United now lets you redeem miles for one-way trips

by Amy Chen on

Don’t have enough miles to book that free ride? United is the the latest airline to let frequent flyers redeem their hard-earned points for one-way trips. United’s One-Way Awards program, which was announced today, mimics American Airlines’ One-Way Flex Awards, which were introduced in May 2009.

Under the One-Way Awards program, you can now book a Mileage Plus award trip starting at just 12,500 miles–or half of what a domestic round-trip flight requires. Even if you don’t travel very often, this increases your chances of racking up enough miles for an award ticket, especially if you use a credit card to earn even more points.

Frankly it has always annoyed me that the major carriers penalized you for buying a one-way ticket by jacking up the price. Low-cost airlines, on the other hand, are great for booking one-way legs. I’ve flown from New York to San Francisco on JetBlue but then I’ve booked my return on Virgin America. I’ve found that by mixing and matching, the schedules can be more convenient if I pair the low-fare carriers.

Tip: If a free round-trip ticket still eludes you, try cobbling together an itinerary using a one-way award ticket on United or American, plus the affordable one-way prices on airlines like JetBlue, Virgin America, and Southwest.

Personally, the One-way Awards program now gives me an incentive to use up my remaining United points, which lately has fallen short of the 25,000 round-trip benchmark, before they expire.

Galley Gossip: How to prepare for a flight attendant interview

by Heather Poole on

Dear Heather,

I’m interested in becoming a flight attendant. I was wondering if you could give me a little advice as to what to expect in an interview, how should I prepare for it, etc. I would really appreciate it.

Donna

Dear Donna,

Whatever you do, do not wear a canary yellow suit to the interview. That’s exactly what I did the first time I interviewed with a major airline. Needless to say, I didn’t get hired. Not that that was a bad thing because I wound up graduating from college instead. Not to mention, I prefer the airline I work for now. That said, education is key. There aren’t many airlines hiring these days so competition is fierce. Only the most qualified will succeed. Since the aviation industry isn’t as stable as it once was, it’s always a good idea to have something to fall back on.

DRESS THE PART: If you want to become a flight attendant, try looking like one. Start by wearing a blue or black suit to the interview. Skirt length should be no more than an inch above the knee and pantyhose are a must. Keep fingernails clean and polished and long hair pulled back or styled conservatively. Jewelry should be kept to a minimum – no dangly earrings! Do not overdo the makeup. Think fresh and neat.

BE YOURSELF: First impressions count. It’s a nerve wracking experience, but try to relax and don’t forget to smile. Introduce yourself to other candidates in the room. Airlines prefer applicants who are friendly. So be yourself, enjoy the moment, and laugh! Have fun.
CONFIDENCE IS KEY: If your experience ends up being anything like mine, you’ll find yourself participating in a group interview with about four other candidates a lot like yourself. It’s important to make a good impression. Keep it positive whenever answering a question, especially when discussing yourself or any past employers and coworkers. Also, don’t be the last person to answer each question. Be confident. Raise your hand.

TALK THE TALK: Use the phrase “good customer service” and the word “flexible” as often as possible. Flight attendants spend more time with passengers than anyone else in the industry, so airlines are looking for applicants with experience in customer service. Try sharing stories about the times you provided good customer service. Because a majority of flight attendants do not get based where they live right out of training, and because a flight attendant’s schedule is constantly changing and many of us are on-call for days, even months, at a time, it’s very important to remain “flexible.” Show examples of that as well.

SLOW DOWN: All I remember during my one-on-one interview fifteen years ago was reading a safety demo announcement out loud. While I know you can read, otherwise you wouldn’t be here reading this, doing it out loud in front of a stranger who does not crack a smile while analyzing your every move and scribbling notes on a clipboard, is totally different. Remember to slow down and add a little life to what could be a long, drawn out, monotone speech. Before the interview takes place, try practicing reading magazines, books, whatever, out loud at home.

BESIDES TRAVELING AND MEETING NEW PEOPLE…. why do you want to become a flight attendant? Trust me, that is a question you will have to answer. So come prepared. I think I may have said something about looking for a career with a reputable company that I would be proud to work for. And then I’m sure I went on to say something about how much I enjoyed providing good customer service and how appealing I found the flexible lifestyle, since I wasn’t really a 9 to 5 kind of person. Two other questions I can remember were, “How did you prepare for the interview?” (I bought a navy blue suit and a pair of navy blue heels) and “what question did you think we would ask, but didn’t – answer it” (When can you start training – now).

BUH-BYE, ADIOS SAYONARA, SEE YA LATER: Flight attendants are expected to welcome and say goodbye to each and every passenger while boarding or deplaning a flight. Wouldn’t hurt to do the same to the person(s) conducting the interview process. Thank the interviewer for their time and tell him or her you look forward to seeing them again.

Let’s say you score an airline interview, but for whatever reason you aren’t hired. Don’t give up. Keep on reapplying. Or try another airline. My friend Shirley who worked for a charter airline applied to a particular commercial airline eighteen times – eighteen times! – and never did get hired. Did I mention she speaks three languages and is an amazing flight attendant? Finally Shirley applied to my airline and they hired her on the spot. Two weeks later she attended flight attendant training. Another flight attendant I know attended a yearly flight attendant open house like a contestant on American Idol. Five years after his first open house interview he got hired. Just goes to show, you never know. Just keep on trying.

Hope that helps, Donna. Good luck to you!

Heather Poole

Got a question? Email Skydoll123@yahoo.com

Photos courtesy of GeorgeParilla’s and Changing_Name

BA flights attendants trash good wine in protest

by Katie Hammel on

According to the UK’s Telegraph, the latest casualty of the problems between British Airways’ cabin crews and the company is vintage wine. Those involved in the alcohol abuse were members of the British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association (Bassa), which is part of the union that represents the airline’s 13,000 cabin crew. They say they destroyed the wine as a symbol of “passive resistance” against some of the new practices that British Airways has instituted.

The unhappy employees had planned on striking over the Christmas holiday, but thankfully, the strike was blocked by a judge.

Apparently, the flap all started when BA introduced some new cost cutting measures – which included firing hundreds of employees and freezing pay for current workers. As a result, the “disaffected” workers have stopped any of their own money-saving efforts onboard the airplanes. One worker was quoted in the Telegraph article as saying that “No-one is doing anything to help save costs any more. Whereas we used to keep unfinished bottles of wine in first-class to save money, now they’re routinely poured down the sink.”

Let’s hope the union and British Airways can resolve their issues soon. I hate to see good wine go to waste.%Gallery-76818%

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Lies, damned lies, and airfare statistics

by George Hobica on

Recently, I was asked by a news service if Airfarewatchdog would be interested in providing airfare statistics on various routes to compare average airfares from month to month and year to year.

I don’t think this was the answer they were hoping for, but this is what I told them:

It’s really, really hard to get accurate, meaningful airfare statistics. In fact, it’s pretty much impossible. There are so many different types of fares sold, such as consolidator (bucket), corporate, and negotiated fares, in addition to published airfares. And airlines do not divulge, for competitive reasons, how many seats they actually sell at what fares on what routes. The airlines’ published fares are public record, and they do report overall revenue figures for the airline as whole, but ticketed fares route by route, or airport by airport? My friends who are airline insiders tell me it’d never happen.

As Singapore Airlines spokesperson James Boyd explains, “When an airline launches a sale, it’s an attempt to grab market share. An airline would never publicize how many seats were sold at what price on what routes, because it would give competitors too much information.”

The best one can do is to compile sales data from large ticket sellers, such as Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz, route by route, and figure out what consumers actually paid for their tickets over various time periods. Still, this data will not include all fares sold to the public (in addition to the fare types mentioned above, airlines are increasingly selling special promo code fares on their own web sites in order to drive web traffic and undercut the third party online agencies). And none of the online travel agencies sell Southwest Airlines’ or Allegiant Airlines’ fares, so that’s another missing piece of the puzzle.Most importantly, beware of anyone offering fare statistics if they do not sell seats. There is a huge difference between published fares and ticketed fares.

“Sold versus published does provide a better window into the real world,” confirms airline industry consultant Bob Harrell of New York City-based Harrell Associates. “It’s just harder to get [the] data.”

For example, in January American published fares from Delta’s US hubs to Lima, Peru for $330 return, including all taxes. These routes are normally twice that or even higher. A source that merely tracks the ups and downs in published airfares might report that fares on that route came down over 50% in January 2009. But is that accurate? How many seats were sold at $330 during this unadvertised sale? How many at $500? How many at $600? How many were sold through consolidators on that route in January? Just because the published fare went down to $330 for a brief period, doesn’t mean that the average fare on that route paid by consumers was $330. There’s simply no way of really telling, unless you can aggregate data from each airline serving the route, and the airlines are not going to share this information, because it will give competitors too much information.

As a journalist, it makes me cringe when I see a news report stating that “Airfares went down 15% year over year,” without revealing the methodology for determining that statistic and all sources providing data. Was that published fares or ticketed fares? If ticketed, what was the source? If published, how was the statistic calculated? And did this include taxes and all ancillary fees paid by passengers on that route, from that airport, or during that time frame? Unless a source or journalist shares all this background information, airfare statistics are, if not exactly lies, meaningless and misleading.

George Hobica is the founder of Airfarewatchdog™, the most inclusive source of airfare deals that have been researched and verified by experts. Airfarewatchdog compares fares from all airlines and includes the increasing number of airline-site-only and promo code fares.

Head to the bulkhead – Airline tip

by Gadling Staff on

If you think all airline seats in the coach cabin are the same, you’re wrong. Bulkhead seats (the first row of the cabin) offer more space than others, and you can get them without spending extra money.

These seats offer extra room and are frequently left open by airlines for disabled passengers and their families. If you fall into one of those categories, head up to the counter as soon as you get to the gate and ask for those seats.

If no one in your party is disabled, still go to the counter and ask if the bulkhead seats have been claimed on your flight and if you can have one.

Editor’s Note: these seats won’t have space under them for stowage, so all bags must go in the overhead bins. If you’re a constant “belongings-checker,” these seats may not be for you. Also, the tray tables may be less useful than the normally un-useful tray tables, due to their design.