This Week’s Featured Link:
WestJet’s London Expansion Has Been A Bumpy Flight – WestJet
I’ve been hearing people talk about WestJet’s 767 operational problems for awhile, but once more traditional outlets pick it up, it becomes bigger news. WestJet picked up some two dozen year old 767s from Qantas to do Hawai’i and Europe flying. This summer was supposed to be the big splash with London flights beginning, but the operation hasn’t been able to keep up. Since June 1, I show that fewer than 40 percent of departures from London have arrived within 15 minutes of schedule. Ouch.
It is normal to have teething problems with new fleets, but the people sitting in the airport watching their flight cancel couldn’t care less. Does this mean the service is doomed? Not necessarily. But it does mean WestJet will be relying on people looking for the cheapest fares more than it might like. Because those who care about reliability aren’t going to look at WestJet until this problem is fixed. Get ready for some bargains.
Two for the Road:
CASSIE MACDUFF: Thumbs down for L.A. in airport name – The Press-Enterprise
Ontario’s move toward independence continues, but there are some bad moves being made. Instead of properly evaluating what name would best help to let people know where the airport was, Ontario has become too focused on the evils of everything LA. So the airport will not have LA in the name, and the marketing campaign will focus on the ONT three letter code. That is a huge mistake. The people in charge need to get over the ego factor here and realize that nobody outside of California knows or cares about Ontario. But they DO care about LA. Go where the recognition is.
Delta Is (Not So Secretly) Spying On Qatar Airways In Atlanta – One Mile at a Time
I’ve seen several bloggers write about the horrors of Delta placing someone outside the Qatar Airways gate in Atlanta and counting passengers. That is downright laughable. This is a time-honored tradition. Airlines have posted people up outside competitor gates for years to get accurate counts. This isn’t being petty. This is just the practice of knowing your enemy as best you can. I’d be surprised if Delta hadn’t done this.
