Republic has made its branding decision. Fortunately, Frontier lives and Midwest dies. Midwest was kind of like your great, great uncle who has been barely hanging on with life support for a long time. The brand had deteriorated to the point of being unrecognizable, so it was time to pull the plug.

Last week, I wrote this over on BNET:

So if I were a betting man, I’d put my money on Frontier surviving, taking only the fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie from Midwest. And that would be the right move.

I’m very glad to hear that they’ve listened to me. Actually, I’m just glad that CEO Bryan Bedford made the right decision here. I wasn’t so sure that would be the case.

Frontier will be the surviving brand, and the livery and logo won’t be changing. That’s good, because major brand changes can cost a lot of money. They’ll avoid many of those issues by sticking with what they’ve got. The only thing that will be kept from Midwest? The cookie. Once the transition is complete, you’ll get a cookie on every flight.

And when will that transition be complete? Thanks to an incredibly simple and completely unnecessary graphic that was likely created by some former consultant, we know that the operational integration will be complete by November with branding completely done by October 2011. You can follow along at the new website, FrontierMidwest.com. Seriously. Kind of funny that their killing off the Midwest name yet they stuck it in the transition url, huh?

What else do we know about this deal? Well, all planes will be painted in Frontier colors and they’ll get their own animal tails. The first one to get painted will arrive by the end of April and it will appropriately be painted up with a badger. The badger is the state animal of Wisconsin and mascot of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. People in Wisconsin will get to name the badger. It’s a nice gesture.

More importantly, the customer experience will start becoming more consistent here. In the media kit, the FAQ talks about Frontier’s plans for inflight entertainment.

The TVs installed in our Airbus fleet will stay. We are still exploring other in-flight entertainment options and plan to have some form available in each of our aircraft by 2011.

I’m glad to see the TVs sticking around, but I’m wondering what’s coming on the rest of the fleet. I would hope that they’d put TVs on their Embraer 170/190 fleet since those go pretty long distances. But the way this is worded makes me think that their version of inflight entertainment may very well just end up being inflight internet. We’ll have to see.

In the end, this branding decision isn’t big news. It’s exactly what was expected and it’s the right thing to do. The big news is that the team at Republic made the right decision. That’s good to see.

I’ve run across plenty of problems when it comes to helping our Cranky Concierge clients, but a recent run in with CheapOair.com has me absolutely steaming. It also provides a very valuable lesson: always double check with your airline if you book via an online travel agent.

One of our clients had signed up looking for First or Business class tickets from LA to San Jose, Costa Rica. The lowest rates I had found on most sites were for about $950 roundtrip, a good deal in its own right. But when I went to CheapOair.com, one of the consolidators that I check relatively frequently, I found one that was just over $600 roundtrip on TACA. Was it much lower than elsewhere? Sure. But it wasn’t so insanely low that it seemed completely impossible, like a $10 fare. Besides, CheapOair is a consolidator and can often get lower deals, especially from international carriers.

So, our client booked the trip and the confirmation email confirmed that it was in First. I knew TACA only had Business, but those terms can be used interchangeably by online travel agents for two class airplanes like this. For most people, they would have booked this and been thrilled with the deal. They would have shown up at the airport and been on their way, right? Not so fast.

I always make it a point to double check every reservation made with on online travel agent with the airline directly. Usually it’s just to confirm or request seats, but I always make sure everything got booked properly in the first place. I’ve sent other clients through CheapOair before and never had a problem, but when I checked with TACA, it showed the booking in coach.

Huh? How did that happen? So I called CheapOair and their Indian call center agent assured me that it was booked in First Class. I said that was all well and good but the airline said it was in coach and that meant that they needed to help resolve this problem. They put me on hold.

Sure enough, they came back and said that this flight doesn’t have First or Business so that’s why it was in coach. I told them that wasn’t the case and there absolutely was a premium cabin on this airplane, but the agent refused to believe me. I hung up and figured I’d try again. But first, just to be clear, I called TACA to confirm that there was a premium cabin. There was, and the agent there said that it had been booked with a coach fare.

Round 2 – I called CheapOair back and after going back and forth for several minutes, I was told that I could absolutely get First Class . . . for $1,500 per person. Are you kidding me? I said that our client paid for First Class and expected to get it, but not if it meant nearly tripling the price. This agent went back again and finally came back saying it was a technical glitch and there was nothing she could do. I asked to speak to a supervisor. She came back and said that there was no supervisor to speak with. Great.

We regrouped. I had one person who emailed me awhile ago about blog advertising from CheapOair, so I sent him a note. I didn’t hear back.

I tried to call one more time the next morning and got another agent. This time, he told me that it was the airline’s fault. The airline had failed to file the fare with taxes and fuel surcharges, so it was their fault. Tired of hearing the third different excuse in as many calls, I finally simply gave up and asked for a refund. That was granted. And we just moved on.

The moral of the story? Well, there are two.

1. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is (but not always – there are great deals out there).
2. Always double check with your airline after booking through an online travel agent to make sure everything is in order.

[Update 4/16 @ 1118: Just got a note from CheapOair. They have now offered our client two vouchers for travel on AirTran in consideration for the problems. Now, I have no idea what AirTran has to do with anything here, but hey, it's something. This points back to previous questions about whether a regular traveler would be able to get the same treatment as a blogger. Apparently they can, if they're Cranky Concierge clients!]

There are no columns more fun to write than those diving into some obscure little airline that has grandiose startup plans. This time, it’s California Pacific, but it’s different from most of the others I’ve profiled. First of all, these actually have some money and have a shot at getting off the ground. Second of all, the idea isn’t a bad one. That doesn’t mean I think the plan is perfect, but this is certainly one of the more promising startups I’ve profiled here.

California Pacific, or hilariously enough for all you Canucks, CP Air, is planning to set up shop in Carlsbad, California. Carlsbad lies in north San Diego County, about 35 miles north of San Diego’s Lindbergh Field and 60 miles southeast of John Wayne Airport in Orange County. Today, only United flies to Carlsbad with six daily props up to LAX. That’s it. US Airways used to fly in from Phoenix, but those flights are gone.

So why the heck do we need more service at this airport when it’s surrounded by others? Well it’s really not going to draw from Orange County. Even though it isn’t that far, people in Orange County don’t think about going south for their flights. This is really targeted at people in north San Diego County, and that’s a big group of people. There is a lot of business in North County and traffic can suck driving down to Lindbergh. Then you have to park and wait in line as you do at any big airport. Carlsbad, meanwhile, just got upgraded from a double-wide trailer to a nice and small terminal that is completely efficient. You can roll up and be on a plane in just a couple minutes, so the time savings are dramatic.

Despite the new terminal, however, the runway is pretty short at 4,897 feet. That’s almost a thousand feet shorter than the already very short runways at John Wayne, so they really can’t fly very many types of planes out of there, at least not with a full load.

So what will CP Air be doing? Flying Embraer 170s. These airplanes can fly out of there since the runway is just about the same length as London/City and they fly in there safely (with crazy dive-bombing approach procedures as well). They also have decent range, even on the short runway so they can cover the western US. I might like to see the Q400 here, but they wanted jets and this is probably the right one to choose considering the contraints.

I actually met with one of the guys working on this startup (a frequent Cranky reader), and we spoke for awhile about it. The airline is planning 4 times a day to Sacramento, Oakland, San Jose, and Phoenix. They’re also looking at 3 times a day to Vegas and a weekly trip down to Cabo.

What don’t I like about this? With the exception of the weekly trip to Cabo, these are all Southwest Airlines markets and that’s bad news for CP Air. Yes, CP Air can save you time all else being equal, but Southwest has 13 daily flights from San Diego to Oakland alone. That’s a huge frequency advantage that may very well prevent a lot of North County passengers (who already use Southwest anyway) from shifting to CP Air. If Southwest wants to play hardball, they can, not too mention United and their corporate contracts.

I’m also not a fan of the aircraft configuration. These planes are flying on 1 hour hops yet they’re planning on having First Class, Business Class, and Coach. Seriously? Who needs that? It adds complexity and takes away seat density that you’d really want to have to keep costs per seat low. I’d ditch it and maybe have a couple rows of extra legroom at most if they really think they need it.

Unlike most startups, I like the market area and the service plan, but if I were these guys, I’d be doing everything I could to keep things simple and cut out operational complexity. I’d also see if I could find a way into someone else’s frequent flier program. Maybe Alaska would set up a frequent flier partnership since they do it with everyone else? That would go a long way to attracting business travelers, that’s for sure, though I would be surprised if they could work that out easily.

Another X factor here? The founder. Ted Vallas founded Air Resorts to do the same thing in 1980, and now he’s back again and some of what he says concerns me. For example, he says, “My business plan of 1980 was nearly identical to my proposed plan of 2009.” Things have changed a lot since then, so a statement like that makes me very nervous.

To sum it up, the focus here has to be on the local business guys. Tourism is not going to be a good market here, so they should just forget about it. If people want to go to San Diego attractions, they’ll fly to San Diego. Legoland is right near the airport in Carlsbad, but nobody flies to San Diego just to go to Legoland. North County is not a destination. It’s all about business, so if they can make inroads there, despite their frequency disadvantage then they might be on to something.

Even April Fools’ Can’t Stop Southwest Talking About Bag Fees – BNET
If you haven’t seen Southwest’s April Fools’ joke, it’s a good one. And it stays on message about bag fees.

Battle of the Airline Brands: Frontier vs. Midwest. Which Will Survive? – BNET
It’s a fight to the death. Next week, we’ll find out if Frontier or Midwest is the surviving brand.

elope for less – antibride.com
Weddings are painful to plan, and sometimes you just want to elope. If you do it, here’s how you can save some cash.

Unclogging the Overhead Bins: Spirit to Charge for Carry-Ons -BNET
Spirit is charging for bags and I don’t have a problem with it at all. I think it’s a good move on their part.

Jazz Adds Boeing 757s as Regional Airlines Think Bigger – BNET
Jazz, the regional that flies almost entirely for Air Canada, is getting into the 757 flying business. Goofy? Maybe, but it’s a smart move.

United and US Airways: Why the Merger Won’t Happen – BNET
The rumors are out there about a United and US Airways merger, but I’m just not buying it.

It took awhile, but as promised I’ve got the panel discussion at the State of DIA 2010 posted for your viewing pleasure. If you live in or fly through Denver, you’ll probably be interested here. It’s just over 42 minutes of dorkiness that may put half of you to sleep. But hey, I had a great time up there alongside Brent McBratney from Airbus and futurist David Houle.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, that’s actually Gregg Moss from local station KUSA moderating and not Kelsey Grammer. I did a double take on that myself. If you make it all the way through, leave your thoughts in the comments section below.