When it comes to technology, Alaska tends to be ahead of the curve when compared to other airlines. Their latest release? They now have a low fare calendar that shows you the lowest fares for an entire month for both your outbound and return.

This isn’t exactly a new idea; British Airways, for example, has had it for quite a long time and Southwest has had its “Shortcut” for some time as well, but anything that can be done to improve the booking process is a welcome addition.

You enter your search criteria just as you would on any site. Then when you select the low fare calendar, it brings up this view:

Pretty easy, and if your dates are flexible, it can save you good money. But your dates have to be really flexible for this to matter. I mean, if you’re putting together a weeklong summer vacation, you might be able to switch weeks, but I don’t know how helpful it is for the majority of people. That’s probably why it’s not the default search on their website.

For me, there are better ways to do this. I think you can get a lot of the benefit by using the implementation that JetBlue and Virgin America use. They show you the flights for the days you chose, but at the top they have tabs with the lowest price on the three days on either side of your date, like this.

But hey, this IS an improvement over what they have now, and I would like to commend them for actually showing the price including taxes on that first page. My only real complaint is that when you choose your flights, it takes you to the old page that shows the roundtrip flights by price. Personally, I prefer the search by schedule that shows lowest fares on all the outbound and then return flights. It’s easier to put options together. Fortunately, you can still get there by clicking again from the search by price page, but that takes yet another click.

So, nice work by Alaska, but nothing revolutionary here. I’d like to see something with more filtering options than just First Class so you can really find the lowest fare on flights that would work for you on each day. One of these days, we’ll get there.

I saw this post from Gulliver noting that Emirates has decided to remove all paper from the seatback pockets of its A380 to save weight, and I couldn’t stop laughing. It seems to me that if the airline was really that concerned about fuel burn, it could probably do without the onboard showers for First Class passengers.

The plane has 489 seats, and this moves apparently saves 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms) per seat. So that means they’ll save about 2,100 pounds per plane. In case you were wondering, the plane weighs just over 1.2 million pounds at its max takeoff weight, so this isn’t much. But that being said, it will save something, and every little bit counts.

Now, I understand that they’re planning on offering all that paper content on the video screen instead, so it does make sense, but I still can’t get past the whole shower thing. In case you missed it, Emirates will be offering showers for First Class passengers. It is said that the airline will have to bring 1 tonne of water for this purpose, and guess what? One tonne is 2,200 pounds. That’s effectively the weight of all those paper products that are being removed.

So, if you’ve crammed yourself into coach and your seatback video doesn’t work, you can take comfort in the fact that at least First Class passengers can shower onboard. Or not.

Once again, it appears that those north of the border have figured out a better way to raise money . . . charge for new services instead of ones that are currently free. The latest comes from WestJet, which has announced it will begin offering seat assignments for a fee.

WestJet currently uses a model we don’t see much of here in the US. You can’t reserve a seat at the time of booking on WestJet. But, when you check-in, you can pick your seat. This is different from Southwest which doesn’t ever assign a seat and just has you pick when you get onboard. Of course, check-in behavior for both airlines is the same. People try to check in as early as possible so they can get the best seats.

Now on WestJet, you will be able to reserve a seat any time prior to after booking for $10 (I assume that’s US or Canadian money.) For $15, you can reserve an exit row seat. Not a bad deal, huh? It’s funny how perspective changes how you view a fee.

If an airline currently offers me a seat assignment for free (or a first bag, or really anything), it makes it a lot more annoying when they take that away. It’s a reduction in value, and that doesn’t go over well. On the other hand, when an airline offers me something that previously wasn’t available, I think it’s great.

Legacy carriers in the US have a problem in that a lot more stuff used to be included in the fare than is the case with someone like WestJet. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Air Canada has done a great job of adding value by charging for things that previously weren’t available. Yes, they’ve charged for things that were free as well, but at least they’ve tried to add value.

So, is there anything bad about this? Well, I had one reader say that if you buy a sale fare, you can’t pay to reserve a seat. That doesn’t make sense. Charge more for sale fares if you’d like, but why turn away money? I’m not sure what the full story is there.

Other than that, if I fly WestJet, I’m probably happy about this, because I’d rather be able to select my seat ahead of time for that nominal fee. If someone doesn’t want to pay the fee, however, that person is probably not so happy because now all those people that pay the fee will take away seats that could have previously been had by checking in early. Still, it’s a net positive for the airline’s customers, and it’s a net positive for the income statement as well.

We knew it was coming. When Midwest said it would ditch its MD-80s, that had to mean a lot of flight cuts and schedule shuffling. Well, now we know the extent of the damage. The new schedule not only cuts 11 cities, but it shuffles a lot of service around as well. This all begins on September 8.

That day, Midwest service to San Diego, Ft Lauderdale, and Ft Myers will end completely. Midwest Connect will also drop Baltimore, Hartford, Louisville, Muskegon (Michigan), Raleigh/Durham, St. Louis, San Antonio, and Wausau/Stevens Point (Wisconsin). Madison (Wisconsin) will lose flights to Kansas City but it will keep Milwaukee flights.

Los Angeles and Seattle will lose Milwaukee flights, probably because the MD-80 was the only plane in the fleet that could make it nonstop. The 717 will serve both those cities from Kansas City instead. Here’s a crudely drawn map as only I (or an untalented 5 year old) could put together. The slashes are Midwest Connect drops and the “x’s” are Midwest drops.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Midwest is also expanding its Northwest codeshare to include many more city pairs as part of this. Anyone get the sense that Midwest is quickly slipping into irrelevance? They’ve already asked for draconian pay cuts from their employees, but part of me thinks the ones who keep their jobs are the unlucky ones. My guess is that as the airline strengthens its ties with Northwest, more and more Midwest service will slip away.

As you can see in the map above, the airline now is essentially connecting Milwaukee and Kansas City with a handful of cities on the coasts. Is that not something Northwest could build up overnight if they really wanted to? It may just be a matter of time.

Bombardier Kicks Off Farnborough by Launching the C-Series
Bombardier has talked about it for years, and now it’s official. The 110 to 130 seat C-Series has launched, and it’s promising massive fuel savings.

ExpressJet Ending Branded Service with Full Planes
ExpressJet may have announced the end of branded service, but those flights are flying full this summer, showing this may work one day with lower fuel costs.

Is US Airways “Intimidating” Its Pilots?
US Airways wants to use less fuel, so the airline is training its pilots to do just that. Is this stepping over the line?

Farnborough Order Counts
Farnborough Air Show is more than halfway through. That means it’s a good time to step back and see where the aircraft orders are coming from.

Delta To Keep Pinnacle Flying
Delaying entry into service of a handful of planes may have convinced Delta not to drop Pinnacle’s contract, but the reliability question still hangs in the air.

I know this isn’t entirely about the traveler experience, but I thought it would be a very interesting way to close the week nonetheless. I had the chance to speak with British Airways’ Head of Environment, Jonathon Counsell, yesterday. We spoke about a new program they’ve launched in cooperation with Rolls-Royce that will enable alternative fuels to be tested using engines on BA aircraft.

Basically, they’re inviting fuel suppliers to bring alternative fuels that are scalable and won’t have a negative impact on food, land, or water. Once they’ve got those narrowed down, they’ll run ground tests on the fuel and then eventually air tests as well. BA has always been very accessible, and I gladly took the chance to speak with them about this initiative. Read below for our discussion.

Cranky: What sort of interest have you seen from fuel suppliers to date?

Jonathon: We’ve had an ongoing debate with major fuel companies, so pretty much all the majors are interested. Three or four additional companies have approached us as well. We’re drawing up a short list of up to about a dozen companies.

Cranky: Other airlines, notably Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand, have run tests of biofuels recently. Would either of those fuels be eligible for testing in this program or do they not meet the criteria that you have set forth?

Jonathon: We’re not being overly prescriptive in terms of a particular fuel. It has to be what we call a drop-in fuel, meaning it has to work with existing technology. It has to be able to power the engines without modifying them, and it must work with existing supply technology. Also, it can’t compete with food, land or water supplies. I believe the Virgin fuel may not qualify because it competed for food crops. Apart from that, we’re not going to overspecify. We’ve intentionally called it alternative fuel instead of biofuel because it will be difficult for biofuel to meet those conditions because of the conflict with food or rainforest devastation. That being said, we’re not ruling out biofuel.

Cranky: Are there any incentives being offered to encourage fuel suppliers to participate? Is there a prize of some sort?

Jonathon:The big incentive is that any company that can supply fuel meeting the criteria will have a massive prize. Every airline around the world will want to buy it.

Cranky: What will you consider to be a successful test? Are there specific levels of fuel economy and emissions that must be reached for you to deem this a success?

Jonathon:We will lay out broad performance criteria. It needs to be commercially viable but we haven’t specified what that means yet.

Cranky: Are there any partners in this study beyond you and Rolls Royce? Have you involved any third party scientific organizations to oversee the data collection and interpretation?

Jonathon: No. Currently it’s just Rolls-Royce and ourselves. There will be a joint assessment between us. We’ll look at whether we need external experts on this or not. Rolls works with a number of universities, and so do we, and we’ll be looking at a number of contacts in the scientific field.

Cranky: You say testing will be complete by March 2009, but how long do you expect it to take before the results are finalized?

Jonathon:Quite shortly afterwards. Testing will start in January and it will take 4 to 6 weeks. Published results will be available shortly after the end of March.

Cranky: Will you be sharing the results of your study publicly?

Jonathon: Yes, we will be making the results public.

Cranky: What sort of response have you had from the community so far?

Jonathon: It’s been a very positive response from the community. We deliberately launched this prior to Farnborough and it’s certainly been a big topic of discussion.

Cranky: Have you spoken to any of your other partners about participating, like American Airlines?

Jonathon: Yes, we’ve had a couple of early conversations with American Airlines and certainly we’ll pick up on those.

So there you have it. It’s an interesting way to put this together. The idea is basically to say, “Hey, you got some good fuel? Come talk to us and we’ll let you test it on one of our engines for free.” I’ll be looking forward to seeing the results.

Am I the only one who thinks this whole boarding pass advertising thing is a little creepy? It’s not the concept that bothers me. You want to throw some ads on my boarding pass? Go ahead. It’s the fact that they’re using my demographics to target ads that makes me nervous.

The basic idea is that right now, when you print your boarding pass at home, it’s just a boarding pass. So, American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, United, and US Airways have now all partnered with a new company called Sojern that will sell ad spots on your boarding pass and mask it by offering weather information. Of course, the spin is that this makes life easier for the traveler. Whatever. I’ve never had trouble clicking on Weather Underground to get my own weather, but if you want to put it on there . . . fine.

None of that bothers me. What bothers me is something that I haven’t really seen talked about. Yes, the company admits that it’s targeting based upon where you’re going, and others have mentioned that. Well duh, that makes sense, and I don’t mind them sharing that information. But, if you click on the sample boarding pass (PDF), it states “Sojern’s new media delivers tailored advertising messages based on travelers’ unique itineraries and demographics.”

Hold on here. How are you getting my demographic information? Is the airline sharing it with you if I’m logged in to an account when I check in? I don’t like that at all.

Sometimes, it pays to have good timing. A fellow airline dork came across a very interesting message on the JetBlue website. Unless there’s some sort of technical glitch, it appears that JetBlue will be starting up a Portland (Oregon) focus city on October 9. Flights will begin that day to Long Beach, Austin, Chicago/O’Hare, and Las Vegas. Don’t believe me? Head to jetblue.com or just take a look at this screen shot.

I tend to think that the IT team screwed up and put this up there too early. My guess is that we’ll see an announcement as soon as tomorrow, but really who knows? Those other flights on there have already been announced. Richmond to Orlando came out yesterday, White Plains to Tampa came out today, and so did Washington/Dulles to three new sun destinations.

So, I’d imagine we’ll see the announcement that the airline is going to bump up service in the Rose City come out very soon. This is an interesting move, and Alaska won’t be happy. Last time someone tried this, I believe I was able to fly a Delta MD-11 up to Portland from LAX. Ok, so that was more about Delta creating a Pacific gateway, but this is still not exactly a place full of successful airline moves.

One thing I’m curious about is the Long Beach flights. Where did that slot (or slots) come from? My first guess is San Jose, because there have been some low fares in there lately. Something tells me business hasn’t been so great. But maybe it will come out of the long haul world instead. Time will tell.

UPDATE 7/16 @ 814a: I’ve received word that only Portland to Long Beach will be starting. The press release will be going out soon. That means the others are connecting opportunities. Two daily flights - the first starts October 9 and the second on November 2.

Southbound
PDX 730a LGB 945a (begins 10/10)
PDX 210p LGB 425 p (begins 11/2)

Northbound
LGB 1110a PDX 135p (begins 11/2)
LGB 505p PDX 730p (begins 10/9)

Also, I’m told that slots will come as a result of the usual “pulldowns from Long Beach in the off-season (mostly transcons).”

Has anyone had the chance to check out Yapta yet? The site originally launched as a way to see if the price of a ticket you had purchased had gone down. Since some airlines will give you a credit if the fare goes down, this could be a handy little tool to help you save some money. When it first launched, it required you to download a browser plug-in to work, but now you can get Yapta on the web. Unfortunately, there were some kinks that made the site unusable initially, but while some of those have been fixed, there’s still a ways to go before this is a helpful tool.

I decided to go to Yapta (Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant) and put in four itineraries I had already purchased to see what I could find.

Northwest to Indianapolis
This one ended before it started. You can’t check Northwest flight information on Yapta (maybe they won’t give you credit for a lower fare?), so I moved on.

United to Indianapolis
By entering my confirmation number and last name, Yapta originally told me that fare had gone down, but that’s because it saw our total price (for two people) as the per person price. Bzzzzt, no good. Now that’s been fixed, and it’s saying that the fare has gone up from $242 to $349. That’s still not quite right. I go on to United.com and it tells me that the price is $370 for that flight right now. So I’m not sure where this is coming from. True, the outcome is the same, but it won’t necessarily always be that way.

JetBlue to San Jose
I figured the third time would be the charm, right? Not quite. Yapta came back saying that the price has gone up from the $109 we paid to $149 per person so there’s nothing to gain here. But just out of curiosity, I checked JetBlue.com and the price is actually $139. Still nothing to gain, but it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence when the fares are not accurate on every itinerary I try so far.

Alaska to Seattle/Portland
This one I thought would be interesting. I’m flying out of Long Beach, going to Seattle, and then flying back from Portland to Orange County. This time, it was just me traveling so there was no issue of viewing two fares as one accidentally. The result? It says that the fare has gone from $310.57 all the way up to $744. Whoa, not so much. I did pay $310.57 (with a % discount certificate), but the current fare is $324. For those keeping score, Yapta was 0 for 3 in getting the correct current price of the ticket. Not good.

Bottom Line
The site has a great idea, but man are there problems. I’m glad to see they’ve worked out the kinks on the fare initially paid. That’s working perfectly now, but every single time it returned the wrong “new” fare that was currently available. Both components need to be right for this site to be successful. Without that component, I still find myself going to the airline website to double-check to actual fare, and that makes Yapta not very useful. Once they solve these problems, it’ll be worth a return visit.

Have you seen what’s been going on with Aerolineas Argentinas lately? I hadn’t, actually, until a reader brought it to my attention. Though Alitalia is still the worst airline ever, it appears that Aerolineas Argentinas is jockeying to be next in line.

Let’s start with a brief timeline.

2001: Aerolineas Argentinas is bankrupt; Spanish firm Grupo Marsans picks them up
2002-2007: All hell breaks loose
2008: The government decides to take the airline back into its own hands

That explains it all, right? Ok, maybe not. All sorts of charges have been thrown against Grupo Marsans (read reply #6). On one hand, there have been some very questionable decisions. How about the brilliant move to order A380s for the airline? Yeah, not so brilliant, right? Like there’s any need for an airplane that big on any route out of Buenos Aires . . . .

But that’s likely just the tip of the iceberg here. The allegations that Marsans was effectively manipulating Aerolineas Argentinas to benefit its Air Comet subsidiary sounds like shades of Frank Lorenzo’s Texas Air’s handling of Eastern Airlines.

Of course, to truly compete for worst airline ever, you have to have some serious labor strife. Don’t worry about that one, because these guys have been striking on a regular basis. (I suppose that shouldn’t be surprising, especially with the news that the company is falling behind on salaries.)

So far, we have all the ingredients for a strong candidate for worst airline ever except for one . . . government interference. But wait, we have that as well! Since it’s not illegal like it is in the EU, it’s not nearly as much fun as watching the Italian government, but hey, it’s still pretty good.

Earlier this year, the government struck a deal with Marsans to reduce its stake from 95% to 35%. The government will take 20%. Um, ok. But apparently that’s not enough. They’ve also forced state-regulated fare levels. At least they also subsidize oil, I guess. But somehow they’ve still lost $100m this year.

Where is this leading? A full nationalization, of course. The government has now asked the courts for an administrator to take over the airline, and a takeover is being negotiated

So let me get this straight. The airline already has fixed fares, subsidized fuel, and they can’t make money? I’m sure the government will be able to straighten this one out. Yikes. Marsans really isn’t happy, but maybe they should be. This sounds like a no-win situation.

For the people of Argentina, the best they can hope for here is that their country follows in the footsteps of Ecuador and Peru . . . let LAN expand significantly and run a real airline that serves the country well.