Entries for the 'Airline Industry News' Category
Posted by
George on Thursday, November 20, 2008
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that airlines don’t want anyone standing between them and you, their customer. They’d much rather that you buy airfares only from their own Web sites, rather than transacting through Orbitz, Kayak, or Travelocity. And to accomplish this, they’re offering more and more promo code deals.
Look on many airline Web sites, and you’ll now see a promo code box. Among the airlines that have added one: American, Southwest, United, Virgin America, JetBlue, WestJet, Air Canada, USA3000, AirTran, and Spirit.
Recently, Southwest offered 50 percent promo code discounts on all flights to/from both Salt Lake City and New Orleans. They also had a similar deal to/from Buffalo a few weeks ago.
JetBlue has frequent 10 percent off or $30 off promo code deals on their entire network, and they’ve even experimented with airfare auctions. Virgin has been known to offer 2 for 1 promo code deals. Other airlines have launched less alluring price cuts, in the $5 to $20 range, and American features DealFinder promo code discounts, typically ranging from 10 to 30 percent.
Why are airlines doing this? Because when consumers buy airfares on an airline web site directly, the airline doesn’t need to pay a commission to the likes of Kayak and Cheaptickets. But there’s perhaps an even more compelling reason: airline sites these days sell and market far more than airfares: they peddle hotels, rental cars, tours, frequent flyer memberships, frequent flyer credit cards, frequent flyer miles, SkyMall merchandise, and much more. You can’t book a seat on many airline sites now without scrolling down through offers for adding a hotel or rental car. Airline Web sites are valuable properties and their owners want you to come visit directly and buy stuff beyond airfares, so they’re providing incentives to do so in the form of promo code discounts.
How do consumers find out about promo code fares? One way is the sign up for the airlines’ email newsletters and frequent flyer programs, since some promos are only offered to frequent flyer program members. Or they can visit Web sites like Airfarewatchdog.com, which lists every promo code airfare and deal on all airlines.
Posted by
George on Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Ben Mutzabaugh reports in his USA Today "Today in the Sky" blog that Southwest Airlines plans to "add New York LaGuardia as its newest destination. With the move, Southwest throws yet another surprise at industry observers who had been trying to forecast where the USA's largest low-cost carrier would fly next." Southwest has in the past avoided airports such as LaGuardia, which is prone to traffic and weather delays. Just this week, the airport was virtually shut down due to high winds, a fact I can attest to since my flight from Ft. Lauderdale via JetBlue this past Sunday was diverted to Kennedy.
Posted by
George on Wednesday, November 12, 2008
As you can see from checking out our newly revised airline fee chart, a number of airlines have snuck in some higher fees.
Pet in cabin fees have especially skyrocketed. Continental now charges $250 RT (up from $190); Delta gouges a hefty $300 RT (a $100 increase); but United wins the cake, raising its fee from $200 up to $350 RT.
Unaccompanied minor fees have also gone up. Frontier now charges $50 per segment (so $200 RT on a connecting flight with one connection each direction), up from $40; and United now charges an industry leading $150 each way (connecting or nonstop), up from $99 each way.
Posted by
George on Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Effective Dec. 5, for all fares bought on or after today (Nov. 12), Airtran will charge $15 for the first checked bag, matching Delta's recent announcement of a $15 first bag fee effective Dec. 5. Second checked bags will cost $25, as before, and each additional bag $50, which is a lot less than some airlines charge third and more checked bags. See for yourself.
Active military personnel traveling with ID and official orders will have all bag fees waived.
There are additional charges for sporting equipment.
Peruse our constantly updated baggage fee chart to see what other airlines charge.
Posted by
Alisa on Monday, November 10, 2008
On December 18, 2008, USA3000 will resume service from Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport to Ft. Myer's Southwest Florida International Airport. Service will be 6 times weekly and as always, USA3000 offers only nonstop flights. Grab some seats while they're incredibly cheap for winter travel away from the cold! At only $80 each way (plus tax and fees) it's a steal. Fares can be bought one way! Book on the USA3000 website and be sure to check the "flexible traveler" option to see the lowest fares. We were able to find some scarce seats from Milwaukee to Cancun as well. Those fares, starting at $249 each way plus tax/fees aren't quite so reasonable but may change so keep checking their site. In any event, they're nonstops as well and may help get you to sun and fun without any flight connections. We'd expect that down the line, the possibility of other destinations from the Milwaukee gateway may pop up as well.
One other note, while we're at it - for USA3000's service from Chicago to St. Pete/Clearwater, Florida, also commencing on December 18, if you put the word "CHANGES" in the promo box on their website, you'll get an extra $5 off the already low $95 fare in each direction (January onward.)
Posted by
Bo on Sunday, November 09, 2008
A recent resurgence of speculation about Ryanair's plans for expanding their successful barebones business model overseas by opening aggressively priced transatlantic routes to feed into their European network turns out to be nothing more than a slightly new spin on a fairly old story.
RyanAtlantic, as it may be called if and when it ever gets off the ground, has in fact been rumored for several years and still appears to be a couple years off at best. With airlines flopping left and right, surely now is not the time to start up such a risky new venture, although as we all know one man's, or airline's, failure can quickly become another's ticket to success.
Put it all down for now to Ryanair's hard-charging, rather mouthy CEO and his fondness for shaking things up and keeping his enemies on their toes and shaking in their runway boots. In fine Irish form, Mr. O'Leary enjoys telling a tall tale or two, and since his habit of dropping a well-placed hint now and then is enough to rile the competition, why not have some fun with it? That's why it's always best to take anything from the Ryanair rumor mill with a generous pinch of salt and wash it down with a pint of Guinness.
One surprising fact is that with or without intercontinental routes Ryanair has already become the world's largest international airline, but even this undeniable truth is a bit deceptive. Although Ryanair operates much like a domestic carrier on over 700 European routes, most of these flights and their sardine-packed passengers are still classified as international, flying fish or otherwise, and besides, Air France-KLM would be bigger still if they could just decide to couple their lovely figures.
Still, any way you look at the numbers Ryanair's success is impressive. In the same manner that Southwest has quietly and steadily grown into the world's largest airline, Ryanair has, perhaps less quietly, crept up the list to number 10 and is very close to overtaking Continental. Europeans are really just getting used to the sort of casual, no-frills, low-cost air travel that Americans have been spoiled with for decades, so Ryanair is likely to continue growing and making everyone else look over their shoulders. We'll be sure to let you know when you should start looking, and packing, too.
Posted by
Jacob on Wednesday, November 05, 2008
European low cost carrier Ryanair announced earlier this week that they planned to expand its routes to include flights from London's Stansted airport as well as Dublin Airport to the eastern US, possibly to Boston. In addition they announced that Flights would be offered at the incredible price of around $13.00 + tax USD ! (This deal would be for economy class only). The word going around is that this is too good to be true.
The catch: it seems that Ryanair has this in the planning stages and it is contingent upon acquiring additional planes on the cheap to fly the proposed routes. According to the Boston Globe it may be 12-18 months before this new service becomes a reality.
Considering the exorbitant fares on US-UK routes, it would be a breath of fresh air even if we have to wait a little while.
Posted by
Jacob on Thursday, October 30, 2008
In a statement issued late Wednesday, The US Dept of Justice announced that they have approved the much talked about acquisition of Northwest Airlines by Delta Airlines, which was the final litmus test the deal had to be put through before approval.
The new Delta will remain based in Atlanta. Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce President Sam A. Williams said, "Delta's route structure makes Atlanta the most connected city on earth".It also makes Delta Airlines the world's largest airline.
The combined airline will see approximately $2 Billion annual revenue.Despite a sharp decline in oil prices, down from over $140 a barrel to the current range of $65 per barrel fuel prices are still expensive and airline demand is continuing to fall.
A former CEO of Northwest , will remain as CEO of the new Delta, with his eight most senior officers evenly split among Delta and Northwest executives.
Posted by
Jacob on Friday, October 24, 2008
British Airways is offering a great deal on flights from the US and Canada. Purchase a round-trip ticket in most classes of service( except non-refundable fares) between now and Dec. 31 2008 (travel for the qualifying ticket must be completed by Dec 31 2008) and receive a voucher by email for a Free companion ticket.
Note: You must be a British Airways "Executive Club" member to take advantage of this special.If you are not a member you can sign up very easily by clicking here.
After signing in as an Executive Club member, you must also REGISTER for this offer as well by clicking here and then going to "Register for offer".
Here is how it works:
1) Buy a round-trip ticket at qualifying World Traveler Fares that must be used by Dec 31, 2008.See British Airways site for details.
2) Get your E-voucher or regular voucher. Takes 6-8 weeks by email and 8 weeks for regular mail.
3) Book a ticket from Jan 5, 2009 until Jun 30, 2009 for travel from Jan 15, 2009 until Dec 15, 2009.Member and companion must book all flights and classes of service together and travel together on all segments.Get companion ticket Free excluding taxes.
Please see British Airways , scroll down and click "Show full terms and conditions" for complete details.
Posted by
Jonathan on Tuesday, October 21, 2008
With the recent drop in the price of oil, some European airlines have begun to cut those fuel surcharges that help push the price of an airline ticket into the stratosphere. British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa and Air France/KLM have all reduced their surcharges on passenger tickets, while other foreign and domestic carriers, including Northwest, have cut their fuel charges on air cargo.
Domestic U.S. carriers however, have been reluctant to make similar reductions, arguing that the price of jet fuel remains too volatile to predict reliably over the next few months. Delta has started to relax surcharges on some international flights, but so far they have been reluctant to do so domestically. Despite lower fuel costs, the industry still expects to post a collective loss of about $6 billion for 2008.
Robert Menendez, a Democratic Senator from New Jersey sent a letter to 11 U.S. airlines on Monday requesting they discontinue the surcharges and other fuel-related fees. “I urge you to pass the savings from lower jet fuel prices on to the American public by rolling back fuel surcharges and extra fees,” Mr. Menendez said in his letter. “If you tell the public that you need long-term higher prices to survive, I urge you at the very least to do it directly through fares, rather than a collection of confusing and hidden fees.”
While it looks like new fees for things like baggage, food, drinks and pillows and blankets are here to stay, passengers *may* get a reprieve from fuel surcharges in the near future. Now that the price of oil is dropping, should US domestic carriers respond in kind and reduce or eliminate the fuel surcharge? Let us know in the comments section below.
Posted by
Tracy on Thursday, October 09, 2008
It's been a zany day for fare finding here at Airfarewatchdog headquarters. The culprit? Wishy-washy fares on Travelocity. What appeared to be some pretty terrific fares from Northwest this morning made quite a leap in price whenever we attempted to actually book anything. And this afternoon, we're seeing the same thing from American Airlines. For example, Los Angeles to Wichita has a base fare of $224 round-trip, but try and book it and you’ll see it jump to $294 after taxes and fees. We even saw a $344 base fare jump to $485. Obviously, taxes and Travelocity fees don't quite explain all of that mystery number. Is there a new secret fee they aren't telling folks about? Whatever is afoot, be wary of whatever amazingly low fares should appear in your search results on Travelocity today. Save the oohs and ahhhs until you see that final number at booking time.
Posted by
Jonathan on Friday, October 03, 2008
Minneapolis based Sun Country Airlines, fighting to survive a cash crunch, has warned its employees to prepare for the possibility of major layoffs, or a shutdown of the airline, as early as Dec. 1.
SunCountry is struggling to survive until the heavy winter travel season when it expects to turn a profit, but in the meantime they are taking drastic actions, including a 50 percent pay deferral for employees to improve their cash position.
SunCountry was looking for a short-term loan from its owner, Tom Petters, to address the cash shortage issue but Petters, the airline's majority shareholder, resigned as CEO of Petters Group Worldwide Monday because he is the target of a major federal fraud investigation. While this is unrelated to SunCountry's business, it looks like Mr. Petters has his hands full with "other matters", so SunCountry will have to see financing elsewhere, which is none too easy in the credit crunch the country is experiencing currently.
Will SunCountry ultimately survive? It's still too early to tell, but clearly this is an ominous sign. One thing is for sure... They certainly won't be the last airline to run into trouble in this difficult economy.
Posted by
George on Wednesday, October 01, 2008
When Delta merges operations with Northwest later this year, it's unlikely that the combined airline will operate six hubs, especially since some of them are relatively close to each other.
Which ones will go? Atlanta or Memphis? Detroit, Cincinnati or Minneapolis? Will they keep Salt Lake City? Whatever happens, Norwelta will cut some routes, and there will be room for other airlines to nose into these hubs, and Southwest, not surprisingly, is the first to make a move. Beginning in March, the Dallas-based low cost carrier will begin service between Chicago Midway and MSP, which will bring low cost connecting service to cities Southwest serves from Midway. Minneapolis desperately needs another low cost airline, especially if Sun Country, which is experiencing financial difficulties, doesn't survive.
Posted by
George on Tuesday, September 30, 2008
As most industries mature, and certainly the airline industry has been around a long time, consolidation ensues. But that's not the case with airlines. Instead, each year the industry becomes more fragmented. Anyone with a few million and the necessary paperwork can start an airline. And so they do.
Imagine if there were 30 steel companies in the US.
What is it about consolidation that airlines hate so much? Why do entrepreneurs launch new airlines when most start ups are doomed to fail and the industry is not profitable?
Almost any economist will tell you that the world has too many airlines chasing (especially now) too little traffic. Every little podunk country has its own flag carrier, even if it makes no economic sense. Every year it seems, there's a new SkyBus or Independence Air, Zoom, EOS, MaxJet, or Express Jet, and every year, there's one (or more) fewer, lost not to consolidation but to liquidation.
You'd think, with the cost of jet fuel and fewer passengers, that airlines all over the world would be jumping at the chance to combine. Of course, some are: Delta and Northwest should be united by the end of the year, and overseas, we've seen British Airways, Lufthansa, and Air France buy other large and small carriers.
Truth is, consolidation isn't as easy as it might appear. First, there are government regulations. In order for two US legacy airlines to combine, the US government is going to first make sure that the new carrier doesn't have an overwhelming market share. So American cannot combine with, say, United because the combined entity would have over 30 percent of US market share and that would be very anti-competitive. As a result, some experts say, it's possible that we might see a smaller legacy carrier, such as US Air, intentionally shrink in size in order to combine with a larger airline. But shrinking, and remaining in business, is a tricky business.
Plus, the US has laws preventing a foreign carrier, such as British Airways, from owning more than 25% of a US carrier.
Then there are labor issues, mainly pilot seniority. Pilots are loathe to give up the pay and perks associated with seniority and if one airline merges with another, a captain at one airline might become a first officer at the combined carrier. Pilots hate that sort of thing.
And then there's the mystique issue. "Airlines are such a sexy business investors can't resist it," writes Victor J. Cook of Tulane's A.B. Freeman School of Business in a June 2008 paper. Every country wants its own. Guys just like to run airlines. Even Donald Trump got in the game when Eastern went belly up back in the late eighties.
And now that oil prices have come down, there's less urge to merge.
Even so, during a panel discussion at the recent ACI-NA (Airports Council International North America) annual convention in Boston, most experts opined that further consolidation is both inevitable and desirable, and rules prohibiting foreign ownership of US airlines should be revisited.
Posted by
Bo on Sunday, September 21, 2008
As Europe's two weakest national airlines topple, a cluster of only slightly stronger second-string players totter toward an uncertain future.
The shakedown of Europe's ailing legacy airline industry that has been anxiously anticipated since the European Union deregulated air transportation over 10 years ago has finally reached full force. Stoked by surging—albeit now falling—fuel prices and further fueled by the fallout from global financial turmoil, stock market meltdowns and general political pandemonium, a perfectly awful storm has formed in the skies over Western Europe. The chaotic situation changes almost hourly, but the overall consensus seems to be that once this all blows over only a handful of survivors will be left standing without crutches, as the number of national airlines gets whittled down from a dirty dozen or so to the all-too-familiar Big Three multinational groupings.
Most dramatically, the long-running soap opera of Alitalia's drawn-out downfall seems to have sputtered to a dead end as last-ditch rescue efforts faltered on Friday. This appears to seal the Italian flag-carrier's fate by leaving it no other options but to pack up and fly blind from bankruptcy straight into insolvency. Of course, nothing in Italy is truly over until the famous fat lady sings, and while the Pope prays in earnest but to no apparent avail for the Vatican's official airline which might actually be cursed, as its former chaimain seems to think, Prime Minister Berlusconi may yet engineer an eleventh-hour miracle in the shape of yet another batty bailout. At this point, however, the company is so deeply mired in debt and controversy that not even divine intervention will likely save it from certain death.
Around the same time, a stage across the Adriatic went dark as the final curtain fell on a Greek melodrama starring stodgy state-owned Olympic Airlines. Unlike the tangled webs and tortuous plots of Rome, full of conspiracies, betrayals and a few assassination attempts, this is more a tame tale of benign euthanasia in Athens. An agreement has been put in place to put the airline out of its misery and put a stop to years of wrangling and illegal subsidies. Nevertheless, even after numerous privatization failures, a fairly Olympian optimism still prevails that in the spirit of classical tragicomedy has the airline staging a comeback some time next year after a much-needed makeover, armed with a better script, a respectable repayment plan and a preposterous new name—Pantheon Airways. Airline to the Gods? Yes, the Gods must surely be laughing right now!
Entirely unrelated to the unrelenting gush of orders, threats and fines pouring forth from the hard-nosed, stony-hearted bureaucrats of the European Commission in Brussels, the hometown flyboys at Brussels Airlines have thrown themselves into what may best be described as an arms-length embrace of two reluctant partners as they rushed to sell a sizable stake to Lufthansa. Not the whole caboodle, mind you, not even half, but just 45% for now, as proof of prudent German salesmanship—or brinksmanship—in these tumultuous times.
Brussels Airlines is itself the child of previous failures and mergers, the drastically downsized reincarnation of deregulation's first victim, Belgian's venerable but troubled Sabena, that somehow ended up with Sir Richard Branson of Virgin fame as its new stepfather, thanks to a messy but presumably immaculate conception. Earlier in the decade Swissair made an ill-advised attempt to rescue Sabena from the abyss but was instead dragged down with it and has since been taken over by none other than Lufthansa, somehow bringing everything full circle. Just as Swiss International, or simply Swiss, as it is now called, continues to operate independently under the new ownership, Brussels Airlines is expected to do much the same, proving that even when Lufthansa makes a whole-hearted commitment it's still a rather hands-off arrangement.
Meanwhile, down Vienna way the pending sale of Austrian Airlines is proceeding in a more orderly fashion as befits such solid and stolid Central European merchant traditions. Merely because it's looking to make a good deal and a handsome profit doesn't mean that it's necessarily going to sell itself to the highest bidder. Currently topping the short list of suitors, Russia's S7 Airlines, formerly known as Siberia Airlines and known to few people outside Novosibirsk by any name, have emerged as the dark horse of the dating circuit. It's no secret, though, that Lufthansa is viewed as just the right white knight in shining livery that everyone hopes will ride in at the last moment with a wandering eye and a fat wallet to deliver the Austrians from tough love in a much colder climate.
Circling high above this mating dance like a voracious vulture, Air France seems to have successfully digested KLM Royal Dutch after swallowing it wholesale a couple of years ago and could be getting hungry for another winged tidbit. It actually tried to chow down Alitalia before it realized the old crow was mostly skin and bones and too many feathers, so it will take a lot of little sparrows to fatten up this lovebird for the future. Merging with merging Delta-Northwest to make a really big Franco-American omelette is reportedly Air France's favorite pie—or quiche—in the sky, but so far Congress is not about to crack the ostrich egg and make that wet-lease dream come true.
Far up north, another hastily arranged winter wedding is in the works as Scandinavian Airlines, the struggling semi-privatized, semi-comatose carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and the fourth-largest airline group in Europe that includes ill-fated Spanair among others, tries to cozy up to Lufthansa, these days everyone's Casanova of choice who may itself be getting a bit bogged down in the role of Big Daddy to its booming brood of aviation and travel-related companies, already the size of a small army.
Containing all the makings of modern-day Nordic mythology, this is a complex family drama worthy of the ancient sagas with the three fretful governments, like way too many overprotective parents, weighing the pros and cons of a shotgun marriage for an old maid trying her very best to look like a blushing bride. While management is at great pains to find an even modestly suitable match, other shareholders, including the illustrious Wallenberg dynasty, squabble like jealous in-laws over the dowry, leaving the militant trade unions to stand firmly on the sidelines like a bunch of bitter bridesmaids in tattered dresses just itching to crash the party and ruin the honeymoon. An uninvited guest, much smaller Finnair, has made a cheeky, unwelcome offer to buy the few remaining long-haul routes of the airline that pioneered them, a move that would be akin to stealing the wedding cake before the ceremony and slipping out the backdoor of the church.
Finally, back down where the sun really does shine in happy-go-lucky Spain, Iberia is getting close to tying the knot with British Airways. The idea is to then make another trip to the alter and set up a comfy if controversial ménage-à-trois with American Airlines, pending an application for a marriage license in triplicate and antitrust immunity for a joint-venture operation similar to what rival alliances, Star and SkyTeam, have been quietly granted and merrily doing for years.
In fact, those long-betrothed behemoths have been scrambling to shack up to for so long that the wedding bells are turning more than a little blue and American has impatiently started a good old all-American letter-writing campaign to members of Congress on your behalf, urging them to approve its plans for One World peace and, if at all possible, domination. Noble Sir Richard Branson, Our Virgin Savior always happy to act in your best interest, is once again up in arms and ready to foil the flirtatious plot. With a slush fund of sorts flush from recent dealings, he is dead set against this particularly devious deal and, much like Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate, determined to stop the union at all costs.
What all this means for travelers is impossible to predict. Alitalia ticketholders should definitely monitor the situation closely and contact the airline for information. Passengers of Olympic Airlines may be a bit more fortunate if the airline continues to operate during reorganization. As for the other candidates mentioned, they will mostly likely muddle through for the foreseeable future, flying their own flags regardless of corporate ownership, but many other carriers are still deemed to be at risk.
Posted by
on Tuesday, September 09, 2008
The Europeans have it, and now the Canadians do too. Americans? Meh, not so much. We're talking about a passengers' bill of rights. The program, known as Flight Rights Canada, was introduced last week by Canadian Minister of Transport Lawrence Cannon. Under the new program, airlines must make passengers aware of schedule changes and delays, as well as refund tickets for canceled or overbooked flights. Meal vouchers must be given for delays of over four hours, and hotel accommodations must be provided for delays exceeding eight hours.
