Essential Travel News for 6/04/07

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AIRLINES

Northwest emerges from 20-month bankruptcy proceeding

Northwest Airlines finally emerged from Chapter 11 on May 31, the last of four major carriers that sought court protection from creditors during the industry’s troubled history after September 11, 2001. According to a schedule analysis by USA Today, Northwest is currently operating 13 percent fewer seats than it did two years ago, as it sought to cut costs during bankruptcy. The company succeeded in trimming $4.2 billion in debt, and in reducing its annual operating costs by $2.4 billion – mostly from a $1.4 billion yearly reduction in labor costs. The givebacks by Northwest’s unions – which were finalized a few days ago when flight attendants just barely (51 to 49 percent) ratified a new labor contract – have left a lot of bitter employees at the airline, many of them especially incensed by a part of the reorganization plan that gives $297 million in new stock to 400 top executives, including $26 million to CEO Doug Steenland. In announcing the company’s emergence from Chapter 11, Steenland said Northwest plans to spend $6 billion on fleet renewal, including an order for new Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Northwest will be the first North American airline to put the 787 into service, starting in the fall of 2008. The company will also introduce 72 new two-class regional jets to its Compass and Mesaba subsidiaries, he said, and will spend $50 million during 2007 on unspecified “product enhancements” for customers.

Midwest Airlines will reconfigure seating on MD80s, 717s

Midwest Airlines has unveiled plans to provide two types of seating on its MD80 and 717 aircraft starting this fall. Currently, the airline offers “Signature Service” – two-by-two seating with extra legroom – on its 717s; and “Saver Service” – with two-by-three seating – on MD80 service, mainly longer flights to leisure destinations. With the new configuration, both types of seating will become available on both aircraft types. The MD80s will have 12 Signature seats and 132 Saver seats, while the 717s will offer 40 Signature seats with 36-inch pitch (two to three more inches than the current Signature pitch) and 59 Saver seats. According to Midwest, the 717 Signature seats will be “automatically provided to passengers traveling on select unrestricted fares. Other passengers will be able to take advantage of Signature seating for an incremental fee,” as will any passengers on the reconfigured MD80s. In-flight service will be the same for all passengers in both types of seating, the airline said.

United adopts policy for lengthy ground delays

United Airlines has set a new policy on how to deal with passengers who aircraft are stuck on the ground for a long time, according to the Denver Post. The newspaper reported that from now on, United will try not to keep a departing plane on the ground for more than three hours after it leaves the gate, and to limit inbound flights to no more than 90 minutes on the ground after landing before they are brought to a gate. Passengers who face taxi-out delays of more than four hours or taxi-in waits of more than 90 minutes will get a note of apology, a 20 percent discount voucher for a future roundtrip economy ticket and a $10 airport meal coupon, the newspaper said. United’s flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, immediately trashed the plan, saying it just shows that the airline doesn’t intend to fix the “poor planning, poor scheduling and poor staffing decisions that cause increased cancellations.” The union said the plan “focuses more on a lame apology than efforts to avoid problems.”

AAdvantage miles will expire in 18 months with no new activity

American has joined other major airlines in altering the terms of its AAdvantage frequent flyer program. AAdvantage miles will now expire after 18 months in accounts that show no new activity, American said on its web site. If your account has been totally dormant since June 15, 2006, your miles will disappear on December 15, 2007. Account activity includes flying on American or partner airlines; redeeming miles; using an AAdvantage affinity card; purchasing products or services from partner companies; and so on. Members can see their last account activity date by logging on to www.aa.com with their AAdvantage number, going to the View My Miles section and clicking on View All. The date appears above the mileage summary.

US Airways to deploy new self-service check-In kiosks

US Airways, which in recent months has suffered various passenger service problems, especially check-ins at its east coast airport hubs, said it intends to install 600 new self-check-in kiosks at its 107 airport locations in the U.S. and the Caribbean. They’ll be supplied by Kinetics, a subsidiary of NCR – the same vendor that has supplied self-check-in devices for America West (now merged with US Airways) since 2002. “During our recent conversion to a single reservation system, the legacy America West Kinetics kiosks and software performed well,” a US Airways official said. “Further, Kinetics helped us recover from the issues we experienced at that time by rapidly deploying their platform and the America West software at critical locations. This solidified our decision to convert entirely to Kinetics.”

Continental will offer carbon-offset option for customers

Continental Airlines is teaming up with a nonprofit group called Sustainable Travel International (STI) in offering its customers a way to go green when they fly. Starting in late summer, the airline’s web site (www.continental.com) will add a new feature where passengers can “calculate the carbon footprint of their booked itinerary and purchase carbon offsets online” from STI, a spokesperson said. The purchases will be voluntary, and proceeds will be invested by STI in reforestation, renewable energy and energy conservation projects worldwide. Customers will be able to select the type of program they’d like their carbon offsets to benefit.

Horizon Air cuts short-haul fares up to 76 percent

Seattle-based Horizon Air (www.horizonair.com), an Alaska Airlines partner that serves a number of smaller markets in the western U.S., said it has cut fares by up to 76 percent on a number of short routes. The price reductions apply on routes of up to 163 miles, and to all fare types, including 14- and seven-day advance purchase rates as well as walk-up fares. There are no minimum stay requirements and fares can be purchased one-way or roundtrip. With the reductions, fares are now $29 for 14-day advance purchase and $49 walkup between Bozeman-Butte, Great Falls-Helena, Pullman-Lewiston and Pendleton-Pasco; $49/$69 between Kalispell-Missoula, Eureka/Arcata-Redding and Eugene-Redmond/Bend.

Alaska Airlines will introduce Hawaii service

Members of Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan will soon have an attractive new option for award travel: The airline plans to begin service to Hawaii this fall. Alaska said it will begin daily, year-round service October 12 between Seattle-Tacoma and Honolulu, followed on October 28 by daily non-stop Seattle-Maui flights. In addition, Alaska will operate seasonal daily service from Anchorage to Honolulu beginning December 9. The new flights are already available for purchase at www.alaskaair.com.

INTERNATIONAL

BA eyes all-business-class transatlantic service

Faced with growing competition for high-revenue customers from new all-premium-class airlines, British Airways is considering starting up a similar service of its own. According to press reports, BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh told a conference in New York that the airline that the concept is something BA is “looking at,” although it hasn’t yet made a final decision. In the past couple of years, three all-premium airlines have started flying between the U.S. and London – Eos, MAXjet and Silverjet. Walsh said it would be a simple matter for BA to reconfigure some 757s or 767s into an all-business-class configuration. In other matters, Walsh aid BA should decide by September whether or not to purchase Airbus super-jumbo A380s for its long-haul fleet, or whether to go with Boeing’s new 747-8. Meanwhile, British Airways has joined up with an international consortium led by the U.S. private equity firm TPG Capital LLP to put in a bid on Spain’s Iberia Airlines, according to press reports from Madrid. BA already holds a 10 percent stake in Iberia.

Virgin to offer “drive-through check-in” for Upper Class passengers at LHR

In its plans to transform its Terminal T3 at London Heathrow, Virgin Atlantic has developed a unique kind of customer service offering: Drive-through check-in. By the end of this year, Virgin said, it expects to finish work on an expansion of T3 that will provide a larger, more automated area for standard check-in processing, plus a glass-fronted annex exclusively for its business class flyers, who already get limousine transfers to Heathrow as one of their perks. Upper Class passengers’ chauffeur-driven cars will go up a curved ramp to a new arrival area where a Virgin host will greet them. “All the check-in formalities will be completed in the car before the passengers arrive, so all that is left to do is check travel documents and answer security questions before walking through the hotel-style lobby,” a spokesperson said. “From here it will be a short walk to security and through to the Clubhouse, and then on to the gate.”

AIRPORTS

Continental gets exclusive use of Houston’s Terminal B

Houston Intercontinental Airport’s Terminal B is now the exclusive territory of Continental Express, according to the Houston Chronicle. The newspaper said that since Northwest Airlines relocated from two gates in Terminal B to Terminal A recently, Continental is free to use those facilities for its Continental Express service. Because the Continental Express planes are smaller than mainline jets, Continental will be able to provide three regional jet boarding bridges in the space formerly occupied by the two Northwest gates, and to increase Continental Express operations at Terminal B by 27 flights a day.

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