There has been a ton of interesting news to write about in the last few days, and I’d been having trouble figuring out with what to lead . . . until yesterday. Turns out that I was voted one of the the world’s 50 most powerful blogs by The Observer in the UK.

Holy crap! That’s kind of scary. But, I’m guessing that means I’ll have a bunch of new visitors from that side of the Pond (welcome, everyone), so I’m going to post Sunday night instead of my usual Monday morning. And, while I’m being accommodating, let’s focus on something that probably causes you newbies pain and suffering more often than not: Heathrow.

Usually, any discussion of Heathrow involves a lot of cursing, rising blood pressure, and possibly some crying. With any luck, we’ll see less of that in the near future, but it’s likely to get worse in the short term. Why?

Well, we’re getting closer to the big terminal move. On March 27, BA will land its first flights at the brand-spanking new Terminal 5 and that begins a long period of transition for the airport as just about everyone save Virgin Atlantic moves locations.

I’ve tried to put together a handy guide on all the terminal moves so you can actually figure out where you’re supposed to go for your next flight. First, we’ll start with oneworld airlines, since they have the most changes happening the earliest.

Now let’s take a look at SkyTeam. In short, when Delta, Northwest, and Continental start flying to Heathrow in March, they’ll be in BA’s old Terminal 4. The rest of the carriers won’t move until early 2009, when a major terminal renovation will have been completed. Anyone who has flown BA out of that terminal lately knows that it is in desperate need of some help.

I’d like to list the Star Alliance changes here as well, but I haven’t been able to find them. In fact, while oneworld and SkyTeam have been on top of the changes, Star Alliance has been silent. I sent the alliance a request and their response left me wondering if they actually meant to insult my intelligence or if they just don’t speak English very well.

We would like to inform you, however, that the Star Alliance is a network of 19 individual airlines. Operational matters are handled by the airlines themselves. Therefore, for more information, you will need to contact the individual Star Alliance member airlines directly.

Really? You guys aren’t an airline yourself? No sh**. Well, I also asked United directly and spokesperson Robin Urbanski told me that the airline will be moving to Terminal 1, but it’s unclear when that might be and that will happen on June 1. Clearly, this alliance is a little less organized, probably because the changes aren’t coming as quickly as with the others.

We know that the airlines in Terminal 1 will stay there for now. Terminal 2 will be demolished starting this year, so those guys have to move somewhere. On March 27, BA moves nearly all of its domestic and European flights out of Terminal 1, so I have to assume that everyone from Terminal 2 will move in before their terminal disappears. Will the Terminal 3 airlines move at the same time or will they stay longer? My guess is that they won’t move immediately because there’s no urgency. Here’s how they stack up right now along with my best guesses as to where they’ll go. The only thing I know for sure is that US Airways will go to Terminal 1 when it starts service to the airport on March 30.

Update 3/25 @ 822a - Star has put out a press release with much more guidance. All Star carriers will be expected to move to Heathrow East in 2012 when the terminal is completed, but I haven’t included those changes in here.

Of course, not all airlines are in alliances. Virgin Atlantic, for example, will stay in Terminal 3, so you won’t see any changes there. All other unaligned airlines (except for former oneworld member Aer Lingus which will be in Terminal 3) will end up in Terminal 4. Again, I’m not entirely sure when that might happen, but one thing is clear . . . there will be a lot of confusion at Heathrow until things settle down, and that could take years.

If you have to go to the airport in the near future, leave plenty of time and bring lots of patience. If you have the misfortune of connecting through Heathrow, especially while these changes are in progress, may God have mercy on your souls.

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Today was a big day for new additions to global alliances. To be fair, these are just the announcements of additions but in the near future oneworld and SkyTeam fliers will have more options for mileage earning and redemption.

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.

I believe we can now officially declare Delta’s schedule planning announcements to be clear shots at US Airways and not merely coincidence.

On the heels of Delta’s New York/JFK - Phoenix and Salt Lake City - Charlotte announcements which I documented here, we get today’s announcement of new Salt Lake City - Pittsburgh flights. Yup, that’s the same Pittsburgh that US Airways considers a hublet these days.

The airline says it will begin one daily flight on a CRJ-900 regional jet on March 1. That’s right - almost 1,700 miles of good regional jet fun.

As I mentioned before, this appears to be just pure spite for US Airways. Bob Cortelyou, the head of Network Planning for Delta, was quoted in the release as saying “Delta continues to compete on every coast . . . .” This isn’t aimed at the local market - this is supposed to steal traffic between Pittsburgh and the West Coast from US Airways. It is also irresponsible asset utilization at its finest and yet another reason why US Airways could do a better job managing this airline.

And on that front, US Airways put a release out today saying that they hope to begin due diligence soon. I’m not sure why they put the release out. Maybe Delta is dragging its feet in the hopes that US Airways will just forget about it or something, and US Airways wants to point this out for all to see so that they can get things moving again.

One thing I do find very interesting is an article in USA Today which claims that US Airways will not fight for control of Delta if Delta management doesn’t want them to do so. Doug Parker made this statement at a meeting with USA Today reporters and editors yesterday. This seems very strange to me, because Delta management has been clear that they aren’t interested for months now. I’m not sure what would make Doug think that they’re going to change their minds, but maybe he knows more than we do.

The 757 is an aircraft that missed its calling. It was supposed to be a replacement for the 727 back in the 1980s. This meant its mission was for mid to longer-range domestic flights. The longest hauls were still the domain of the widebodies.

Delta seems to be on a neverending quest to spend lots of money to improve the customer experience. With that in mind, today’s announcement should be no surprise.

Beginning early 2008, Delta will install truly lie-flat seat in Business Elite, the airlines premium service on international flights. Not including Eos, which only flies between New York and London, Delta is the first US carrier to go with an all lie-flat product in business class.

They’ve chosen the seat pioneered by Virgin Atlantic in Upper Class a few years ago. Since that time, Air Canada and Air New Zealand have also purchased that seat. The unique feature of this seat is that it doesn’t face forward - it’s in a herringbone format so it’s angled inward. That allows them to fit more seats on the plane while giving a great deal of privacy. Here’s what it will look like:

As you can see, it’s a very nice looking product. Even though the seat has been bought from Virgin, this appears to be a slight change to their product. On Virgin, the seat back flips forward to turn into a bed. That makes a very comfortable bed even though the seat leaves a little to be desired. Upon reviewing Delta’s seat, it appears to work differently.

If you go to the press release, you can see more photos. From those pictures, it appears that this seat reclines into the bed position without flipping over. This may hurt the quality of the bed but the seat itself may be more comfortable. We’ll have to wait and see.

And yes, we’ll be waiting a long time. Early in 2008, only the two new long range 777s get the seats. The rest of the 777s don’t get it until fall 2008 and the 767s, the bulk of the airline’s international fleet, won’t be done until 2010.

Update (at 124p):

Silly me for reading the press release too fast. Delta used a little wordplay here:

“The airline also expects to offer a lie-flat option on its 767 aircraft. These modifications are expected to be complete by 2010.”

I took that to mean that the 767s would get the same lie-flat option, but it appears that they will get just “a lie-flat option.” This means it could be a different seat entirely, but no plans have yet been finalized. For now, it’s just the small fleet of 777s.

Back at the end of August, the District Court judge reviewing Northwest flight attendants’ right to strike put the decision on hold until he could gather more info.

Today, he finally issued a ruling saying that the flight attendants will not be allowed to strike at this time and the matter has to go back to the bankruptcy court for further proceedings. I’m not sure exactly what that means yet.

This all goes back to the interpretation of the Railway Labor Act (RLA) which binds airline employees as well as those that ride the rails. Now a little history.

Airlines and its employee unions/workgroups/etc come to agreement on a working contract. These contracts are for a set period of time, but they never expire. When the time period is up, they become amendable. If negotiations fail and mediation (National Mediation Board) is unsuccessful, both side enter a 30 day cooling off period. After that, they are entitled to self-help, which can include strikes.

This is fairly straightforward, but it entered a gray area when Northwest voided the flight attendants’ contract. See, the airline was given permission by the bankruptcy court to impose a contract that would dramatically reduce pay. As soon as they did that, the flight attendants argued that since they never agreed to this contract, the RLA didn’t apply. So they wanted to strike without going through all the hoops required in the RLA.

I’m not a legal scholar by any means, but I side with the flight attendants here. They are working under a contract that they never agreed to work under, and they should be permitted to seek self-help. Of course, my opinion sadly holds no legal value, so we’ll just have to see where this one goes. Appeals are flying as we speak.

Ok, maybe in this case, the correct term is “overweight,” but either way you look at it, you’ll have to leave those heavy bags at home from now on if you fly Continental.

Recently, most US airlines standardized their baggage rules to allow bags up to 50 lbs for free, bags 51 to 70 lbs for a fee, and bags 70 to 100 lbs for a bigger fee. Now, Continental has stopped allowing any bags over 70 lbs.

Really, if you can’t fit everything you need in a couple of 70 pound bags, there’s something wrong. Continental’s website does note, however, that you still check electric wheelchairs and other assistive devices free of charge.

Here are the weight restrictions for a few select airlines on domestic routes:

American - up to 50 lbs free, $25 per bag from 51 to 70 lbs, $50 per bag from 71 to 100 lbs
Continental - up to 50 lbs free, $25 per bag from 51 to 70 lbs
JetBlue - up to 50 lbs free, $20 per bag from 51 to 70 lbs, $50 per bag from 71 to 100 lbs
Northwest - up to 50 lbs free, $25 per bag from 51 to 70 lbs, $50 per bag from 71 to 100 lbs
Southwest - up to 50 lbs free, $25 per bag from 51 to 70 lbs, $50 per bag from 71 to 100 lbs
United - up to 50 lbs free, $50 per bag from 51 to 100 lbs
US Airways - up to 50 lbs free, $50 per bag from 51 to 70 lbs, $80 per bag from 71 to 100 lbs

I’m not quite sure why Delta put this press release out when it did, but they did, so here’s the latest . . .

Delta reannounced today this transcontinental service that we already knew was coming. This new product supposedly takes the best of Song and brings it onto Delta. Here are the details of this new service.

• First class on every flight (unlike Song’s coach-only service)
• Personal screens with live television, pay per view movies, games, MP3s, surveys, and flight path maps in every seat (same system used by Song)
• “Signature cocktails” including the Mile High Mojito and Mango Kiss (from Song)
• Meals in first class and buy-on-board in coach will soon follow (hopefully these will be like the excellent options offered on Song previously)

That’s all pretty straightforward, right? The confusing part involves how these are being rolled out. The ultimate goal to be reached sometime in 2008 is to have this service available on all flights over 1,750 miles or 4 hours. Of course, it’s impossible to just roll it out all at once, so there’s a phased in rollout.

First up is the 48 757s from the old Song fleet. Since those already have the tvs, all they have to do is re-cover the seats and throw in some First class as well. They’ll have generous 33″ pitch in coach, so the legroom is good. Starting this month, there will be 18 conversions per month, so you can expect to see these enter the fleet quickly.

JFK will get these planes first.

By the end of November, all JFK flights to the West Coast will get this service. I’m guessing from this map that I found on Delta’s website that this somehow includes the not-so-west coast cities of Tampa and Orlando as well as Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City.

Then it seems like Atlanta will be getting it next for its west coast flights.

As you can see on this mini-map, the west coast has a very broad definition. There are the real west coast cities of Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Ontario, Orange County, Los Angeles, and San Diego along with quasi-west coast cities of Phoenix, Las Vegas, Salt Lake, and Denver.

There are also a handful of cities in the east that don’t make much sense at first glance, including a bunch of Florida cities like Pensacola along with Baltimore, Philly, and New York. I’m sure these are included because the aircraft will be routed to those cities for utilization purposes. It’s just an added bonus for people in those cities.

The last map they offer is of Salt Lake City.

I think it’s funny they label this transcon service on the map considering that no flight from Salt Lake can technically be transcontinental, but they have Boston, Newark, and Washington/National on here as well as Portland, Seattle, and Sacramento. Strange.

Outside of these hubs, you can expect to see the long haul flying from Florida cities to the West and I would assume Cincinnati at some point. Those must be further down the line, maybe closer to 2008.

The moral here is that you should just be patient. You’ll be able to find out which flights have the new service on Delta’s website or on any site that uses OAG schedules. I know that we’ll be showing you which flights have it at PriceGrabber in the near future.

If you’d like to learn more, you can go to Delta’s media page and download the enormous 28MB video that last a little under five minutes that shows you all about the new onboard entertainment.

It’s entirely possible, nay probable, that Alitalia is the worst airline ever.

I’m not talking about being bad from a passenger perspective . . . there are probably far worse in the third world somewhere. But from a business perspective, Alitalia has to take the cake.

What prompted this outcry? Well, late last week, Alitalia canceled nearly 200 flights due to a strike by four of its unions. This is probably the 10,000th strike this year for these guys. What makes that even more remarkable is that lacking government support, this airline should have shut down many times over by now.

In the US, airline employees made some pretty hefty sacrifices for their companies. Strikes only became a threat after the second or third pay cut, and even then they never happened (though Northwest is still on the brink). Yet in Italy, the employees of Alitalia have this crazy sense of entitlement that just makes you shake your head.

So where does this come from? Well, it comes from the top. The Italian PM, Silvio Berlusconi was quoted earlier this year as saying that national pride should play a role in deciding the future of Alitalia. Forget about the fact that this airline is insolvent. If the PM thinks that it should exist, it will continue to exist despite market forces. So, with that crazy mandate to continue, the unions will keep striking, and the airline will continue to be in the running for the worst airline ever.

Those of you who read my posts on the PriceGrabber Discussion forums will remember that during the summer schedule ramp-up, it seemed like every Monday Delta would announce a slew of new destinations and routes.

Well, it’s been pretty quiet since the summer schedules were firmed up, but there appears to be hope on the horizon. Today is considered an honorary Monday since yesterday was a US holiday. Since yesterday was also the unofficial end of the summer season, it’s fitting that Delta came out with some new winter routes today.

On Dec 1, Delta continues it’s Mexico ramp-up with three times weekly flights between Mexico City and both Orlando and Salt Lake. In addition, on Dec 13, Delta starts twice weekly flights between Atlanta and Pointe a Pitre, the capital of the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. All flights are on 737-800 aircraft.

I can’t wait to see what’s next for them.