News and notes from around the interweb: Cranky Flier walks through a few of the markets where the Department of Justice claims that an American – US Airways merger would constitute a violation of anti-trust law. Doesn’t look good for DOJ, and I’m increasingly wondering if DOJ just wanted to get something filed before today’s bankruptcy hearing where the judge was expected to approve the merger — to put a flag down on the play. But the rhetoric of the brief was stronger than I’d have expected if that were true (more difficult to walk back from), so I’m still not sure. Pizza in Motion interviews the heads of the MGM M Life and Hyatt Gold Passport programs for Milepoint.tv Lucky says that the increase in price of Delta SKymiles business class awards for travel…
An Introduction to Singapore Hawker Centers – How They Work, and Which One is Best for You?
Singapore is one of the world’s best food cities, both at the high and low end of the spectrum Hawker centers are one of the primary reasons that Singapore — far from just being ‘a stopover’ — is one of my favorite cities in the world. What are Hawker Centers? Hawker centers are basically food courts which host a variety of providers, each of which usually specializes in one or just a few dishes. Because there are many providers, many of whom make the same or similar things, competition is intense. The best, then, become very good. The dishes are usually cheap. Singapore is known for the hawker center, and the government owns the facilities — originally they were a move towards centralizing the food stalls and ensuring hygiene. More recently they’re supported to preserve…
Delta Increases Price of International Business Class Awards
Delta just dropped a new award chart with increased mileage costs for some international business class routes – the award chart is live now and applies to travel from June 1, 2014 onward. (Travel prior to that date should price at the older levels.) For instance, US-Europe in business class goes from 100,000 to 125,000 miles roundtrip US-Asia in business class goes from 120,000 to 140,000 miles roundtrip US-Australia in business class goes from 150,000 to 160,000 miles roundtrip US-South Africa in business class goes from 140,000 to 160,000 miles They say the need for the change is because their product is so good. In June 2014, we will be the only U.S. carrier to offer full flat-bed seats with direct aisle access in Business Class across our entire wide-body fleet. Except… except… United is…
The American/US Airways Merger is Far From Over
The big news yesterday was that the Department of Justice filed suit to stop the American – US Airways merger. Why I Didn’t Expect the Government to File Suit to Stop the Merger I did not expect the DOJ to file a suit to block the merger, I assumed that some negotiation would generate sign-off on the merger. I speculated that the filing of the suit could be a negotiating tactic, but that my initial sense was this was unlikely — they wouldn’t need to go through the effort just to demonstrate their seriousness, and they laid out a fairly broad and sweeping case against the merger that would be difficult to walk back from with merely the sorts of concessions that American and US Airways could offer. Blocking the merger is bad for labor…
Department of Justice Files Suit to Block US Airways/American Airlines Merger
Wow. A DOJ anti-trust suit was’t expected. There has long been the belief that there would need to be some divestiture of takeoff and landing slots at Washington’s National airport for the deal to go through — US Airways is already the dominant carrier there, and had to divest some slots when they did their swap of LaGuardia slots with Delta. So it wasn’t expected they could just combine their National airport position with American’s. But the DOJ position is apparently based on the overall competitive environment. US Airways and American currently overlap on very few non-stop routes, so it isn’t about specific city pairs that will see reduced competition. The European Union has already signed off on the deal, seeking only to deal with the Philadelphia – London route. A DOJ suit clearly puts…
Cathay Pacific Adding Newark Service, and Award Space is Amazing
Cathay Pacific’s new route is Hong Kong – Newark. The flight will be operated by a 777 with 3 classes of service — business, premium economy, and economy. There’s no first class on the Newark route, but Cathay Pacific has my absolute favorite business class, reasonable people can make the case that EVA Airways is better with a very similar seat and as the only airline that serves Dom Perignon in (long haul) business. The flight times are: Depart Hong Kong 5pm, Arrive Newark 9pm (same day) Depart Newark 1:50a, Arrive Hong Kong 540am (next day) These are well timed for connections from other Asian destinations enroute to Newark, and for connections on both ends for the Newark – Hong Kong flight. This won’t really allow for any connections beyond Newark when arriving from Hong…
Bits ‘n Pieces for August 13, 2013
News and notes from around the interweb: Plane makes an emergency landing in a Wawa parking lot. Frequent Miler covers targeted offers for the Ritz-Carlton Rewards Visa of 70,000 points with fee waiver and 140,000 points without fee waiver. I’d prefer the fee waived version of the card (rather than buying incremental Marriott points at over half a cent apiece, unless using those points as part of a travel package). It’s a great card for regular Marriott guests who don’t stay enough to earn Gold status, and it’s made from some pretty serious metal. Alaska Airlines is offering a 40% bonus on purchased miles through September 30. That prices miles at about 2.1 cents apiece. You can buy up to 40,000 miles (plus bonus) per transaction, and can make as many transactions as you wish,…
Sometimes It’s Worth it Not to Fill Up the Gas Tank Before Returning the Rental Car
Rental car gas: I never “prepay the gas tank” when renting a car, since with most rental agencies you’re prepaying the entire tank and you aren’t going to come out well unless you return the car almost empty. But that doesn’t mean it always makes sense to bother refueling the vehicle yourself. It depends on what the rental company’s penalty rate is. While they may post a per-gallon price, usually you’re going to be charged a per-mile price … if you don’t fill the tank up at all they will multiply miles driven by the per mile gas cost which is based on an average fuel economy and their current price for gas. Here’s the pricing at the gas station next to the rental car return at Miami: Wow. $4.79 per gallon. The default rate…
In China, If You Know Your Air Traffic Controller You’ll Take Off On Time
Via Marginal Revolution. Much of modern air traffic control and the aviation system generally in China was set up in conjunction with Boeing. It was important to describe the process not as modeling the U.S., but as “bringing China up to world standards.” Nonetheless, the Chinese military controls most air space in China. There were excellent discussions of these phenomenon in James Fallows’ China Airborne which I enjoyed reading last year. As a result, with a burgeoning aviation market, congestion around major cities is common. Apparently priority is given to flights with ‘important’ passengers, international flights, and flights where a crew member knows the air traffic controller. The latest statistics shows that the flow of air traffic accounts for as high as 40 percent of the total number of flight delays during the first half…
San Diego is a Great Town for Sushi.. and Dessert
The Gaslamp district of San Diego is great, lots of things to do, it can be fun. But though there are tons of restaurants, the point of those restaurants is something to do (and of course, like the Checkers commercials say, ‘Ya Gotta Eat!’). On the one hand it means there’s competition – but it’s mostly competition for fun and a scene. So if you want to eat well, you need to choose carefully. I much enjoyed Taka for sushi. Online reviews were good, and it turned out to be better than expected though not at all inexpensive (you’ll pay extra for something to be good in the Gaslamp area, I think, the rents are relatively high). There’s a menu of specials and their list of sushi and sashimi I decided to add their live…
