American Airlines: open your wallet

by Tom Johansmeyer on

When you have to combat a brutal economic downturn, there are few choices. The airlines are cutting costs, cutting seats and looking for new sources of revenue. But, none of this compares to doubling down on the old revenue streams they’ve already devised! Why work so hard trying to come up with new ideas, when you already have old ones? So, get ready for bag-checking to get more expensive on American Airlines.

Your first bag is going to cost $20 for flights purchased after August 13, 2009 – for travel in the United States and territories (oh, and Canada). This is a 33 percent increase from the current $15. If you want to check a second bag, you’ll pay $30 instead of $25, an increase of 20 percent. If you have sufficient status on American, you won’t have to pay a cent for your two checked bags. Business-class and first-class passengers are in the clear, too, along with the proletarians in coach who paid full fares.

The fall of OpenSkies?

by Grant Martin on

OpenSkies, the all-business-class subsidiary of British Airways has always been fighting an uphill battle. At only one year old, the airline has always struggled to earn and maintain a customer base. Now with demand on the wane and airlines cutting back, OpenSkies might soon be on the chopping block.

The model, it seemed, was valid. A smaller plane with all business and first class seats could consume less fuel, sell fewer seats at a slightly higher price and still make a profit. But as Eos, Silverjet and Maxjet all showed, there just might not be enough demand for business class seats to warrant an entire widebody aircraft full of them.

Now, with British Airways launching business-class service between London (LCY) and New York on a tiny A318 aircraft, the niche crowd may move to that product. That leaves very little space for OpenSkies. According to The Guardian, this means that BA may want to sell of or cancel the service.

No official word has come from the BA, naturally, so the airline may survive yet. Having personally flown the service a few times, I hope they make it. But in a market as tight as this, the top of the hill is a long way off.

Business travelers: five pre-flight rituals

by Tom Johansmeyer on

When you take that early Monday morning flight, you know you’re kicking off a marathon. If you’re a business traveler, you’ll have five days of meetings, late nights and team dinners that deprive you of sleep, push your personal relationships to the periphery and generally dominate every ounce of your life. This is the path the business traveler has chosen. So, any measures that reduce anxiety and otherwise make life easier are priceless.

For me, this meant developing a pre-flight ritual that brought me a little more sleep-time, helped me remember to pack everything and ensured that I’d have nothing to worry about once I stepped out the door.

1. Pack to run: Don’t put off packing your bags. Get everything ready the night before, and leave your luggage by the door. Put your wallet, keys and cash in a place where you’ll remember them. I used to put them on my laptop keyboard. Since I checked my e-mail before leaving, I knew I’d see these important items.

2. Check in the day before: You’ll probably get a better seat, and you’ll save time at the airport. Print your boarding pass at home, and put it with your keys and wallet.

3. Get your cables together: Laptop power supply, iPod cable, Blackberry or cell phone charger … bundle them all up in advance. Forgetting this stuff isn’t a disaster, but it is a colossal annoyance.

4. Develop a path: Retrace your steps every Monday morning. For example: bed to coffee maker (turn it on) to shower. Grab coffee after shower, and take it to living room. Get dressed, drink coffee, check e-mail. Pack laptop, and pick up bags by the door. Leave.

5. Stick to your usual transportation: Find one town car company and learn to love it. Use it every week. The company will get to know you, leading to the predictability you crave. And, as it develops a track record with you, you’ll trust it more. That’s one less thing to worry about!

The top 5 myths about getting upgraded

by Grant Martin on

Business class. The promised land in the front of the aircraft with wider seats, free drinks, meals and checked bags. Who wouldn’t want to take the opportunity for a free upgrade once in a while?

Yes, it is possible to purchase a coach ticket, work the system and get upgraded to the front of the airplane. Is it easy? No. Is there an inexpensive shortcut? Not really. Contrary to many empowering articles out there, upgrades are a tightly controlled, regimented benefit that are doled out to only a few deserving passengers.

Many of the oft repeated tricks to sneaking up front have expired with new technology, prolific resources on the web and plain old common sense. So we’ve compiled the top five myths about getting upgraded to save you time and embarrassment at the airport. Read on for the details.1. Dress to impress: We’re well past the days when passengers dressed up for the pleasure of flying on an airplane. Any ticket agent, gate agent or flight attendant knows that people from all walks of life fly in business class. There are days when the Fortune 500 CEO wears a hooded sweatshirt and buys a first class ticket and days when the neighborhood plumber has enough miles to upgrade. Either way, if you dress nice thinking that you’ll be selected for an upgrade, you’re probably just going to be uncomfortable in coach.

2. See an empty seat? Grab it. Flight attendants have manifests that show which passenger is sitting in which seat and whether or not they got upgraded (haven’t you ever seen Executive Decision?). So if you happen to find a seat up front that hasn’t been taken and are able to slip in, they’re going to notice during the preflight checks and you’re going to get the boot.

3. Ask the flight attendant for an upgrade. Flight attendants have no control over who gets upgraded when – there always might be one last business class passenger coming down the jet bridge right before departure, so they can’t give away a seat. After the boarding door is closed? Maybe if you’re discreet, but with everyone watching, the flight attendant will most definitely say no.

4. Ask the ticket agent to put a special code on your e-ticket. This just doesn’t happen. Any request for upgrades are managed by a different system that’s independent of your reservation. If they add anything to your ticket or boarding pass it’s going to be SSSS.

5. Be charming and polite. While airline employees will surely appreciate your kind behavior, any deviation from the set upgrade process shows favoritism and is something that the agent could get nailed for. Shouldn’t you always be charming and polite anyway?

It’s important to remember that behind paid upgrades, the entire engine behind getting moved up front is fueled by elite status, the preferential treatment that one earns after flying a certain high volume of miles — usually over 25k. If you’re close or you think that you’ll get close to that limit this year, you should check out Gadling’s Guide to Mileage Running.

So the fact of the matter is, 90% of upgrades are managed by a computer system that automatically upgrades those who pay for an upgrade and elite passengers that worked hard to earn them. The other 9.5% of upgrades are handled by gate agents at the airport who sweep up any elites or paid upgrades that fell through the cracks. That remaining 0.5%? That’s your window of opportunity. Better think of a creative approach.

British Airways scrapping first class on new planes

by Sean McLachlan on

It’s official, we’re in trouble.

British Airways has decided to remove first-class seating on four of its new flights, The Guardian newspaper has reported. The carrier is also considering removing the service from other flights.

The move comes after a fall in demand for first-class seating, brought on by the economic downturn, which apparently is even affecting people who will pay three to ten times more for a ticket just so they get to wear special British Airways pajamas and dine on lobster. Another problem is increased competition from business class, which offers many of the same amenities such as early boarding and seats that convert into miniature beds. In these hard economic times, even millionaires are willing to go without jammies and lobster if they at least get premium seating and don’t have to go to the bathroom with the middling classes.

British Airways needs to find ways to cut costs. Demand for both first and business class has fallen sharply, and it has just reported a 401 million pound ($638 million) loss even though it is still adding routes. A new direct flight from Heathrow to Las Vegas will not have first class seating.

Existing flights will keep their first-class seating at the moment because company officials state that the cost of tearing out the section and replacing it with business class or coach seating would be too expensive. This could have a good effect on the more proletarian passengers–because with more empty seats in the posh section, there would be a greater chance of getting upgraded. The potential bonanza may not last long, however, because BA might follow the lead of other carriers like KLM and Delta and scrap first class on transatlantic routes altogether.