The contrast between the holiday trek to Indiana this year versus last year couldn’t be greater. Last year we took a redeye out that was severely delayed. This year we took a morning flight that wasn’t. The biggest problem was a grumpy crew on the first flight and a broken TV on the second (with a stellar crew to help on that flight). I’ll take that, though it does highlight the differences between Frontier and Republic despite flying under the same name.

We got to Long Beach Airport an hour early and had plenty of time to spare. Inside, the Frontier folks said our E190 couldn’t fit all the bags so they were looking for people to check bags through all the way to their final destination, not just Denver. Since my wife’s “carry-on” was more like a trunk, we decided to check it.

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December 23, 2010
Frontier 1012 Lv Long Beach 650a Arr Denver 1004a
Long Beach (LGB): Gate 22, Runway 30, Depart 2m Late
Denver (DEN): Gate A32, Runway 35L, Arrive 5m Early
N162HL, Embraer E190LR, Midwest colors, 95% Full
Seat 13A
Flight Time 1h56m

Our flight, flown by Republic crews under the Frontier name in Midwest colors, boarded on time as the sun started to peak out over the horizon on the very busy Long Beach ramp. We got on board to find a frowning flight attendant. She wasn’t mean but just looked profoundly unhappy.

After taking our seats, another flight attendant walked by and loudly said my seat number while looking at me. She just kept walking and I never heard anything about it again. Beats me what that was all about.

Once the magical hour of 7a hit, the noise curfew was lifted and we were on our way. The captain turned the seatbelt sign off while it was still choppy and a couple minutes later he turned it back on. Then when it smoothed out, he never turned it back off.

Even though the seatbelt sign was on, I had to use the lav, so I got up and went to the back. It was smooth at the time but I apologized for having to get up. The flight attendant looked at me and snapped that I had to go back to my seat to wait for the lav to be empty. I understand that at the front of the plane due to cockpit proximity but I’ve never heard that at the back. Sheesh.

I did as she said and waited. Soon after I got back, we were descending into Denver.

It was a rare smooth ride into Denver, and that must have confused the flight attendants. They made the “we’ve begun our approach” announcement when we were actually on final approach. They ran through the cabin collecting trash and making people put their seatbacks up and probably just sat down right before landing.

Our connecting gate was right across the crowded concourse, so we went over there and hung out. It was fun to see three United airplanes parked next to each in three different liveries.

A friend who works for Frontier stopped by to say hello and then it was time to board.

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December 23, 2010
Frontier 618 Lv Denver 1130a Arr Indianapolis 347p
Denver (DEN): Gate A29, Runway 8, Depart 1m Early
Indianapolis (IND): Gate B15, Runway 5L, Arrive 10m Early
N927FR, Airbus A319-111, Flip the Dolphin, 100% Full
Seat 15A
Flight Time 1h50m

Lots of friendly smiles on this flight to greet us from what looked like a seasoned Frontier crew, including Flip the Dolphin on the tail. I was really excited to watch crappy TV – that’s about all you get around noon on a weekday – but as soon as I got to my seat, I found a blank screen. Damn.

I asked the flight attendant and she said she couldn’t get the TV guys onboard since we were ready to go, but she suggested trying to tilt the screen down and kick the box. I love a little rough repair work, but it didn’t do the trick.

As we were taxiing out, however, it came on. Cool. Then it went off again 5 minutes later. Son of a motherless goat. The TV was taunting me.

Soon we were airborne and the flight attendants came through to give free TV to all kids on the plane. (I guess they’re doing a holiday promo.) I asked if she would give me free TV since the audio worked and I could listen even though I couldn’t see. She gladly agreed.

Then they came through with drinks and I had a ginger ale. That was followed by the ghost of Midwest . . . the warm chocolate chip cookie. I love that.

After the service was done, the flight attendant came back to ask if I wanted a cocktail to make up for the broken screen. I had a scotch and soda and listened to stand-up on Comedy Central, which really was a great way to spend the flight. The flight attendants on this leg were just excellent; a huge contrast with the Republic flight attendants on the first flight.

We landed in a cloudy and cold Indianapolis and headed off to spend a long weekend with the family.

More airlines ditch first-class seats as fliers get stingy – USA Today
USA Today did a story on the disappearance of First Class, and I weighed in on my take.

Frontier Airs its Issues on Prime-Time TV. Smart Idea. – BNET Headwinds
Undercover Boss has always been a guilty pleasure kind of show, but I thought Frontier did a good job of taking advantage of the opportunity this week.

The Return of Premium Air Travel May be Overstated – BNET Headwinds
IATA’s premium traffic monitor is out and the news is, well, ok. Premium traffic hasn’t fallen but the climb isn’t coming back.

JetBlue Tries to Build Buzz With a New Brand Campaign – BNET Headwinds
JetBlue has a new ad campaign out and it’s about time the brand gets a little refresh. Good stuff.

Delta Earnings: Great Numbers — Now You Have To Be Realistic with Employees – BNET Headwinds
Delta kicked off earnings season with great numbers (as did everyone), but all this talk of consistent profitability rings hollow.

American Pursues Low-Cost Carrier Partnership with WestJet – BNET Headwinds
American has decided to link up with all kinds of low cost carriers, the latest is WestJet.

By now, you undoubtedly know that the United and Continental merger has officially closed and United Continental Holdings is now the parent company of both airlines. But that was actually the third most interesting story on Friday, and of those three, the merger actually has the least impact on you as a traveler. The other two, one involving American and the other Frontier, have the biggest immediate impact.

See, the merger closing means absolutely nothing for you as a passenger. Ok, maybe that’s not true. It did mark the start of free beer and wifi in United’s Red Carpet Clubs. Nothing else has happened to impact you yet. That’s all coming later, and I’m eagerly awaiting details on what will happen and when. But for now, it’s all a financial deal and that’s boring. Let’s talk about the other two.

Use BA miles on American Transatlantic Flights and Vice Versa
To paraphrase Vince Vaughn from his earlier, funnier days, British Airways and American are now all growns up. Friday marked the day that American AAdvantage members could earn and use miles on British Airways flights over the Atlantic.

To those who don’t fly American, this may sound insane. You United Mileage Plus members and Delta SkyMiles members have been able to do this with your European partners for years, but BA and American have always been a pain in the butt. They didn’t allow “earning and burning” on each other’s flights because they weren’t able to get antitrust immunity. Nothing like punishing your customers, but hey, that’s all behind us now, right?

And yes, I have proof this works. My parents had been waiting for the day to book a planned trip to Europe in March, and I called American first thing on Friday to put it on hold. The agents said they had been receiving a lot of calls, and they seemed pretty happy about that. I got the seats for my parents without any trouble. Happy day.

The reaction has been mixed in the mileage community, but as usual, I look to Gary Leff at View from the Wing for his opinions as an expert. There are some goodies in here for BA Executive Club members, but in general, this is a very welcome move (except for those pesky fuel surcharges).

Midwest is Finally Dead
It seems like such old news, but Friday also marked the official (in my mind) death of Midwest Airlines. Oh sure, it had been left for dead years ago, but up until Friday, you could still book a flight at midwestairlines.com on flights with the old YX code. On Friday, the switch was flipped and that was gone. This is all good news for travelers, and to celebrate, I’m bringing back an old favorite image.

I’m very happy about this one, because it means all reservations are on a single (Frontier) system now and there are no confusing crossover issues. I had all kinds of problems before with a Midwest record locator on a Frontier flight operated for Midwest or something like that.. It was just a mess. No more. Thank you.

This does not, however, mark the official end of the Midwest Airlines website. It’s still hanging around for Midwest Miles redemptions for now, but that’s about it. If you try to book a regular flight, it redirects you to frontierairlines.com.

I suppose it’s an appropriate end for Midwest. The airline had long ago been forgotten about by most people in the US, so the fact that its disappearance was overshadowed by other news is quite fitting. It is important to remember that the one thing most people remember about Midwest, the cookie, will continue to live on. So this is all good news, except for those people who used to work for the airline, I imagine.

I’ve seen countless articles/posts/interviews talking about how the Southwest/AirTran merger is going to be terrible for every other airline out there. The newly-created behemoth will dominate and crush everyone around. Seriously? Don’t believe conventional wisdom here. This merger is actually good news for most airlines. And one of the biggest winners might be Frontier.

For Frontier, there are a couple of things that should help relieve some pressure in both its hubs. We can start with the most obvious place for gains to be made, Milwaukee. Frontier, Southwest, and AirTran have been in a royal rumble in Milwaukee for awhile now. There isn’t enough room for the three of them, but nobody wants to blink first. Now, there will only be two airlines and rationalization of the network can’t be far behind. Here’s a fancy-pants Venn diagram showing where things stand today:

Southwest and AirTran only overlap on four routes out of Milwaukee (three of which Frontier flies as well), but on those, capacity will likely come down and that can only help the situation. But that’s only part of it. There are another five or six cities that AirTran and Frontier both serve from Milwaukee that I expect will only be served by Frontier in the future.

Right now, AirTran has a deal with SkyWest to fly regional flights in Milwaukee. There is no way that deal is surviving the merger, so my guess is service to those cities will quietly disappear. Maybe we’ll see one or two stay on with larger aircraft (St Louis?), but the rest will probably go away.

Lastly, there’s DFW. Southwest will not serve DFW when the merger is complete, so the current flight from Milwaukee will go away. Maybe it will eventually be served from Dallas/Love, but that won’t be legal until 2014.

So in Milwaukee, things should start to look better. And then there’s Denver.

Frontier and Southwest are competing in Denver, but AirTran has only a token presence. Why is that a good thing? Distraction. Much of Southwest’s growth has been focused on Denver, and now Southwest will be busy bringing AirTran into the fold. I don’t expect we’ll see nearly the focus on Denver as we’ve seen before.

That’s bound to be good for Frontier. (And yes, United’s distraction from its Continental merger will help there as well.) But Frontier isn’t the only beneficiary. Sure, distraction can help everyone except for Delta, which will be the focus of the distraction at its Atlanta home base. But what’s the chance that Southwest continues to serve all those smaller cities from Atlanta that AirTran serves today? Delta might end up with more frequency to compete against on big routes but competition might disappear completely on smaller routes. And that’s where legacy carriers enjoy the highest fares.

Oh, and what’s the chance that AirTran’s challenge to Allegiant in Orlando with sub-daily flights sticks around? I’d be surprised to see Southwest stick with that strategy. Spirit will probably be happy as well assuming that Southwest’s higher costs make it easier to Spirit to compete in the Caribbean. In other words, there are potential opportunities for just about everyone here, even Delta.

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.