Seven US Airlines to offer free access to Facebook on their flights!

February could very well become Facebook-month for airline travelers in US as seven airlines will be providing free Facebook access for the month on their Wi-Fi networks.

The service will be provided on North American flights of -

• Virgin America
• AirTran
• US Airways
• American Airlines
• Delta
• United Airlines
• Alaska Airline.

The promotion will be sponsored by Gogo Inflight Internet and Ford.

Earlier, Gogo had offered free Wi-Fi on holiday flights on Virgin America, AirTran, and American Airlines.

Happy Facebooking all!

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US Airways and United Airlines Merger: How would the combined airline look?

US Airways is reported to be in talk with United Airlines with regards to a merger that will create the world’s second largest airline (after last year’s Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines merger). This is not the first time when US Airways and United Airlines have talked about merger which failed in 2000 amid antitrust and labor opposition.

Both US Airways CEO Doug Parker and United Airlines’ CEO Glenn Tilton, have been champions for the need to consolidate capacity and hubs within the U.S. Parker even tried an unsuccessful attempt to merge with Delta Airlines some 6-7 years back.

So, how would the combined airlines look -

• Hubs - Charlotte, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Denver, Los Angeles, O’Hare International Airport (Chicago), San Francisco International Airport, Washington Dulles
  
• Headquarters – Tempe, Arizona or Chicago, Illinois (Tempe if Parker remains the CEO)
• Fleet Size – 702 (+154)   – from 343 (+104 orders) and 359 (+50)
• Fleet - 
  • Airbus A319-100 (93+6), Airbus A320-200 (70+48), Airbus A321-200 (48+17), Airbus A330-200 (7+18), Airbus A330-300 (9+1), Airbus A350-800 (0+18), Airbus A350-900 (0+4), Boeing 737-300 (24), Boeing 737-400 (40), Boeing 757-200 (26), Boeing 767-200ER (10), Embraer E190 (19+23)
  • Airbus A319-100 (55), Airbus A320-200 (97), Airbus A350-900XWB (0+25), Boeing 747-400 (24), Boeing 757-200 (96), Boeing 767-300ER (35), Boeing 777-200 (19), Boeing 777-200ER (33), Boeing 787-8(33)
• CEO – Doug Parker or Glenn Tilton

• Alliance - Star Alliance
  
• Frequent Flier Program -Dividend Miles or Mileage Plus
• Name - United Airlines (most probably since it has a bigger brand value)

There are speculations that this might trigger talks between United Airlines and Continental Airlines, which, if successful, would mean that US Airways seems to be the right catalyst for merger talks for “other” airlines!

Both US Airways stocks (around +20%) and United Airlines (around +8%) stocks were up due to rumors.

via Mizozo.com

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Good News Everyone: US Airways resumes free drink!

Last year US Airways started charging $2 for non-alcoholic beverages ($1 for coffee/tea) on board their flights. The charge was started during the crude oil’s rendezvous with $150/barrel, but was not followed by any other airlines. Recently, US Airways’ CEO Chairman, Doug Parker, announced that they are withdrawing the charge and resuming free beverages on the flights.

It is a common practice by airlines to start some charge (or withdraw) them and see if other airlines follow the initiative (or not). This is specially important since the airlines are not supposed to talk with each other on these initiatives or fare prices due the laws against price-fixing.

Good for all of us, except for US Airways’ flight attendants .

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Video: Bird Strike Test

It is a scary video, but this is probably what happened with the US Airways flight 1549 that crash landed in the Hudson River -

Details from youtube –
Wide Body, Blade-Out Jet Engine Test
Short video showing what
happens when a foreign object such as a large bird is ingested in a jet
engine. You don’t want to be onboard!!!!
The joke during training
was that you could ingest a 5 lb. bird at 250 kts………. or a 250 lb
bird at 5 kts. They actually have a “chicken gun” they use to fire the
chickens into the engines for these tests.

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Passenger pays for everything: US Airways charges for pillow and blanket

First the food, then the bags, then no-pretzels, then the beverages and now pillow and blankets ($7 in-flight and online)? US Airways seem to be moving to a charge for everything. Gone are the days when US Airways was headquartered in Arlington VA and was one of the nicer legacy carriers. Though, there are some advantages to charging for everything for US Airways -

• The pillow and blankets will be cleaner and of better quality (JetBlue started it)
• The beverage service is much faster
• Coffee and Tea are $1 each and with unlimited refills.
• Flight attendants are much nicer (and so much better dressed!!!)

Earlier I use to justify these charges on fuel prices but now the economy? It is true, airlines are still losing money, same as I am losing money on my house. But my problem is once, the economy turns around, will these changes be rolled back? Or there will be another reason not to?

I think most of the airlines pray for the following -

• Seats are filled more than 100% times without the change in airfare.
• Crude oil stays low at around $40 or lower
• Economy booms back for high paying corporate clients
• Weather never hits their hubs – maybe come up with a weather machine
  
• People keep flying to exotic places, maybe even make some week as “Exotic Travel Week”.
• Add a couple of more long weekends (they make a killing with most of them).

Am I missing anything?

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Flight 1549 update: US Airways gives $5000 check + cost of the ticket to each passenger

US Airways announced that it has sent a check of $5000 (for lost possessions) to each passenger that were on the flight 1549 that crash landed on the Hudson river. The airline also included the check for reimbursement of the ticket price. Though they did mention that the passenger’s possessions might not be returned for months (checked for weight and balance) till the investigation is complete.

The letter mentioned (from CNN) -

“The National Transportation Safety Board has now begun their
investigation of this accident, and we are offering our full
participation and cooperation,” airline executive Kerry Hester wrote in
a letter accompanying each check.

“Investigatory protocol
requires that the aircraft and all of its contents must be examined and
weighed prior to releasing any items onboard in order to verify the
weight and balance on the aircraft. … The process is to weigh all
items in their current state, dry them for eight weeks and then weigh
them again,” Hester wrote.

“This means we cannot return your items to you until the NTSB
recovers and releases them, a process that will likely take several
months. It is also possible that some items may be unrecoverable.”

The airline
also included checks to reimburse the 150 passengers for the costs of
their tickets. “This is an obvious reimbursement that we wanted to make
quickly to each of you,” the letter says.

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US Airways flight 1549 crash lands in Hudson River

Flight number 1549 that was scheduled to fly from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte’s Charlotte-Douglas Airport at 3:20pm, had to crash land into the Hudson river after both its engines failed due to a run in with a flock of geese. There were around 150 people on flight. According to reports, the pilot maneuvered a soft landing on water after he told the passenger to “brace for impact”. Eye witness say that they saw a large splash in water. Five minutes after landing, passenger were seen on the wings of the aircraft while ferries dropped life jackets. Casualties (if any) are not known yet.

From Mizozo.com -

“There is a speculation that the plane hit a flock of geese that
disabled both the engines forcing the pilots to land the plane on
water.  There were 144 passengers and 6 crew members on the flight. “

From Village Voice Blog -

“People were standing on the wings of the plane” waiting for rescue,
says Harry Martin at My9 News. The rescue scene is alleged to be
visible from the 42nd Street shore of the Hudson. The water temperature
is 42 degrees. Roosevelt Hospital is alerted to receive between 25 to
50 injured passengers. Witness Jayme Lewis says the touchdown was
smooth: “It looked like it wanted to land on the water… very gentle
and very controlled”

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Why charging for bags makes sense?

American Airlines started it and then came in United Airlines and US Airways. Now Northwest Airlines is going to charge to charge for first checked bag.

Well, my first reaction – “It is stupid! Now I don’t just pay for the ticket but for my food, drink and my BAGS???. If it is just $15 you want, then why don’t you just raise the air fare by $15 and let me be free of all  the trouble????”

Some sense to it -

• Air Travel is now a Commodity – Air travel for a good time was expensive and hence was classified as a luxury. A luxurious product comes with extras like a BMW might come with 4 year free maintenance, warranty, leather seats and other options with the sticker price. Now the industry has become a commodity where you find the cheapest ticket to fly from A to B (or even C if it is close to B). It is same as buying milk, rice or mints where normally you would go for the cheapest.
• Cost of flying a bag – The cost of flying a bag includes – the air fare of my bag, cost of carrying it from the front counter to the big TSA machines (EDS machines), from the TSA machine to the belly of the flight, and if I am connecting, then transporting it to one flight to another and last transporting it from the plane to the carousal. And if the airline misses loading the bag on one of my flights then it also includes the price of getting it delivered to my address. Don’t you think that your bag is getting more service by the airline then you do and you didn’t even pay for it????
• If I don’t check-in one, I pay for other passenger’s bags – Should I be paying for a service that someone else uses? It is like going to a restaurant and being a teetotaler paying $10 towards the expensive wine on the table next to him. Every pound of increase in weight on an airplane makes it burn more gas hence costs more. The revenue management at airlines will try to make sure that to make the flight profitable, they will keep the total price of tickets charge for all the expected weight.
• Fly Light – Does every person require a large size bag of 10 pairs of clothes? The free bag check-in policy has spoiled us all. Can’t we all fit in 3-4 pairs of clothes in a carry-on bag? Jackets can be worn.
• What about my vacation plan? – I do understand the reasoning for people complaining about the fee while going on vacation, but you are already spending on $$$ on hotels, rental cars, tours, food, etc so overall the $15 per bag is a small expense compared to rest.
• We like to fly – I would rather have all the airlines survive this oil price, then them to go bankrupt, since any bankruptcy means reduction in capacity means even higher air fare prices.

Sorry state of Airlines as compared to BIG oil companies -

• Oil from $60 to $145 a barrel- Oil Companies raised the gas price from $2 to $4.5 (125% increase), Airlines raised the average airfares by 10-35%
• Net Income for the biggest in 1st Quarter 08 – Exxon Mobil: +$11 billion and American Airlines (AMR Corp): -$328 million
• CEO Compensations for the biggest 2007 – Exxon Mobil’s Rex Tillerson: $21.7 million and American Airlines’ Gerard Arpey: $6.6 million
  

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Continental dumps Oneworld to join Star Alliance

Continental Airlines has been in talks with American Airlines and British Airways to join their Oneworld alliance, but instead announced that it will join the Star Alliance (with United Airlines and US Airways).

Continental had to change its alliance from SkyTeam due to Delta and Northwest Merger Announcement.

From Dallas News -

Continental’s
plan to partner with United and join the Star Alliance will provide
substantial new opportunities for all of our customers,” Continental
chairman and chief executive officer Larry Kellner said in the joint
announcement Thursday.

“In a network business, there is
significant value gained from linking with larger networks to provide
truly national coverage and expanded global reach, and exploring new
ways to reduce costs and improve efficiencies,” he said.

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Pay to Check Bags: American Airlines, US Airways and Not United Airlines

Couple of weeks back American Airlines announced that it will start charging $15 for first check bag. In the last couple of two weeks, two other airlines – US Airways and United Airlines have announced their adoption of the checked bags.

So, now the policy stands like this -

• 1 Bag – $15 each way
  
• 2 Bags – $40 each way ($15 + $25)

Details on First Bag Policies -
United Airlines
Despite announcing the last, United Airlines will start charging $15 per first bag for tickets bought on or after Friday June 13th 2008. The charge is for “travel within the 50 United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada”. Exceptions – “traveling in United First® or United Business®”, “a Global ServicesSM, Mileage Plus® 1K®, Premier Executive®, Premier® or Premier Associate® member”, “a Star Alliance® Gold or Silver member” or military personnel traveling on orders. More here.

American Airlines
They start charging on tickets on domestic flights bought on or after June 15th 2008. All AAdvantage Executive Platinum, AAdvantage Platinum, AAdvantage Gold members and people buying full-fare coach ticket or business tickets are exempt from this charge. Important Part – “The service fee is based on your status and class of ticketed cabin at time of check in.”. All Questions – here.

US Airways
Their start date is July 9th 2008. All Dividend Miles Preferred members (and more) of its frequent flier club are exempt. US Airways will also charge for flights to/from Canada, Latin America and Caribbean. All Questions – click here.

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