Both Delta and jetBlue have requested exemptions to the 3-hour rule about to be implemented in April for their operations at JFK airport citing the runway closure for re-construction that will be in place until July.  At first glance, this seems a reasonable request and I’m sure most would say such a condition is justified. 

To be honest, I thought so at first as well.  However, the more I thought about it, the more I didn’t like the idea.  This will set a precedent for other “exceptional” conditions in the future and what I don’t like about this is that this is not an unplanned or unforeseen event.  We know the runway will be closed.  There has been plenty of time to plan operations to accomodate this closure.  Both the airlines and the FAA have had plenty of time to come up with a contingency plan to deal with potential problems.  When I consider that, I really don’t think the 3 hour rule should be exempted. 

If this runway closure was sudden due to unforeseen circumstances, I could certainly get behind the idea of an exemption.  That isn’t the case.  Granting exemptions for planned events is unwise, precedent setting and undermines the rule itself for future events. 

It makes no sense to have rules and advocacy for customers if those rules can be undermined by a planned event.  If we do grant these exceptions, then I have to ask what is the sense in having a rule in the first place? 

Airlines might be tempted to state that they did plan for this event but the rule caught them out since much of their planning was done before the announcement.  My response would be that that planning clearly was inadequate if there is a genuine fear of running into 3 hour delays. 

If the FAA feels it must make some kind of accomodation, I would suggest they grant the exception only on days with weather events that impact airport operations or some similar conditions.   Set a boundary range of conditions and if the airport meets those conditions, no exception is allowed. 

I realize that these thoughts likely rankle many airline employees and airline fans even.  I’ve never believed the 3 hour rule is a perfect rule.  I do, however, think it is a good rule to start with and the nice part about rules is that they can be changed if they don’t work.  With the massive and constant changes that go on with carriers’ carriage contracts that are simply designed to protect the interests of the carriers only, it’s time to have some rules  that protect consumers. 

I recently read one article that pointed out that while a consumer can be charged an egregious amount for needing to change their travel date on a non-refundable ticket, an airline can change that flight at any time without penalty to the consumer.  This is a great example of the imbalance that exists between consumers and airline service providers.  We have finally begun to address some of those imbalances and I think that is a good thing.  I also think that by addressing some of these imbalances with rules that define a more just and fair relationship between the consumers and airlines, airfares may well go up in price a bit.  That, in and of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing either. 

The relationship between consumer and airline today is, frankly, one of the more dysfunctional in existence.  It resembles two spouses who hate each other and yet refuse to get a divorce or seek other options in life.  That relationship is only going to change if we actually do something and doing something shouldn’t take several years of hearings either. 

I would love to see a commission that addresses these issues in a timely manner similar to BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) Commission that addresses how this nation closes and realigns military bases on an annual basis.  It’s isn’t perfect but it is bipartisan and something that we all generally can abide by. 

Imagine a airline industry rule making commission made up of 3 former airline executives and 3 former FAA and/or DoT administrators and one former Federal judge that address these needs and issue guidance upon reaching a simple majority consensus on a fair rule.  No consensus, no rule.  Have them meet and issuance guidance twice a year and let the rules be implemented.  It’s bipartisan, reasonable just and fair and may well have the ability to help both the airline industry as well as consumers.

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There have been some interesting comments in the news today made by Continental’s new CEO, Jeff Smisek.   First, he seems the switch in alliances as a very good thing for Continental but it is way too early for us to see that as anything other than justification for the switch.  It was notable that he referred to being in the SkyTeam partnership as problematic since they felt Delta was trying to kill them.  I’m not sure Delta was trying to kill them but I don’t think Delta saw them as adding value probably. 

Another comment is one I’ve been waiting for from an airline.  Mr. Smisek says Continental will cancel flights before risking fines under the new rules for 3 hour delays.  I’ve been waiting for an airline to make that statement publicly because the rule is about to go into effect but also because the winter weather this year has been atrocious for northeastern airline operations.  No airline likes new rules.  No airline ever embraced a rule that punished its violators with fines.  Even the most progressive of airlines hate change.  But airlines have been relatively quiet for the past 2 months of winter and that made me wonder if I was ever going to hear threats of cancellations.

Well, to my surprise, it was Continental that finally stepped up to the plate.  The thing is, if one looks at what winter did to airline operations so far this eyar, any flights that got cancelled would have had to be cancelled anyway.  There might have been a handful that could have gotten off if given 4 hours instead of 3 but it would have literally been a handful.  What has been notable is just how quickly and quietly the airlines recovered their operations after each event.  No outraged passengers were found on the news complaining either. 

The airlines were all negatively impacted by the storms and all lost a significant amount of revenue because of that.  It was unavoidable and it wasn’t because of the 3 hour rule looming in front of them.  That’s how the airline business rolls sometimes.

The final notable comment is comes from Continental reiterating that it may be open to a merger in the future.  They don’t see the Delta/Northwest merger as being in the books as a success yet and I agree.  They do, however, believe that if that merger does prove successful, it points to what Continental needs to consider in the future.  I don’t see this happening any time soon at all.  The truth is, Delta got the best partner available in the US.  The next 2 candidates come with a lot of baggage that isn’t easily solved by even in the best managers in the industry:  United and US Airways. 

I think we’ll see Continental exploit its membership in the Star Alliance and grow itself organically rather than by merger.  There is one company that, if I were Continental, I would be interested in buying.  Alaska Airlines.  The problem is, if they make a move on Alaska, it will become a bidding war between AA, Delta and Continental.   Maybe United even enter into that fight.  Continental doesn’t have the war chest to win that fight.  Not right now.  If they do recover and re-start their growth and if Delta’s merger doesn’t prove as successful as it hopes, they would have a chance.  Even at that, I think AA would fight very, very hard to win that battle just to keep Continental off the west coast.

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Allegiant Airlines is adding 6 Boeing 757 aircraft to its fleet for Hawaiian operations with 2 starting in the near future and the remaining aircraft being added in 2011 and 2012.   Some are surprised by this development but it should hardly come as a surprise since it does fit their business model nicely.

First and foremost, Allegiant is a leisure airline flying point to point operations from smaller towns to leisure destinations.  While they’re not big on even having focus cities, they do have them and they aren’t allergic to concentrating flights into something that makes a profit.  Allegiant also likes proven aircraft that have a relatively low cost to purchase and a low cost to operate.  The 757 fits that model just fine. 

Certainly these flights will depart west coast cities but unlike many, I suspect it will be 2 or 3 larger markets and probably from major airports.  I suspect that the LA area, the San Francisco area and Seattle (Bellingham) will be the “gateway” cities for these flights.  It won’t be Phoenix, Las Vegas or even Salt Lake City because while they’re nominally in range, there would be issues with hot and high operations in the summertime that would possibly weight restrict these flights.  No, it’ll be departure cities that are low, relatively cool and with nice thick humid air. 

My guess is that they’ll start in the LA area where Allegiant is already sending quite a few flights and probably it’ll begin with 2 frequencies a day to Hawaii from there.  Perhaps one to Honolulu and one to Maui.  That will allow them to become accustomed to operating the flights (probably 1 round trip per day per aircraft) and at the same time support the aircraft with staff and mechanics. 

Next up likely will be Bellingham (just take a look at how many destinations Allegiant flies from Bellingham already for those penny pinching Canandians) and then perhaps from SF/Oakland. 

Supposedly these are one airline aircraft with Rolls Royce engines so support and maintenance should be no problem and I’ll bet that heavy maintenance gets done by AA just as that happens for their MD-80 aircraft now.  Some may wonder why not the 767 but I think Allegiant remains interested in keeping their aircraft full and properly utilized.  The 757 should result in high load factors, slightly lower operating costs than the 767 and it is an aircraft they can potentially use for flights within the continental US should they wish to.

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I found THIS little nugget today announcing that Airtran will hold its annual shareholder meeting in Milwaukee on May 18th this year.  At first glance, I might accuse Airtran of just pandering to the Milwaukee market.  On further reflection, this is a bit more than just pandering.  It’s too much effort for just pandering.  It strikes me more as respect quite honestly. 

I’m sure most see this as a shot aimed at Midwest Airlines since Midwest is considered Milwaukee’s home town airline.  But I’m not sure it is aimed at Midwest so much as it might be aimed at both Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Delta and United.  There just isn’t any brand for Midwest even in Milwaukee anymore and to think it might still exist is to not give enough credit to those who live in Milwaukee.  They aren’t fools, they can read newspapers and they’re just as smart as any other market. 

But Milwaukee is a loyal city and I think Airtran is making the right moves in Milwaukee.  Rather than just showing to offer a good fare, they’re investing in the city and I suspect that Milwaukee will respond to that.  That’s why I think this move is aimed much more at Southwest, American and, yes, even United and Delta.  AA, Delta and United all serve Milwaukee primarily through their nearby hubs and have never shown much respect for Milwaukee as a market.  At least not until Airtran and Southwest showed up. 

Southwest is the newest airline to arrive but Milwaukee has courted them for years without success.   Southwest didn’t pay too close attention to Milwaukee until Airtran did.  Only Airtran showed up, grew their presence in the market and now is respecting the city by making it a focus city, an employee domicile and now their shareholder meeting site.  This all is very smart on the part of Airtran and it will get noticed.

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or lack thereof.

Lufthansa is reporting a 152 million Euro loss for 2009 compared to a 1.3 billion Euro profit in 2008.  No doubt that declining markets in Europe can account for a good portion of this reversal in fortunes particularly considering that the decline in Europe lagged behind that of the United States (and is likely to lag behind the US in recover too.)

However, their addition of Austrian Airlines and British Midland in 2009 is also highly suspect.  I’ve been suspicious of their multi-brand strategy in Europe for a while and more so now after seeing their financial results.  Adding sub-performing airlines to the portfolio is never a strategy that works in the long run (witness the demise of the original Swiss Airlines in 2001) and Lufthansa has so far not shown much inclination to benefit from harmonizing operations among the various airlines. 

I also suspect that this loss is only the beginning for 2010 since Lufthansa is faced with labor problems and hasn’t made the moves that other European airlines have made to cut costs and re-structure service offerings (a la British Airways.)

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 THIS newstory by the Boston Fox TV station is about  a series of 5 transmissions made by a small boy in JFK”s tower a few days ago.  The boy does *not* give taxi clearances or landing instructions or anything that would be deemed critical.  He gives a few departure clearances and that’ s all. 

Personally, while I agree that this wasn’t the wisest thing in the world and it certainly isn’t something you would want anyone to make a habit of but the boy gives them clearly and precisely and no harm or risk is involved.  Frankly, the boy gives a more “clear” clearance than any of the ATC working in DFW Airport’s tower.

You can hear the boy by clicking below:

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There has been a great deal of talk about Midwest Airlines and Republic Airways’ intention to consolidate that brand with its Frontier brand in the near future.  Most notable is that few people seem to be decrying the loss of Midwest Airlines anymore.  Certainly not like they were when Airtran attempted to take them over a few years ago. 

Midwest ceased being an airline last year and became a brand only.  When Frontier and Republic equipment began to fly its routes, the distinguishing features of that brand were eroded heavily.  Now it’s basically a logo and a location and no one seems to care anymore and that means the brand has little, if any, value.

Will Frontier be the new brand?  No one has really said much about what the plans are but there have been a few vague hints that it might be a new brand altogether.  The fact that anybody is talking about this in vague public hints really shows just how much Sean Menke is already missed in getting this thing figured out. 

Frontier has an excellent brand and one that could well work in Milwaukee just as good as it has in Denver.  Frontier had better service differentiation and a better selection of products than Midwest ever hoped to have.  It’s nationally known and folks in Denver have learned to be very loyal to it.  Others could too.

A new brand is the mis-step that I think many are wondering about.  You can only have so much of a “virtual” airline in operation until people begin to wonder who they’re flying with.  Dilution of both brands in favor of a much more generic but new brand is not a good idea. 

There are signs the industry is, perhaps, starting to slowly recover.  That recovery is likely to be slow and painful and it isn’t the time to be trying to introduce yet another new airline brand to the country and compete against established airlines who are arguably better situated to compete already (SWA, Airtran). 

Republic would be far better off to work on consolidating the operations between both Midwest and Frontier and standardizing on the Frontier brand which means getting the Frontier services onto all aircraft too.  Marketing and sales then will have much better guidance on what they’re selling and who they are selling it to.   No matter what the brand’s name, it’s time to get a cohesive marketing plan together and begin executing it on all fronts including online social media as well as local sales efforts.  Wait too much longer and Frontier, as a brand, is liable to go the way of Midwest and I’ve already pointed out that that brand suddenly has no value to anyone anymore even in its home market.

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Everyone is getting tired of these but this one is worth watching.

“Delta does NOT get you there!”

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Instead of mergers galore, I think what this industry really needs is growth. 

To most people, that sounds crazy in light of the present economic situation in the industry.  It depends on who I think should be growing, doesn’t it?  We need to see more growth and expansion from airlines like SWA, Airtran and jetBlue.  Heck, let’s throw Virgin America into that mix too.  Those are the airlines that are going to drive service and price in this business for the foreseeable future. 

Now, how they should grow is up for debate.  Each of those airlines is pretty good at what it does and how it does it so trying to merge with an equal really isn’t a great idea.  They shouldn’t dilute their corporate culture in favor of growth at any cost.  However, that doesn’t mean you can’t pick up a deal here and there.  Frontier was a perfect example of an airline that would have been a good buy for any one of those airlines.  In hindsight, there should have been a bit more of a bidding war for Frontier.

There aren’t a whole lot of smaller airlines in this country.  Frankly, I think Virgin America is more of a candidate to be taken over than to consume someone else.   Sun Country Airlines still looks good to me, particularly for someone who wants an good entry into the Minneapolis / St. Paul Market.  There was a time when it would be very unwise for most airlines to attempt to compete with Northwest Airlines in that market.  Now that they are Delta, have 48 hubs and are headquartered in Atlanta, I suspect an airline could get an edge into that market.

But there are other growth opportunities out there.  DFW has space to be a focus city for an airline.  So does Houston.  Las Vegas is no longer to be a hub for US Airways.   St. Louis is an old city but it is still a city of industry with an airport that has nothing but crickets chirping in it.  There are plenty of regions lacking in good competition still.

I don’t think a merger of legacy airlines will do anyone any good.  Oh, it would take come capacity out of the system which would probably raise prices on *some* routes.  I’m not sure if that is “good” for the consumer.  It might create further dominance of a region or hub and I don’t see the benefit in that.  The Delta/Northwest merger was one that worked because it labor issues were settled, there wasn’t a whole lot of overlap between the two companies routes and each company was accepting of the idea.   Those circumstances don’t occur very often.

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There has been quite a lot of talk in the media about mergers recently.  Financial analysts are high on the idea and two airlines in particular have batted their eyes at potential suitors again. 

The CFOs of both United Airlines and US Airways have made recently comments stating they see more consolidation needed in the US airline industry and both said their airlines remain open to the idea of merging with someone.  No big surprise because both of those airlines are arguably the poorest performing legacy airlines in the US.   It’s also no big surprise that financial analysts now want to see another merger because they’ve seen the financial response to the Delta/Northwest merger. 

I don’t see it happening myself.  Neither US Airways nor United Airlines happen to be particularly attractive properties for another airline for one.  Neither American nor Continental really have anything to gain by mating up with those two for example.  Well, Continental could benefit from UA’s Chicago hub and its international business.  American already has a nicely balanced business and, more importantly, it needs to focus on its labor problems and get those solved first. 

Continental has done better by managing itself and its employees carefully and really isn’t inclined to pick up one of the two airlines with some of the worst labor relations around.  They’re kind of smart over at Continental.  Now that they’re in the Star Alliance, they have the best of both worlds going for them.

So why don’t UA and US join together?  Well, their hubs would fit together kind of nice and there would be some nice synergies to be realized in consoldating operations.  Even their fleets kind of work together.  However, UA is headed by Glenn Tilton who isn’t interested in giving up his position to someone else unless they, too, are an airline titan.  He’d benefit from a merger personally but his ego doesn’t seem to want to let him have UA be the “consumed” airline.  He wants to buy and consume someone else. 

US Airways is being managed by Doug Parker who has plenty on his hands already with a pilot group that is so dysfunctional that it would make wife-beating appear respectable and his airline is short cash anyway.  He’s got no money to buy anything with and his somewhat anemic route structure isn’t all that attractive to any other airline.  No one wants his labor problems at all. 

Besides, I”m not sure consolidation is what this industry needs.  A liquidation could actually be the better answer.  More on that tomorrow.

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I’ve come to accept that we’re going to see lots of fees and a “de-bundling” of services in the travel world and, most particularly, the airline world.  I’m even willing to accept it with good humour at this point.  Indeed, I see advantages to a more “a la carte” system of pricing in the airline world.

I still have an objection, however.  These increased fees for checking bags, changing flights, food and drink and even booking online should also come with some new guarantees.  A checked bag should come with an arrival guarantee that is money back if your luggage doesn’t arrive with you.  A fee for changing flights should come with a money back guarantee if, say, you’re bumped from a flight you changed to.  If you’re going to charge a fee for booking online or accepting a credit card, then you should also make a “prompt refund” guarantee if the flight gets cancelled and unable to travel on a different flight.

The thing is, passengers haven’t really shown much interest in trying to hold an airline’s feet to the fire and I think I know why.  Frequent flier programs.  You see, the airlines *know* that you’ll stick with them in order to earn points that, by any account are worth at most about a penny a point. 

Let’s say you are taking a 2 hour flight to someplace.  Just to be generous, let’s say the mileage is 900 miles earned (and on a 2 hour flight, I would say that is way generous) for each way.  1800 miles or point are earned for completing the trip.  You just earned yourself a reward that at most is worth about $18.00. 

Let me ask you something.  Is that $18.00 worth the abuse?  I’d wager that on any one flight where you had trouble with a lost bag, bad food, a changed flight or anything else that we’re now seeing fees charged on, you would happily pay $18 to see that go away.   Would you change airlines for a flight if another airline made a value promise to handle your luggage responsibly or get your money refunded if they don’t if you weren’t earning $18.00 of credit for that flight?  I’ll bet you would change in no time flat. 

Indeed, I would argue that legacy airlines are punishing fliers dramatically for trying to earn those points.  This is why Southwest Airlines is getting traction with its “no fees” policies for changing flights or checking luggage.  People are starting to figure out it isn’t worth $0.01 / point to earn “free” trips or “free” upgrades particularly in light of the new fee based systems being implemented. 

Sure, an elite frequent flier program participant doesn’t pay many of those fees.  Only, they do.  They pay it in the form of exorbitant prices for fully refundable tickets purchased with a short lead time.  It’s just not necessarily coming directly from their pocket.  It comes from their employer’s pocket.  But there is still a price.

Until passengers start choosing airlines based on the real value being provided, airlines aren’t going to change their behaviours particularly with these fees.

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Republic Airways Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Frontier and Midwest as well as 4 other regional airlines, has ordered 40 new Bombardier CSeries CS300 jets with options for another 40 as well. 

The CS300 will seat about 120 people in a mixed class layout and has enough range to fit current Frontier/Midwest needs especially if they select the CS300ER (about 2900 nautical miles range).  It’s an aircraft that really begins to infringe upon B737/A320 territory (especially the A318) and which promises very good efficiency, particularly for the kinds of missions Republic flies. 

These are most certainly for the branded Frontier/Midwest network.  They fit the missions that both of those brands are flying now and compliment the existing A319/A320 Frontier fleet as well as the EJets currently flying for both Frontier and Midwest.  The CSeries 2×3 Economy configuration has the potential offer a better product than many airlines offer with their larger aircraft since a passenger has just a 20% of getting a middle seat versus 33% chance on a 737/A320 aircraft. 

These aircraft will not fly for the regional airlines serving legacy airlines such as Delta, US Airways or United.  The unions for those airlines will never allow that kind of semi-mainliner aircraft fly on behalf of the legacies.  No doubt Republic look to re-allocate some of their EJets such as the E170 back over to such flying and this purchase gives them more flexibility in the future. 

This is  a big order for Republic Airways.  Nominally worth about $3Billion, Republic no doubt got significant discount for being the launch customer of this version (Lufthansa has already ordered the CS100) but it does make me wonder if they can afford the order right now since Republic has spent much of its cash holdings and it remains to be seen if legacy airlines are going to be happy about continuing contracts for regional service with an airline that is now competing with them on a mainline level.  Time will tell since these jets aren’t due to enter service until 2013 and there will likely be some delay added to that rough date.

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It’s been announced that India’s airline, Kingfisher Airlines will be joining the Oneworld alliance, probably in about 18 to 24 months.  While Oneworld and Kingfisher are playing this up big in today’s news, it puzzles me and, frankly, I have some doubt as to whether or not it will actually come about. 

First, Kingfisher hasn’t exactly been the most financially solvent airline in a market with 2 other major competitors (Jet Airways and Air India) nor has it exhibited a very rational strategy on choosing its destinations.  It has a couple of trunk routes from India to London and Singapore, a couple of route to leisure destinations in Asia and a domestic network that is reasonably extensive but not overwhelmingly competitive.

While I’m sure that Kingfisher offers Oneworld partners AA, BA and QANTAS some feed, it doesn’t appear that Kingfisher itself has the resources to make use of the partners in their home countries.  Their fleet is comprised of A330 aircraft and while they’re scheduled for A380s and A350s, not a person around thinks they’ll actually take up the A380 and the A350 is scheduled for deliveries to start in 2014 but it’s unlikely that those will be on time either. 

What also surprises me is that Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines major competitor, already had a good codeshare relationship with American Airlines and QANTAS.  Their equipment and services better aligned with Oneworld so I’m puzzled why we are not hearing about Jet Airways joining Oneworld. 

There certainly is a need for a Oneworld partner in India and with Air India joining Star Alliance, that left Jet Airways and Kingfisher.  My guess is that they couldn’t make a good enough business case for Jet Airways who enjoys good relationships with SkyTeam members too.  However, if I had to pick between the two, Kingfisher wouldn’t be my choice. 

I suppose Kingfisher may work if it wants to be the domestic provider for Oneworld in India.  They do have the domestic network to make that work.  But they will likely become jealous of feeding all that high dollar traffic to AA, BA and QANTAS just to get the domestic traffic in India.  It doesn’t feel equitable.   One thing I’ll say for Oneworld, their partnerships do seem quite equitable for the most part with each partner airline appearing to bring a good strength to the table both domestically and internationally.

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In what is almost certainly a politically motivated move, the country of Iran is requiring that all foreign airlines traveling to and from Iran must show the name of the Persian Gulf as “Persian Gulf” on their moving flight displays instead of ”Arabian Gulf” as some apparently do.  Failure to do so may result in aircraft being impounded and flight privileges to Iran being suspended. 

The correct, United Nations confirmed, name is Persian Gulf but several countries (Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to name a few) on the Arabian peninsula have apparently persisted in calling it the Arabian Gulf. 

And you thought Islamic nations in the middle east were unified.  You can read more from Reuters HERE.

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Alaska Airlines and its sister company, Horizon Airlines have announced a pilot program to introduce electronic boarding passes into their system.

Electronic boarding passes are displayed on a PDA with a bar code that can be scanned at the airport.  Continental began pioneering this technology but Delta and American Airlines have been testing it out at various airports over the past several months as well.  All of the anecdotal reports that I’ve read so far seem to indicate that it has worked well and fairly smoothly with the only comments being that some TSA officers were surprised by seeing one but not unfamiliar with it.

What do you do if you cannot get your PDA to display the boarding pass?  You can always get a paper copy by checking in at the airport as well.   Passengers choosing this option aren’t at risk just because of a problem with their PDA. 

Alaska / Horizon also introduced their new mobile website at:

http://www.flyasqx.com/

If you’ve tried this technology on a recent flight, your comments on it are welcome.

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According to USA Today, QANTAS is eliminating their First Class sections on all but the Airbus A380 aircraft in their fleet.  Going foward, QANTAS will be selling Economy, Economy Plus and Business Class seating.  Certainly this strikes me as pretty smart.  It’s expensive and difficult to chase after first class passengers and those first class passengers are few and far between these days. 

Notably, the airlines that have made their business class sections their top offerings are also the airlines that have captured a great deal of lucrative business traffic.  Business class *is* first class if we’re in 1995.  It’s way better than what we called first class in the late 1970’s / early 1980’s. 

I’ll also point out that one of QANTAS’ best competitors, Air New Zealand has pursued this strategy for years quite successfully.  Continental Airlines has a very loyal group of passengers and has done quite well with it too. 

The number of people who might be upset at there being no First Class offerings on an aircraft can be counted on one hand and certainly don’t offer a very good return on investment when one considers the cost to create the offering on the aircraft and then pursue the customer. 

Why are they keeping First Class on the A380’s?  I suspect its for a couple of reasons.  One, they can probably capture some first class traffic on those “capital” routes.  Two, the product is brand new on the A380s and they likely don’t want to have to go through the expense of refitting those aircraft.  Three, the A380 isn’t exactly demanding more space for business class customers right now anyway.   Will it go away?  Probably but only when a refurbishment of the aircraft is called for.

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American Airlines has pursued a strategy of semi-engagement and delay with most of their employee union groups for several years now.  It wasn’t a completely ineffective strategy for the past few years in that salaries remained the same and with the current economic climate most employee groups haven’t been in the mood to push things.

The problem is, most of those employee groups gave up significant wages to prevent a bankruptcy filing and are now approaching 8 years without a raise.  Now the Flight Attendant’s union and the TWU (representing several groups such as mechanics and bag handlers) are pretty much at the end of their patience.  While the economy hasn’t recovered, nor has the employee’s quality of life.  If anything, I would suspect most employees’ have suffered significant degradation of their quality of life.  Particularly in the past 2 years.

Accordingly, these employees groups have reached a point where there is little to lose from strike.  To the outsider looking in, it would appear that they have their jobs to lose (via bankruptcy and downsizing) but that isn’t necessarily true.  While AA has suffered large losses over the past 2 years, it also holds a great deal of cash.  Those employees are looking at that cash.  What’s more, to expect employees to simply sit without a new contract and, more importantly, some certainty for the future is rather naive at this point.

Both the flight attendants and the TWU have asked that they be released from negotations soon and be allowed to start the first steps towards a strike.  Unfortunately for AA, they’ve got a bit of a good argument for this now.  TWU employees have been negotating since 200 5/2006.  Flight attendants just a tad shorter than that.  It paints the picture that none of these negotiations are going anywhere and the common party to all is AA’s management.  At some point, they will be released from these negotiations to start a 30 day cooling off period.

What’s worse is that AA is faced, potentially, with three very strident labor groups asking for release all about the same time and, at this point, with some justification.  It puts them in a bad position to negotiate with any one group and in a position to not be able to operate at all if any of these groups cooperate with each other.  Ordinarily, I wouldn’t expect them to but this time . . . maybe.

Both airlines and unions need a better way to negotiate.  It is unfair to the employee groups to be stuck in negotiations for more than 1 to 2 years.  It’s bad for the airline to have incentive to maintain the status quo by delaying and it’s bad for parties’ morale.

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Most everyone is aware of the controversy going on between director Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines.  SWA removed him from a flight stating they believed him to be too big to fit the seat.  Kevin Smith tweeted and blogged about the issue, SWA has responded a number of times with apologies, etc. 

Well, I just read SWA’s Nuts About Southwest Blog post about Kevin Smith HERE.  I have to say that I had decided early on to not report or comment on this because, frankly, my reading of the incident yesterday caused me to believe both were a bit wrong in their actions and responses.  Now, I kind of wonder what’s going on at SWA quite a bit more than I wonder what’s going on with Kevin Smith.

You see, one of the very telling things about Kevin Smith’s tweets and blog posts is that he got names.  Names of captains, flight attendants and gate agents.  Another item of interest to me is that no one disputes that he fit into the seat with armrests down and no seat belt extender.  Yeah, he’s a big guy but he isn’t *that* big of a guy.  He certainly isn’t THIS person.  Any of the photos I’ve seen of him over the past 2 days leads me to believe he’d fit just fine on Southwest’s seats. 

First, the captain wants him off.  Then, it wasn’t the captain but other staff and in order to expedite the flight.  Huh?  This was an Oakland to LA flight.  It’s not that long.  You seriously want to tell me that comfort was the issue for anyone?  Do you really want to say this was in order to expedite the departure of a flight when he was already seated and no one appears to have complained?

I’m not sure if some person or persons are lying at SWA.  I don’t believe that SWA is malicious like this as a corporation.  But someone is either not telling the complete truth or, worse, concealing a hidden reason for these actions. 

Southwest has apologized, yes.  Unfortunately, by engaging in this debate, their apology is a bit hollow this time around.  They should investigate deeper, admit any issues whether they had to do with capriciously applied corporate policy or poor judgement on an individual basis.  To me, it just seems as if there is more to this story than is being told completely.  The odd part is that the story has evolved considerably on SWA’s part and not at all on Kevin Smith’s part.  Stranger still, SWA continues to not refute any facts cited by Kevin Smith.

Filed under: Airline News by ajax
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First, read this USA Today article HERE.   It would appear that there is a plan to give 10,000 (or more) TSA staff access to “secret” intelligence for performing their duties better.  On the surface, this decision has some merit in that it *could* guide a professional security agent better on what to look for as a threat. 

But you first have to have professional security agents and I would argue that TSA does not possess many of those.  Just read the posts at the link HERE. 

Frankly, the last thing we need or want is a large population of TSA agents using such intelligence to refine their justifications for unprofessional behaviour under the guise of “he/she fits the profile we read intelligence about.”  You see, having the intelligence is just one part of the equation in using it.  The other part is having the training and good judgement necessary to use it effectively.  That’s something I don’t think the TSA has proven it possesses given its KeystoneKops behaviour.

Filed under: security by ajax
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American Airlines and British Airways won tentative US government anti-trust approval  to cooperate closely with each other on routes and pricing.  Iberia Airlines, Finnair and Royal Jordanian are also a part of this package.  The one caveat from the Department of Transportation is that the “partnership” yield 4 slot pairs at London Heathrow airport to other airline(s) that might provide service between Heathrow and the United States.

This partnership is still contingent upon EU approval but I suspect the EU will grant it as well. 

Is this good for the consumer?  Well, in the long run I suspect so.  There is plenty of competition between the US and Europe in general and frankly I suspect travel to London Heathrow hasn’t been this competitive ever already.   In this case, I think we’ll see some capacity reduction between AA and BA on those US-London flights and that might well be justified.  There may be a few non-stop routes that see fares rise some but overall the general population of the US and the UK will likely find fares pretty reasonable or even unchanged in most respects. 

This will be a huge plus for OneWorld members in that they’ll be able to find better coordinated schedules for a variety of destinations throughout Europe and the US.  And it should put OneWorld on much more equal footing with both the StarAlliance and Sky Team. 

Of course, Richard Branson finds it all outrageous but, then, if you follow Richard Branson and Virgin Atlantic, you knew that he would already, didn’t you.  (I do think Richard Branson has finally cried wolf one too many times and no longer gets the credibility he might once have had.  One thing is sure, it’s time for VA to start looking for a partnership.)

Both BA and AA might moan and grown over giving up 4 slot pairs at Heathrow but both know that 1) those pairs will yield a tidy sum in a sale and 2) they’ll still have plenty of maneuvering room to make lots of money. 

I doubt very much either airlines’ unions will be happy about this though.  AA pilots will worry about a reduction of flying on their part which, in my opinion, is only a worry if they continue to fight new ultra-long haul services that AA could use their aircraft on.  This is a real concern given this agreement’s potential to free up 777 aircraft to fly to new destinations. 

The real win for OneWorld will be gaining anti-trust immunity with JAL for trans-Pacific services.  With that agreement and this one, OneWorld gets the opportunity to compete with the other two alliances on pretty good footing and they haven’t had that in quite a while.  Both agreements would also make it more attractive for other airlines to join OneWorld now. 

I would not be surprised if this development doesn’t suddenly make it a bit more attractive for OneWorld to approach US Airways about joining.  US Airways would make for a very complimentary addition to OneWorld and it would allow them to leave an alliance where they are quite literally relegated to secondary status on all fronts.  In OneWorld, US Airways could offer good domestic service to the other partners and cooperate well on both trans-Pacific as well as trans-Atlantic services.

Filed under: Airlines Alliances by ajax
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