We are only ONE weeks away from the first Cranky Network Awards on March 24 at 5pm PT/8pm ET! This week, Courtney Miller from Visual Approach Analytics and I are proud to announce the nominees for the final five categories that we will be awarding that evening during the YouTube Premiere broadcast.
These categories range from pure avgeekinees to more serious network achievements. Watch the short video below to see the nominees.
Best New Partnership
- Alaska and American Reloaded
- American and JetBlue Part Deux
- Alaska and Qatar
- American and Gol
- Air Canada and Etihad
- Korean and Asiana
Most Clever Flight Number
- Alaska 500 – Seattle to Indianapolis
- American 1492 – Dallas/Fort Worth to Columbus
- Allegiant 711 – Las Vegas to Bellingham
- Hawaiian 50 – Honolulu to New York/JFK
- Southwest 808 – Oakland to Honolulu
Best New Destination
- La Paz, Mexico on American
- Wilmington, Delaware on Frontier
- Hyderabad, India on Air India
- Bangalore, India on Air India, American, and United
- Bucaramanga, Colombia on Spirit
- Asunción, Paraguay on Eastern
Most Improved Network
- United Airlines
- JetBlue Airways
- Hawaiian Airlines
- Southwest Airlines
- Alaska Airlines
Worst Airline Ever
- Aerolineas Argentinas
- Air India
- Alitalia
- Norwegian Air Shuttle
- South African Airways
And there you have it. Now, it’s just time to wait until March 24 at 5pm PT/8pm ET.
Please mark your calendars for March 24 and be ready to join us for a live chat during the ceremony. (Since it’s pre-recorded, we can actually chat with you.) And then, next year… the goal is to do it in person in Southern California along with our presenting sponsor, Ontario International Airport.
We hope you can join us!
20 comments on “Announcing The Cranky Network Award Final Five Category Nominees”
Gary Leff will be annoyed that Pakistan International didn’t make the worst airline list. Not sure what Norwegian is doing there myself…
It’s been over 20 years, but I flew on United 1492, which was BUR-DEN-CMH. Also, my airfare was cheaper round trip than my colleagues’ from DEN.
Love the most creative flight number category. Also, I’m not sure I will know what to do if Alitalia doesn’t “win” the worst airline ever category.
Cranky Flier | Announcing The Cranky Network Award Final Five Category Nominees
So how do you vote or do you just pick them
I’m guessing that Gary Leff will be bitterly disappointed that American Airlines didn’t make the cut for the “Worst Airline Ever.” I’ve rarely seen him write anything positive about the airline. Based on what I’ve read here and on his page, his comments about American tend to go beyond simple criticism and seem to be unusually personal and vindictive. To be fair, there are times when criticism is warranted, but it seems to me that critics should also be fair about those they cover, and not engage in personal vendettas. I mean no disrespect toward Mr. Leff at all. He’s certainly entitled to his opinion. And of course, my observation could be totally wrong.
I hate to be too much of a downer, but some of this doesnt make sense. What exactly do you mean “best new destination?” Please define that, as each of these nominations means something entirely different. Do you mean “best new destination for a nonstop from the United States”? If so, then I guess Hyderabad and Bangalore could count for Air India, but they are absolutely NOT new destinations for Air India. Air India has flown to those destinations for years. They’re pivotal Indian cities. And Wilmington, DE for Frontier? They’ve flown there before. This is re-starting. And parntership.. Korean and Asiana? Korean is buying Asiana outright and we have no details what that means. How can we evaluate the notion of it being a partnership, let alone a “good” or “Best New” partnership?? Very confusing. As far as flight numbers goes, I guess those are okay, but when I worked for United we put a flight 500 on the then-new IND-SFO flight, and various airlines have done various incarnations of the 1492s, the 1776, etc before. So it’s not like it’s original.
I’m sorry to be such a downer, but scratching the surface and asking questions on what these awards mean really leaves me puzzled.
Jason – We explain all of this in detail during the show, but this is just a teaser. We now have a link for Wednesday’s show, so head on over to set a reminder and join us then: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eW9kwbBT_Y
Several of those “creative” flight numbers are hardly original. NW, for example, operated NW808 from MSP-HNL for years. CO used to operate CO1492 from IAH-CMH, and CO1776 from IAH-PHL. Hopefully, that history is considered when awarding these nominees for “cleverness”!
Cranky – if it wasn’t mentioned earlier, congrats on the theme music. It’s fabulous.
Jason – take a chill pill. These are all meant in good fun, and we’ll have plenty of opportunities to gripe and complain during and after the “show”.
Can’t wait for next week!
I understand most of the flight numbers, but what does the show Hawaii Five-O have to do with NYC?
I’m disappointed that the 711 flight number isn’t used for flights from Tokyo and/or Dallas (the world and US HQs, respectively, of the parent companies behind the 7-Eleven brand of convenience stores) to Las Vegas, for a double pun.
It will never happen due to the vulgar connotations, thankfully, but I can think of a certain two digit flight number (beginning with “6”, let’s leave it at that) that immature avgeeks would find very amusing to see AA use for flights between Charlotte and Pensacola.
On another note, I’m surprised (at least based on a quick Google) that no airline appears to use flight number 1337 for “geek flights” between tech hubs (e.g., SJC and AUS, SEA, or RDU).. Might be able to earn some techie cred with that one.
If I can join the pile on over flight numbers…
15-20 years ago, America West (HP) was using at least three of the five mentioned flight numbers:
HP 500 PHX-IND
HP 1492 BWI-CMH
HP 711 JFK-LAS (also HP 777 ORD-LAS)
HP 50 was in there somewhere too–PHX-HNL or HNL-PHX; it may have also had a leg between PHX and JFK in the mix.
Why Southwest flight number 808 (Oakland to Honolulu)? I know the others, but I don’t know the significance of the number 808 in that context. Thanks.
Think area codes…
Thank you …
I may have missed it, but how do we “attend” the awards? Is there a video streaming option or Zoom event?
Thanks!
Troy – The link is now ready! Go here to set a reminder…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eW9kwbBT_Y
I’m too young to remember the original Hawaii Five-O, but in the last creation, Danny was originally a cop in NY, so HNL to JFK could be a reference to that.
Ah, thanks. Definitely before my time, but I guess the quick Google I did on the subject was a little “too” quick and missed that connection. That makes more sense, then.
Just an aside but the Calgary Police Service helicopter registration is C-FIVO
I think it’s unfair that Alitalia is nominated in it’s category. As the Italians say “come sparando alla Croce Rossa”
Give them naming rights of the award in honour of their notoriety and let some of the budding up and comers get a real shot at the award.