News and notes from around the interweb:
- Alitalia could leave SkyTeam depending on who winds up willing to lose money investing in the airline. Air France suggests they’ve learned their lesson pumping into that dog with fleas.
- Lufthansa flight accidentally declared it was being hijacked. Rumors are false that it also broadcast a warning of imminent nuclear attack.
- After eliminating its car service for partner-issued premium cabin award tickets a couple of years ago and then eliminating the car service altogether for business and first class passengers outside the UAE they’ve even eliminated the car service inside the UAE for Etihad Guest awards from April 1 onward. (HT: One Mile at a Time)
- Citibank (and several other issuers) provide free credit score to cardmembers. Now they’re also providing it free to anyone for 90 days even if you don’t have one of their credit cards. Which of course is an interesting way to bring consumers to your website, sift through their credit history, and present them with customized marketing offers.
- Airlines inching closer to dynamic pricing
The revenue-management platform then uses an individual’s flight-shopping history to generate a person-specific fare offer that differs from the offer some other shoppers might get for the same fare inquiry at the same time.
Experts say such technology is most likely to be used to offer discounts to customers with loyalty status and to generate bundled fare offerings that fit the customer’s profile. But in theory the technology could also be used for different purposes, such as to induce a new customer with an especially affordable ticket or to offer a higher ticket price to someone who is likely to be undeterred by an upcharge.
- Why an American Airlines monopoly works for Charlotte (Wall Street Journal) It’s a low cost airport and it’s not a huge city. You don’t have tons of passengers originating in Charlotte heading to each destination, so there hasn’t been much low cost carrier incursion. Non-stop flights are pricey, but American’s hub generates convenience. The airport is so owned by American they don’t even go out and seek service from other airlines.
- 3 hotel CEOs talk security, technology and room service
Gary – related to the Lufthansa incident, where in the article does it mention about nuclear attack… your taglines need to be better and more accurate instead of usual jargon or the lack of sense of humor you report on a daily basis.
@Jargon the nuclear attack was a reference to Hawaii, not a summary of the article, what you dub ‘lack of sense of humor’ just means you don’t connect with me and that’s cool.
I can’t be the only one who reads VFTW comments solely to see how much people are bitching about Gary, can I? It amazes me how seriously some people still take the internet in 2018.
Re Lufthansa: Transponder codes 7500, 7600, 7700. Used to be the first was hijack, the second radio failure, the third emergency. Great way to light up the controller’s radar screen… so one would generally avoid 7700 for 2 reasons : a) the radio works b) busy with the emergency. .
One would think if Al Qaeda can pay for flight school, the codes would be known to a terrorist.
At one point , years ago 2 way radio failure was to squawk 7700 for 1 minute followed by 7600.
Given the proliferation of handheld transceivers I can’t recall using any of these codes in 42 years as a pilot.
“Roll the equipment , please” I’ve used a few times, to have the fire trucks standing by.
I can’t even recall being asked about transponder codes on a. flight review. However, it’s possible to roll through these codes when resetting to the ATC assigned code. That’s why pilots are taught to put transponders in SBY mode when changing. I’m sure sonenewer models do this when changing codes
@G.Hayduke… I thought we tune into VFTW for the ad’s. The comments provide unexpected entertainment… and an occasional opportunity to vent to the airlines and banks, customer expectations, knowing, all along, that they really don’t care while pretending they do. Like a good politician or, dare I say it, lawyer, does.