The Flying Critic

Hyatt Announces Faster Free Nights

Hyatt just announced their latest Faster Free Nights (FFN) promo for this year:

Every Two Stays = One Free Night
Plus earn 2,000 bonus points after every two eligible stays
With your MasterCard® card
September 1 - December 30, 2008
Redeem your award between September 15, 2008 and February 28, 2009

If you play it right, faster free nights can be an amazing  deal.  Two years ago I parlayed two ~100/night stays in a bay area Hyatt into a free ~500/night stay at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo.  Just remember it is stays and not nights that count.  You have to register for the promo before your first stay.

Ted's Revenge (or how United is making a HUGE mistake)

An upcoming major announcement by United leaked yesterday.  It comes from a flight attendant newsletter and details some major changes to United's on-board meal services.

You might think of it as the return of Ted.  Or at least Ted's Revenge.

No more hot meals in 3-cabin business class on domestic routes.  That means if you fly LAX-IAD-FCO-IAD-LAX in business class for ~10 grand you can look forward to the same buy-on-board box that the economy passangers can buy.  But you get your drinks for free.  So it's still good service.  Right?  :(

Speaking of service.  The other major thing you might not notice is that United is dropping their flight attendant staffing levels down to FAA minimums and/or other lower levels because of the reduced meal service because of the buy-on-board services.  Expect frustraited flight attendants and slower service.

They are also dropping free meals in economy on many international routes and charging more for the buy-on-board and other food offerings.

This screams of desperation by United.  And they are desperate.  All of the airlines are.  But this seems like a major tactical error by United.  So much for United's premium international service advertising campaign that they've been spending big bucks on during the Olympics.

I'm not alone.  Cranky Flier posts most of the leak on his blog and he just gave United a Cranky Jackass Award in response.  One Mile at a Time thinks this may be the end of United (at least if they can't get new management).  View from the Wing worries that Mileage Plus might be next.

Delta to Fly Atlanta to Mumbai Nov. 1, Will Drop JFK-Mumbai

Delta just announced their new non-stop flight between Atlanta and Mumbai that will replace their previous non-stop JFK-Mumbai route:

Delta Air Lines today announced a new daily nonstop flight between Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Mumbai, India, starting Nov. 1, 2008.  The new flight will connect the world's largest airport with one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

Delta's recently acquired Boeing 777-200 Long Range (LR) aircraft will make the 17-hour, 55-minute westbound nonstop flight possible.  The world's longest range commercial jetliner bolsters Delta’s ability to connect customers and cargo between virtually any two cities around the globe, nonstop.

Delta's first two 777-200LRs joined the fleet earlier this year as the first of 10 such models to be delivered through 2010.  Since April, these aircraft have been serving the New York-JFK-Mumbai route, which will be discontinued with the start of nonstop service between Atlanta and Mumbai. 

The schedule for the new daily route is:

DL 184

Depart  Atlanta at 7:15 p.m.
Arrive Mumbai at  10:35 p.m. (one day later)

DL 185

Depart Mumbai at 1:05 a.m.
Arrive Atlanta at 8:30 a.m.

American Airlines To Charge New Fees to Upgrade With Miles

American Airlines sent the follow e-mail this morning announcing their new fees (aka co-pays) to upgrade one-way to business or first class with miles (upgrades using stickers or vips are still fee-free):

Effective October 1, 2008, Upgrade awards from most Discount Economy fares will change as follows:

• Upgrade within the continental U.S. and Canada, within and between the continental U.S. / Canada / Mexico / The Caribbean or between North America and Central America will require 15,000 miles plus a $50 co-payment.
• Upgrade between North America and Europe, Japan, China, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile or Uruguay will require 25,000 plus a $350 co-payment
• Upgrade between North America and India will require 40,000 miles plus a $350 co-payment

The current award structure will apply to members who request upgrade awards prior to October 1. For complete information regarding award changes, visit www.aa.com/awardchanges.

Gary from a View from the Wing speculates that United may be next:

Personally I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop on my program of choice, United, they still don’t have online minimum award booking fees, award fuel surcharges, upgrade cash co-pays, and it’s been a couple of years since they’ve increased mileage redemption levels.

JetBlue to charge $7 for a pillow & blanket

And the fee mania continues.  This time it's JetBlue

CNN/Money reports that JetBlue will charge $7 for a pillow & blanket:

The carrier has done away with the recycled blankets and pillows used on its flights, and will begin offering an "eco-friendly" travel blanket and pillow that can be purchased for $7 on flights longer than two hours.

Would you pay $7 for a pillow and blanket?

4 Southwest Rapid Reward Credits for New Accounts

According to the Frugal Travel Guy you can join the Southwest Rapid Rewards program from a LaQuinta Hotel promo and get 4 Rapid Rewards Credits.  You must join by September 30th.  If you don't have a Southwest Rapid Rewards account you should consider joining through this promo.  With Southwest becoming the rare no-fee airline you just might find yourself flying them.

Delta to Charge $50 for Second Checked Bag

Delta announced that it will begin charging $50 for your second checked bag:

For tickets purchased on or after July 31, 2008, for travel on or after August 5, 2008, the baggage fees will be changing.

The new fee for your second checked bag will go from $25 to $50 for travel within the USA, the US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.  A third bag will now cost $125 and it will be $200 for a fourth bag.

The second bag is still free for other foreign travel.  But the third foreign bag goes to $200 from $150 and bags four and five go to $350 each from $150.

Overweight bag fees are also rising.

Southwest's NO FEES marketing campaign keeps looking better.

Mileage Award Changes at Alaska, Continental, and Delta

This week Alaska, Continental, and Delta announced changes to their mileage awards.  Gary from View from the Wing posts about the changes:

Alaska Increases Award Prices and Introduces Partner Fees.

More on Delta’s 3-Tiered Award Pricing.

Continental to Restrict “EasyPass” (aka RuleBuster/Standard) Awards for Non-Elites.

Save US Airways' Dividend Miles Program!

Randy Petersen (of InsideFlyer.com) launched a web campaign to save US Airways' Dividend Miles program:

The elimination of bonus miles for elite members places the Dividend Miles program firmly at the bottom of the frequent flyer program pile. By removing benefits for its best customers, US Airways puts its frequent flyer program and its very livelihood at risk.

...

The purpose of this site is to provide Dividend Miles members with information about the airline and the "new revenue initiatives," and to organize a petition so that US Airways management can see precisely how many of their best customers they are in danger of losing.

Here is the link:  www.savedividendmiles.com

Delta's New Award Fuel Surcharge Doesn't Make Sense

View from the Wing points out that Delta just introduced fuel surcharges on award tickets originating from the US and Canada.

From Delta's press release:

Effective Aug. 15, 2008, the SkyMiles program will add:

• A $25 surcharge for Award Travel between the 50 states and Canada
• A $50 surcharge for Award Travel between the 50 states/Canada and all international destinations, including the Caribbean, Latin America, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific.

This fuel surcharge will not impact existing ticketed award itineraries or award tickets issued prior to Aug. 15, 2008, regardless of the date of travel.

One Mile at a Time thinks this isn't such a bad move by Delta:

I know some might think I’m crazy for saying this, but I think this is a good thing. No, I hate to see new fees, but I’m relieved that it’s “only” a maximum of $50. Many (including me) have long been predicting award fuel surcharges for US carriers, and let me tell you, I’m damn relieved that it’s only $50!

Some may think $50 is a lot, but try redeeming with any non-US FFP. For example, a recent award from EWR-FRA-MLA-FRA-EWR cost $350 in fees, taxes, and surcharges, and that’s on the low side.

I get what One Mile at a Time is saying that with Delta setting the bar at $50 it is unlikely that the other USA carriers are going to set a higher fee and that it is means consumers in the USA will pay less compared to other international airlines.  But is it really in everyones best interest to only charge $50?

I'm not opposed to airlines raising their fares and covering their costs.  They are crazy not to with fuel skyrocketing.

What I don't like about this fee - and many other fees by the airlines recently - is that they aren't actually tied to the airlines increased costs.  It is just an arbitrary fee.

When the airlines create fees that aren't rationally related to the services they are providing it feels like the airlines are trying to trick us by hiding the true cost of their services in a multilayer fee scheme.

If this new fee by Delta is actually a fuel surcharge shouldn't it be proportional to the amount of fuel consumed by the flights covered by the ticket? 

A flight from Atlanta to San Juan, Puerto Rico uses a fraction of the fuel that a flight from Atlanta to Dubai uses yet both have the same $50 fuel surcharge.

I know most of you would hate to see a fuel surcharge based on the cost of fuel related to number of miles you fly because it would likely be more than $50 per award but doesn't that make more sense? 

Of course that only works if the fuel surcharge actually fluctuates with the cost of fuel.  When fuel goes up the surcharge goes up.  But just as quickly when fuel goes down the surcharge goes down. 

I think that sort of plan makes sense for award tickets where you don't want the number of miles that people are aiming for to be constantly changing but the airlines need to cover their constantly fluctuating costs.

There is an argument to be made that award tickets shouldn't have a fuel surcharge or any other fees associated with them because award tickets are filling seats that would otherwise go unsold (and the impact on fuel burn by one person isn't significant). 

That might have made sense last year.  But this year capacity is getting slashed.  And for those of you who toiled to find award seats last year it is going to get worse.  A lot worse. 

But how worse does it have to get?  Reasonable fuel surcharges on awards might reduce the need to drastically cut capacity on award availability.  If airlines know that their award seats will at least cover rising fuel costs with a variable fuel surcharge, in combination with an appropriate number of miles redeemed for the flight, the airlines should be able to keep more award seats available for redemption than they otherwise would with capacity dropping.

 

Go! Adds $25 Fee For 2nd Checked Bag on Interisland Hawaii Flights

The Star Bulletin reports that Go! Adds $25 Fee For 2nd Checked Bag:

Mesa Air Group Inc., the parent of interisland carrier go!, said yesterday it will charge $25 for a second piece of checked luggage on all flights starting July 15.

According to Go!'s Baggage FAQ:

A $25 second-checked-bag fee takes effect for travel that begins on July 15, 2008. go!Express         customers exempt from paying the fee are:

• Corporate members;
• Customers traveling on government fares;
• Customers traveling on or after July 15, 2008 who purchased their tickets prior to June 25, 2008;
• go!Express passengers traveling from Kapalua, Maui; Kona, Big Island, Lana`i City, Lana`i and Ho`olehua, Moloka`i; and
• Customers flying on the same reservation as someone with exempt status (except for group bookings of 8 or more).

Customer checked-in items exempt from the bag fee are:

• Child car seats, carriers and strollers; and
• Wheelchairs, walkers and other personal assistive devices.

Customers are able to pay the second-checked-bag fee via the go! Reservations Department or at go! ticket counters.     Second-checked-bag fees paid via the go! Reservations Center are non-refundable.     Ticketed customers calling the go! Reservations Department to pay in advance for a second-checked-bag fee     will not be charged the $5 reservations call center fee.    

                      

 

Direct vs. Non-Stop Flights - A Travel Tip

Don't use the terms non-stop and direct flights interchangeably.  A non-stop flight is a direct flight but a direct flight is not always a non-stop flight.  It might seem trivial but the difference between the two can be huge.

A non-stop flight is exactly what it sounds like - a flight that goes from point A to point B without any planned stops.

A direct flight is not what it sounds like - it is a flight or series of flights that operate under a single flight number.  It could be a non-stop.  But it could also be a flight that has a number of planned stops and/or aircraft changes along the way.

For example, United flight 966 is a direct flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Rome (FCO).  But it is not a non-stop.  First United 966 goes from LAX to IAD (Washington Dulles) on an Airbus 319.  Then there is approximately an hour layover in IAD before a plane change to a Boeing 777 when the flight continues to FCO.

United Airlines Cuts International Routes and Leaves PBI and FLL

One Mile at a Time posts an unconfirmed list of international routes United Airlines is cutting this fall:

San Francisco - Taipei (eff 02SEP08, to be replaced by NRT-TPE again)
San Francisco - Nagoya (eff 25OCT08)
Los Angeles - Frankfurt (eff 25OCT08)
Los Angeles - Guatemala (eff 01SEP08)
Los Angeles - Hong Kong (eff 01SEP08, previously announced)
Denver - London (eff 25OCT08)

Other changes are:
Chicago - Tokyo, cancellation of UA883/884 from 02SEP08. UA881/882 will be 744
Chicago - Beijing from 25OCT08 777 replace 744
Washington - Rome from 25OCT08 767 replace 777 (Seems to be 777 last winter)
Washington - Beijing from 25OCT08 777 replace 744
San Francisco - Osaka from 25OCT08 744 replace 777
Los Angeles - Mexico City will be weekly service
Los Angeles - Tokyo from 01SEP08 744 replace 777

This list appears to have been figured out by looking at United's most recent schedule changes.

Also yesterday, United announced that it is pulling out of West Palm Beach (PBI) and Fort Lauderdale (FLL).  United is consolidating their Southern Florida operations in Miami (MIA) but will be cutting at least 66 jobs from Florida with the closing of PBI and FLL.

American Airlines/Eagle to Stop Serving 8 Airports

Today American Airlines And American Eagle Announced Additional Details Of Their Fourth Quarter Capacity Cuts:

American is reducing flights at most of its principal operations.

This announcement, combined with the previously announced round of schedule reductions, means American will close its operations entirely at three of its airports, while Eagle will close five of its airports, out of a combined total of 250 airports for both.

The airports/cities being closed are:

American – Oakland, Calif. (previously announced); London Stansted (previously announced); and Barranquilla, Colombia

American Eagle – Albany, N.Y.; Providence, R.I.; Harrisburg, Pa.; Samana, Dominican Republic (previously announced); and San Luis Obispo, Calif.

American Eagle will also close its maintenance base in San Luis Obispo.

Tomorrow (June 26) Southwest Schedule Extends to January 9, 2009 from October 31, 2008

Nuts About Southwest reports that:

Flight schedules for the time period extending from October 31, 2008 all the way to January 9, 2009, have been sent--and will be open for sale next Thursday, June 26

So if you are looking to grab award seats or buy Southwest tickets for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years you should be ready tomorrow morning at southwest.com.  Typically when Southwest extends its schedule other airlines also begin to lower their prices for the period covered by Southwest's schedule extension.  Tomorrow and the next few days may be a good time to grab holiday tickets.