airlines

Work/Life: Ad Nausea?

Owen Wild — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:32:36 -0400

I have to disagree with Michelle Higgins (A Plane? More Like a Flying Magazine) that advertising on airplanes is the last straw.

Technology: Are Airports at Risk?

Robert Buckman — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:48:35 -0400

Are airports really at risk?

Yes, says the Pennsylvania-based Business Travel Coalition, which claims 150 airports will lose all air service if oil prices stay in the $130-a-barrel range ("BTC Warns Congress About Airline Industry Failure").

Airlines, A Thing Of The Past?

Jim Pollard — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:07:00 -0400

After not flying for nearly 4 years, I recently had occassion to weather our not-so-friendly skies, again.

As I suffered the ridiculously expensive, hassle-ridden, customer-unfriendly experience, it occured to me that the airlines really have missed the boat. Airboat, that is.

Fuel has always been a cost for airlines. You would think they would have taken the lead in developing alternative fuel and more efficient engines. Instead they have opted to reduce customer service while increasing passenger load.

Work/Life: Are Private Terminals and Small Planes the Future of Air Travel?

Owen Wild — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:39:58 -0400

With the network air carriers pulling service to mid-tier-city airports around the U.S., air service from private terminals is filling the vacuum in places like Seattle and Portland, Oregon.

USA Today reports that SeaPort Airlines recently began flying between the two cities using nine-seat Pilatus PC-12 aircraft.

Technology: Between a Rock and an IT Place

Robert Buckman — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:19:23 -0400

As the news site Anna.Aero points out, route reductions are providing opportunities for some airlines to expand and others to cut back.

The overriding issue derailing airline recovery especially in the U.S. is, of course, oil.

Work/Life: Is À La Carte Cruising in Your Future?

Owen Wild — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:32:08 -0400

The next time you are toot-tooted aboard a cruise ship, come prepared with more than just your swimsuit: The à la carte revenue model that has swept the airline industry may be coming to a cruise line near you.

Perhaps a topic oversimplified by the press, the practice of charging consumers for services they select (how novel! how capitalistic!) has been stigmatized as "nickel and diming."

Technology: Airline Industry Basically Bankrupt?

Robert Buckman — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:34:04 -0400

George Mason University's Kenneth Button, a professor of public policy, calls an airline basically "a bus with wings."

In the same Travel Weekly article in which Button makes that assertion, he also points out that
the airlines have a razor-thin operating margin of just 0.4 percent vs. 6 percent for other industries.

"The cost of flying is cheap when you compare it to the cost of driving," he said. "People expect too much for too little."

Work/Life: ...But Boss, I Saved $15 at the Bunny Ranch!

Owen Wild — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:18:34 -0400

The unpopularity of American Airlines' $15 first-checked-bag fee is stimulating the creative impulse in marketers who want to tap into travelers' desire to get some relief from the airlines' expanding list of fees.

While nobody can turn back the clock to the fee-less past, certain civic-minded groups are stopping up to the plate, like the doctor or dentist who validates your parking, to pick up the change for their customers.

Now you can add to that list a Nevada brothel.

Technology: Fees, Fuel, and Survival

Robert Buckman — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:37:09 -0400

Terry Trippler is absolutely "right on" in his quote in a recent edition of USA Today in which he says "This isn't nickel-and-diming. It's survival."

Trippler is talking about the American Airlines $15 first-checked-bag fee.

I think flyers are starting to recognize that right now, moves like this one, controversial as it is, are about survival. This fee isn't about getting extra revenue, but about getting operational revenue.

Work/Life: Bringing Chaos Out of Order

Owen Wild — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:07:17 -0400

American Airlines may rediscover in the most unwelcome way possible that the Law of Unintended Consequences is not only alive and well, but probably was invented in an airport terminal.

In fact, American may end up erecting a statue to that law once the full implications of their new first-checked-bag fee policy goes into effect on Sunday, June 15.

Think about it. Not about the $15 or more you won't have in your pocket. I've almost come to terms with that. Think of what's going to happen in those ticket and check-in lines.