The Cranky Flier » El Al

El Al’s New Low Economy Class Isn’t Revolutionary

CF — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:26:04 +0000

Think of it as a new airline within an airplane. While many airlines in the past have really liked the idea of starting a low cost carrier, El Al has decided to do it on its existing fleet. There will now be a low-cost class of service on European flights on the airline. Though this may sound unique, and I’ve heard some say it is, it’s really what Air Canada pioneered long ago.

El Al is about to face some serious low cost competition into Europe. Air Berlin started serving Israel on July 7 and easyJet starts in November, so El Al is trying to figure out how to compete. The idea was to come up with a low cost carrier but put it on the same airplane as their existing service. The seats are the same, but if you’re in regular coach class, you get frills. If you’re in the low cost coach class, everything else comes for a price. So just to make sure we’re clear, let’s get graphical. This is not what’s happening:

The seats are the same. This is the same type of bundling that Air Canada uses with its fare products. Frontier does it as well now. The cheapest fares get very little in the way of frills and the more expensive fares get more. But since the physical product isn’t any different, it’s not really a new class of service. It’s just fare bundling.

So El Al can call it whatever it wants, but it’s nothing new. It is, however, a good idea because it lets people pick and choose what’s important to them.

[Original photo via Wikimedia Commons - CC BY SA 3.0 (de)]

Impact of FAA’s Potential Downgrade of India and Israel Safety Ratings is Limited

CF — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:49:51 +0000

Rumors have been swirling for a couple of weeks that the FAA is about to downgrade the safety ratings of India and Israel from Category 1 to Category 2, and an article in the Wall Street Journal last week saw a couple of emails hit my inbox. This may sound dire, but it’s more of a tool to pressure the countries to shape up their regulatory schemes than it is a warning of imminent safety problems. Let me explain.

The FAA’s International Aviation Safety Assessments (IASA) program focuses on individual countries and has nothing to do with specific airlines. In their own words, the program “focuses on a country’s ability . . . to adhere to international standards and recommended practices for aircraft operations and maintenance established by the United Nation’s technical agency for aviation, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).”

So, this is more about regulatory oversight here. Does it mean that El Al, Air India, and other airlines in those countries are unsafe? No, not at all. This says nothing about individual airline safety practices, but it does say that the oversight from the government may not be enough to properly monitor individual airline safety performance.

Practically, when this happens, carriers from those countries are allowed to keep flying their existing schedule to the US but they aren’t allowed to expand at all. In the past, some countries (notably Venezuela, which is now back to Category 1) have balked that this gives US airlines an unfair advantage since they can continue to grow while the local carriers can’t.

The reality here is that adequate governmental oversight is very important to ensuring a safe aviation system, so this sort of move can be the right thing to do if it’s not used for political purposes. The FAA has taken its own fair share of lumps lately, but it’s still one of the best aviation regulatory bodies by far, so these efforts are only going to help improve safety worldwide.

Bottom line? If the countries do get downgraded to Category 2, that wouldn’t change whether I would fly on airlines like El Al, Air India, or other carriers. If I felt comfortable flying them before, I wouldn’t feel any different now.

Update 12/21 @ 1148a: The FAA has now officially downgraded Israel to Category 2

Random Bits of Info

CF — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 22:51:00 +0000

It’s time once again for the completely irregular segment I like to call random bits of info. There have been a bunch of little airline stories the last few days, so I’m just going to rattle them off here now.

Hooray for the Brazilian courts! – It was ruled that the two American pilots being held in the Gol accident investigation cannot be held any longer. After some more interrogation and a promise to return when needed, the pilots will be free to go home. At least someone realized the gross injustice going on down there.
Virgin Blows . . . – At least, that was the gist of the press release announcing the airline’s return to the Windy City (that’s Chicago). A daily flight between London/Heathrow and Chicago/O’Hare begins April 23, 2007. The airline used to fly from Chicago but pulled out afternoon Sept 11, 2001. I’m surprised that they’re going back, because it’s a very competitive market. American, United, and BA all fly it multiple times a day.
. . . So Does LAWA – In the news of the lame, LA World Airports (LAWA) has announced it will rename Ontario Intl Airport to LA/Ontario Intl Airport and Palmdale to LA/Palmdale Regional Airport. Since apparently nobody knows where Ontario is (Canada?), this is the right thing to do. Actually, the Ontario renaming doesn’t bother me nearly as much as Palmdale. I mean, Palmdale doesn’t even have any flights! Do you think that airlines will start flying there just because of its new name? Lame-o.
Lufthansa to Kick Airbus in the Nuts – Rumors abound today that Lufthansa is set to be the first major customer for Boeing’s new 747-8 with more range and more seats. This is Boeing’s competitor to the A380, and if a German airline which has traditionally ordered Airbus chooses Boeing here, it’s very bad news for Airbus.
Does God Hate El Al? – That’s definitely a question being asked these days. Due to a general strike, El Al opted to fly on the Sabbath in order to get people home. Well, the flight to New York had rudder problems and had to return to Tel Aviv, prompting those onboard to say it was the “finger of God” punishing them for flying during the holy day. Um, ok. Now there’s a huge boycott in the works by the ultra-orthodox community, and the airline will probably be forced to sign a document saying they won’t do it again. My question is this . . . if they boycott El Al, who are they going to fly? Everybody else flies on the Sabbath. Good luck with that one.