Sunday, April 11, 2010
Airlines Suffer Largest Losses in History
The headline says it all.
Last year the world wide loss for airlines was $11 billion. That's more the the annual budget for some small countries. And it is the old fashioned stand by traditional airlines that lost the most.
Amazingly there are always new people with lots of cash in their pockets lined up to invest in yet another money loser, although every new upstart believes they have a better formula.
And it is clear the formula of the low cost carriers is working better than the tradional airlines.
But is that just because the old carriers are doing something wrong?
Not entirely, although they can in part be blamed for their own woes.
More significantly however, the corporate traveller is yet to come back. They were the geese that laid golden eggs, paying for business class tickets at best and last minute full fare carriage at worst.
As the economy soured corporations put a huge vice on company travel.
And they put restrictions on the kind of fares their employees could use when they did go away on business.
The bigger they are the harder they fall.
British Airways is going through a terrible time and Japan Airlines couldn't make it without restructuring.
Major hotel chains are also suffering with the growth coming from the less expensive brands only, as the business traveller has become accustomed to simpler tastes in rooms and hotel service.
There are signs that some of the business travel is coming back but they are weak signs and it seems that only the oil producing nations are still into the high life travel North Americans had become accustomed to in the past.
Labels: Airline Travel, Airlines
posted by That Travel Guy @
6:58 AM
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Monday, April 5, 2010
Tour Operators Replace Skyservice with New Airlines...For this year anyway
The season was winding down to a close as Skyservice Airlines was pulled into bankruptcy.
It was impressive the way tour operators which were using Skyservice Airlines moved to bring their clients back home with hardly a blip beyond the first 24-48 hours.
Signature Vacations, Nolitours and Transat Holidays, and Sunwing Vacations along with the few flights Sunwing was using Skyservice found new carriers, and now they have announced new airline agreements for the next little while, and I suspect to the end of the sun destination season.
Nolitours and Air Transit will use a combination of their own Air Transat and Sunwing.
Signature Vacations will use a combination of Sunwing, their new parent so to speak, and Westjet Airlines.
Sunquest, while will use a combination of Canjet, EnerJet, Sunwing, and Westjet for the short term but have announced a long term deal with Jazz, the spinoff company of Air Canada.
Next year's carriers remain unclear but predictably Signature Vacations passengers will be flying on Sunwing aircraft for the most part.
Similarly Nolitours and Transat Holidays will likely use their own Air Transat more frequently.
Sunquest has lined up with Jazz on that long term deal and since it was parent company Thomas Cook that put the final nail in the Skyservice coffin, it is perhaps not surprising that they are the first to announce permanent arrangements.
There still will be some aircraft sharing in smaller markets but I think next year will bring much more of a vertical integration that in the past.
Labels: Airlines, Tour Operators
posted by That Travel Guy @
8:00 AM
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Sunday, April 4, 2010
Westjet Points Program Has Advantages
The following is from Saturdays Ask Journeys column. It fills in some of the information left out of my earlier blog.
A reader asked . I understand Westjet is coming up with its own reward points program. What will it be like and does it mean I can no longer book Westjet through my Airmiles reward points?
My response was...
You will still be able to use your Air Miles points for Westjet after their program is started. Air Miles will simply be buying seats form Westjet as they do for any number of airlines they currently use on behalf of their members.
However, you cannot collect Air Miles points directly from Westjet when you book with them. If you use an Air Miles credit card like the specific American Express or MasterCard partner cards to book your flights, you will collect points on that purchase the same as all other purchases on your card; but you will not be able to use your Air Miles Collector Card with Westjet.
What Westjet has done, and I think they will be extremely successful with it, is launch their own credit card in partnership with RBC.
It is a unique program whose points are cash, which can only be redeemed for Westjet flights or Westjet Vacations packages.
There are two different card options, each have a different annual fee and each returning a different percentage with every purchase.
Because it is a cash-based program, you will not be faced with blackout periods or advance booking requirements.
While cardholders cannot use the dollars collected for more than $500 on a Westjet Vacations package, there are no restrictions on flight purchases at all.
I don’t know what the future plans for the program are, but it looks like the most transparent program in existence at this time.
No product options, no seat sale restrictions, and no hassles based on flight availability. If it’s in the system you can book it.
Westjet may have a winner in this one.
Labels: Airline Travel, Airlines
posted by That Travel Guy @
5:45 PM
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Westjet's New Points Program Will be a Winner
Westjet Airlines, after a couple of hiccups, has finally introduced its new concept for reward points exclusively on their own.
They terminated, then re-instated their agreement with AirMiles, as they struggled to come up with the right mix for their own program.
I think the extra planning was worth it.
Don't confuse me with the details must have been one of their planning criteria. They have managed to come up with a plan that is absolutely simple.
Book your trips and receive points that convert easily to straigtforward cash when you want to use them later.
Book on their credit cards, the points go into the program and you can use them as cash as well. No blackouts, no blocking from sale and promotion fares, just straitforward cash.
The only limit is the $500 maximum on booking for their package vacation tour operator division Westjet Vacations.
It's fair, it's simple, and you are not going to be hit with the nickle and dime extra charges currently being attached to Aeroplan and Airmiles points bookings.
A tip of the hat to Westjet...Thinking of their customers as real people who have the capabiltiy of thinking and seeing throught the BS of others.
Labels: Airline Travel, Airlines
posted by That Travel Guy @
1:02 PM
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Friday, April 2, 2010
Requiem For An Airline
It happened quickly on Wednesday. Seemingly without warning Skyservice Airlines has passed away into aviation history.
For those closest to them, the travel agents and consumers who booked or traveled with them, the end seemed to come suddenly, without any early signs of ailment.
But below that brightly painted skin there had been pain and suffering known only to a few.
Air Transat, Canada's genuine two official languages airline, was slowing usurping Skyservice strength in Western Canada.
Skyservice, in some ways was not well liked by many. The entered the market by crowding their would be friends into the smallest of spaces, until protests convinced them to give up some leg room for those who came to their parties.
This early stinginess lived with them as a cancer for most of their existence. It may be one of the reasons Transat was able to push them around in the West.
The cruelest blow may have come from their most loyal friend, Signature Vacations.
Signature Vacations married the new young suitor in Canada, Sunwing Holidays, that brought with them an entire family of aircraft.
Once the marriage was consumated, Sunwing adeptly took over the family finances and family planning.
There simple was not room for any three ways in this committed relationship, and Skyservice was told to stop hanging around, because they had no future in the new household.
Economic circumstances outside were not helpful, but it did search for another dancing partner.
For a short period of time Thomas Cook, an established entrepreneur who kept Sunquest under his watchful wing, entered into a dating arrangement of some kind, even supporting the failing Skyservice with significant resources for a while.
But Skyservice had gotten itself into so much trouble that it seemed not able to excercise responsibility, even if it wanted to do so.
So the Wednesday morning of March 31, 2010, Skyservice Airlines, bankrupt and broken, having given up all hope for survival, died of a knife to the heart.
Left behind are several hundred employees who really cared. Left stranded were several thousands of Canadians who, after learning of the passing, could only hope for a new and quick saviour.
Replacements came quickly to the rescue. Skyservice will be remembered by many as someone who tried hard, but like others before it, could not make it through the dangers of the 'survival of the fittest jungle' in which it tried to compete.
It's epitath may well read, Here Lies Skyservice, With all its Warts it Tried to Be Loved by Everyone, But could not Muster the Strength to Battle the Worst of Storms.
Labels: Airlines
posted by That Travel Guy @
8:49 AM
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Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Who knew What about the Skyservice bankruptcy
Travel Agents across Canada were totally taken unaware with the sudden cease in operations of Skyservice Airlines.
There was no clue whatsoever. And we thought all the tour operators were taken aback as well.
But not all appears to be clear. It seems like Thomas Cook, owner of Sunquest Vacations, was the holder of a 8 million dollar plus loan, and when Skyservice missed a payment, are the ones who petitioned them into receivership.
Did they warn the other tour operators who also flew Skyservice.
At the present time Skyservice seems to have moved the fastest to get aircraft into place to bring stranded clients back.
We don't know how much they are working with their competitors who also have passengers stranded.
BUT...if they did not share their information, it seems to me that is a regrettable decision...given the black mark a bankruptcy with stranded passengers makes on the industry.
More will unfold and we will keep you informed.
Labels: Airlines
posted by That Travel Guy @
2:09 PM
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Skyservice goes Under...Nothing could be Worse
Remember Canada 3000. This is almost as bad save for one thing.
The people who are stranded are not Skyservice customers but rather customers of Signature Vacations, Sunquest Vacations, and Nolitours for the most part.
These tour operators will work hard to bring their customers back quickly. In fact early reports are that already 80% of flights have been repaced with new aircraft.
Many good people will be out of jobs from Skyservice. But the industry itself will hardly feel a blip in a week.
Skyservice was not always seen as the best airline by travellers. People found their pitch, the space between seats, too tight. But other than that they tried to do a good joy.
Travel is a competitive world and it is tough when we see a victum of survival of the fittest.
Labels: Airlines
posted by That Travel Guy @
10:30 AM
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Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Why People are so Loyal to Westjet
By airline standards Westjet Airlines is still a very young company.
On the face of it they followed the formula of other successful low cost carriers like Southwest in the States.
But they really did more, and it has kept paying dividends for them.
They found the means to co-opt there staff in a meaningful way.
What makes this amazing is that Westjet staff likely do not make the salaries that Air Canada employees do.
Yet there is a definite difference.
I contend it is not the people but the companies and their management philosophies.
In my opinion Air Canada employees are excellent workers whose jobs have been under fire for years.
Many will argue that their salaries went out of line in tough times.
But do we want our pilots to be under stress and in conflict.
Can Air Canada not find the means of making its employees owners.
And does every negotiation need to be leading to extreme demands and counterdemands.
I still view Air Canada as a great airline...and I think some steps by new management will take the company in a new direction.
But a spark needs to be lit on the employee side, not by money, but by appreciation, communication, and like Westjet, through a freedom to have fun
Labels: Airline Travel, Airlines
posted by That Travel Guy @
5:26 PM
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Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Westjet's Duffy Does it Right
When the surprise announcement came that Sean Duffy was stepping down as Chief Executive Officer, media across Canada jumped to the conclusion that he was being pushed out.
Now it is becoming clear that conclusion was far from the truth. At only 43 years old we don't expect people to retire from high level positions such as he held.
But as facts emerged we found out that his wife had just gone through a difficult period of health issues.
His children are very young.
And he decided to re-evaluate his priorities.
It's not often you see chief executives break down as they explain more fully their reasons for departure.
Nor is it often we see the outgoing CEO embrace shoulder around shoulder with the incoming one.
That is the case and I salute Duffy for putting his family first.
He certainly has made enough money and likely has enough Westjet shares to be comfortable for life...or at least until his children are older.
Even though Westjet profits have been lower, Duffy and others are now pointing out that Westjet profits have been far better than industry norms around the world.
Good Luck Sean in the next phase of your life.
Labels: Airlines
posted by That Travel Guy @
11:43 AM
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Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Airlines Passenger Rights Proposal Stinks
Driving back from my cottage in Lake of the Woods yesterday afternoon I listened to a representive of the 4 Canadian airlines talk about their alternative to the private members bill put forward by Winnipeg NDP MP Jim Malloway.
Mallowayintroduced a thoughtful program which had some teeth to it and to the surprise of the airlines, unlike other private member bills by opposition parties, this one seemed to be taken seriously.
So the airlines in an attempt to kill it before it gets much further have suggested they will work with the Transport people to establish criteria for their own bill of rights.
Listening to this speaker, and I am sorry I forgot his name, I thought I was going to vomit. Everything he said was based on 'we'll try'.
We'll try to get the lost luggage to you quickly. We'll try to not overbook or leave you hungry when we keep you waiting.
But iot's all we'll try suggesting somehow they weren't trying before.
Does it make you feel comfortable that they weren't trying to get your lost luggage to you before?
Well now they are going to try.
What a crock of you know what. While Malloways's bill could use some modification it is a far cry more impressive than what the airlines are countering with.
Perhaps we should all be calling our own MP's and letting them knwo we want something beyond, we'll try.
Labels: Airlines
posted by That Travel Guy @
10:09 AM
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Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Death Watch of an Airline
There is not much worse than the death watch of anyone or anything but when it is a national airline, it is very hard to take.
And once again Air Canada is on the brink as Montie Brewer resigns as President and CEO to be replace by a guy named Calin Ravinsescu.
Haven't heard of him? It may be because he may be more of a backroom numbers guy whose expertise includes corporate restructuring.
Things are bad at AC and the a step into bankruptcy protection may be not far off. This is the second time in 6 years.
I wonder if any lessons have been learned. Air Canada was once the pride of a nation until it forgot who really pays the bills and found increasingly innovative ways to irritate their customer base.
I want AC to survive. I want them to be profitable. And I want them to remember those of us who buy the tickets.
And I have never blamed the front lines. They have made their sacrifices. They have also paid the price but from the top down attitudes have quite frankly sucked the big one. And I have seen it first hand.
Let's hope for a renewed sense of service so we can return with a new sense of optimism. Let them deal with attitudes and the money will follow.
Labels: Airlines
posted by That Travel Guy @
12:15 PM
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Sunday, July 20, 2008
Would you Bus it instead of Paying to Fly
There are reports that Greyhound and Amtrac, the train service in the United States, are significantly up in passengers with the increase in fares and fees imposed by airlines.
Would you be one of those ready to save a few dollars by adding time to your journey?
I don't get it. Amtrac in the U.S. is a good service and weill connected, but for the time. You certainly would have difficulty doing this on business although I have found the time spent on trains conducive to work.
But by bus! How about an overnight stay in one of those out-of-the-way bus terminals where unsavory characters seem to make their home? How about the discomfort of not being able to get up and walk around much for 30 to 40 hours?
These are tough times to take an air flight at a reasonable cost but either I'll bite the bullet and spend the cash or stay at home thanks.
Labels: Airlines
posted by That Travel Guy @
11:10 AM
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Flight Attendants will fight for jobs
It seems that with all the cuts, two cities in particular will be hit hardest. Both Winnipeg and Halifax will see all of their flight attendant services lost with the closing of their stations.
Now their union CUPE is trying to make a stand. They have approached the Feds on the basis of a law that was in place which the airlines are trying to circumvent. The interpretation of the particular paragraphs relating to safety seem to be what the union is hinging its arguments on.
Considering the fact that in the future all our flight attendants may be coming from a different city to start work here does not give me confidence in the kind of fatigue they may be starting their shift with.
I don't know if that will compromise safety but if you have ever had the experience, I am sure you'll agree there is not much worse in the air than grouchy service.
Labels: Airlines
posted by That Travel Guy @
11:03 AM
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Saturday, July 12, 2008
Airlines Call for end of Speculation on Oil
Free market be damned say airline executives in America as oil crashes through the $140 barrel barrier.
Speculation in oil futures has always been around but apparently it is now at the 60% level, with the people buying never intending to take delivery.
So as airlines ponder ways to avoid bankruptcy by adding new charge upon new charge, they are also appealing to a higher power - the government of the United States - to put limits on speculation.
As it turns out we should likely all back their initiative since we have an economy going down the tubes, and we now find out much of it due to speculators, not real supply and demand.
If the governments of North America stepped in wouldn't the specualtors just move to a different country to make their purchases?
The idea the executives have may be sound but can it be delivered by any government? And at some point don't the speculators start to lose with a crash in oil prices? I think I need a lesson in world commodity realities because if it can happen in oil can't it happen in pork chops, and corn, and water?
Labels: Airlines
posted by That Travel Guy @
10:04 AM
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Is The Need for Flight Attendents Gone?
Over the past week we have seen a continuation of cuts at airlines, including Canada's own flagship, Air Canada. Many of these were directed at flight attendents across the country, with fatal cuts to those stationed in Winnipeg.
There is a proud history attached to the role of flight attendent. Before it was decided that identification of the job with the name Stewardess should be dumped on the garbage heap of history, came decades of quality service by highly qualified personel.
In the early days of consumer aviation and through all those decades, one had to come to the job with the designation of Registered Nurse attached to your resume. It was an epoch of consumer confidence that comes with the kind of service that is inherent in the nature of so many of those who chose the nursing profession; that of putting others first in a genuine desire to provide care and comfort.
But the word Stewardess obviously implied female, and it seemed that the male Stewards were management while the Stewardesses, mostly female, seemed to report to the guy in the tie. And more males were applying to become Stewardesses as criteria evolved. So
flight attendant emerged as the new nomer.
And there were lots of them on each flight. In a long era of service imperatives, airlines strove to outdo each other in how far they could go to provide in-flight comfort and care. But somewhere along the way that changed. And it was long before the oil crisis.
Profitablility, management surmised, could be increased by cutting many of those high paid hostesses out of the loop while still providing a satisfactory level of service to the lower class fare customers, while keeping the levels up for the cash cows seated in the business and first class sections.
With this latest round of service cuts we wonder if the day of the flight attendant, as we know it, is gone forever. The meals left quite some time ago, the blankets and pillows were removed a short while ago, and now even peanuts and pretzels are on their way out.
So what's a self respecting flight attendant to do? What is the value? There is now, and will always be, a need to keep passengers calm in case of an emergency to hopefully selflessly help them in a time of crisis.
But the high pay that is deserved for those who deliver a quality service may be left only for those in the forward cabin. And even those customers are shrinking as their companies insist they also look at low cost carriers for their business trips.
If you can get an airline executive to be honest with you they will tell you that most of the people who are sitting in business class today have not actually paid the tariff for being there. They are mostly frequent flyers whose frequent flyer status shows up on front desk computers as they are checking in. They come with upgrade passes earned by their status, or are just placed up front because of that designation.
That distiction earns them the exclusive doting of the last remaining, truly high service, flight attendant care.
So why pay the high wages for a job description that has long gone by the wayside and has been more permanently mangled over the past months?
Nothwithstanding the current job cuts, the next round of negotiations with the bosses will not be pleasant for them. The results I fear will lead to an era of applications from those who still hold on to a perception of what the position was. But as each month passes applicants will realize that the role has been marginalized to that of a car hop in the sky. The quality of those applicants will deteriorate along with the even greater deterioration of what was once proudly called in-flight service.
Labels: Airlines
posted by That Travel Guy @
6:55 AM
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Wednesday, July 2, 2008
The Saturday Night Stay is Back
It seems so long ago that some may not even remember when, in order to get the best price for airline travel, you needed to buy a ticket that included a Saturday night stay.
In this way the airlines could continue to fleece the goose that laid the golden egg, the corporate customer who seemed not to mind paying full fare. This was fine for a long time, but as corporate belts tightened, companies started insisting that their high flying employees stay over the weekend at their destinations. The cost of accomodation and food was still bringing significant savings to the bottom line.
Travellers with families hated these policies and looked for ways around the rules. With the help of willing and clever service-oriented agencies the idea of back-to-back tickets emerged.
In those days major carriers did not sell one-way tickets. Most fares were for return flights, so business travellers going to the same destination frequently just changed originating destinations in their ticketing alternately. By doing so from an airline perspective it seemed like they were always staying over the weekend, even though they were simply using a pair of tickets with staggered dates, thus enabling them to be home weekends and still procure their head offices the savings they insisted on.
Now once again the majority of U.S. airlines, like American, Continental, Delta, and UAL (Air Canada's most frequent code share partner) have re-institued the Saturday night stay. While at first blush it would seem that our own Air Canada will be quick to jump on the money grabbing bandwagon, in the States where the majors find themselves going head to head with low cost carriers, they have not instituted the policy.
So in Canada, with Westjet a constant thorn in the big guys' sides, we may not see that same broadstroke maneouver. Let's see what emerges out of the clouds over the next few weeks.
South of the border travel agents are already pouncing on the solution. One way tickets are now available on almost all flights. Forget the return fare and start buying two one way tickets. And when that is foiled, return to the back-to- back tickets the airlines hated.
The time has passed when there is a goose with a golden egg. the airlines just don't realize that yet.
Labels: Airlines
posted by That Travel Guy @
6:14 PM
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Thursday, June 26, 2008
Airline Empathy
It is not often that I feel sorry for the plight of airlines. They have done just about everything possible to turn off even their most loyal adherents. Bad service, inconsistent on-time performance, overbooking, fuel surcharges, and a policy of nickel and dimeing us to death have made us more and more frustrated with them.
Now they have moved to a new level of irritation by going from nickel and dime charges to multiple dollar grabs with strict overweight luggage fees, first as well as second bag charges, and now some airlines have even taken away the peanuts and pretzels, which in themselves were almost an insult to nutrition in the air.
But unfortunately airlines need the revenue to survive as oil prices go sky high. It is too bad that the airlines don't give us some credit for at least moderate intelligence. Instead of just increasing fares to cover costs as most businesses do when faced with rising business expenses, they try to hide the increases in these never-ending add-ons. They are afraid of us.
They believe we will not travel if we see the real price up front. They think that somehow we won't get it. That we won't notice how much we have actually paid for our travel if they kill us instead with a death of a thousand cuts instead of one quick slash, to paraphase an old Chinese proverb.
We need to support our airlines... especially in these troubled times. We need to try to keep the route services we have, and nothing will kill them quicker than low load factors. So I will continue to travel even though it hurts the pocketbook more than in the past.
I just wish the airlines would grow up and stop treating us like fellow children.
Labels: Airlines
posted by That Travel Guy @
11:00 AM
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