Random Bits of Info, Long Time No See

I haven’t done one of these in awhile . . .

• Southwest Bumps Up Beer Prices – Boooooooo to Southwest for increasing the price of beer onboard from $3 to $4. And a double boooooooo for actually trying to make it sound like it’s a good thing for the customer in their email blast.
  

  . . . our ever-popular Drink Coupon Books will have a new look and simplified redemption. With the new coupons, your favorite beer, wine, or mixed drink is now only one coupon away! And the new look to the books will definitely give you something to talk about with your seatmate!

  Uh huh.

• Bmi Giving Up . . . – With Heathrow opening up soon, British Airways has apparently decided to start buying up slots to prevent competition. Rumor has it that they just purchased 51 slots a week from bmi. Now that bmi can serve the US from Heathrow, I have no idea why they’d consider selling these slots unless they needed the cash. After all, BA paid GBP 30 million for them, if you believe the article. I’m also not sure how they’ll use 51 slots when a slot is good for either a takeoff OR landing. There’s going to be one plane landing that can’t take off again!

• . . . Uh, or Not? – I’m not sure why Bmi would have sold those slots if this next story is true. It is being reported that United and Bmi have applied for joint flight operations over the Pond.  This sounds similar to what Northwest and KLM have done. United would sell tickets in the US and Bmi would sell in the UK. I have no idea why you’d want to sell your slots if this were the case. Something’s not right here.

• How is Varig Still Flying? – These guys truly have nine lives. After years of near-death experiences, they now seem to have found solid footing. Gol, the successful Brazilian low cost carrier, has decided to buy the airline to eliminate a competitor. They’re going to run the two airlines separately. It seems to me that besides eliminating a competitor, they wanted to get access to Sao Paulo’s Congonhas airport (S.A.T. time: Congonhas is to Sao Paulo as National is to Washington DC) and the airline’s international route authorities.