Cranky on the Web (November 13 – 18)

Nov 19, 2011

More Reading on This Topic: Airports, Government Regulation, United

Should I feel guilty about flying out of Buffalo instead of Toronto? – The Globe and Mail
I was asked why Canadian airports are more expensive. So many reasons, but they only took one.

Wi-Fi coming to international flights – CNN Out of the Office
More talk about what’s happening with United’s decision to put wifi on its international fleet.

First Fine for Tarmac Delays May Not Actually Help You – Conde Nast Daily Traveler
I didn’t write about the tarmac delay fine here, but over on Conde Nast I talked about how it’s not necessarily good news. (Regular readers here won’t be surprised by my stance.)

In the Trenches: Recovering From a Crash – Intuit Small Business Blog
Our web host crashed last week, and that meant we had to revert to a back up plane to keep our clients happy.

Brett

6 responses to “Cranky on the Web (November 13 – 18)”

David SF eastbay

Nov 19, 2011 at 12:32 pm

“””””Our web host crashed last week, and that meant we had to revert to a back up plane to keep our clients happy. “””””

Brett you must have been think of plane crashes to have a back up plane and not a back up plan….lol.

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Do airlines keep fares low near the Canadian border to entice people to cross or are the Canada side fares so high that any American fare looks good?

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1. CF
  
  Nov 19, 2011 at 2:01 pm
  
  I think my fingers are not capable of typing plan without putting an “e” on the end.
  
  For Canada, a lot of the problem is the high taxes. So it’s not even that fares are that high but rather that the ultimate price paid is high by the customer.
  
  Reply
2. Sanjeev M
  
  Nov 20, 2011 at 6:08 pm
  
  I think also because Canadian airports are unsubsidized/not as subsidized by their federal government so the charges are higher to make up for that.
  
  Although to be fair, Air Canada has a done a good job maintaining competitive fares to Europe from regional US destinations such as RIC and IND. AC works WITH the Canadian government to make international transfers EASY (not having to recollect baggage, very limited passport check). One other thing in favor for the airlines is that there isn’t much competition internationally (see EK vs Canada).
  
  Reply
Weekly output: Flash, Android tablets, SOPA, Microsoft stores, Metro | Rob Pegoraro

Nov 19, 2011 at 1:47 pm

[…] and the structure I’m using goes to Brett Snyder’s Cranky Flier blog, which runs a “Cranky on the Web” post each Saturday noting where he’s written or been quoted.) Yes, the fact that this […]

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Samara Citizen

Nov 21, 2011 at 1:05 am

Wow, so BlueHost crashed? Last week I had my site suspended for a couple of hours without even the ability to reach the admin panel. BluHost said they blocked the site because it caused problems for 2000 other clients of theirs (I am not on a dedicated server). I had to delete a couple of perfectly working plugins, and when they were told that that was all I could do (especially not being a programmer) they unblocked the site. So, now I keep frantically checking CPU throttling reports on BlueHost admin not even sure what to do if it happens again.

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A

Nov 21, 2011 at 11:52 am

Over the past decade + a common route for me has been MSP/YYC. From roughly 2002-2005 I could get a R/T ticket for roughly $200-300 with 2 week advance purchase on NW. Then the price jumped to about $500. Then $700…$800…and today it’s not uncommon to see the fare around $1000. Meanwhile the route has gone from mainline metal to regional aircraft.

Now, I know Canadian airports have extra fees/taxes that US counterparts do not have. I also know that fuel prices are up since a decade ago. That said, a more than 300% increase in the typical fare is more than just an expensive airport. With the lower capacity on the route the planes are always full as well.

I don’t find fault with the airlines, they are probably profitable on that route as there is little competition. There’s the issue, little to no competition from CAD airports to/from the US.

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