In general, the renaming of a regional airline isn’t a very interesting thing. After all, travelers never buy tickets to fly on that specific airline. Instead, they buy tickets from the mainline airline, which then contracts for the regional carrier to do the flying. Many travelers won’t even know which airline they are flying on. But in the case of the ASA-ExpressJet merger, the renaming turned into a saga that was a fun story to watch. And now we finally have resolution using a very familiar name.

In short, here’s what happened:

Now for the long story.

ExpressJet is best known for being the main provider of Continental Express service. The airline was owned by Continental but after it was spun off, it started trying to find its own way. You probably remember its 2007 effort to start point-to-point flying between smaller markets. That failed for a variety of reasons, but I still liked the idea.

The end of the road came when SkyWest decided to buy ExpressJet and merge it with its Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) subsidiary.

The new combined management got to work on picking a name for the new
airline, and the result was a disaster. In July, it was announced that the new name would be SureJet.

SureJet? It had the ring of a consulting project gone wrong. The press release made it sound like the management team was trying to be inclusive in the naming process, but it forgot to actually check to see if the name sounded good on it own.

“SureJet” was developed using front-line employee feedback about qualities and characteristics such as assurance, reliability and trustworthiness. . .

All great things, but instead of actually just running a great airline, the company decided it needed to have a name that reflected it. It really came off as an airline trying to convince itself and its partners that it was a reliable airline, whether it was or not.

Less than week later, the name was shelved for good reason. Everyone hated it. In fact, the company was very up front about it.

Since the announcement, we have heard significant concerns from team members about the name SureJet, and it appears we’ve missed our mark.

And that was that. Fast forward to last week, and a new, or shall I say old, name resurfaced. The combined airline will now be known as . . . ExpressJet.

Atlantic Southeast dates back to 1979 when it started flying for Delta regionally with props, and it’s seemingly had an identity crisis at many different points. Since the early days, it was closely tied with Delta when it flew solely for the airline.

In 1999, Delta even bought the airline and held it until it sold in 2005 to SkyWest. The airline had fluctuated between the Atlantic Southeast and ASA names for years. To me, it was never a strong moniker.

ExpressJet certainly started off tied at the hip with Continental as Continental Express, but it moved away from that under the ExpressJet name as a newly-independent airline. The ExpressJet name defines the airline and its role well. It makes sense to just keep that name instead of creating a new one.

Management isn’t completely leaving ASA out in the cold. It’s keeping the logo and branding from ASA (in the few places where branding exists for regionals), just changing the name on it.

This doesn’t always work, but in this case, it seems like a good fit. And management looks good for actually listening to the feedback and taking it to heart. Maybe they’ll also dial back on the consultants over there as well after this whole thing.

As the Regional Flight Market Shrinks, Airlines Need New Strategies to Survive – BNET
Regionals have had a rough few years, and now they need to plot their strategies for survival. Some are more creative than others.

Summer air travel’s up, and so are fares – Marketplace
It’s summer, so it’s time for the obligatory “summer travel woes” stories. When Marketplace calls (or anything else I hear on NPR), then I know it’ll be a more interesting piece. Of course, it was.

cranky flier + anti-bride toast swiss international inaugural sfo flight – AntiBride
I went up to SFO for the inaugural Swiss flight and met up with AntiBride.

Atlantic Southeast Rebrands Despite the Fact that It’s Rarely Seen in Public – BNET
Atlantic Southeast has just finished a massive rebrand. Even though you’ll rarely see them in public, this is a good idea.

American Flees Washington-Boston Routes As JetBlue Comes In – BNET
You knew that slot swap would make American reduce flights in Washington, but did you think they’d basically hand over Boston to JetBlue?

Can you charm your way into upgrade? – CNN.com
It’s the age-old question – how can you get upgraded? It’s not easy, but it does happen on rare occasion.

Frontier vs. Expedia and Orbitz: How It Hopes to Lure Travelers Back to Direct Booking – BNET
It’s really more about Frontier setting expectations better and trying to get people to book direct.

First Space Hotel Set to Open in 2012 – Asylum.com
I was asked about travel to space. Fun topic, but I don’t see it anytime soon.

Milwaukee sparks air wars – BusinessRockford.com
A thorough piece on what the low cost carrier expansion into Milwaukee might mean for Rockford. I weighed in (and, as you imagine, I don’t see much hope for the place).

Does Delta Make Atlantic Southeast’s Performance Suffer? We’re About to Find Out – BNET
ASA’s on time and bag handling performances are pretty bad, but is it Delta’s fault? Possibly, and now we’ll find out.

Electronics top splurge gifts for travelers – ABC News/AP
The AP asked what kinds of gifts I would find interesting this holiday season. I’m looking at netbooks these days.

ExpressJet To Fill the 50-Seat Aircraft Void at United – BNET
Looks like United has decided how to replace those Mesa 50 seaters it’s getting rid of. ExpressJet is the winner, but this is a little more complicated than it sounds.

get that dress to your wedding in one piece – antibride.com
I don’t know much about wedding dresses, but I do know how you should get it to your wedding. Don’t check it. There are better ways.

Boingo Bets Passengers Will Engage with Sponsors for Free Wifi in Airports – BNET
Boingo is bringing the sponsor model to airports – watch an ad or do something they want and you’ll get free wifi.

United Listens to Customers, Changes Upgrade Policy – BNET
United is bringing back the regional upgrade due to popular demand. It goes to show that they do listen, sometimes.

Premium Air Traffic Takes and Unexpected Turn for the Worse – BNET
I really thought that September year-over-year comparisons would be much better. I was wrong.

Why Comair’s On-Time Performance is More Concerning Than Atlantic Southeast’s – BNET
Comair and ASA both sat at the bottom of the July on-time performance derby, but the airlines appear to have two different problems.

Meaningless Mishandled Bag Numbers Plunge in July – BNET
Bag mishandlings are down, but the strange method of calculating the number makes these numbers pretty useless.

The Longest Delays Are In the Northeast – BNET
This is no surprise, but for those wanting a passenger bill of rights, I have a better idea.

Midwest Starts Milwaukee – St Louis on American’s Turf – BNET
Before American announced its St Louis pulldown, I wondered about this move. Now with hindsight, it makes sense.

Update: American Eliminates St Louis Hub – BNET
Just a quick update on my previous post.

American Raises $1.3 Billion in Cash – BNET
It wasn’t just route announcements that had American making news. They also raised a bunch of cash.

Just one more delay story to end the week. Check out the mugshot on this flight attendant. Yikes. Too much plastic surgery on her last Brazil trip? No, not so much. She was just drunk.

Yes, 26 year old Sarah Mills apparently has quite a few problems in life. As this article mentions, Ms Mills just landed (pardon the pun) the job as an Atlantic Southeast flight attendant. She was working a flight this past Sunday from Lexington (Kentucky) to Atlanta when things went downhill quickly.

I’m not quite sure what made the captain suspect she was drunk initially. Maybe it was her admission that she began drinking Jack Daniels onboard before departure. Regardless, the captain thought twice about taking off with her, went back to the gate and had her removed.

How did she respond? She apparently screamed “you are dead” to the pilot as she was dragged off the flight. She was then charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence, terroristic threatening and alcohol intoxication. Nice! Anyone who wants to help her out can drop $350 for her bail. I’m guessing she hasn’t paid it since she said she only had 50 bucks in the bank.

Believe it or not, her blood alcohol turned out to be only .032, far below the legal limit to drive, yet she looked like maybe that .032 was just a .15 delayed a few hours. In the end, they had to cancel the flight due to lack of crew. For once, a canceled flights passengers were probably happy about.