American Asks to Defer Beijing Flights
It wasn’t long ago that airlines were climbing on top of each other to grab slots to China. Now the DOT can’t even get airlines to start the flights they’ve earned.
The Problem with the $150 Change Fee
Now that airlines are going to a $150 change fee, they’re actually going to leave money on the table. Something needs to “change” . . .
Midwest Receives $60 Million to Restructure
Midwest has restructured once again, and the airline now appears to be on its way to a regional model. Republic has to be pretty happy right now.
United, Northwest See Steep Decline in Pacific Traffic
This summer has seen a pretty steep drop in the number of people flying from the US to Asia. This probably explains why airlines are rethinking Asian expansion.
6 comments on “This Week on BNET (Sep 2 – 5)”
As to the $150.00 change fee;
It is a money maker for the ones using it. I am thinking of a flight on COA that my wife took, COA over booked and was offering Flyers miles, then miles plus cash. The final offer was miles, free ticket, and $200.00. All for overbooking!
It seems that over booking can be very profitable if the savvy frequent flyer just kisses off a few hundred and spends a few more hundred for a different ticket. Problem solved for the airline.
I equate this to the new money maker with the home improvement stores, they used to carry stock paint/stain colors, now it is tint bases and once mixed, no refund, even if they screwed it up! They got their money.
SAD, Very SAD
I was supposed to be on a flight last week to CUN via CO. With the threat of Hurricane Gustav (as it was at the time) hitting the area, we decided to take up Continentals offer of waiving the change fee (we were going to pay it anyway, as my wife has already suffered through Hurricane Charley by accident a few years ago and didn’t want to risk it again). After waiving the fee on the trip (booked via Orbitz), they told me I needed to deal with them to rebook, which was fine because Orbitz was a little annoying through the whole process. So I went to a travel agent this time (potentially one of the best moves I made), rebooked, and she called CO to get me on the new flight, and I was then informed of a $25/ticket reissue fee. Well, my travel agent spoke to a few people and they said it couldn’t be waived (as I was going from Orbitz to the airline itself to book the flight), even though CO and Orbitz told me to go through CO. Eventually, she put me on the phone and after a few stern words (and I used some of my aviation lingo, maybe it actually helped?), I got that fee waived, but I was so ticked. I’d never flown CO before, hopefully it will be a nice flight. I still think I’ll stick with B6 in the future though, it’s always been a nice experience with no anger or frustration.
I heard that airlines raised their prices on things like checking bags due to gas prices. I think that the whole higher gas price thing is ridiculous. It’s making a few people a lot richer off of other’s struggles. That is not the right way to create a surplus.
Good stuff..The current hike in airfare prices is certainly putting up a huge burden in small scale industries. I wish there was a way out for this.
I for one am of the opinion that the airline companies did shoot themselves in the foot with excessive infighting.
This way I will never try flying on a plane. I heard of prices going crazy and airline companies loosing assets.