Essential Travel News for 3/12/07

To sign up to receive an expanded version of this weekly e-Alert bulletin from Executive Travel SKYGUIDE, click here.

AIRLINES

Spirit Airlines will charge for all checked bags, beverages

A few European low-cost carriers already do it, and now Spirit Airlines is bringing it to the U.S.: Effective June 19, the airline said it will start charging passengers for each piece of checked luggage and for all in-flight beverages. In a classic example of positive spin, the company’s announcement was headlined: “Great News! Spirit Airlines lowers fares, many up to 40 percent, and now gives customers the opportunity to customize their travel experience and save.” After June 19, Spirit passengers will only be allowed one carry-on bag; one or two pieces of checked luggage will cost $5 each if the customer books them online in advance, or $10 apiece for checking them at the airport with no advance notice. A third checked bag will cost $100. Meanwhile, a non-alcoholic beverage served in-flight will cost $1, whether it’s soda, juice or coffee.
According to a Spirit executive, “we can offer incredibly low fares by enabling customers to pay for only those options they want. As customers have told us over and over, it’s all about the fare.” In another change, the airline’s Spirit Plus premium seating will be re-marketed starting June 20 as “Big Front Seat” service. Through June 19, the company said, “the Big Front Seat product will continue to offer the Spirit Plus services including free drinks and snacks.” And after that date, what do front-cabin customers get besides a larger seat? “For details, visit Spiritair.com,” the announcement said. We did, and there are no details there. The clear implication is that Big Front Seat passengers, even though they’re paying more for extra space, will soon have to ante up for checked bags and coffee, just like those in the back of the plane.

RegionsAir, feeder for American and Continental, shuts down

RegionsAir, a regional carrier that operates 19-seat turboprops as a partner for American Airlines at St. Louis and for Continental at Cleveland, has had its operations temporarily suspended by the FAA. The agency reportedly found problems with the airline’s training manual that it deemed serious enough to halt RegionAir’s flights. American, which uses RegionsAir on nine routes out of its St. Louis hub, said those operations would be canceled through March 31, and that it will rebook affected passengers or give them refunds. RegionsAir also flies to three towns in West Virginia as a Continental Express carrier out of Cleveland.

Midwest Airlines shareholders slow to respond to AirTran’s bid

AirTran Holdings, the parent company of AirTran Airways, is finding only a slow response from shareholders of Midwest Airlines to its tender offer for the Milwaukee-based airline. Last week, AirTran extended until April 11 its offer to buy up Midwest’s shares for $13.25 each in cash and stock. Sop far, only about 10 percent of Midwest’s shares have been tendered. It was the second time in as many months that AirTran extended the tender offer; it was originally due to expire on February 8, then was extended until March 8. Midwest’s management is waging an aggressive campaign with its shareholders, urging them to reject AirTran’s offer as inadequate.

Southwest adding Denver-Oakland, other new routes this summer

Southwest Airlines has unveiled plans for expanded service this summer as it takes delivery of some new aircraft from Boeing. The biggest new route for the Dallas-based discount carrier will be Denver-Oakland, where it will begin service June 17 with five daily roundtrips. On June 4, Southwest will start flying between Ft. Lauderdale-Providence and between Houston Hobby-San Diego, with one flight a day in each market; on August 4 the airline will introduce new non-stop service between Baltimore/Washington and Oklahoma City with one daily roundtrip. Southwest will also increase flight frequencies in several markets – e.g., adding a second daily roundtrip between Houston-Oakland, Louisville-Orlando and Louisville-Tampa; and a third daily flight between Denver-Houston, Columbus-Orlando and Birmingham-Orlando.

JetBlue hires FAA expert to overhaul its operations

Still smarting from an operations meltdown on February 14 that left fully-loaded planes stranded on the tarmac for up to 10 hours and led to hundreds of flight cancellations over the following week, JetBlue Airways has hired an operations expert to overhaul its internal systems and to oversee its complex web of flight scheduling, crew assignments, airport activity and customer service. JetBlue’s new chief operating officer is Russell Chew, who spent the past four years as COO of the Federal Aviation Administration. Before that, Chew was at American Airlines for 17 years, where he was managing director of its System Operations Center. The company said Chew will “help lead JetBlue into a new era of customer service, comfort and operational reliability.”

Spot checks find award seats are tough to book

The Wall Street Journal recently conducted spot checks of frequent flyer award seat availability, and it confirmed what many travelers already knew: Free seats relatively scarce this year, unless program members are willing to ante up extra miles. The newspaper said it checked award seat availability on 24 routes for summer and fall dates, and it found the best availability on American and United – with economy class seats available at the lowest award levels on 14 of the 24 routes. The worst availability was on Delta, with no such seats offered on any of the 24 trips; and on US Airways, with just two of the 24 available. Continental and Northwest fell somewhere in the middle of the availability checks, the newspaper said. More seats opened up when the searcher was willing to spend extra on unrestricted awards, which generally cost twice as many miles. “For summer travel to Europe, seats at the standard 50,000 or 60,000-mile levels were virtually impossible to find in our sampling, but airlines routinely had 100,000-mile unrestricted seats available for trips to London, Paris, Frankfurt and Brussels. Ditto for Hawaii,” the newspaper said.

FAA/SECURITY

DOT eyes new restrictions on laptop batteries

USA Today reported last week that the Department of Transportation is considering imposing new rules about taking lithium batteries onto commercial airliners. The lithium batteries, which power laptop computers and other electronic devices, got a lot of media attention last year when several major laptop manufacturers recalled the batteries that came with their computers due to a risk of fire. The newspaper quoted a DOT official as saying that the agency isn’t likely to ban the batteries from passengers’ carry-on baggage, but it is concerned about batteries that are stored in checked luggage, and that would be the most likely target of new federal restrictions. The official said DOT could propose new rules sometime later this year.

INTERNATIONAL

Tentative U.S.-Europe pact could open up many new routes

Negotiators for the U.S. and the European Union have reached tentative agreement on a so-called “open skies” pact that could open up the transatlantic market with a number of new routes, increased competition and lower fares over time. The pact is still subject to approval by the U.S. Congress and by the EU member nations. If it is approved, the agreement would allow European airlines to fly to the U.S. not just from their home countries, but from any of the E.U.’s 27 member nations. For example, Lufthansa could fly from Rome to Atlanta, or Air France could fly from London to Chicago. The deal would also remove restrictions on U.S. carriers, such as the proviso in the existing U.S.-British bilateral agreement that allows only two U.S. carriers – American and Delta - to fly into London’s Heathrow Airport. The pact would also permit increased investment in U.S. airlines by European carriers, although the 25 percent cap on voting equity would reportedly be retained.

Continental plans Mumbai route; Aeromexico ups baggage allowance

In the latest news of international airline services:

*Continental Airlines, which has operated non-stop service between Newark and Delhi, India since 2005, plans to begin non-stop Newark-Mumbai flights on October 30. Continental will use a two-class 777-200 for the daily flight, which will take almost 15 hours eastbound and more than 16 hours westbound.

*While many major carriers are cutting back on the amount of luggage a passenger can check for free, Aeromexico said last week that starting March 15, it will increase the baggage allowance. Coach passengers will be able to check two bags of up to 70 pounds each – up from a previous limit of 50 pounds – and ‘Clase Premier’ flyers will be allowed three checked bags at no cost.

*Business travelers who fly Lufthansa or Swiss transatlantic with onward connections in Europe aboard Lufthansa Private Jet flights will now be able to book free limousine transfers in conjunction with the Private Jet service. The company also launched a new web site for the small-plane connections, at www.lufthansa-private-jet.com.


See also ...

• Alerts Archive