USAirways wants lower airport costs in Pittsburgh as a condition of maintaining their flight presence. Since the airport authority is debt-laden, and debt servicing is a substantial cost that is passed along to airlines servicing the area, USAirways suggests raising taxes to pay down debt. US Airways has asked state and county leaders and the airport authority to consider raising state sales, car rental, and hotel taxes to raise $31 million a year to pay down debt, a proposal Gov. Ed Rendell and county Chief Executive Jim Roddey have rejected. However, Rendell has said he would consider using a portion of potential revenue from slots gambling, assuming it is legalized in Pennsylvania, to help pay down the debt.
But can I get Wrestlemania CXII?
Frontier is considering adding pay per view video at each seat on its Airbus aircraft.Already Frontier offers a video product similar to JetBlue’s at a cost of $5 per flight. More than half of passengers on long haul flights and a quarter of passengers on short haul flights make the purchase, accounting for $700,000 in revenue last quarter. Beyond direct sales revenue, the offering distinguishes Frontier from its main competitor in Denver, which is United.
JetBlue’s Increased Legroom
JetBlue has completed removing a row of seats from all its aircraft, adding two inches of legroom behind row 10. Placement of the emergency exits is the main driver of unchanged legroom at the front of the plane. JetBlue’s pitch is now competitive with American’s More Room Throughout Coach and United’s Economy Plus (which is limited to the front of their aircrafts, and limited to full fare or elite passengers except on a catch as catch can at the airport basis). It’s a superior product to coach on Continental, Northwest, Delta, USAirways, etc.For all but the elite traveler who will be upgraded to first class anyway, JetBlue is increasingly a superior product when its route network coincides with a passenger’s travel needs.
Earn 25% Bonus United Miles from iDine for all of 2004
iDine, which offers substantial miles for eating at selected restaurants with a litany of airline programs, has been running a sleuth of promotions recently. One of the better ones is that they’ll give you a 25% bonus on all of your mileage earning for 2004 if you dine 4 times at participating restaurants between November 1 and December 31, 2003. You have to register for the promotion and create a ‘dining profile’ if you haven’t already.Personally I keep several credit cards signed up with different iDine accounts so that I can choose which airline program I’m earning miles with at any given time, as well as take advantage of different promotions. Thanks to my friend Samir for the pointer. Gary Steiger lists a litany of other iDine promotions on his Free Frequent Flyer Miles webpage…
Airline cost problems remain
The CEO of USAirways announced the need for new cost cuts next year. Most of these cuts will come from labor. Northwest has labor cost problems, too — although theirs are perhaps even greater because they haven’t used the bankruptcy process to restructure their labor expenses.The interesting thing is that across the board, most of the labor cost savings of the last year have come from a smaller workforce rather than lower pay. In other words, the airlines have done a fairly good job of wringing featherbedding out of the contracts. Southwest Airlines remains profitable even though it is just as unionized as the other major carriers. The difference in labor contracts is workrules. JetBlue, also profitable, has a huge cost advantage in labor. The contract with their pilots is less than thirty pages. The…
Delta’s new enhanced coach product
Delta is experimenting with an improved coach product that includes leather seating, more legroom, snacks, and complimentary newspapers and coffee in the morning and cocktails in the afternoon.They’re trying out the concept on the Atlanta-Houston and Atlanta-Kansas City routes where they go head to head with Airtran and are using planes that used to fly on the DC-New York-Boston shuttle routes, so no retrofitting is necessary.Delta is clearly feeling squeezed by Airtran and feels the need to offer a differentiated product. This is an inexpensive, easy way to do it. And they’re even offering 2000 bonus miles for booking these flights, so they’re trying to leverage their frequent flyer program as well.Airtran is giving American Airlines fits as well.
Cheap flights to Tokyo
$215.20 from Buffalo to Tokyo (via Detroit) on Northwest with plenty of availability on Travelocity. Thanks to ScottC’s Airfare Deals list.Update: the fare is sadly no longer available.
Still a longshot
American Airlines considers an unlimited upgrade policy similar to Continental. Of course they’re considering, but I still judge it unlikely.
Why restrict Systemwide Upgrades?
Another thought occurs to me with respect to the restrictions on upgrading inexpensive coach fares. There are three possible explanations for United’s motives, and I haven’t thought them all through yet. Incremental revenue. They force flyers to ‘buy up’ to a higher fare to upgrade. It’s not prohibitively higher (perhaps — and I’m overgeneralizing here — $100 or $200 in the case of an S or T vs. W or V). My uninformed guess is that this could translate into $9 million based on 30,000 1Ks spending an extra $100 on half of their systemwide upgrades. That figure is probably off, but might give a sense to the order of magnitude.Chase off the mileage runners. In spite of the recent proactivity on the part of Mileage Plus, some there still do believe that many of…
United’s 2004 Systemwide Upgrades
Yesterday I said that my take on United’s Mileage Plus changes for 2004 would depend on the terms and conditions of its Systemwide Upgrades (valid for upgrading international travel at time of booking, subject to availability).United has sent an email to its membership, which among other things contains the details: In 2004, SWUs will be electronic rather than paper certificates, making them easier to track and bank for later use. 2004 SWUs will be eligible in Region 1 from all booking classes except Z and G, and in Region 2 from all booking classes except Z, S, T, K, L and G. First, the restrictions. L and G restrictions really aren’t relevant, as those aren’t generally available fares. If I recall correctly, G is a travel industry fare on United.The disappointment is really S and…
