Open Skies, the new airline from BA, is getting ready to launch flights between New York and Paris in the next couple of weeks, and we’re slowly learning more about their service. In last week’s blog post, Dale Moss, head honcho, announced that the airline will have a concierge service for those who fly with the airline.

Unlike Air New Zealand, this won’t be an onboard concierge. No, this will be a service on the ground to help you plan your trip. Dale has apparently gone and hired as many people with fancy pants names like Aurore, Chantal, and Stellan as he could find to do the job. I’m actually a little surprised to see they’ve hired 10 people to do this – that seems to be way more than enough for such a small airline.

So how does this make sense for the airline? Well, it’s a differentiator. It provides a great resource for people – almost like having a travel agent at your beck and call, and that’s a nice benefit. Depending upon how Open Skies handles it, the airline should benefit monetarily as well. If they book you a room, they should be able to get a commission of some sort. If it can pay for itself, then it’s a no-brainer.

Word on the street is that Southwest is having computer problems right now. I’m hearing reports that online check-in isn’t working (or at least not working 100% of the time) and that the airports are crazy. Well, so far I’ve only heard that Phoenix is crazy, but it would stand to reason that others may be in similar shape. Southwest Reservations doesn’t have any info.

Does anyone out there know anything more?

Update: Sounds like there was a computer outage at some point today, but it was pretty short and it’s fixed now. All is well.

As my wedding quickly approaches, the trips up north to do wedding stuff seem to get more frequent. This time, we crammed a million different things into two days, and really, I’m exhausted. But, I have to commend JetBlue for an almost flawless performance. The flights were on time, the legroom was great, the flight attendants were excellent, and we had an welcome surprise on the return. For $139 roundtrip per person, I have no complaints. (And I wouldn’t have had any complaints at a higher fare either.) If this is why they say they no longer “fly” but rather “jet,” then I guess I much prefer “jetting.”

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June 7, 2008
JetBlue #246 Lv Long Beach (LGB) 11a Arr Oakland (OAK) 1218p
LGB: Gate 3, Runway 30, Dept ~On Time
OAK: Gate 9, Runway 29, Arr ~On Time
Aircraft: N520JB, Airbus A320-232, “Blue Velvet”, ~90% Full
Seat: 13A
Flight Time: 55m

How often can you leave your house 1 hour before departure time and still have 10 minutes to sit at the gate and wait? That’s the beauty of Long Beach Airport for us. We left one hour prior to departure with our boarding passes already in hand. Security took 10 minutes (longest I’ve ever seen at LGB), and we were at the gate with plenty of time to spare. The terminal was a madhouse. I really can’t wait for them to build the new one.

We boarded early and took our seats just behind the exit row. Unfortunately, only 10 of the 37 channels actually worked on the TV on this flight, but hey, 10 channels is still plenty to keep me entertained for an hour. That being said, the map is NOT one of those channels. Even with the upgrade to the new Google Map, it’s really pretty weak. You don’t get much info, there’s a ton of advertising on the channel, and the airplane is so big that it takes up half the state. See the picture at right to see the most useless map – the one that was zoomed way out. Fortunately, some were better than this but they still were lacking.

Our flight was a perfect example of how crowded LA airspace is. They held us at the end of the runway for a couple minutes so they could space us properly with LAX flights. Then we departed and headed slightly northwest, holding at 9,000 ft in what felt like slow motion until we turned north over Malibu. Once around Simi Valley, we finally throttled up and climbed on our way to Oakland.

The flight attendants came through with a choice of blue chips or chocolate chip cookies (which were proudly 70% organic – huh?). Then, it was time to descend. We touched down, made it to the gate, and got off the plane in less time than it took to take the bus to the new rental car center, which I believe is located in Berkeley. (Translation: It’s friggin’ far away.)

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June 9, 2008
JetBlue #251 Lv Oakland (OAK) 320p Arr Long Beach (LGB) 443p
OAK: Gate 9A, Runway 29, Dept ~On Time
LGB: Gate 4A, Runway 30, Arr ~On Time
Aircraft: N646JB, Airbus A320-232, “Bravo Lima Uniform Echo”, ~99% Full
Seat: 20F
Flight Time: 1h5m

After a morning up in the Napa area, we headed back down to Oakland for our flight home. We dropped our car off at the rental car center and went to the terminal. (Note: Fox Rent a Car tells us that a PT Cruiser is anywhere from an Economy to a Mid Size, so don’t bother renting a Mid Size from these guys – you’ll pay more for the same car.)

The terminal was empty, and we walked all the way down to the JetBlue counters to print out our boarding passes from the kiosks. Then we walked all the way back to the entrance for security screening. (This is why I love common-use kiosks – they’re much more conveniently located.) Security was empty, and I sailed through. My fiancee, however, got stopped for some reason. They looked through her bag, found nothing, and she was on her way. Then we just waited in the terminal which seems to have every single eatery and shop under renovation right now.

I’m not sure why, but our flight didn’t board until 15 minutes before departure. It had been sitting there for awhile, so that wasn’t the reason. The nearly full flight (the seat next to us was the only empty seat I saw) boarded very quickly, and the flight attendants thanked us for helping them get back on schedule. We pushed just about on time, maybe a couple minutes late.

It was a beautifully clear weekend in the Bay Area, and we shot up into the sky for one of my favorite departure views. Just a few seconds after getting airborne, the pilot came on and said while he usually didn’t speak this early in the flight, we had received a gift. The controllers had granted our request for an aerial tour of the Bay Area before we headed on our way. I had done this once on an America West flight out of SFO but never out of Oakland.

So, he leveled off at 3,000 ft and stayed around 220 kts (according to FlightAware) as we looped around the City. Unfortunately, I was on the right side so my views were primarily of the East Bay, Angel Island, and Marin. Up above you can see the view of the new Bay Bridge under construction. And below you can see Treasure Island. The old Pan Am flying boats used to come and go in the area at the bottom of the picture.

Once our tour was through, we were on our way. I watched tv and enjoyed watching the vast Pacific out the window as we headed south. After the drinks had been served, a flight attendant came on and asked that everyone who had a soda can take the pull tab off and hand it to her. She personally collects the pull tabs to donate to her local Ronald McDonald House, and they apparently get a penny for each one they turn in. That was a really nice gesture, and apparently she does this all on her own. Another flight attendant said JetBlue had given her an award for it.

We soon started descending. On my side, I could see glimpses of the Channel Islands and Catalina through the holes in the thin marine layer. We swung around and landed in LGB right on time, but only after touching down closer to the middle of the runway than the beginning. Glad they built that thing for long haul Douglas jets – there was plenty of room. Since we were in the back, we got off on the rear stairs and walked on the tarmac into the terminal and then straight to the curb.

It was a great trip, highlighted by the ease of flying out of LGB. As much as I like trying other airlines when I can, it’s hard to justify doing that when JetBlue can fly me up to the Bay Area out of LGB. I’ll be back again soon.

I rarely write about hotels or vacation packages, but a recent press release from Priceline touting their Sunshine Guarantee caught my eye. At first, it seems great for a traveler. The brief explanation says “Book your summer vacation today and automatically receive this exclusive guarantee. If your vacation is rained out, your priceline vacation is free.”

Yeah, sounds great, right? But when you dig in, there are some pretty onerous conditions here. It can still be good, but if it causes confusion, it might end up angering more people than it helps. The biggest problem? It has to rain for at least half of the days on your vacation, and it has to rain 1/2 an inch each day. Wow, that’s a lot of rain. And a quick two day weekend package that gets one day of rain won’t work either. It has to be between 3 and 8 days.

Let’s say you decide to try for the free vacation and you fly to Maui and stay on the rainy side, you know, near Hana. Uh, no. The rain is measured at the airport, so that won’t really help. And besides, it’s only good July 1 through September 7 and that’s not exactly the rainy season over there (though it’s always rainy I suppose).

So is there much value here? Well yeah, there can be some. If you happen to get stuck in a slow moving hurricane, then it’s a good deal. But most other rain events might have you out of luck.

It’s funny that I bring up all these caveats. I mean, there was absolutely nothing there before this guarantee, so it’s all gravy. According to their 8K, Priceline is paying a flat fee to a company to use this service, and that company, WeatherBill, will pay out the claims. So it’s really just a good marketing campaign. But, if people misinterpret the campaign, then it could potentially backfire. If you have a weeklong trip that gets more than a half inch of rain for each of 3 days and then, say, 1/4 of a inch per day for the rest of the time, you won’t be able to collect. So, keep that in mind when you book. Don’t get your hopes up for a free vacation, but realize that if it’s truly a soaking experience, you won’t have to pay.

I would be remiss to not mention the major cuts Continental announced yesterday. The airline will retire 67 aircraft by the end of 2009 that were not previous planned to go. I decided not to write much about that here, because the customer impact is simply fewer flights and I don’t have much other insight. If you’d like to read more, you can see what I wrote over at BNET about the impressive way they’ve gone about dealing with their employees. Over here, however, I’m writing about a situation that’s near and dear to many of my readers’ hearts . . . ExpressJet.

Just a couple days after ExpressJet said it would renegotiate its contract with Continental, the two airlines came to a wide-ranging agreement that has a lot of good news for both sides. Who are the losers here? SkyWest may be since they don’t get to buy the airline, but that may also have been fortuitous. Also, it won’t surprise me at all if the ExpressJet brand loses out completely, but nothing has been announced. Oh, and the shareholders may end up losing since the stock is still well below the $3.50 per share offer.

Still, I must admit, I’m surprised to see that ExpressJet has found its way out from between a rock and a hard place. How did they do it? Well, here’s what happens now:

• Continental guarantees to keep the same amount of planes (205) that ExpressJet currently flies for the airline for one year, and they get it for a lot cheaper (after one year, they can ditch 15 planes)




• Continental will take back 39 of ExpressJet’s 50-seaters that currently don’t fly for Continental and replace the more costly (on a per seat basis) 37-seaters, which will be grounded




• ExpressJet gets more flexibility in being purchased and in flying for other carriers




• Continental loses the right to terminate the agreement without cause




• All outstanding disputes between the two are settled

So, where does this leave us? Well, for Continental customers, nothing changes. You won’t have any more of those 37 seaters to fly around, but you’ll still be on ExpressJet for most of the Continental Express flights you take. For the customers that fly on the ExpressJet brand, however, it’s much less clear.

Currently, the airline flies 205 aircraft for Continental, 23 for Delta, 23 in Corporate Aviation, and 23 for the ExpressJet brand, according to an employee communication reposted here. ExpressJet will now return 39 of those non-Continental aircraft to Continental. So where will they cut? Where things aren’t performing well, of course. ExpressJet assumes all the risk of flying those 23 ExpressJet aircraft as well as 13 of the Delta planes. I have to think those will go away while the remainder will come from the Corporate Aviation group. In case you were wondering, at the end of 2007, there were . . . 39 planes flying under the ExpressJet brand.

From the airline perspective, Continental will save a bunch of money and be able to eliminate flying on jets with less than 50 seats, but they haven’t quite eliminated as many 50 seaters as they might like here. ExpressJet lives to see another day as an independent company and gets some security, but with the share price closing yesterday at only $1.95 (well below SkyWest’s $3.50 offer), shareholders may not be so thrilled. The airline is free to pursue deals with other airlines now, but unless someone else shuts down, I’m not sure who would really be looking for more 50 seaters right now.

My guess is that we won’t see any big changes until the Fall, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear an announcement about their plans in the very near future. Expressjet is going to have to prove that this was, in fact, the right decision for everyone involved.