The Wandering Aramean

United celebrates 25 years of Newark as a hub

Seth Miller — Wed, 22 May 2013 01:42:47 +0000

Call it a win for nostalgia, as well as an opportunity for the company to throw a little party and let their employees celebrate: United Airlines is celebrating 25 years of hub operations at Newark this year and today was the main event. The party today also included an unveiling of the new uniforms for the airline. In addition to inviting many employees and media types in to celebrate the company also invited a few dozen customers to the event. Not surprisingly, I made sure I was on the list to attend.

There were a few “typical” moments at the party, including speeches by the CEO and local elected officials. I’d say more than a typical number of senior employees were at the event and they were quite willing to chat with the invited guests. There were also some very cool things available, such as a rather impressive display of memorabilia from the past 25 years or so on both the Continental and United side of operations. For me that was probably the highlight.

Old-school paper tickets

70s-era safety cards

Note the smoking/non-smoking designation on the old ticket jackets

The party involved the unveiling of the new uniforms for the crew. They will go into service on June 25, 2013. They ran a fashion show on the stage; I only saw it from afar so the photos I got aren’t the best.

The new United uniforms

There were also a few games/contests going on. One involved tossing a balsa airplane as far as possible. Making it to the orange cards got a $25 voucher; making the red earnt 25,000 MileagePlus points. I don’t know that anyone made the red but several made the orange.

Balsa plane toss

The birthday cake was from Cake Boss in Hoboken. He got more applause than anyone else at the event, including Smisek.

Cake Boss got more applause than everyone else

There was also a follow-up event where a number of 1K and GS elites from the area were invited to attend. Most of the executives hung out for a bit. During our 30 seconds with Smisek he mentioned that the final two 787s will be finished with the repairs this week (the other four are already completed) and that he’s very much looking forward to the A350s joining the fleet, among other things.

The meatball

Does this run SHARES??

All in all, an interesting few hours of my day. Nothing incredibly revealing or revolutionary but decently fun.

A few more photos here.

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Double Up points earning at more than 3200 hotels via PointsHound

Seth Miller — Mon, 20 May 2013 23:00:00 +0000

When hotel booking engine PointsHound started up late last year there were some notable limitations to the service. Most significantly, like other OTAs, bookings made through the site would not earn points or stays in the hotel loyalty programs. While that’s no problem for some customers (like me) it is a deal-breaker for others. Earlier this year the company quietly introduced a limited collection of hotels where they are now able to offer elite benefits and points earning for stays, in addition to the airline miles for bookings. It turns out Hilton HHonors is no longer the only way to “double dip.”

That initial work was more a proof of concept than a final product. This past weekend the PointsHound team finished a major update to their site and one of the big changes was that they now have more than 3,200 hotels across 115 US markets where their customers can “Double Up” on bookings.

Searching their list of hotels you may come across an orange icon at the bottom of the entry which looks like this:

Book that hotel and you’ll earn both the airline points from PointsHound for the booking and also all the traditional benefits which come from direct booking through the hotel’s website.

Here are the rates for a PointsHound-only room and a double earning rate (and, just for fun, the direct booking rate) at a couple hotels on the same night for the same room:

A Westin:

For the same per-day rate you can walk away with 2600 free United Points (based on being a Level 2 PointsHound user). Or take slightly fewer points and a non-refundable rate and save some cash on the nightly price.

A Hyatt Place:

A Marriott:

In the case of the Hyatt Place stay you are potentially giving up 100 airline points in favor of earning your Hyatt Gold Passport points. In the case of the Marriott you actually get MORE points by booking it as a stay which also earns Marriot Rewards points. And in each case you’re getting more benefits than just booking directly through the hotel’s site directly.

Of course, there is the rather notable catch that the option doesn’t exist in all cities, much less all hotels in any given city. Still, if the option works for the location you’re in and the property you’re interested in that’s a nice win. In cases where the price and earnings are otherwise the same this might even be enough to sway someone like me – a skeptic on the value of hotel points – to go for a booking engine which allows lots of earning options.

Also worth noting is that PointsHound has a promo out for some bloggers now whereby you can get a 60-day trial of Level 2 status (more points earned per night) and 250 bonus points for ~~signing up~~ completing your first stay and the blogger gets 250 points. I’m pretty sure Gary even negotiated that the user can get all 500 if you want to sign up there. If you want the bonus points and Level 2 status you can use my referral link here. The main link atop the post is a generic one.

PointsHound offers up airline points for hotel bookings

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Comments

Seth, can you compare this to CB sites? by abcx
@Chris: No, it doesn't allow for corporate rates. You're saving ... by Seth Miller
I book directly with the hotel typically because I like hotel ... by Tom
Is this doable if you tend to book with corporate rates. I ... by Chris
“you can get a 60-day trial of Level 2 status (more points ... by Gary

Google integrating flight options into maps

Seth Miller — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:34:20 +0000

Google loves to have fun with their maps product, often offering up entertaining instructions like swimming across the Atlantic Ocean, riding a jet-ski between Japan and China or sailing from Seattle to Honolulu. A new feature in the latest update – currently showing only in the preview version of the site - has a much more useful addition included, even if it looks a bit like the “play” versions of the maps: flight options are now being integrated with the directions searches. Here’s a screenshot sent to me by a reader earlier this week:

Given the particular city pair the site gives an option for the driving route or flight options, including the blocked time gate-to-gate and a starting point for airfare. Obviously the airfare number will change depending on the specific flights and travel dates but it is still interesting to see the starting price point there.

Google still isn’t actually selling the tickets so there are a few extra hoops to jump through to get to the purchase point. Still, seeing the multiple data streams integrated into the single interface is a big improvement. Sure, they have train schedules from Europe integrated into their “directions” applet in the maps (Frankfurt to Munich by train) but no fare data inline (links are provided). For the Japanese train system the fare data is included (here’s Tokyo to Kyoto) but some of the details seem a bit amiss (14 minutes on the JR line is 50% more than 2:20 on the Shinkansen!?!). Obviously this isn’t the first time Google has tried to integrate the multiple streams of data into a useful view for users.

At the same time, however, it is somewhat new in a few ways. It mixes the driving and plane options in a single view rather than requiring a user to switch “tabs” in the map interface. It also appears to have the ability to push through to the Google Flights interface for more detailed searches and, eventually, pushing you off to a point of purchase with the specific details already selected. That’s a step up from the connectivity that is available today, though not a full integration (like Apple might be pursuing).

Ultimately not the biggest development in the travel world this year, but it is darn cool. It will be interesting to play with it and see how it does with routes which don’t offer non-stop service or where longer flights are involved. I hope my invite to the preview program comes soon!

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Comments

Some of the Japanese search engines have domestic flight ... by Joe Jones

Elite Airways really is going to (maybe) launch service

Seth Miller — Sat, 18 May 2013 21:31:46 +0000

Last November when Elite Airways announced their intentions to start service in 2013 I suggested that the choices they made in terms of their hub and initial destination were probably suspect. It seems that they agreed on those aspects, shifting a lot of the details around. But, somewhat surprisingly, they are actually still planning on launching service. The latest version of the story has them in business starting in mid-July, with Baton Rouge, LA as their hub.

This time around there are no destinations yet announced and no indication of when seats will go on sale. There is a suggestion that they’ll upgrade their fleet to include some 737s, in addition to the CRJ-200s they currently operate. That’s a potential win for passengers, though it isn’t clear if they’re going for new planes or picking some old ones up second hand. Either way, just about anything is better than flying on the CR2 so I suppose it doesn’t matter too much.

Without a hint of destinations it is hard to guess at the chances for success of the operation. Reading the comments on the story (presumably from locals) it seems that Cancun; San Antonio; Washington, DC and Newark are being requested. I’m betting against all of those being included. Actually, Cancun might have the best chance of success.

Anyways, I suppose I’ll have to find my way to Baton Rouge at some point later this summer to give Elite Airways a try. Assuming they actually do get off the ground, of course.

Elite Airways aims to take flight in 2013

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Comments

It seems that MLB is no longer involved (other than that's ... by Seth Miller
NO more MLB? by RakSiam
Dumb, dumb, dumb. Fools and their money…. by FirstClassGuy
The CR2 is arguably the least comfortable commmercial passenger ... by Wandering Aramean
This isn't related to 'New Frontier' is it? The one that wanted ... by Mile Cards
What is so bad about the crj 200? I fly them frequently out of ... by Tom

American’s new boarding policy, and why it just doesn’t matter

Seth Miller — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:12:17 +0000

A few months ago American Airlines quietly (or so they thought; turns out JohnnyJet was on a test flight so news spread quickly) started testing a new boarding process for their flights. The key change was that passengers with only small carry-on bags (i.e. underseat sized) would be allowed to board following Group 2. The theory is that these passengers are being rewarded for not putting bags in the overhead bins and they aren’t slowing the boarding process so they can board whenever they want (after the elite status passengers). But does it really matter?

One report on the process suggests that the total average time savings is 2-3 minutes per flight. Sure, multiply that out by thousands of daily departures and it sounds like a ton of time “saved” daily, but it really only counts if they change the flight times to account for that supposed savings. At 2-3 minutes on average per flight I’m betting against them adjusting block turn times for the flights.

Beyond that, however, I also cannot help but wonder which passengers are actually happily taking advantage of this benefit. Most of the race to board early is – at least from what I’ve seen – people trying to make sure they have space to stow their bags. If you don’t need overhead space it doesn’t make sense that there would be a great rush to get on the plane and cram yourself into a space just over 17″ wide and ~31-34″ deep, a small space that you’re going to be stuck in for the next many hours.

In other words, unless you absolutely need to be on board, why would you subject yourself to more time on the plane??

Don’t get me wrong – I love flying on a plane. And that means spending a lot of time on planes. But I also don’t go out of my way to be the first person on board. And when I’m traveling very light (which is most of the time these days) I happily board towards the end of the process, tuck my bag wherever it fits (including under my seat sometimes) and get going. Yes, I prefer to have the bag overhead, but that’s not the type of passenger this program is supposed to appeal to. This is for passengers who don’t have much in the way of a bag, for whom the need to get on board to store their stuff is key.

Maybe I’m missing out and there is a huge group of passengers who really, really, really like sitting in coach seats and want to do more of it. I suppose it is fantastic for that group. But it seems unlikely to me that anyone really benefits from this move.

More than that, however, there is also a reasonable concern that this will actually make things worse. Here’s one view which isn’t completely off-base:

If all the small things are put in the overheads because those passengers get on first that means more gate-checked bags, not fewer. Whoopsie.

I’m not completely convinced that it will be a problem, but I’m also not convinced this is a change which makes things better for many passengers. Certainly not enough to justify potentially pissing off a lot of other passengers for it.

What am I missing??

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Comments

AAExPlat: If saying that the same problems exist now as they ... by Seth Miller
At the margin 2-3 minutes per flight will slightly improve ... by DaveS
Seth. Why solicit a response from readers only to douche some ... by AAExPlat
Frontier does this already so AA is copying. The process seems ... by omatraveler
FA's need to be the bad guys and kick people's coats, ... by Steve
Plus 5 more...

Changes to change fees on JetBlue; Mosaic members win big

Seth Miller — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:43:16 +0000

‘Tis the season for changes to flight change fees, it would seem, and JetBlue got in on the action this week. Yes, the change fees went up 50% ($50->$75 for cheap fares and $100->$150 for more expensive tickets) but the news isn’t all bad. There is now a tiered fee schedule for flight changes which is arguably more fair than most airlines (short of not charging any fees). And, for their Mosaic members the new rules are even more generous – no more fees.

For regular customers there is now a 60 day cut-off point where the fees change in price. Here’s what the schedule looks like now:

For customers who fly JetBlue enough to rate the Mosaic badge elite status, the changes are even better. No fees at all. Ever. Even if you cancel the ticket for a full ~~refund~~ credit.

Beginning with bookings made on May 17, 2013, Members with a valid TrueBlue Mosaic badge will not pay the applicable JetBlue change/cancellation fee when they change or cancel their JetBlue flight or JetBlue Getaways vacation reservation by calling JetBlue. The change/cancel fee will also be waived for any traveler on the same reservation as the Mosaic member…. Mosaic members must call JetBlue to change or cancel their reservation in order to receive the fee waiver benefit; any change or cancellation made online will not qualify for this benefit.

This new policy ~~is a step up from~~ matches that of Alaska Airlines, the other carrier with a published policy of fee waivers for top elites. ~~In the Alaska Airlines case it is only a waiver of change fees, not for canceling a trip, too.~~ Even Southwest won’t refund tickets (just no change fee). JetBlue has essentially made every ticket fully refundable for their top elites. That’s huge.

JetBlue continues to respect that change fees more than the fare itself are silly, so that’s a good thing. And the 60-day split is likely a more accurate reflection of the resale challenges of that same space, made a bit more challenging because JetBlue doesn’t overbook as a matter of policy. But the biggest winners here – by far – are the Mosaic members. No more fees ever makes it incredibly easy to justify buying more of their tickets on JetBlue more often.

Also, there is still the free repricing of the same flight for a credit if the fare goes down which is available to all customers.

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Comments

I rarely look at the change fee when determining the value of ... by Seth Miller
By: News And Notes For Saturday, May 18th 2013 | Pizza In Motion by News And Notes For Saturday, May 18th 2013 | Pizza In Motion
Yes, Seth, you're right. Awards cost $100 to cancel and ... by nsx at FlyerTalk
Tickets booked under the old rules still have the old rules for ... by Seth Miller
ZERO advance notice? That's unreasonably harsh IMHO. Also, ... by nsx at FlyerTalk
Plus 5 more...

Might Apple be in the market for a GDS?

Seth Miller — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:09:12 +0000

Let’s say, hypothetically speaking, that you’re looking to make a splash in the travel market. Sure, you already might have some products which allow your users to display a boarding pass or track flight status, but you are always thinking bigger. You want to have a fully integrated reservations system, not just displaying bookings made elsewhere; you want to fully own the process. You’ve also got a few patents which seem overly broad in some ways, but which should cover the unified booking, management and actual travel process through a single interface. Oh, and you’ve also got more than $145 billion sitting around, looking for a useful outlet. What’s your next move?

The key component to the booking and management process is the Global Distribution System (GDS) platforms which work as the middle-men between travelers and service providers. There aren’t too many players in that space and there are plenty of reasons to be wary of their profit potential, especially from the airline side of things. Still, if you want to build a massive travel solution having your own GDS is a pretty efficient way to approach the situation. Why bother negotiating API integration and fee structures when you can simply own the whole platform? Especially when there are other, ancillary benefits which might come with that purchase?

There are arguably three major players in the online consumer market today: Microsoft, Google and Apple. In April 2008 Microsoft purchased Farecast, integrating the historical fare data and prediction algorithms into their Bing Travel platform. Google made their move a couple years later, snapping up ITA Software in 2010. The ITA platform is much closer to a full GDS than what Farecast offered, though it doesn’t have the direct-to-consumer front-end aspect of things in place. Apple has been competing with Google in many areas recently and getting a leg up in the travel space – a market with huge amounts of money (and customer affinity) in play – is not such a bad idea. The only real company in play right now is Sabre and the company is once again raising the idea of launching their IPO; if Apple wants in on the action now is the time to act.

To be fair, the patent details are mostly focused on how to use NFC or similar technologies for the passengers’ mobile devices to talk with other systems so that check-in and boarding can be handled more smoothly, not about the overall booking process. But making reservations is mentioned several times and, if history is any indicator, Apple’s desire to control the whole process makes this sort of transaction quite feasible. Building a fully integrated booking interface from scratch is a ridiculously complicated undertaking and there is very little up-side to that approach. Apple would still have to negotiate access to all the underlying data, in addition to building out the management and processing systems and user-facing interfaces. That last bit is likely something they would want to redo anyways, but the back-end stuff is major work and buying a functional version in situ is a nice way to get a head start. It is also worth noting that Sabre is a lot more than just the GDS platform. Through its history Sabre has acquired or launched many other businesses, including travel agencies, online communities (IgoUgo) and booking engines (Travelocity). Yes, buying them outright would have a significant cash cost, but getting all the parts at once rather than assembling them piece-meal means the project would be live much sooner.

If Apple is going to get into this market they’re already facing an uphill battle. Roughly 75% of the travel agency market (including OTAs) is dominated by 4 key players. To break in to that space would require a disruptive shift, the type of move Apple has embraced in the past. They could play it slow, depending on travel providers to integrate into their Passbook application but the adoption has been somewhat slow. Also, there isn’t a ton of upside for the company for depending on partners to integrate into their ecosystem; Apple likes to control the whole experience. If Apple wants in on the hundreds of billions of dollars in annual online travel revenue, going slow into the market is a bad move.

Is Apple going to buy Sabre? I honestly have no idea. But there are rumors of such circulating (I didn’t come up with all of this all by myself) and, quite frankly, it wouldn’t be the stupidest thing they’ve ever done.

It sure is fun to imagine what they could accomplish if they did, though…

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Comments

fyi, this is from 2008. ... by gpaya
Google bought a company that couldn't scale immediately (ITA ... by Kevin May
[...] At the same time, however, it is somewhat new in a few ... by Google integrating flight options into maps - The Wandering Aramean
@Chase Didn't meant that as an attack. You have more knowledge ... by Charlie
@Charlie, GDS and PSS are two completely different business ... by Chase
Plus 5 more...

Mileage earning coming to Norway

Seth Miller — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:21:34 +0000

For nearly the past decade earning points for flights within Norway was not possible thanks to laws designed to encourage competition and prevent one airline from using their loyalty program to unduly attract or retain customers. Apparently (at least according to them) the rule worked and there is now sufficient competition in the market such that the rule has outlived its usefulness. It is not clear when the airlines will start to permit accrual on these flights (or, in the case of SAS, when their Star Alliance partners will update the rules). From the Google translate version of the announcement:

Government shares the concern expressed Competition for competition in the aviation industry, particularly in rural areas, when bonus ban repealed. But today there are two major players in the Norwegian market, and competition is more robust than when regulation was introduced in 2007.

Norwegian Air is the second carrier and they have grown significantly in both the domestic and regional markets. They’re introducing long-haul service this summer to Bangkok and New York City, too.

Also in the same announcement is this bit:

The Government will also examine the possibility of laws on the bonus points earned in employment attributable to the person paying for, normally the employer. The purpose of this study will be to examine whether it can reduce the administrative burden of enforcing taxation of the private use of bonus points earned on business travel as well as any negative competitive effects of repeal regulations.

Apparently letting the traveler keep the points rather than crediting them to the company buying the ticket raises tax issues. Hopefully the IRS doesn’t get any similar ideas.

SAS avoids bankruptcy, expands route map
Norwegian details long-haul strategy, including operations in Bangkok

Comments

According to SAS, they'll start giving points next week. No ... by RogerWilco
The IRS addressed this exact issue with frequent flier miles ... by NYBanker
Wow. It's about time. by Elle
Will they have a credit card? by Gene
That's funny they don't let you accrue miles but they let you ... by Joey
Funny to read this as I just got off my last flight after 16 ... by Carol Margolis

Awesome architecture in Hong Kong

Seth Miller — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:50:59 +0000

One of my favorite things about Hong Kong is the juxtaposition of the old, generic and boring high-rise apartment buildings with the modern construction from the past 20-30 years. Turns out that I’m not the only one who is somewhat obsessed with the old-school buildings there. Pro photographer Michael Wolf also is, and he’s got some awesome photos from around the city in a new book, Architecture of Density.

From bamboo scaffolding going up dozens of stories to awesome colors and crumbling structures, the photos are simply incredible. I’ve tried to take similar pictures from time to time and, needless to say, his are much, much better than mine. Doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying anytime soon, but I also don’t expect to see a hardcover 128-page photo book published with my name on the front anytime soon.

There’s another review here with some more of the photos in it. Very cool stuff.

Thanks to my wife for sharing the initial review which made me go dig deeper on this

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Comments

I have seen that set, schmerj, but only in that they are from ... by Seth Miller
Wow…those are some amazing shots. I was just in HK for the ... by schmerj
All I could think of “no wonder we have bird ... by RJ Brown
Great composition of the shots, I think I saw these a few weeks ... by Mark Jackson
Pretty awesome, I saw it featured on PetaPixel. I try funky ... by Andre

JetBlue, Emirates team up on two-way codeshare

Seth Miller — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:39:39 +0000

Europe and the Middle East are about to become destinations JetBlue flight numbers serve, even if it isn’t JetBlue-operated flights making the trips. The NYC-based carrier is teaming up with Dubai-based Emirates to extend their codesharing agreement to a bilateral one. Currently Emirates has their code on JetBlue-operated flights to 28 destinations; the new agreement will see the JetBlue coded flight numbers on Emirates-operated flights to Milan and Dubai.

The new bilateral codeshare is in addition to the frequent flyer reciprocity that the two programs already share. There is no elite reciprocity but members of either program can earn ~~and redeem~~ for flights on the other.

Back when Emirates announced the timing of their Milan-JFK flight it seemed likely that feed to and from JetBlue flights would be a big part of making that flight work. This announcement plays into that theory. There are still only a limited number of onward flights late-night after the Emirates flight arrives from Milan but it is better than nothing.

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Comments

That took only a few years! EK has had their code on jetblue ... by Joey
My bad…I got a bit ahead of myself on the reciprocity thing. ... by Seth Miller
Is it possible to redeem true blue points on Emirate flights? by Lily
I still do not see any spending reciprocity through Jetblue ... by Narayana S

The Wandering Aramean

United celebrates 25 years of Newark as a hub

A few more photos here.

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A Westin:

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