Southwest Announces Fares and Schedule for Minneapolis/St. Paul

by Josh Lew on

Southwest Airlines recently announced its schedule and fares for its service between Minneapolsi/St. Paul and Chicago Midway. The first flight will take off on March 8th, 2009. The announcement of fares is bound to create a bit of buzz for Southwest in the Twin Cities. Here’s why: The current price of a one-way airfare between MSP and Chicago is $426. Southwest’s lowest price will be $69 one-way (21 day advanced purchase required). The best round trip deal from the airlines that currently fly the route (Northwest/Delta and American) is well over $300. The math reveals that Northwest and others have some soul searching and price cutting to do in order to stay competitive on the route.

And, since Southwest also announced 8 daily flights, it appears that there will be plenty of seat avialible for those who want to give the proverbial finger to the big boys and save some cash in the process. When service launches, Southwest will only be flying the one route between MSP and Midway. However, from Midway, Southwest flies to 47 cities nationwide.

[Thanks Rick Seaney]

OpenSkies Announces Post Election Fare Deals

by Josh Lew on

British Airways-backed upscale carrier currently flies two trans-Atlantic routes, JFK to Amsterdam and JFK to Paris Orly. A one-way BIZ class ticket on the Amsterdam route will cost $1050 if it is booked by November 21st. Fares to Orly will start at $1100 if booked by the same date. PREM+ (premium economy class) tickets start at $550 one-way.

Is this a good deal? It depends on how much you value your comfort. The PREM+ class seats are akin to business class seats on other carriers. They recline 140 degrees and offer 52 inches of leg room. Seats in the BIZ class recline a full 180 degrees. OpenSkies also offers full service including a concierge, food and drink, and in-flight entertainment.

Fliers who put more of a premium on price than comfort should be happy with the recent announcement that low-cost carrier Ryanair will be charging as little as 8£ once its trans-Atlantic service gets off the ground. Still, for what you get, you have to admit the the OpenSkies deal is a good value.

Who Wins and Who Loses in Delta-Northwest Merger?

by Josh Lew on

Gadling has been closely following the merger between air travel giants Delta and Northwest Airlines. The marriage of the two carriers was recently approved by the Department of Justice. But what does this mean for the people on the ground and in the air? Aside from seeing new color schemes on the staff and aircraft, there are all those frequent flier miles Northwest patrons have been saving. Jamie recently wrote about what to do with them. Customers stand to pay higher prices when the merger takes hold. Delta will be in a more dominant position than before. That usually means higher prices.

But what about the staff of Northwest Airlines? Here in Minneapolis, strikes by Northwest employees have been commonplace over the past few years. On the positive side, the merger will mean that Delta, which has recently been more stable than Northwest, will be in control. But job cuts are probably coming. Employees may find themselves cut from the company because their position has become redundant. Northwest will most likely see job cuts at their hub in Minneapolis, while Delta’s second tier hub in Cincinnati will lose out to Northwest’s Detroit base. So the airline’s employees will be working for a more stable company, if they can survive the job cuts. Because Delta has the upper hand in the whole process, most watchers expect Northwest workers will bear the brunt of the lay-offs.

[source]

Delta to start charging for the first checked bag but has more price reductions

by Jamie Rhein on

As Grant posted, Delta and Northwest just dropped that fee from ticket prices. However, in the now you have it, now you don’t score card of the just how much money will this flight cost me anyway game, Delta will start charging passengers $15 for the first checked bag. This isn’t happening today, so no need to head to the money machine for extra cash just yet.

Starting on December 5, you’ll be rolling over that fuel surcharge savings into paying for the bag when flying domestically. The second checked bag will cost $25. If you purchased your ticket on Wednesday (yesterday), you won’t be charged for the first bag, but will pay $50 for the second if your trip happens to be when the charge would go into effect.

The fee doesn’t apply to everyone though. First class, business class, SkyMiles Medallion members and WorldPerks Elite members will be able to check up to three bags–up to 70 pounds each, without paying the extra charge.

But, here are changes that add money to passengers wallets. Starting today:

  • purchasing tickets over the phone from a reservations sales representative is now $20 instead of $25
  • redeeming SkyMiles or WorldPerks award travel over the phone is also $20 instead of $25
  • the curbside check-in fee of $3 is also dropped

Delta Airlines is making these changes in order to be aligned with Northwest Airlines’ policies as part of the merger.

Another change that was implemented last week to match Northwest’s price structure is that Delta passengers can purchase better seat assignments in coach for $5 to $25. Only 10% of the seats fit into the “coach choice seats” category so its not like people who don’t want to pay extra will be left with the dregs.

In looking at these changes it seems that the intention of the merger is to do the best possible job keeping the passenger happy while making money for the airlines. The charges could have gone the other way and Northwest passengers could have found their fees going up.

[Check out this AP article for more details. Photo by Andrei Dimofte ]

Salvation: Northwest and Delta to drop fuel surcharges

by Grant Martin on

During that whole oil debacle this past summer, airlines were levying fees left and right to recoup some of the massive losses they were incurring to pay for jet fuel. Charges included paying for checked bags, preferred seats and worst of all, heavy fuel surcharges.

The addition of fuel charges when oil was expensive made disappointing sense to most, but what really irked many frequent flyers was the inclusion of award tickets in these fees. To most, an “award” ticket booked with miles should be as free as possible — after all, we earned these miles with our cold, hard cash and time, right?

Now, as oil has returned to normal levels, many analysts (including myself) predicted that the airlines would keep the surcharges in place just because they milked some cash out of the passenger. But to our surprise, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and many others reversed their fees and returned the fare structures to normal.

Today, Northwest and Delta followed suit. Now when booking overseas and domestic reward tickets, the $20 – >$100 fees that formerly angered so many passengers is gone. The best part of the change is that for some, I’m hearing the change is retroactive. So if you booked an award ticket in the last month or so and had to pay the fee, you can call and get your money back. This may be one of the first times ever that I have called the airlines generous.

Your mileage may vary on the return of your fees (depending on who you talk to and what your “status” is,) but it’s worth a ten minute phone call, right?

You can read the full details on Delta’s website here.