This week’s featured link:
Ryanair to bid for Alitalia’s jets: O’Leary – FlightGlobal
On the surface, the idea that Ryanair would want both long and short haul aircraft to operate under the Alitalia brand is laughable. I assume this is just Ryanair playing mind games. My guess? Ryanair just wants to show interest, drive the price up, and then laugh when others get saddled with it. Or maybe drive the price up so that nobody is interested and they have to break it up instead. That would be what Ryanair would really want – pick at the carcass to get what it wants.
Two for the road:
Non-flyers will have access to Airmall at Pittsburgh International Airport – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
I like being able to go past security and meet people at the gate, but you know what else I like? Shorter lines at security when I have to fly. Maybe Pittsburgh has the capacity and doesn’t think it will stress the system. But if that’s the case, maybe they need to send those TSA agents over to an airport that could use more help.
Burning Man airport emerges in Nevada desert – USA Today
It’s not every day that an airport comes out of nowhere for a couple weeks. In fact, it’s every YEAR. This is a fun read.
9 comments on “3 Links I Love: Ryanair’s Alitalia Mind Games, Non-Travelers Behind Security, Airport Rises From the Desert”
My aunts and uncles have never had any issue with getting permission to accompany my 90-something grandmother to the gate when my grandmother is flying by herself, even when my aunts and uncles are not traveling. Maybe it’s a YMMV thing or a case of the local airlines or TSA bending the rules a little, but it hasn’t been an issue for us post-9/11, and having a family member help grandma through security, push her wheelchair, and get her on the correct flight makes things easier and less stressful for everyone.
As someone who flew as a UM in and out of PIT from the mid 90’s through the early 2000’s and now as an adult, I love that they are starting this program. They have done an overall good job keeping security lines moving in recent years, and they have an alternative checkpoint that they use if things start to back up. Passenger traffic has started to creep back up, but even with allowing non-flyers in the airside terminal now I still don’t expect as many people going through security as there was at the height of US Airways.
I am curious why you didn’t have the same guess about Ryanair’s motives a week ago when O’Leary complained about the Air Berlin situation.
I basically don’t believe a thing he is publicly saying.
I don’t like the idea of letting non ticket holders pass security. Not from a safety issue since a nut can just buy a ticket to get pass security, but from the point of less people in the boarding area and at security check points.
I have no issues with parents with UMs, or people assisting the elderly or disabled, but not with 20 family members going to meet or send off one family member.
Can you smell the non-aero revenue, though? PIT will have the highest per pax spend rate in the US
From the article:
“Non-flyers must show a valid photo ID like a driver’s license or passport. Just like anyone who buys a ticket, their names will be checked against a no-fly list before the pass, good for one day, is issued.
All non-flyers will have to pass through the security checkpoint and will be subject to the same searches and restrictions as ticketed passengers. Christina Cassotis, CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, which operates Pittsburgh International, said there will be no compromises in security.”
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So… don’t travelers pay a fee to the government for the security screening? I don’t see it mentioned whether non-flyers get charged for the pass. Or if the airport or the merchants pay for it.
I’m sure TSA isn’t doing this pro bono. The merchants/airport must be paying somehow.
About the public being allowed to the gates:
I understand they are going to have to pass thru security. Hopefully it is not the same line passengers have to go thru.
Don’t we have taxes/fees added to our tickets for airport security? I sure hope the airport charges these non pax a fee to get thru security and go to the gates.
Airport gate areas are clogged enough as it is. Adding a bunch of people, who have no time restraints, the ability to freely roam around sounds like a security issue also.
I am totally against this.
This sums up Alitalia perfectly – “Cuts would be focused on a 2,000-strong management layer that O’Leary said is inappropriate for a carrier with 23 million annual passengers. Ryanair, which attracted 117 million customers in 2016, has 120 equivalent managers, he said.”