This may seem like a footnote to some, but just two days ago, Midwest officially stopped flying its own aircraft. That doesn’t mean, as we all know, that the Midwest brand is going away. It just means that now it is nothing more than a brand. So I think a little obituary (and cookie cannon salute) is appropriate.

Midwest has been around for a lot longer than you might expect. The airline started out simply as the corporate shuttle for Kleenex (and other consumer products) maker Kimberley Clark after World War II. In 1969, the company decided to do more and put its corporate aircraft under the name K-C Aviation to start flying for other companies.

In 1984, the Midwest Express you’ve come to know was formed when the airline launched from under the K-C Aviation name. Midwest Express had wide leather seats and the airline served excellent meals. The airline grew up in the 1980s and actually thrived for awhile. In 2003, the name was shortened to Midwest Airlines, apparently to keep people from thinking the airline was a commuter flying puddlejumpers around the upper Midwest. (That was actually handled by SkyWay, which has since stopped flying as well.)

Midwest had been on a downhill slide for a long time. The meals were taken away, and the generous configuration was shrunk to effectively be only a first class cabin up front with normal seating behind. The only thing that really remained was the trademark cookie that is baked on-board flights.

When Northwest and TPG got together to buy Midwest instead of letting AirTran acquire the airline, CEO Tim Hoeksema was praised for “saving the cookie.” He may have saved the cookie, but it was at the expense of a lot of jobs.

I was surprised when Republic took Midwest off TPG’s hands, but now the strategy has become more clear. They want the brand but nothing else.

On November 2, Midwest Airlines Boeing 717 N920ME landed in Milwaukee at 920p Central Time after a flight from Boston. That somber occasion marked the last flight operated by Midwest Airlines. I imagine it was particularly tough for the crew on that flight – the captain has flown for Midwest for 24 years. Now there are no airplanes left to fly.

Midwest is survived by its weakened brand (operated by Republic, Chautauqua, or Frontier). It was 25 years old.

It’s no surprise that when you make something completely free, people use it a lot more often than if you make them pay. Duh. And that’s why it’s not surprising to see airlines scrambling to find a way to offer wireless internet for free. Just in the last few days, we’ve seen three promotions that will let anyone log on from 30,000 feet without paying a dime.

First up was Virgin America. They teamed up with Google to offer the most robust opportunity so far. Wireless connectivity will be free for anyone traveling between November 10 and January 15. Just turn on your computer and follow the instructions.

Meanwhile, American has joined with Lexus to offer free wireless as well . . . but only for a week. Lexus is promoting a new line of cars with free wifi from now through November 7. Remember, American has wifi on a lot more aircraft than Virgin America, so this is still a sizable promotion. It’s just a lot shorter. And on this one, it’s not automatically free. You have to enter code 2010LEXUSLS.

The last one I’ve seen is from AirTran. They are being a little more conservative still. The deal on AirTran is that if you pay for wifi on one flight, you’ll get a second one free. That’s probably the least attractive of the three opportunities here, but the end goal is the same.

Airlines are trying to stimulate wifi use, and really they should. Remember, once an airline hits on a great idea, the others will jump in and copy. So those airlines that have wifi now will have a limited opportunity to showcase their differentation. Eventually, everyone will have this.

Getting people to try onboard wifi is something that the airlines hope can attract people to their airline. If they’re going to do it, now is the time.

I know very little about private jet chartering. I’ve never done it, and in fact I’ve never even been on a private jet. So when PR guru Gareth Edmonson-Jones (formerly of Virgin Atlantic and JetBlue) asked if I wanted to learn more about the new charter company JetSuite (based here in Long Beach), my interest was piqued. While I can’t imagine this ever being something I’d use, I can see the value in it for sure.

There have been plenty of different models used for private jet chartering. There’s fractional jet ownership where you actually own a piece of the plane, and there’s the pay-by-the-hour model as well. With Marquis Jet, for example, you pay $132,900 plus tax for a card worth 25 hours of flying. Yeah, that number makes me cry a little as well. In other words, you’re paying between $5,000 and $6,000 an hour.

Formerly of JetBlue, Alex Wilcox is the man behind JetSuite (conveniently similar naming convention), and I sat down to chat with him about the company in his Long Beach office. Alex explained that the hourly rate method wasn’t really the best way to charge. For example, if you fly on a 6 hour flight on Marquis Jet, you’ll pay the same as if you had 6 one hour flights on different days. The costs are a lot higher for the separate flights than for the single flight, so JetSuite has opted for this new pricing model.

On JetSuite, you buy a DayCard which costs $35,000 for 10 days or $75,000 for 25 days. Let’s say you’re too cheap so you just buy the 10 day card (um, yeah). That’ll cost you $3,500 per day and you can fly for 12 hours during the day. In addition, you pay $999 per hour of flying to pay for the variable costs of flying.

So, a 6 hour flight on a single day would cost $9,500 on JetSuite and over $30,000 on Marquis Jet. That being said, if you needed six one hour flights on separate days, you’d pay $4,500 per flight on JetSuite and $5,500 on Marquis Jet. So the real benefit with JetSuite comes if you do more flying during the day.

One other thing that helps make this work for JetSuite is the airplane they’re using. The Embraer Phenom 100 is a sweet ride with 4 or 5 seats in the back. It’s not something you’re going to see a Saudi prince riding in – the comfort is basic, but the operating costs make it a good airplane for the business. According to Alex, it only takes about 2 hours of flying per day for them to break even.

After all this talk, I was ready to see the airplane. They were launching sales officially that day, so they were flying the airplane from Long Beach down to Orange County for the launch event. Alex had business down in Orange County so he had to drive. I was invited to fly. Sweet, er, suite.

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October 29, 2009
JetSuite Lv Long Beach (LGB) 1225p Arr Orange County (SNA) 1245p
LGB: Fixed Based Operator, Runway 30, Dept On Time
SNA: Fixed Based Operator, Runway 1L, Arr On Time
Aircraft: N576JS, Embraer Phenom 100, JetSuite Colors, 100% Full
Seat: Yep
Flight Time: 15m

We walked downstairs to the airplane and boarded. There were four white leather seats that face each other – two forward, two backward. The airplane is small, and there isn’t a ton of legroom if the person across from you has long legs, but it’s still quite comfortable.

There was a sheet on each of our seats explaining everything about our flight that day. After a very short safety briefing, we were off. Here’s some video of our departure:

I was surprised at how relatively quiet the ride was. I figured we’d be so close to the engines that we wouldn’t be able to hear a thing, but that wasn’t the case. Embraer has made a nice little airplane here. Of course, I didn’t get to experience much of a ride. Our flight took about 15 minutes, and since Orange County was uncharacteristically landing to the north, we had a straight shot in after heading over the ocean.

I can see this being a great way to travel for someone who needs to make multiple stops throughout the day, especially if those stops don’t have direct commercial service. Right now, JetSuite is focusing its efforts on California and Las Vegas. Phoenix will be coming soon. The only real issue with the Phenom is that it doesn’t have tremendous range. You won’t be using this to go to New York, but it can have a lot of other good uses.

After getting down to Orange County and having lunch with the group (FTC disclosure: they bought my $5 lunch for me), I realized that I had to get back home. I figured, hey, there’s no better juxtaposition than to fly a corporate jet down and take public transit back. I pulled out my BlackBerry and Google Maps gave me the best transit options. I love Google Maps.

The ride down took 15 minutes. The ride back took 2.5 hours on 3 different buses on two different transit companies. But remember, that flight down would have cost me, over $1,500 while the bus ride back? Only $4.10. I suppose there can be good value for both.

[See more photos on Flickr]
[See more videos on YouTube]

Updated 11/4 @ 945a to adjust pricing on flight between Long Beach and Orange County