As you probably know, BA and Iberia are now co-owned by the same umbrella company so they are slowly beginning to act more like one airline these days. All of these airlines have been in the oneworld alliance together for a long time, but it’s only in the last year that they’ve been granted antitrust immunity to effectively operate as one airline over the Atlantic. This is something that Delta/Air France (including Northwest/KLM) and United/Lufthansa have had for a long time so these guys are playing catch up. And they were in LA to spread the gospel about how great this is going to be.

Some of the point here is to promote new service. Iberia starts its nonstop from LA to Madrid soon, BA is adding San Diego to London again, and American is adding a bunch of regional jet flying around the Western US. Oh, and LA to Shanghai too. With the increasingly tightened cooperation, it had me wondering about the onboard experience. Did they think that it was an issue that the experiences could be so different on the airplane? The answer was no.

We need to look no further than the offerings in LA to see that there is a stark difference, even in coach. Iberia, for example, has no powerports and only overhead video screens on its flight to Madrid. American’s London flight has looping movies in each seat with scattered cigarette-lighter style powerports. BA has full audio/video on demand and no powerports. Meanwhile, BA has a premium economy section that the others do not have. And the business class experiences are very different as well. BA has a full flat bed while Iberia and American have different angled lie flat seats. And Iberia doesn’t have a First Class while the others do. And yet, you wouldn’t know a difference existed if you book online at the airline website. Here’s a shot from BA’s:

As you can see, you know the name of the airline that’s operating the flight but that’s about it. If you click on the class of service, it just gives a vague description of what you get on BA in those classes and not the other airlines. You can go to the more robust descriptions on the BA website and there are links to American and Iberia from there, but this assumes that people think in advance to ask if there’s a difference. One solution would be to work toward a combined product standard, but they don’t like that idea.

Jose Maria Alvarado, General Manager of the US and Canada for Iberia said, “I don’t think the passenger wants the same cookie cutter service.”

I think there’s a big difference between having similar product offerings and offering “cookie cutter” service. But let’s assume he’s right and that everyone loves each of these airlines for the differences they offer. Shouldn’t they at least be making a greater effort to describe product differences in the booking process?

Kevin Burns, Regional Director of Western USA and Canada for BA said that “to bias the decision process isn’t to our benefit.” Again, there’s a wide gap between informing the customer of the options and biasing the decision process. My hopes aren’t high that we’ll see this change anytime soon.

This isn’t a problem that only these airlines face. Every airline entering into a joint venture or any close business cooperation has to learn to either eliminate the differences or do a better job of explaining them. I wish more airlines would focus on this, especially as they get tighter and tighter with their partners.

How the Southwest-AirTran Merger Creates a Labor Problem – BNET Headwinds
The Southwest-AirTran merger presents an interesting problem. What can Southwest offer to labor to make this merger interesting?

Delta’s ScottEVest Ad Rejection Turns into PR Blunder – BNET Headwinds
It’s just a vest, but the company owner is turning it into a David versus Goliath story. It doesn’t seem correct to me, but he’s winning the PR battle.

Antitrust Immunity Enables New British Airways, American Airlines, and Iberia Flights – BNET Headwinds
The joint venture between American, British Airways, and Iberia is now in effect, and the airlines are celebrating by launching new routes.

Antitrust Immunity Deals: How U.S. Airlines Avoid Foreign Ownership Restrictions – BNET Headwinds
My editor at BNET asked me why all these antitrust deals were happening in this industry. The answer? Foreign ownership rules.

US Airways Shows Stellar Operational Improvement, but Nobody Knows It – BNET
US Airways has really done wonders for its operation and that’s great, but nobody else knows about it. They need to work on that.

How JetBlue Tends To Its Brand – BNET
There was a good interview with JetBlue SVP Marty St George about how JetBlue focuses on its brand.

A road trip is a great way to tell a person’s story, as The Cranky Flier proves -Budget Travel
Sean over at Budget Travel had a great review of my newly-released book.

Why Allegiant Shuffles Airports in Ways Most Airlines Wouldn’t Dare – BNET
Allegiant is switching its Idaho Falls flights from LAX to Long Beach. Seems strange, but there is a method to the madness.

American, oneworld Step Closer to Legitimacy with EU Approvals – BNET
The EU has approved the American and BA joint venture along with the BA and Iberia merger.

I believe talks began in 1784 when King George III, still sad about losing that whole American Revolutionary War thing, decided to go take over Spain instead. (Note: please do not try to double check this in your history books). Though Englaspaña didn’t pan out thanks to bad blood over that whole Armada tiff a couple hundred years earlier, they agreed that were airplanes to ever be invented, they would talk about merging the two entities.

Now, a few hundred years later, the dream has become a reality. Well, almost a reality. If you happen to love BA or Iberia, don’t fret. Not much is likely to change for travelers. Think of it as being similar to the Air France/KLM merger or even Lufthansa’s takeover of, uh, most of Europe. There will now be a holding company called TopCo (wtf) that will be held by the current BA and Iberia shareholders. BA gets 55% and Iberia gets 45%. The brands will remain separate.

Is anyone else surprised how much Iberia is getting in this deal? I mean, I always thought of BA as part of the big three with Lufthansa and Air France, but this just makes them seem tiny. Well, whatever. It doesn’t matter to me. I don’t hold shares in either company, but even if I did, it’s not a done deal just yet.

There isn’t actually a fully defined agreement yet. That should be done by March . . . 2048. Ok, not really. March 2010 it is. Then they expect the Boards to vote by the end of 2010, and that’s when it will be done . . . assuming the European Union doesn’t have any issues. In other words, let’s talk about this in a year when something might actually be happening.

I had someone ask me whether I thought this meant that the British Airways/American Airlines antitrust immunity proposal would be hurt since Iberia and British Airways were consolidating. I don’t think so at all. Though we talk about BA/AA, Iberia is actually already a part of that deal. So this doesn’t change a thing.

So what do we take away from this? Nothing yet. Just keep waiting and we’ll see if it actually goes through. Until then, keep flying as if nothing happened.