News and notes from around the interweb:
- How many credit cards will each bank let you have?
- Air Tahiti Nui buying 2 Boeing 787s. The Papeete-based carrier which flies to Tokyo, Auckland, Los Angeles and Paris (via Los Angeles) will use them to replace A340s. We can probably expect a new lie flat business class in dense configuration.
- Parents owe $14.3 billion in unpaid child support. Is it just me, or does it make you think: 14.3 billion miles in potential manufactured spend?
- American Airlines to phase out complimentary cabin pressurization (from The Onion and HT: Kevin D.)
- Are United and American looking at flying to New Zealand? Speculation is United could fly a 787 from San Francisco to Auckland, and American could fly from Los Angeles (one imagines a 787 as well). Air New Zealand is currently the only airline flying routes from that country to North America, since Qantas dropped its Los Angeles – Auckland flight in 2012.
- When Continental and Northwest made a $430 million deal.. flipping a coin over the final $5 million (HT: Wandering Aramean)
- Interesting argument about why the 747-8 and A380 aircraft don’t sell (HT: Keith F.) Airlines don’t need bigger planes, they’re just stuffer more seats into smaller ones that are less costly to operate. Air Canada has more seats in a 777 than Korean puts into its A380!
I would rather the airlines get real about the space that is needed for a remotely comfortable seat and charge us (the consumer) more than to keep offering cheap seats that make everyone miserable. I’m willing to pay $500/rt for a real seat with baggage checked and WiFi than $400/rt and be nickled and dimed to death for seat upgrades, baggage fees (if I don’t have their CC or Status), early boarding, etc.
Flipping a coin over $5,000,000 reminds me of that time Herb Kelleher arm-wrestled a guy over a disputed business slogan. Google or check Youtube for “Malice in Dallas.”
Absolutely brilliant marketing.