News and notes from around the interweb:
- This is very impressive, from Delta’s earnings release. Bear in mind that ‘paid first class’ includes buy ups. As for ‘basic economy’ this was… predicted.
Delta continues to successfully implement its Branded Fares initiative, increasing paid first class load factor by 8 points to 56% and expanding its Basic Economy product to over 450 markets. In total, Branded Fares products produced more than $75 million in incremental revenue in the September quarter.
- Delta is looking to buy a bunch of used Boeing 777s on the cheap
- The world’s first airport for drones in being built in Rwanda (HT: Marginal Revolution)
- A TSA officer took the acting Federal Security Director’s daughter through security without proper screening or identification. These are allegations in a lawsuit, but there’s video. The TSA, ever the agency to circle the wagons, claims the woman was identified by the person who took her through and that’s good enough. (HT: Road Warrior Voices)
A top Transportation Safety Administration security official at Orlando International Airport breached security by escorting the daughter of another senior security official through a line without having her showing any identification, according to a complaint filed Wednesday by a Tampa law firm.
The daughter of Acting Director of Federal Security Sean SanRoman “was not properly screened” Aug. 26 while going through a TSA pre-check location with TSA security official Ariel Suarez, according to a narrative filed with the complaint.
- DFW airport is talking to airlines about building a sixth terminal. It is expected to be needed in 10 years, and would take 5 years to build. One imagines that American Airlines, which controls the vast majority of gates at the airport, can’t be happy about anything that would allow other airlines a larger bite at the apple at the airport.
- Etihad is spending $700 million to build a passenger and airport operations system for themselves and Alitalia, airberlin, Jet Airways, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, and Etihad Regional.
- Next year Delta SkyMiles members will be able to redeem for travel on Saudia to the Maldives. Saudia award space used to be amazing (if they had a flight, there were business class awards available) but they now manage partner inventory separate from space made available to their own Alfursan members.
Delta increased the F sales… by dropping the price to a reasonable amount. AA is doing the same. UA is catching up.
Didn’t Spirit file a trademark on “stripped-down economy fares”?
@Peter Y – American also sells 500 mile upgrade certificates
Good for Delta, and hope this keeps up the pressure. As someone who flies only a few dozen segments a year, and about a 50/50 split of business and pleasure, would love to just be able to buy reasonably-priced domestic F fares and be done with it. Yeah, top-tier status people who earn it on deep-discount econ legs won’t be happy, but for the rest of us it would be nice to be able to strategically splurge when we like rather than have the choice of paying 3X or spinning the upgrade (500 mile cert, etc.) roulette wheel and rarely getting lucky. I’ve seen F fare prices eroding at AA too, and I like it.