This week’s featured link:
The travel trick that airlines hate – BBC capital
When I was in Dallas this week, I got into a long discussion with a few friends about hidden-city ticketing. (That kind of conversation, by the way, is exactly what happens when a bunch of AvGeeks get together.) There are plenty of varying opinions on the practice, but here’s where I stand. I see no issue with airline practices that result in hidden-city opportunities, and if they want to ban people from buying those tickets, then that’s fine. That being said, enforcement is tricky. Airlines should make it risky for people to do it so that they self-select against the process. That means making an example of repeat offenders by kicking them out of the mileage program or threatening them to pay up. Those infrequent offenders? If it stays small enough, just ignore them. But suing? That could backfire, and I think it’s a bad idea. Lufthansa is playing with fire.
Two for the road:
Hawaii’s Mokulele Airlines to cut 10% of staff – ch-aviation
Yikes. Just days after the feel-good merger announcement from Southern Air Express suggesting this would be great for everyone, Mokulele has apparently told people internally that it will cut 10 percent of staff. This is a rough way to start a merger, and it’s going to breed distrust. It also indicates Mokulele has been unprofitable, something I had been led to believe wasn’t the case.
California Pacific Airlines says it will rise again – Escondido Grapevine
Uh, right. I suppose it could happen, but if it does, the only question will be whether it fails quicker than last time or if it manages to live slightly longer. (via @quanterium)
