Cranky on the Web – Reviewing the Year, More on Hidden City Ticketing, Delays on the Tarmac and on Southwest

Jan 10, 2015

More Reading on This Topic: Fares, Government Regulation, Southwest

In the Trenches: Reviewing the Year and Preparing for 2015 – Small Business Center
I take a quick look back on 2014 and talk about 2015 priorities for Cranky Concierge.

Why airlines hate when you book a hidden city airfare – Fox News
George Hobica had a good in-depth piece on hidden city ticketing that also references my post earlier this week.

Passengers stranded on tarmac for a day bemoan rules – Bloomberg
I had a long-ranging talk with this reporter about tarmac delay rules, and it’s funny that the one quote that made it in here makes it sound like I might support the idea. I don’t.

Southwest’s on-time rates: Better but not best – Chicago Tribune
A good article on Southwest’s improvement in on-time performance since August. I wrote about the change in September and there’s no question that things are better than they were. But as the title says, they’re not at the top of the pack.

Brett

6 responses to “Cranky on the Web – Reviewing the Year, More on Hidden City Ticketing, Delays on the Tarmac and on Southwest”

MeanMeosh

Jan 10, 2015 at 7:23 am

Just a quick note – the Chicago Tribune article is behind a paywall – you might want to add one of those “Subscription Required” headings to the title like you do when you link to a Plane Business article.

Anyway, my personal experience on Southwest has been a mixed bag. They’ve done a better job of cleaning up unrealistic connections, but still seem to have an issue with unrealistic turn times. A good example – I was waiting for a nonstop to PHX where the plane was coming from BHM. It arrived on time, but it had only a 30-minute turn, and by the time the plane was cleaned and ready to go, we boarded about 10 minutes late, and of course, our arrival into PHX was about 15 minutes late. But the onward flight to LAS (we weren’t on it) had a 45-minute turn, and they were able to make up almost all of the delay with no problem.

Reply
1. CF
  
  Jan 10, 2015 at 8:39 am
  
  Oh really? Well, it’s not like PlaneBusiness so just Google the title and
  then you can click through.
  
  Reply
2. Ron
  
  Jan 10, 2015 at 12:19 pm
  
  I think it’s high time for a young startup airline to try 10-minute turns. Oh wait…
  
  Reply
visitor

Jan 10, 2015 at 12:13 pm

Southwest lost me after multiple flight delays, not because of the delays but because of how they were handled. Flight staff tried to make it seem unimportant and light-hearted. I now avoid Southwest, taking them only when other alternatives are not available.

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Ron

Jan 10, 2015 at 12:32 pm

So award booking brings in more business than flight monitoring? How does your award service compare to other options, like those of Gary Leff or Lucky? I know they focus on high-end luxury travel. What is your selling point?

And small business is great, but what about big business? I work for a large employer, where people book on their own and the rules are fairly flexible; there’s a handful of contract travel agencies (including one online) but we don’t have to use them, and many people just book directly with airlines and hotels. I don’t know if flight monitoring is an allowable expense. Is this a market you’re interested in?

Reply
1. CF
  
  Jan 11, 2015 at 2:55 pm
  
  Ron – Well, my statement about award travel being bigger than monitoring is
  a bit misleading. Flight monitoring is much less expensive than award
  travel so the award travel revenue is higher but the number of people who
  sign up just for flight monitoring is higher. (Also, everything we do
  includes flight monitoring, which is a differentiator vs any other award
  travel service.
  
  When it comes to other differentiators, most importantly, we’re a travel
  agent so we can compare and pair with paid tickets which is great for
  clients. We’ve really been growing the small business service with that
  feature, since plenty of small businesses have points they could burn but
  they just don’t think about it. That’s the part of award travel that I
  want to really grow.
  
  As for big business, it’s not an area we’ve really been interested in.
  When you get to these big companies, it becomes all about contracts and
  compliance. These big agencies are set up to provide reporting and manage
  contracts. If you’re at a company where you’re encouraged to book on your
  own, then you’re lucky. We could certainly help in companies like that.
  We can also offer flight monitoring as an add-on service for people who
  book elsewhere even in a corporate environment. Those are areas we might
  explore more in the future. For now, we have our hands full!
  
  Reply