The scoop on business class seats – CNN Out of the Office
This week, I looked at the different types of business class seats out there and which ones would be best depending upon the type of traveler you are.

Attention Airlines: A New Paint Job Is Not Rebranding -BNET Headwinds
Too many airlines seem to think that a new paint job is rebranding. It’s not. JAL’s recent repainting drew my wrath on this one.

Allegiant asks if a low fare is worth a gamble – AP
I commented on the possibility of Allegiant having fares that require you to pay extra for fuel.

In the Trenches: The Upmarket Temptation – Intuit Small Business Blog
There’s always a temptation to go upmarket in businesses like CC, but I’m holding firm against it.

Two Reasons Why Japan Air Lines Chose American and oneworld over Delta and SkyTeam -BNET
JAL has chosen American and oneworld, and I think there are really two reasons for it.

United Airlines Posts an Excellent January, Industry Traffic Data Roundup – BNET
Huge kudos to United for now offering revenue estimates each month. And January was a great month to start because they had stellar numbers.

Air New Zealand’s Secret Weapon: War Dances and Happy Customers – BNET
One more look at Air New Zealand’s culture thanks to a unique award acceptance speech that saw CEO Rob Fyfe go topless. (If this post sounds a bit odd, it’s because it’s the first one under the new policy that all posts at BNET go through an editor.)

oneworld Alliance Will be Much Weaker if Japan Air Lines Leaves – BNET
If JAL leaves oneworld, what does it mean for the alliance? It’s not pretty.

do your visa research – antibride
If you’re traveling to exotic lands, make sure you find out the passport and visa rules before you go, otherwise it’ll be ugly.

Delta, American Airlines Court JAL for Routes to Asia – NPR Morning Edition
I chat with NPR’s Adam Hochberg about JAL’s bankruptcy filing and what it means for Delta and American.

The Business Case Behind Boston Logan Airport Making Wireless Internet Free – BNET
Boston Logan has made wifi free. Why would they do that? I thank Google.

Codesharing Explained – Fly HIA Blog
I dug into the world of codesharing for a guest post on the Harrisburg Intl Airport blog.

Charleston Yeager Airport Expertly Uses Social Media During Recent Aircraft Incident – BNET
An airplane aborted takeoff and ran off the end of the runway at Yeager. The media could have blown this out of proportion, but Yeager didn’t let them with their expert use of social media.

More Passengers in Fewer Seats Means Profit for Southwest Airlines – BNET
Southwest announced a profitable fourth quarter this week, even without special items. They appear to be back on track when it comes to revenue.

Airline Capacity Cuts Slow in December, Some Carriers See Growth – BNET
December traffic numbers show some interesting trends.

United Pushes International Presence with Muddled Marketing Message in Denver Fight – BNET
United is heading back to its Independence Air playbook in its fight in Denver.

Boeing’s Loss of 787-3 Orders is Good News – BNET
When is a canceled order a good thing? When it allows Boeing to walk away from the 787-3.

Sean Menke Leaves Frontier Airlines, This Can’t Be Good – BNET
Sean Menke is leaving Frontier and Republic, and that doesn’t bode well for the airline.

Airlines Fill Seats with Ease in November, Southwest Leaps Ahead – BNET
Southwest boosted its loads by 13.3 points in November. Yeehaw, that’s a lot.

Airlines Charging More for That Sought-After Seat – The New York Times
I voice the somewhat unpopular sentiment that charging for better seats on the plane is a good thing.

United Airlines Fights Mesa Air Group Over Airplanes (Part I) – BNET
United is suing Mesa over the introduction of 10 regional jets into service. This is the story of how they got to this point.

United Splits Its Widebody Fleet Order Between Boeing and Airbus – BNET
Why did United split its fleet order? Blame the manufacturers.

United Airlines Sues Mesa Air Group Over Airplanes (Part II) – BNET
And now, part 2 of our saga. In short, it seems to me that United wants out and Mesa made a mistake.

Radio Interview on the Noon Business Hour – WBBM 780 Chicago
I spoke with WBBM on Boeing’s prospects after the United order. My segment begins at the 25 minute mark and goes for about 3 minutes.

Japan and the US Near Aviation Open Skies Agreement, American and Delta Salivate – BNET
The Japanese market is one of the most fascinating to watch right now. Here’s a breakdown of what’s happening.

You oneworld loyalists out there know that Japan Air Lines is a valuable partner over the North Pacific. Southeast Asia is well-covered by Cathay Pacific, but JAL provides an important link in the north between the US and Japan, and possibly more importantly, China. JAL holds a ton of slots at Tokyo’s Narita and Haneda airports, and those are scarce at desirable flight times. JAL is a natural fit for the alliance.

So when reports started surfacing last week that Delta was looking at pouring money into the bottomless sinkhole that is JAL, a lot of people were scratching their heads. I didn’t – this makes a lot of sense.

Remember, Delta inherited its Tokyo hub from Northwest, and it actually has a decent intra-Asian operation from Tokyo – a legacy from the end of World War II. As they say, to the winner go the spoils. There’s even a subfleet of narrowbodies based in Tokyo to fly some these routes.

My guess is that these routes absolutely suck wind right now. If Delta is really losing a ton of money as I suspect, they could eliminate all those routes and either use the slots to fly to the US or transfer them to JAL. The additional connectivity in Tokyo that they could gain from this link-up would add a bunch more traffic to feed all that US-Tokyo flying Delta does now. (You people in Portland could breathe a sigh of relief, because this could probably help that flight come off the edge of the cliff.)

This move could make a big, immediate difference on the bottom line. If Delta can pour some money in but get it back out very quickly in the form of improved profits, then it’s a no-brainer. Everyone in SkyTeam wins . . . except for Korean. Poor Korean would be demoted to second place in the North Pacific, and it would likely very seriously look at defecting to oneworld where it could take JAL’s place as top dog in the region (or only dog, as the case may be).

Of course, if JAL leaves, oneworld loses, so American has now come back with its plan to invest in JAL. American is pitching it as a strengthening of its partnership that has been in place for years. The airline would set up a joint venture similar to what we’ve seen over the Atlantic with the likes of United and Lufthansa, KLM and Northwest, etc. In other words, they’d split the revenues on flights between the US and Japan.

All this info is coming from magical “sources” and nothing has been confirmed, so we don’t really know any details about what’s being proposed here. There are also rumors that Air France/KLM is in the running, and that would be good news for Delta. Air France and JAL have actually had a legacy codeshare and frequent flier partnership that crosses alliance boundaries. It has strengthened in recent years, so this would add some more credibility to the Delta bid.

This is all pretty interesting to watch. It’s clear that JAL needs some cash, so it’s in a good place to pick the suitor that’s offering the best deal. It’s nice to be wanted.

First up, SkyTeam. Air Europa, Copa Airlines, and Kenya Airways all signed up as associate members. Air Europa is based in Spain and flies to sun spots around the world so that frozen Europeans can warm up. Copa, formerly partially owned by SkyTeam member Continental, connects North and South America through its hub in Panama. Kenya Airways is probably the most exciting addition because it opens up an entire new continenta. From its Nairobi home in East Africa, the airline flies to Europe, Asia, West Africa, and Southern Africa.

Now, I’m not exaclty sure it was it means to be an associate member, but it probably means they have to get coffee and pick up dry cleaning for the primary members. I imagine the rules for joining as an associate are less strict so it’s easier to join. In the end though, they will have earn/burn ability for frequent flier miles, codesharing, and lounge sharing so the customer will benefit.

SkyTeam’s US members are Northwest, Continental, and Delta, at least until some merger happens and changes everything around.

Next up is oneworld. They said yesterday that as of April 1, Malev, Royal Jordanian, Japan Airlines (JAL), and all its affiliates will join the group. Also that day, Aer Lingus will leave the alliance and go it alone saying that everything is just fine, they’re at the controls, flying the plane, free to pursue a life of religious fulfillment.

Malev is based in Budapest (Hungary), Royal Jordanian in Amman (Jordan, duh), and JAL in Tokyo. They all fly to destinations on several continents. American is the US airline in this alliance.

Hong Kong’s Dragonair, along with LAN Ecuador and LAN Argentina will join sometime later this year as well marking a pretty strong expansion by the alliance.