I Am Glad Not To Be On QF30

Qantas Flight 30 had a few issues earlier today. I large chuck of the plane was ripped off when the plane was about 29,000 ft above the earth. The emergency oxygen masked dropped as did the plane, down to 10,000 ft. Luckly, Manilia was close and the airplane made a safe landing there. Nobody was hurt, a few people's stomaches were turned. Qantas has never had a deadly accident on one of their jets. There is some speculation that the airline will no longer be able to say that, but I still think they are safe.

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Airport Cuts

Airlines are now at their lowest level of flying since the 1990's. Las Vegas, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, and other vacation spots are now being targeted for most future cuts. US Airways has signification reduced flying out of Las Vegas, Spirit is planning cuts from Fort Lauderdale, and Delta has cut flying by 45% from Orlando. There is a GREAT chart on USA Today to show cuts from your airport. Des Moines seats have risen just over 1%. Also, good news is that United is adding mainline service in the morning (eliminating 2 RJ flights), and Continental is adding flights to Cleveland later this month.

Airline Cutbacks

Don't Complain...

Yesterday, American Airlines announced a host of new changes to the airline. First, they are going to charge customers $15.00 for the first bag, and $25.00 for the second. Second, the airline has raised over-sized luggage, change fees, and a host of other fees. Third, they will be cutting up to 12% of flights and remove up to 45 gas guzzling aircraft.

As I look at travel forums thousands of people are starting to complain. Since 2001, many airlines have become lean, mean machines. They have cut capacity, reduced salaries, and developed new revenue streams. Now they have to take deep action, and I think they are doing the right thing. We, as flying customers are now paying for a seat on some flight, that is it. We need to expect to be charged for baggage, food, changing reservations. The airlines are being KILLED by competition, huge fuel bills, and constantly complaining customers.

When I traveled a lot I didn't get too discouraged about delays. But, there are countless times when people traveling were late, maybe an hour or two, and having a near stroke. Yes, planes are late, the more they use them the better the health of the airline. Yes, you aren't going to get to your destination at exactly the right time. Yes, and an Act of God might cause a change in plan, but most of us actually get there. It isn't worth yelling at a customer service person or shouting in the phone with a phone reservation agent. They didn't cause the delay, something else did. I have never understood this.

So, don't expect flying to every be like that of the past. Airlines had guaranteed revenue from the government, little competition, and high fares. Did you know that the actual price of a flight today is the same as it was in 1970, without inflation? They could afford to provide a great meal, and more room, today that is impossible.

My advice. Sit in your seat and think about the great vacation or business meeting you are about to attend. Bring on your favorite snack. Pack a lighter suitcase. Enjoy the fact you can climb on a plane and be where you want very quickly.

Fee Changes on American Airlines

Bump...de Bump...Bump...Bump...

Well fliers, it is time for some real compensation. The Department of Transportation has decided to raise compensation for bumped fliers quite significantly. The rates haven't risen since 1970-something. The new rules cover all planes over 30 passengers and could make airlines think twice about a bump!

Bumping Compensation

Consolidation....Starts....NOW

Northwest and Delta have finally decided to come together. The combined airport would have strength across this country and to Europe and Asia. The $17 billion dollar combined airline will be flying just about everywhere. Although the ticket prices won't be fun, it should help the industry stay afloat and may give my favorite airlines (United and Continental) more reason to come together.

Here in Des Moines Northwest handles about 20%-25% of flights and Delta has about 10%. Des Moines will soon become an maintenance hub for the CRJ-900 airplanes that Northwest currently flies which a merger could either cancel the project or bring more of the airplanes into our fair city.

Here is some of the news....

Northwest Announcement
Delta Announcement

Ouch...

Is this an AMERICAN AIRLINES plane?

Good By Skyway...

I flew up to Milwaukee for a party this weekend. Something happened I wasn't expecting. It wasn't a bad hangover or even jail time. It was the last Skyway flight from Des Moines and one of the last in company history.

Midwest Airlines made the decision in January to switch its regional flying from Skyway Airlines to Skywest. That meant lots of lost jobs in Milwaukee. There was something strange in the air when I got to the gate. All the local Skyway employees were holding cameras preparing for the final fight.

I got on the flight and the pilots and especially flight attendant were especially emotional. She said it was the entire crew's very last fight for the airline. There are many looking for jobs. Some have taken positions with Skywest, Compass Airline, and in her case Air Tran. This little airline was like family. There were only 12 regional jets and a few turbo props, so everyone knew each other.

I had a lot of compassion for the crew. I know how hard it was to experience a job loss. They were totally professional, and I know things will only be better for them.

Here are a few videos and photos from Skyway!

The Bus Has Stopped...

Skybus, which hoped to bring its ultra low cost structure across the country has abruptly stopped its services. It was shocking to me, and I am sure shocking to those in Columbus, OH and Greensboro, NC where the hubs were located. The cost of fuel and weakening economy led to the decision.

I don't know what is in the water. With ATA, Aloha, Big Sky, Champion Air and now Skybus are the airlines giving up? There seems to be a loss in spirit amongst those who run airlines. They aren't trying new ways to make money. They are just shutting down.

There has been a lot of talk about consolidation in the airline industry, but I am not sure this is what people were predicting. The airlines that have stopped service have done so with its creditors and employees in mind. Granted they will lose jobs, but they won't be taken through another bankruptcy again, which is painful.

Lets hope one of the big guys doesn't stop services.

Lots of Airline News...

It has been a BAD week for the airlines. Let's check out a summary:

Aloha, says Aloha
Aloha Airlines ceased regular services on Monday. The airline was having issues with too many competitors offering really, really, really low fares. There is also the fact jet fuel prices have risen 70% in the last year. The airline traces its roots to 1946 when the airline inaugurated a DC-3 service between Maui and Honolulu. The airline focused on inter-island flying for many years and added mainland flights in 2000. The airline had an alliance with United Airlines to connect passengers across the country. It is sad to see them go.



ATA, Breaks My Heart
ATA closed down today. It really hits me hard because I took ATA from Des Moines to LAX via MDW when I moved to Australia 5 years ago. When they left Des Moines in 2004 prices for flights skyrocketed, especially from Des Moines to Chicago where prices jumped from a cheap fare of $100 round trip to over $400 today.

I knew the airline would either fold or become part of Southwest Airlines (because of their code share agreement), but it wasn't expected to close down today. It is sad to see what was the 10th largest airline gone.



Southwest and the FAA
Southwest, United, American, and Delta have been having major issues with the FAA and inspections. It seems that the airlines had too close of a relationship with the FAA and required inspections weren't carried out. The airlines blame the FAA and the FAA blame the airlines. They are both idiots. Trying to save a few dollars but putting customers in danger. Wait, that is just corporate America.

Northwest Raises Fees
Northwest became the latest legacy carrier to start charging up the wazoo for everything related to flying. I understand they need to make money, but I wonder if there might be other ways. I applaud airlines for checking extra bags, but I wonder if frequent flier fees are the way to do it? Hopefully this helps with the fuel bills.

V Australia is HERE!!!

V Australia announced its first route Sydney to Los Angeles. This airline is the international wing of Virgin Blue (one of the best airlines I have flown). The airline will be flying 10 times weekly on the uncompetative market (only United and Quantas currently fly it). They have already offered flights starting at $999.00 AUD round trip. I checked the website this afternoon and you can fly in March roundtrip from Los Angeles for $907.00 USD. Quantas and United ranged from $1200 to $1500. V Australia plans more planes, more routes, and more connections in the US. So far, Northworst, I mean Northwest has signed a interline agreement for baggage and tickets to connect much of the country. I am very excited about this and its cousin Virgin America. They could revolutionize the US travel market just like Virgin Blue has in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands.

V Australia Announces First City

Parking Old Planeshttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

In the last week United has announced it would "park" 20 planes, Delta is leaving behind 13, and Northwest is ditching a third of its ancient DC-9 planes. Where do the airlines park the planes? In rural Arizona. There are about 150 different planes parked at the Evergreen Maintenance Center. It would be airplane heaven for me!

Parking the Old Planes

Mice...er....Mouse On A Plane...

A mouse caused a Delta flight to be more than 6 hours late to Atlanta this morning. Early this morning the flight attendant noticed a mouse staring its ugly face at her. They delayed the flight to get the mouse off. Airline employees thought they could catch it, they set traps, but never located the little guy. So, with no sight of the mouse the flight took late. Everyone is safe.

My questions...Does the mouse get frequent flier benefits? Is it an "Act of God" so the airline wouldn't compensate people? This story makes me laugh.



Mouse on a Plane

WOW...Lufthansa in Hamburg

This is wicked! A Lufthansa Airbus 320 had to deal with a few cross-winds on a recent flight. I am so glad I wasn't on this flight. It was so close to a bad, bad situation.

Two Videos...

This video IS NOT WORK SAFE! It is hilarious. I am still laughing...Watch if you dare




And this one is scary...And IS WORK SAFE!

Lots and Lots of Bumps...

2007 was one of the best or worst years for bumped passengers. There were over 63,000 instances where flights were oversold and compensation given to customers. I accepted the travel vouchers in 2007 that totaled about $1475. I will have some great, nearly free travel over the next coming year. In fact next week's trip to Europe cost $918.00 for two tickets, when I really only paid $418.00 for the two...

11 Year High of Bumping

2nd Worst Year...

2007 Airline delays were announced today...The statistics speak for themselves...

WASHINGTON - Domestic airline delays in 2007 were the second worst on record, the Transportation Department said Tuesday.

Flights in the U.S. were late more than 26 percent of the time last year, a slightly better performance than in 2000, when airlines were tardy 27.4 percent of the time. The federal government began collecting airlines on-time data in 1995.

The industry's poor performance reflects rising passenger demand coupled with congestion in the skies and on tarmacs as the Federal Aviation Administration grapples with a growing number of air traffic controllers nearing retirement age. In 2006, domestic flights were late about 24.5 percent of the time.

President Bush has demanded action to avoid another summer of record delays, but there is little consensus among airlines, airport operators, Congress and the administration on what should be done.

Transportation Secretary Mary Peters earlier this month said congested airports can charge landing fees based on the time flights land and traffic volume to encourage carriers to spread operations more evenly throughout the day.

But the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty, said the new policy was a minor fix for a major problem. In 2007, those three airports had the lowest on-time arrival rates, and aviation officials say delays there cascade throughout the system and cause three-quarters of all flight delays.

The Air Transport Association, which represents the nation's largest airlines, also said a more comprehensive fix is needed.

The trade group and the Port Authority prefer flight-path changes and improvements aimed at increasing the flight capacity at airports.

The airlines and the FAA are pressing for a new, $15 billion satellite-based air traffic control system, dubbed NextGen, that will take nearly 20 years to complete to improve operations. Last August, the FAA awarded ITT Corp. a contract worth up to $1.8 billion to build the first portion the system.

Peters on Monday said the Bush administration's $68 billion fiscal 2009 budget proposal for the department would more than double the investment in NextGen technology to $688 million. But airport operators criticized the proposal for cutting the FAA's airport improvement program to $2.75 billion in funding, which is $765 million less than this year and more than $1.1 billion below the level in the FAA reauthorization bill pending in Congress.

The nation's 20 largest carriers reported an on-time arrival rate of 64.3 percent in December, down from 70.8 percent in the same month in 2006 and from 80 percent in November. December 2007 was the third worst month on record, but December 2000 was even worse with on-time performance of about 62.8 percent, which helped save last year from being the worst overall for delays.

In December, 43.6 percent of late flights were delayed by weather, up 12.6 percent from December 2006 and from 37.8 percent in November.

Customer complaints rose nearly 40 percent to 849 in December compared with the year-ago period, according to the government data. The rate of mishandled baggage rose slightly to 9 reports per 1,000 passengers from more than 8.9 reports a year ago.

American Eagle Airlines, which operates regional flights for AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, had the worst December with more than 46 percent of its flights delayed by at least 15 minutes. Aloha Airlines had the best on-time arrival rate in December at 93 percent.

Atlantic Southeast Airlines, a subsidiary of SkyWest Inc., had the worst on-time arrival rate for all of last year at 64.7 percent, while Hawaiian Airlines topped the list at more than 93 percent.

Best Seat in the Airplane...

There have been rumors for years about which seat in an airplane is safe. Is the front better, or should you be in the rear?

You judge by these examples:

1989 United Airlines
There were fatalities in the back and front of the plane.

1988 Delta Airlines
A jet that crashed in Dallas most of the fatalties are in the back.

1991 US Airways
Most of the deaths were sitting in the front.


Where would you sit?

A Travel Writer That Hates to Fly???

Peggy Shinn is a writer that gets part of her income from travel writing. She used to love the allure of travel on her first trip in the 1960's but hates air travel now. I love how she frames the industry and its progression. I love to travel by air, but didn't start until in the 1990's. I really enjoyed this article...

What Happened to Air Travel?

Another Business Airline...

A few weeks ago MaxJet, and all business class airline went under. It wasn't well funded and the big legacy carriers started to compete directly with the service. British Airways has begun an offshoot airline that will cater to those willing to pay a few extra dollars can have superior service. The new airline is being called "Open Skies" which is a result of the new open skies between the US and European Union. This agreement removed restrictions for carriers flying from only their home country to the US. Now airlines like KLM (Based in Holland) could fly from Madrid to Washington, DC where before they could only fly from Holland. This agreement will definitely create more competition, better service, and hopefully lower prices.

Here is the story about the new British Airlines company.

Open Skies Airline

Ho...Ho...Humbug

One of the first airlines to provide all business class flights to Europe filed for bankruptsy this morning. MaxJet left planes on tarmacs and employees without jobs the day before Christmas. This is too bad. I wish they could have waited until after the new year to do this shutdown.

Full MaxJet Story