After a few months of hemming and hawing, Lufthansa has finally started to make its mark on bmi. The airline announced a big restructuring that will involve cutting routes, moving airplanes around, and just generally aligning itself better with the growing Lufthansa empire.

When Lufthansa took control of bmi thanks to a previous agreement that made them pay a ton of money for the airline, the first plan was to sell it off. After it became apparent that they weren’t going to get the price they wanted (or even close to what they paid), they announced on November 2 that they would just try to get bmi into better shape on their own. It took them less than a month to bring out their plans.

This map was recently released showing what’s in store:

Oh wait, nevermind. That map’s about 70 years old, and as I recall, it didn’t work out so well for the Germans then. Of course, this version of Lufthansa didn’t exist back then, and their plans are actually far less, um, aggressive. As a reminder, there is bmi, which operates mainline aircraft out of London/Heathrow, and bmi regional which flies regional jets from other UK airports.

• bmi will go down from 39 to 30 airplanes. The fleet will now be made up of mostly A320 family aircraft with three Embraer 145s, a single A330, and a single 757. It wouldn’t surprise me to see those go away when the leases expire.




• bmi regional will see its number of regional jets rise from 15 to 17 thanks to bmi’s decision to send two back to bmi regional. bmi regional is looking to get rid of 3 of those airplanes, but nothing has happened yet.




• Flights from Heathrow to Brussels, Tel Aviv, Kiev, and Aleppo will end in January, but those cities will continue to be served by other Star alliance carriers via connections. The Brussels flights will instead operate under a codeshare with Brussels Airlines, another Lufthansa-owned airline.




• Flights from Heathrow to Amsterdam will go away in March.




• Seasonal runs from Heathrow to Venice and Palma won’t be coming back.

This is a pretty big cut in terms of aircraft flying, and that means that there will be plenty of unused Heathrow slots. Where will those go? Will they sell them off? Or will another Lufthansa-owned carrier pick up the slack? It will be very interesting to see what they do with those.

bmi’s strategy doesn’t look much different to me. They will continue to focus on Europe and the Middle East as they’ve been doing, but they’ll just have fewer airplanes doing it. There doesn’t appear to be any interest in London-US flying, so instead they’ll just look at how they can make bmi best fit into the Lufthansa puzzle.

What are Scope Clauses and Why Are People Fighting Over Them? – BNET
If you’ve heard people talking about scope clauses and wondered what they are, here’s your guide.

Think a Lot of People are Using Wifi In the Air? Think Again – BNET
Runway Girl Mary Kirby caught on to some numbers that AirCell mentioned regarding onboard wifi usage. They’re pretty low.

Hey Los Angeles: Customers Pay for Airports Improvements Regardless of How They’re Structured – BNET
The LA City Council just voted to support an increase in the Passenger Facility Charge. That comes straight out of your pocket, and it’s not a great idea.

US Airways Adds Cash for the Next Couple Winters, Defers Airplanes – BNET
Yes, US Airways has done it again. They’ve played with the cash gods and walked away with more in their pocket. This time it’s mostly expense reduction via aircraft delays.

It’s certainly a coincidence that the winner of the signed Southwest timetable is none other than Robert Stack, the author of the True Meaning of Thanksgiving. Robert by far had the most comprehensive entry, and in fact took many photos of timetables, airplanes, and a little alcohol. I think this is probably my favorite:

Yep, that’s Robert drinking a bottle of Herb Kelleher’s favorite, Wild Turkey. He has the page turned to Phoenix flights, and yes, that is the current US Airways and former America West headquarters in the background. I’m going to assume that it’s the epic battle between those two airlines over the years that has caused Robert to finish the bottle.

So, congratulations, Robert. The timetable is yours. And now, I’m happy to present this year’s version of the True Meaning of Thanksgiving.

Dear traveler,

It is time to set aside the iPhones, Droids, Blackberries, Crunch Berries, netbooks, wiis, and other gadgets of the day to reflect upon this glorious time of year. For Thanksgiving is nearly upon us, and the airport eagerly awaits your arrival. For the True Meaning of Thanksgiving shines forth for those who wish to see:

Thanksgiving is not a time to give thanks.

Thanksgiving is a time to get bumped.

For while most find crowds, lines, waits, and little cheer in their holiday travels, a Silver Liner awaits for those who arrive prepared. The airlines know that some don’t show up for their flights, so when things get busy there are more bookings than seats. And often enough, most everyone will show up; then the luckiest get stopped in place with a bump. Those in the know then smile, for they know that a true Thanksgiving meal will patiently wait until Friday. For Thanksgiving Day is reserved for arriving nice and late, bumped and laden with vouchers.

Things are calmer now than they were before. Oil prices are no longer spurting over new horizons, so airlines are not falling like dominoes. The economy is crawling up the other side of the cliff and the vertigo that was raging a year ago is abating. The furious fee frenzy finds the feeless flyer feeling fine and flying freely. Fee fads flourish; the new fees focused for flying for the holidays just help to highlight the finest days for winning the riches of the bump.

So follow the leaders who find their true selves at Phoenix Sky Harbor, the Hub of Riches, in the spirit of America West Airlines, the all time stuffingest of the airlines of yore. Thanksgiving will find me flying the feeless fleet, for they have been filling their planes more furiously than in years gone by. So I share sweet dreams of a new generation of riches awaiting at every gate.

May your vouchers beget more vouchers with the finest of chain rebumpings,

..robert

Links to The True Meaning of Thanksgiving, years past:

http://www.rstack.com/thanksgiving/thanksgiving.html

I’m taking the rest of the week off to spend time with the family. I hope all my US readers have a happy Thanksgiving. See you back here again on Monday.

Let’s face it – this is a slow news week with Thanksgiving approaching here in the US. Though there isn’t much news, it’s a huge week for traveling. I know I promised to write about what’s happening with Cranky Concierge, and I thought this was a good time for it. We’ve now had more than 40 clients traveling on nearly 200 flights. The outliers are always fun to talk about (and you can follow on the Cranky Concierge Facebook page), but today I thought I’d show you the benefits of using Cranky Concierge even when everything goes right.

Let’s take a recent example from this week. We had a client who signed up about a month ago in need of assistance getting from LA to Orlando for Thanksgiving. There was a catch. While she wanted to fly American, she also wanted to get enough miles to requalify for Gold status for 2010 and a Dallas connection wasn’t going to cut it. In the end, she chose flights that went through Chicago on the way out and came back from Tampa through Miami. That way she just squeaked across the line for requalification.

When it came time to travel, she asked for an email before she left and then text messages after. So the night before her trip, I put together this email:

Good evening
I hope you’re ready for your trip. So far so good as the flights look to be on time.

American 764 Lv LAX 6a Arr Chicago/O’Hare 1205p
You’ll be leaving out of gate 47B at LAX. You are expected to arrive at gate H11B at O’Hare. (Gates can always change.)

Your airplane is coming from Chicago as flight 607. It is in the air and will be arriving LAX at 1112p, ready for a good night’s sleep before taking you back to Chicago.

The weather looks great in both places so that shouldn’t be an issue.

American 1397 Lv Chicago/O’Hare 3p Arr Orlando 640p
You’ll be leaving out of gate K1 at O’Hare. Your arrival and departure gates are actually very close to each other. You can see the map here:

http://www.aa.com/i18n/aboutUs/whereWeFly/terminals/terminal_ORD.jsp

You are expected to arrive at gate 15 in Orlando. (Gates can always change.)

It’s too early to figure out where your airplane is coming from, but I will have a full update on your flight status when you arrive at O’Hare.

The weather in Orlando looks as you would expect. There’s a slight chance of showers with clouds rolling through. Yep, it’s Florida. Here’s the 5 day forecast:

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=mco&wuSelect=WEATHER

Additional Info
If you would like any information on wireless internet, restaurants, or shops at any of the airports through which you’ll be traveling today, just let us know.

If you send an urgent request, we will make sure to respond within 10 minutes of receipt of the request. Other non-urgent requests may take longer to respond.

Thank you for using Cranky Concierge. If you have any questions during your trip, email us as assist@crankyconcierge.com or call/SMS at (707) 797-7474.
Brett
Cranky Concierge

Early the next morning I received an email from her that her gate had changed. Sure enough, the Chicago gates had changed as well so I gave her those updates and promised to have more when she arrived in Chicago.

When she was in the air to Chicago, I noticed that she was expected to land early, and that she might be able to run to an earlier flight to Orlando that appeared to have good availability. I sent her a text message saying that if she didn’t have bags, she should run directly to that gate so she could try to get on.

Unfortunately, she had checked a bag, so she had to hang around O’Hare until her scheduled flight. I figured she would be hungry, so I suggested the Prairie Bar or, of course, Garrett Popcorn for a tasty treat. I also explained that the airplane for her flight to Orlando was on its way from Newark and would arrive with plenty of time for her flight to be on time.

She reported back that Prairie Bar wasn’t that great – that info is now going into our database for future clients. She headed to her gate for an on-time departure.

Before she landed in Orlando, I sent her a message that her bag would be at carousel 4. I’ll do this all again when she comes back next week.

So while she wasn’t stranded (and hopefully won’t be on the return), she still received a good deal of value from Cranky Concierge. Keep that in mind on your next trip. We’re always happy to help.

Oh, and if you’re traveling in the upper Midwest this week, keep our number handy. Looks like some weather should be rolling through as a nice welcome to winter. You can always reach us at (707) 797-7474 or via email at info@crankyconcierge.com. (Urgent requests should go to assist@crankyconcierge.com.)

Is there any airline more sad than Air Jamaica these days? I think not. The latest fight for control of the airline shows just how bad things are there and in Jamaica in general.

In case you haven’t been watching (most people haven’t), Air Jamaica has really struggled to find its balance for years. It has limped through the years as others have started to encroach further upon its Jamaica – US business. Lately, the Jamaican government’s goal has been to privatize the airline, but it’s been slow to happen.

There was discussion for awhile about Spirit getting involved with Air Jamaica, and apparently that has made the employees of Air Jamaica angry. They have decided to take a page from the Delta playbook – “Keep Air Jamaica My Air Jamaica.”

A bunch of employees have formed Mayday Air Jamaica, and they’re trying to prevent Spirit from getting involved. They just want to make sure it stays in the hands of Jamaicans. Why?

Air Jamaica is our one remaining national treasure, our only resource to hand down to the children of Jamaica in hopes of a better future for them.

Is Jamaica really that awful? I mean, is it possible that the only thing they have going for them is a small, money-losing airline? Sheesh. By the way, if their goal is to be able to hand Air Jamaica down to their children, they aren’t doing a very good job.

In the very same release, Mayday Air Jamaica says that if Spirit doesn’t walk away from Air Jamaica, the employees will picket the airline in Miami on December 15. To this, they say “Sampson is staging the peaceful protest knowing full well its potential to disrupt holiday travel at one of the nation’s busiest hubs.” Well, that makes perfect sense now. If you want to hand down an airline to your children, you should definitely try to hurt it financially. Tough love.

So what is their solution to this quandary? I couldn’t make this up:

In addition to asking Spirit Airlines to withdraw its offer to buy Air Jamaica and publicly disclose the terms of its purchase deal, Mayday Air Jamaica is asking the Jamaican government to sell the airline to the employees at the same terms, at a 20% discount designed to show support for the people of Jamaica.

Let’s review. The employees of Air Jamaica have no idea how much Spirit is willing to pay for Air Jamaica, but they say they’ll agree to the same terms . . . um, minus 20%.

Can we assume that the 20% discount will be made up for with stellar management skills? Not if these (now former) Air Jamaica employees who have been accused of embezzlement are part of this crew.

Sad, just sad.