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Posted by
Jonathan Weinberg on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 1:15 PM to
Airline Industry News
American Airlines today launched in-flight WiFi Internet access on a limited basis on some if its longer, nonstop flights. American is offering the service for $12.95 per flight on its 15 Boeing 767-200 planes connecting New York with Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami. Once the flights reach 10,000 feet, passengers can access corporate virtual private networks, e-mail, instant messaging and the Web using their laptops, smart phones and PDAs.
JetBlue has also been testing free WiFi service on one of its aircraft for the past few months through its BetaBlue program but there are more restrictions on that service than with American's new service. Southwest has also been testing Internet capabilities on several flights, with an eye toward offering mobile broadband services on every Southwest flight in the near future. Plans are also underway at Delta, US Airways and Virgin America to test in-flight Internet as well.
With the embattled airline industry under pressure to identify additional revenue opportunities, we'll likely see more carriers follow suit in the months ahead if these early launches prove successful.
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Posted by
George Hobica on Sunday, August 17, 2008 at 4:40 PM to
Airline Industry News
I stumbled across this article on Forbes.com opining that what the airlines want from Washington is for the government to magically lower fuel prices. As if. But what was really interesting about this piece was a comment (the only comment when I checked) from a certain Bob Crandall, the former CEO of American Airlines. Bob is a pretty smart fellow, so I'm going to copy and paste his comment in full here (oh, and don't you just love the dig aimed at Southwest, his longtime nemesis? LOL! But he's probably spot on):
"With all due respect, you're wrong that the single biggest issue facing airlines is fuel. While it's certainly important, the airlines would take a revamped and modernized air traffic control system over any intervention in the free market price of oil. You gave that issue one sentence in your piece and I suppose that's because oil is the sexy issue du jour. But ATC is where the real problems lie.
One other correction. You called Southwest an airline. Southwest is a profitable fuel speculation company that runs a money-losing airline on the side.... remove the 474 million they got from fuel hedging in 2Q08 and the reported 321 million profit, which is only (sic) 121 million after special items, becomes a loss.
They're not making it in airline operations and they are not improving their operation as quickly or materially as other carriers."
Well said, Bob! And where are all those airfare taxes going? I thought they were supposed to go into a trust fund to improve the airport and air traffic systems in this country? Probably being used to make the deficit look better instead.
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Posted by
Alisa B on Friday, August 08, 2008 at 5:12 PM to
Domestic US Fares, Airline Industry News
On various dates in October, Allegiant Air will start to service 4 additional destinations from Phoenix -Mesa. Fares to Eugene, OR and Great Falls, MT as well as to Medford, OR and Springfield-Branson, MO will range from $69 one-way to $109 one-way depending on the route. These fares are currently easy to find on Allegiant's user-friendly booking calendar. Bookings must be made by August 27, 2008 and travel completed by January 31, 2009. Some restrictions apply and can be found on their site only. These routes are served twice weekly in each direction at present. Get 'em while they're hot!
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Posted by
George Hobica on Tuesday, August 05, 2008 at 1:22 PM to
Airline Industry News
Delta Airlines announced today that they are adding WiFi to flights in the 48 states. The entire fleet of 330 planes flying in these states should be outfitted by next summer. You'll pay a flat fee of $9.95 on flights of three hours or less, and $12.95 on flights of more than three hours.
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Posted by
George Hobica on Monday, August 04, 2008 at 11:02 AM to
Airline Industry News
We usually don't get into debates with other journalists and fare tracking sites, but we beg to differ on this one. USA Today asks in a headline today "Will fares go so high that only the rich can fly?" The article states that "In late July...United Airlines' cheapest non-stop round-trip coach fare for travel in mid-August between San Francisco and Washington was $580" (it doesn't state whether this includes taxes). As a source, the author quotes another fare comparison service.
Well, OK, nonstops on United were (and are) pretty high. In fact, they're now about $750 RT with taxes! But Southwest (still) has connecting flights on that route in August for $348 RT including tax (the source the article quotes doesn't monitor fares on Southwest) as you can see below; and Airtran has the route for August for $285 RT including taxes. OK, they're not nonstops. But that doesn't mean that travel is just for the rich, unless you're determined to spin an article that way to prove a point.
Both of these fares were found on August 4 using a flexible date search on Travelocity and Southwest.com.
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Posted by
George Hobica on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 at 8:27 PM to
Airline Industry News
Delta has announced a new frequent flyer mile chart, but Is this a good news, bad news story?
Delta is now charging up to 60,000 miles round-trip for a domestic coach frequent flyer ticket, but spending those miles will get you the "last seat on the plane" free of capacity controls. The airline also has the standard 25,000 mile award level and a new 40,000 mile award level. This seems like another way of squeezing more miles out of its frequent flyer members.
First class domestic will cost between 45,000 and 100,000 miles roundtrip. These mileage levels apply to the 48 states plus Alaska, and Canada. Hawaii will cost you between 45,000 and 90,000 miles for coach and between 75,000 and 180,000 miles in premium cabins. Sounds like frequent flyer mileage inflation to us.
Oh, and we thought this was very interesting: Micheline Maynard, writing in Thursday's New York Times, quotes a Delta frequent flyer program spokesperson who notes that the number of miles issued by Delta had grown by 24 percent from 2004 to 2007, but the number of frequent flyer seats has not grown. "The capacity is just not there," he says. That means it's 24 percent harder to find a free seat.
Speaking of inflation, check out American's new higher mileage requirements.
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Posted by
George Hobica on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 at 1:09 PM to
Airline Industry News
Delta, which will soon be the world's largest airline (after it merges with Northwest) has increased baggage fees once more. Although the first checked bag is still free, a second will now cost $50 up from the previous $25 (that's assuming that it's not overweigh or oversized, in which case additional fees kick in). In addition, a third checked bag now costs $125 up from $80 and a bag weighing 51 to 70 pounds will cost an additional $90, up from $80. Delta claims that less than a fifth of its passengers check a second bag, and remember that these policies only apply to domestic flights.
Oh, and we thought this was very interesting: Micheline Maynard, writing in Thursday's New York Times, quotes a Delta frequent flyer program spokesperson who notes that the number of miles issued by Delta had grown by 24 percent from 2004 to 2007, but the number of frequent flyer seats has not grown. "The capacity is just not there," he says. How refreshingly honest. That means it's 24 percent harder to find a free seat.
We're assuming that when the merger takes place, these higher Delta fees will supplant Northwest's baggage fees. If you haven't already, take a look at our updated baggage fees chart.
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Posted by
George Hobica on Saturday, July 26, 2008 at 2:35 PM to
Airline Industry News
Well, it looks like it really might happen: American will pull their fares from Kayak.com (and sister site Sidestep.com), as Sean O'Neill reports on BudgetTravel.com. Interestingly, the two US airlines that only sell their fares on their own sites, Southwest and Allegiant, are the only two that are making profits, as Jared Blank of Online Travel Review, points reports.
Why is this happening? Kayak's CEO claims that, "American asked us to suppress search results from competing websites as a condition to displaying their fares. This is simply not something that Kayak will do. Imagine Sony telling Best Buy that they couldn’t sell Panasonic?"
Shades of Southwest pulling out of Travelocity.com oh so many years ago?
Is this a sign of things to come? As we've pointed out before, American already offers big discounts to those signing up for its DealFinder service, whose fares are only available on AA.com. These days, airline travel sites sell more than airfares. They also sell merchandise, hotels, rental cars, and package deals. And they market their frequent flyer programs and other products. So doesn't it make sense to lure consumers to their own sites, rather than going through middlemen (online travel agencies) to whom they also have to pay commissions?
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Posted by
George Hobica on Saturday, July 26, 2008 at 11:27 AM to
Airline Industry News
Much has been written in the past few months about something called Rule 240. Some pundits, such as Joe Brancatelli, writing on Portfolio.com, claim it’s an “urban travel legend” and no longer exists. Others, such as Today Show travel guru Peter Greenberg, insist that it is real.
What is Rule 240? Well, back in the days when airlines were regulated by a government agency, they all had to abide by some sensible rules to protect passengers in case of, among other things, a cancellation or misconnection that was within the airline’s control. These rules were incorporated in the airlines’ contracts of carriage. Post-deregulation, these rules no longer had to be followed, but some airlines, whether formed after or before deregulation, perhaps because they were too lazy to completely rewrite their contracts, kept the same rules. Airlines formed after deregulation typically didn’t incorporate these rules into their contracts, and some have done away with them.
Anyway, Rule 240 originally stated that in the event of a cancellation or flight misconnection, the airline would have to put you on their next flight out, or, if that wasn’t “acceptable,” on the next flight out of a competing airline if that flight would get you to your destination sooner, all at no additional cost to you. If only first class was available on the other airline, then they had to upgrade you. This only applied in circumstances under the airlines’ control, such as crew failing to show up, or mechanical problems.
So does Rule 240, or something like it, still exist? Well, we searched the contracts of carriage for a bunch of big and smaller airlines to find out, and near as we can see, several airlines, such as Northwest, still have something they call Rule 240, and others, such as Delta, Southwest, and Virgin America, have more vague language saying that they will put you on another airline at their “sole discretion” or that they “may substitute alternate carriers.” And some airlines don’t call it Rule 240 at all, instead using a numbering system of their own invention.
Keep in mind that airlines can change their contracts at any time, and several of the larger ones have done so in recent months. And sometimes there isn’t a flight on another airline that will get you there sooner, especially if you’re traveling from or through a so-called “fortress hub,” such as Minneapolis, which is a Northwest Airlines stronghold, or there may be no seats available on the other airline’s next flight. Also, if you're traveling on a "bulk," "consolidator," or other unpublished airfare, then all bets are off.
To address the skeptics, in the chart below we’ve done our best to interpret the airlines’ policies, and have excerpted the actual language from their current (as of July 2008) contracts of carriage, which, although we're travel journalists not lawyers, we assume are legally binding documents. Below the chart, we’ve also provided links to the contracts on the airlines’ Web sites so you can see for yourself.
We've noted whether, near as we can tell, the airline will put you in first class on its own (or another carrier's) next flight out.
Have you successfuly negotiated with an airline to be put on another carrier when your flight was severely delayed or cancelled, or you missed your connection? Please leave a comment.
Oh, and if you're thinking of buying an airfare, sign up to be alerted when we think the fare to where you're headed is a good value.
Rule 240 (or something like it) by airline
Links to contracts of carriage
AirTran
Alaska
American
Continental
Delta
Frontier
Hawaiian
Jetblue
Northwest
Southwest
United
US Airways
Virgin America
And if you're traveling within or from any member country of the European Union, you're protected by an additional set of rights that are even stronger than those in the airlines' domestic contracts of carriage or those issued by the US government:
See: Passenger Rights in the European Union.
Read our other useful charts
In case you missed them, these consumer-oriented charts have a lot of useful information:
The flexible search chart
The ship your luggage by UPS or FedEx ground chart
(very useful comments from readers)
The don't buy insurance from your airline chart
The cash back credit card chart
The frequent flyer fee chart
The constantly updated airline baggage fee chart
and The "other" airline fee chart
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Posted by
George Hobica on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 7:50 PM to
Airline Industry News
That's the rumor, anyway. For quite a while, AA has been enticing travelers to buy tickets only on its own site, aa.com, with its DealFinder widget, which offers 10 to 30% off on various routes with the use of promo codes.
According to this blog post, cash-crunched American no longer wants to pay double booking fees to both Kayak and Orbitz (fares found on American via Kayak are sent not to aa.com but to Orbitz.com for booking).
Southwest, of course, already does very nicely by not listing on Kayak or any other site. So perhaps American is thinking, hey, why can't we go it alone too?
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