably accomplish both. I do suspect, though, that there are real cost savings to be had by shuttering a marginal station. They have only one Dulles flight now but have…

USAirways/America West Extends Elite Status

by Gary Leff on February 11, 2006

Feb 11 2006

USAirways and America West haven’t quite gotten their act together combining their two frequent flyer programs. They don’t want to send out new elite membership cards under the old programs and can’t send out new cards under the combined programs (which count status from having flown both airlines) until they’re further along with integration. So they’re extending everyone’s elite status in the meantime. If your status was set to expire or be downgraded on February 28th, you have a reprieve. If you were counting on combining last year’s flying from both carriers to boost your status, you’ll have to wait. An email like the following was sent to current elite members: As a valued Gold Elite member, we want to make you aware of some important information about your membership. The new Dividend Miles program…

United CFO’s Presentation to Bond Investors

by Gary Leff on February 9, 2006

Feb 09 2006

Pursuant to Regulation FD, United filed its presentation to the JPMorgan Annual High Yield Conference with the SEC. It makes for interesting reading. United has cut labor costs per available seat mile by 32%. Only USAirways — which went through two bankruptcies — has gone further. Northwest, just entering the bankruptcy process, has only cut their labor costs 3% over the same period of time. Northwest has the highest costs of any major carrier. Shocker — United has far less debt after bankruptcy. The reduction is all centered around rejecting pensions, retirement benefits, and some leases. Playing with numbers — United compares its operating margins with Southwest’s by removing Southwest’s fuel hedges. Going forward United plans to de-peak hubs (more continuous flow of aircraft so they don’t pay people to sit around, people wait for…

Double Alaska Miles on KLM and Air France

by Gary Leff on February 6, 2006

Feb 06 2006

KLM was an Alaska Airlines partner. Then it wasn’t. Now it is again, along with Air France. And Alaska is giving out double miles for KLM and Air France flights credited to an Alaska Mileage Plan account through April 30. Best part is that this seems to apply to all fares. So fares where the Flying Blue program would only award 25% of miles, through April 30 Alaska will be awarding 200%! Naturally, registration is required.

USAirways to Enforce its Mileage Expiration Policy

by Gary Leff on February 1, 2006

Feb 01 2006

The Charlotte Observer reports that USAirways is planning to delete accounts that have had no activity for 36 months or more unless something posts to the account by February 15. According to the piece USAirways has not enforced its 36 month rule for several years, but plans to as part of the database cleanup involved in merging the America West FlightFund and USAirways Dividend Miles programs together. Any activity is enough to keep an account active, but the activity needs to post by February 15. You could always buy miles, book an award and redeposit it, redeem miles for magazines, or transfer points into or out of your account via Points.com (you could even transfer your points to America West and then transfer them back with no cost or devaluation). (Hat tip to Today in…

Combining USAirways and America West Miles: Redux

by Gary Leff on January 30, 2006

Jan 30 2006

The February issue of Inside Flyer predicts (subscription required) that the combination of USAirways and America West will allow you to combine your miles in the two programs in “late March or early April.” Readers of this blog know better. As I mentioned last month, you can combine the miles in your accounts now on a self-service basis using Points.com. Points transfer between USAirways and America West on a 1:1 basis at no cost. Transfers from America West to USAirways appear to complete in real-time. Having tested it the other way as well, it looks like transfers from USAirways to America West take somewhat longer.This method will let you combine points to top off for an award, or even move all your miles from one account to the other to take advantage of current partnerships…

Another Reason Why Continental OnePass is a Joke

by Gary Leff on January 28, 2006

Jan 28 2006

Continental is hosting a gathering for its frequent flyers this weekend and one Flyertalker has posted some news. international rewad and upgrade travel will see significant mileage increases for the 2006 program year. It sounds like Y upgrades to BF to Hawaii will jump to 15,000 miles while discount economy upgrades will cost 35,000 miles in addition to any required fees. Upgrades to Asia will jump to 50,000 miles for discount economy tickets (plus fees) and 25,000 for full Y. Europe will jump to 40,000 and 20,000 respectively. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like offered inventory will change much …nor will the fee for the mileage option on discount economy tickets. Mark Bergsrud mentioned at a Q&A at the ‘Do today that they don’t expect any changes with the system and inventories. An upgrade award to…