I wrote about the advantages of this move for the customer over at Conde Nast last week as part of a photo slideshow. But there are advantages beyond the customer as well.

Alaska now has the benefit of a more stable operation. With preferential use gates, it is not at the whim of other airlines any longer, and it has a lot more gates that it can utilize. Even better for Alaska, it has been able to consolidate its employee groups in one big place beneath the departure level in the concourse. In other words, it will be a lot easier for Alaska to operate at LAX now. And yes, it will mean easier customs and immigration processing, better waiting areas, and easier connections to major partner Delta for customers.

It may have cost $238 million to get this done, but the benefit to travelers and to the airline is readily apparent. This is the kind of project I like to see: smart, cost effective use of resources to make a dramatic improvement in how things work.

In the Trenches: Our Money Back Guarantee – Intuit Small Business Blog
It’s a rare occurrence, but every so often we get a client who invokes our moneyback guarantee. In some cases, it makes me want to rethink the proposition completely.

Bob Hope Airport faces tough times – Burbank Leader
I was asked for my comments on Burbank Airport’s new proposed transportation center.

YOUR MONEY: New route maps at New York-area airports – Reuters
A reporter saw my post on winners and losers in the Delta New York LaGuardia slot swap and asked for more details.

What the US Airways–American Airlines Domain Names Really Mean – Conde Nast Daily Traveler
I love the speculation out there that buying domain names means US Airways/American is a done deal. Not quite. But it does tell us a little about what US Airways is thinking.

In the Trenches: Hiring Locally or Afar? – Intuit Small Business Blog
As I look for employees, I find myself looking at long distances for some candidates. That brings up some questions.

Travel Style: Brett Snyder (aka Cranky) – JohnnyJet
Johnny is starting to do these short interviews and I was one of the ones lucky enough to be asked about how I travel. There’s one thing in there that might surprise people – I’ve never stepped foot on one very large continent.

Let’s start with Flagship check-in, which is like checking in with a hotel. If you are traveling in First Class on a three-cabin airplane (either to New York or internationally), if you’re a Concierge Key member, or if you have purchased Five Star Service, you are entitled to use the Flagship check-in area which has a separate entrance directly from the curb. About 65 to 85 people per day use the service, so it’s rather exclusive. (Raquel Welch was checking in as I got my tour, so that certainly added to the glamour.)

This whole thing really does have the feel of a hotel to it. There is a doorman out front with a hotel-style bag cart. The doorman has an iPad with the list of people arriving every day so he can greet them properly.

Once inside, there are kiosks for those who want to use them, but most will just go to the hotel-style desk where an agent can help.

After checking in, the traveler walks out the door and into an elevator which goes upstairs to security. This uses the same security area as the regular premium line travelers (discussed below), but there is a separate line so people can go straight in.

Pretty fancy, huh? While it’s not easy to become Concierge Key or cheap to buy a First Class ticket, you can get Five Star Service for $125 a person ($200 for two). Is it necessary? Nah, but it does make you feel a little like a rock star.

Now, what about check in for the rest of us? As anyone who’s flown through LAX knows, the biggest challenge for check-in is that the lobby areas are pretty narrow for today’s purposes. That’s what happens when you’re in old terminals. But American has done a fairly good job at making this work after this last makeover.

The west end of the lobby (closer to the Bradley Terminal) is now all self-service.

They’ve pulled out banks of six kiosks attached to a computer where an agent is manning the operation. Everyone checks in there, and there are skycap-like runners (no tips) who take your bags to the belt. The counter itself is no longer used. By the end of 2014, there will be an in-line baggage screening area built, the counters will be removed, and bags can then be dropped right on the belt for their journey through the underbelly of the airport. At either end of the counter, there are “resolution centers” if people need help.

By the way, that inline baggage screening area will be built on the bottom floor of the new behind-security connector being built between American’s Terminal 4 and the Bradley Terminal next door. American will take 4 gates in the new Bradley concourse and people will be able to pass freely between the two. So that’s the airline’s growth plan. I asked about whether the new tunnel between Terminal 4 and 5 would ever open, and John Tiliacos, Managing Director of Los Angeles for American, said that they would like to open it up but the old tunnel has become something of a storage closet. It might take awhile before we see that happen.

The east side of the lobby has traditional counters for those who need ticketing (John said a lot of people still come to LAX to ticket, surprisingly) or have more complex issues. But the far east end of the lobby is the new premium check in area.

There is someone standing at the far end of this lobby to make sure only premium customers come in. After check in, there is an escalator there just for premium customers which takes people up to the new security checkpoint above the ticket counter so they never interact with coach passengers. (This is the checkpoint the Flagship check-in uses as well.)

All in all, I like what they’ve done with the place. The Flagship check-in piece seems particularly good for recognizing those travelers who really do spend a silly amount of money with the airline.

[See more photos of my visit]

Let’s start with a brief history. If you’ve never been to the Bradley Terminal at the western end of the horseshoe of terminals at LAX, you know that once you get past security, the concourse are very small with limited seating and almost non-existent amenities. It really is a poor experience, and I think few would argue that something new was needed. LA World Airports (LAWA) spent over $700 million fixing up the pre-security area (ticket counters, etc), but the concourse needed to go, so they came up with a plan to knock down the existing concourse and build an all new one immediately behind it.

When I wrote about this in 2008, it was expected to open with 14 gates beginning this month. The entire project was around $2 billion, which included a new taxiway, fire station, etc. The price hasn’t changed much (the terminal will now be $1.7 billion on its own without the other improvements) but one more gate was added (plus 3 existing gates that are staying for a total of 18) and it has slipped a year. The first phase will open in March 2013.

For those who prefer visuals, take a look at this 2:49 video walkthrough of the project. Then stick around for the explanation.

Travelers will enter as they do today, into the main ticketing area. But instead of going either to the left or to the right to get into one of the two security lines, there will be a new central security area that feeds into the new concourse. Once you go through security, you’ll come out into the Great Hall.

This is where all the big shops, restaurants, and lounges will be. They kept talking about it being a town square, or something like that. To the north, there will be a short concourse with a larger one to the south. You can see this area under the shorter ceilings.

Travelers will all board through the same gate entrance, but some will walk immediately upstairs to board on the upper deck if on an A380 while other stay downstairs. That might be a bottleneck. Arriving passengers will get off the airplane and then promptly go UPstairs. There will be a glassed-in sterile corridor that goes above the departure gates for arriving passengers. They’ll walk to the middle of the terminal where they’ll have to then go all the way back down to the basement for customs. It’s a lot of up and down.

When it first opens, the 10 gates on the west side of the building will be operational. The east gates will have to wait until they demolish the old concourse, which they will do one side at a time so that they can keep enough gates operating.

On the very northern end, three gates from the old concourse will actually remain and will be attached via a walkway at that end. Why? Because the LAX master plan has a line north of which no building will occur. That’s for future plans to separate the runways further for safety purposes. Even though new construction can’t occur, old construction is grandfathered in. So they’re keeping those three gates, as awkward as it might seem.

Eventually, there will also be connectors between the Bradley Terminal to Terminals 3 and 4 behind security to make for better connections. If they could only open up that Terminal 4-5 connector, the entire airport would be connected behind security except for Terminals 1 and 2.

Photo courtesy of LAWA

So is it worth the $1.7 billion (part of a larger $4 billion+ renovation at the airport)? No. I mean, the new terminal was needed, but did they really need to spend so much money on this crazy roof? I’m sure they could have gotten something just as light and airy but without looking like a copy of Mexico City’s Terminal 1 for a lot less.

The airport CEO, Gina Marie Lindsey, keeps hammering on how this takes no money from the LA general fund so it costs taxpayers nothing. Yeah, right. That money ends up coming from higher operating costs. According to Gina Marie, the cost per enplanement at the airport will rise from $12 today to “only” $17 somewhere around 2016. I’d be amazed if that held true considering the $4 billion being spent, but even if it does, that $5 per head will be problematic, especially for domestic flights.

Gina Marie was quick to say that they were working to spread the cost of these projects around the entire airport. That means that Southwest, sitting alone in Terminal 1, will still have to pay for some of this even though it gets none of the benefit. Oh, I’m sorry, airport officials kept dismissing my questioning along those lines with “everyone benefits from a better airport.” I’d like to see what the airlines say about that.

While international carriers will grin and bear it, the domestic guys, especially those flying shorter haul flights, could see real pressure on some flights. I don’t dispute that much of this work needed to be done; I just wish there was more concern about cost control in order to keep as many flights viable as possible.

But hey, what’s done is done at this point. We’ll see how things look next March when the concourse opens for business.

[See more of my photos on Flickr]

Air travel tax refund procedure still fuzzy – CNN Out of the Office
It was a double CNN week as the editors decide to move forward next week’s post on tax refunds to go this week instead.

Fliers won’t get air travel tax refund – CNN Out of the Office
And it became a triple week, when I had to update this after Congress made the taxes retroactive and decided the no refunds would be given.

Ontario officials concerned over continued dropoffs of passengers, flights at ONT – Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
I was asked to comment on the continuing decline of traffic at Ontario airport. Really not the most accurate quotes, so let me clarify. Southwest isn’t cutting two more routes from Ontario in January – it’s reducing frequency on two more routes (Phoenix and Vegas). I also have no idea what that AirTran quote even means.

LAN-TAM Merger: U.S. Carriers Sweat The Fate of Alliance Partners – BNET Headwinds
LAN and TAM are merging, and everyone wants to know which alliance the combination will choose. Could it be both?

how to keep your flight attendant from jumping off the plane – Antibride
Admittedly a fluffy story, but it’s a light-hearted look at how to treat a flight attendant onboard (with some serious points).

JetBlue’s All-You-Can-Jet Turns Back to Twitter to Fill Seats – BNET Headwinds
It’s baaaackk. JetBlue’s All You Can Jet has returned and the airline is relying on Twitter to get the word out.

Flight Attendant Demands May Block Southwest’s Push Toward Bigger Planes – BNET Headwinds
I thought Southwest’s announcement about getting a larger plane was odd, but I then I started looking at the labor angle.

How to Fix LAX By Bringing Alliance Partners Together< - BNET Headwinds
I admit it’s a reach, but LAX won’t be able to spend much money and this could be a big improvement for the customer.

JetBlue and American: Why Frequent-Flier Sharing Makes Sense – BNET
JetBlue and American have gotten one step closer to each other by starting frequent flier earning on select flights.

Delta Earnings: Outlook Weak Despite Strong Industry Premium Traffic Trends – BNET
Lots of conflicting information out this week. Huge profits but weaker outlook = confusion.

LA World Airports Smartly Reconsiders Regionalization Strategy – BNET
Interesting words from the LA airport folks – they’re thinking twice about the regionalization strategy now that traffic is so far down at LAX itself. Good.

Continental and Wired: How Not to Do a Promotional Partnership – BNET
Continental has teamed up with Wired to do a pretty awful job of promotion.

Think a Lot of People are Using Wifi In the Air? Think Again – BNET
Runway Girl Mary Kirby caught on to some numbers that AirCell mentioned regarding onboard wifi usage. They’re pretty low.

Hey Los Angeles: Customers Pay for Airports Improvements Regardless of How They’re Structured – BNET
The LA City Council just voted to support an increase in the Passenger Facility Charge. That comes straight out of your pocket, and it’s not a great idea.

US Airways Adds Cash for the Next Couple Winters, Defers Airplanes – BNET
Yes, US Airways has done it again. They’ve played with the cash gods and walked away with more in their pocket. This time it’s mostly expense reduction via aircraft delays.

Labor Issues Thwart Southwest’s Efforts to Buy Frontier – BNET
Southwest lost its chance to buy Frontier thanks to labor issues. It shouldn’t be a surprise, but it still is.

LAX Rent Increase Ruled Not Discriminatory, But Fight Continues – BNET
LAX tried to increase its rent for those airline not under long term lease, and they just won the first round of the battle. But there’s more to come.

In Search of the Elusive Power Port – NileGuide
I wrote this guest post for NileGuide about which airlines have power outlets and where you can find them. It ain’t easy.

Air Traffic Controller Union, FAA Agree on Labor Deal – BNET
It’s taken years, but the new administration has finally started working with the air traffic controllers. They have a tentative agreement.

June Premium Traffic Drops “Only” 21.3 Percent – BNET
It’s premium traffic monitor time again, and it’s ugly . . . again. But things are getting a bit less bad.

Delta’s Partnership with Virgin Blue Causes Pain for United in Australia – BNET
Virgin Blue is walking away from its United codeshare down under.