Cranky on the Web (June 2 – 8)

Delta, ONT - Ontario

Talking about Delta’s Basic EconomyRudy Maxa’s World
Rudy had me on his weekly radio to show to talk about Delta’s basic economy fares from Detroit to Florida. My piece starts at about 3:45 and goes until 8:40 or so.

LA/ONT competing with lower-cost airportsInland Valley Daily Bulletin
It’s always tough when a reporter has to pull out individual quotes from a lengthy conversation. As a result, this isn’t entirely what I meant to say. But I think the basic premise is clear – if Ontario’s costs were lower, it would probably have more service.

Flights to Hawaii and JFK’s T5i: The First of Many Changes for JetBlueConde Nast Daily Traveler
JetBlue is growing Terminal 5 at JFK and that could mean good changes for connecting travelers. It started with this week’s beginning of flights by Hawaiian in the terminal.

United says more job cuts possibleHouston Chronicle
The Houston media picked up on my blog post earlier this week and asked me some follow up questions around the 1,300 job cuts.

In the Trenches: Picking Up the PaceIntuit Small Business Blog
Things are going well with the new employee. Now it’s time to focus on speed.

Get the Best Deals with Frequent Flier MilesCBS Los Angeles
I went up to LAX so that CBS could ask me questions for an hour. (How can I turn down a chance to work and watch airplanes?) The result was this tiny snippet in this short, basic piece on frequent flier miles.

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6 comments on “Cranky on the Web (June 2 – 8)

  1. I do wonder how many people on the east coast want to travel 10 hours to Hawaii when in a few hours they can be in the Caribbean with the same tropical weather. Granted Hawaii offers whales and volcanoes, but water sports and beaches are closer.

  2. Brett, do you know of any fare rankings for airports that take flight distance into account? The USDOT survey is a complete joke, because it counts a flight from LAX-SFO and a flight from LAK-JFK the same, which means that airports with “lower” fares are really airports with shorter flights.

    1. If you check out the prices on a few routes, you will notice that competition is the main determination of price rather than distance.

      For example:
      LAX-PSP, 100 miles, $550-850 r/t
      LAX-DEN, 750 miles, $150-350 r/t

    2. Jim – I do think distance is important here. Of course, as XJT DX notes, fares are all distance based, but with JetBlue having a lot more flights out of Long Beach to cheap close destinations like San Francisco and Salt Lake, fares are going to be lower. It would be pretty easy to distance-adjust fares if someone wanted to do it, but that’s not a perfect ranking either.

  3. I sat next to a JETBLUE Capt in first class yesterday. Flies the E-190. I had no idea the airline was ordering the Airbus 321 for next year. Capacity issues at JFK, so they’re growing BOS more now. When they opened the new terminal at JFK, they invited TWA employees to the opening to show how they preserved their historic terminal. Enjoyed the conservation.

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