Cranky Weekly Review Presented by San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport: Alaska’s Big Quarter, JetBlue’s Less-Big Quarter

---

---

Are you sick of hearing about the Southwest and Elliott saga? Too bad! We tackle it again this week on The Air Show, despite Brian’s deep disdain for the topic. This time, we look forward now that the drama has been settled. Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. (And note, we’re going dark next week since we figure everyone will be busy staring into the abyss as the election results unfold.)

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Pocket Casts

Alaska Saya Aloha to Strong Q3

Alaska Airlines posted a 13% pretax margin this quarter, the highest in the industry, with an income of $236 million on gross revenues of just over $3 billion.

The profitable quarter includes Alaska closing on its purchase of Hawaiian which includes the carrier’s fleet, strong performance to and from the Hawaiian Islands, and its deep stores of POG juice located in various safe houses on Oʻahu. The deal was completed on September 18, meaning Hawaiian was a part of Alaska for just 13 days of the quarter, but what a magical two weeks it was.

Corporate revenue grew 9% for Alaska YoY, with its premium product out-growing its main cabin offerings, as it grew 10% on premium and 8% in first class despite only a 5% YoY growth in premium seat capacity.

Alaska ended the quarter with total liquidity of $3.4 billion and $2.5 billion in unrestricted cash plus a treasure trove of unused ukuleles it found when doing an audit of the storeroom in the back corner of Terminal B in Honolulu.

JetBlue’s Finishes Q3 in the Red, But it Coulda Been Worse

JetBlue Airways lost $60 million during Q3 on $2.4 billion in gross revenue, but the carrier managed to beat expectations and harped on its strong operational quarter and 98% completion rate despite two hurricanes.

The result was considerably better than last year’s $153 million loss during Q3 and comes on a slight increase in gross revenue, a 5% increase in operating margin, and $169 million in cost savings. The carrier spent an average of $2.67 per gallon on fuel and an average of $2.70 per gallon on Dunkin’ coffee for its home office in Long Island City, both expenses being vital to fueling the carrier’s day-to-day operation.

United Enhances MileagePlus for 2025

Remember what Delta taught us about 10 years ago — if everyone’s elite, then nobody is. United is taking that message to heart and increasing its elite qualification requirements for 2025. Premier Silver will now require 15 PQFs (premier qualifying flights) and 5,000 PQPs (premier qualifying points) or 6,000 PQPs (up from 12/4k/5k in 2024). Premier Gold, Platinum and 1K will also see similar increases, and you can see the entire chart if you click the link.

This is United’s first increase to its elite qualifying program since introducing the PQP program prior to the pandemic, so it was probably due for a devaluation anyway. United will offer a head start on ’25 qualifying for its current elite members, with Silver members being gifted 300 PQPs, Gold getting 600 PQPs, 900 PQPs being given to Platinums, and 1Ks will start with 1400. This is roughly a 5% head start on earning for next year, so it will likely soften the blow for current elites as they look to requalify in 2025, but it definitely won’t stop them from complaining about how offended they are by the change.

United also expected to add an unpublished benefit where it will offer triple PQPs for anyone’s trip that begins and ends in Newark, essentially serving as hazard pay for those willing to brave its NYC hub. Rumors that we could not confirm at press time are that the Port Authority of NY/NJ is footing the bill for the bonus PQPs as part of the Newark modernization project.

DOT Institutes New Refund Rules

More than two years after it was first proposed, the Department of Transportation is implementing new refund rules for airline passengers that will trigger automatic refunds if flight disruptions meet certain criteria.

The new criteria that would require an automatic refund now include:

• Flight cancellations (amazingly, this includes flight number changes)
• Delays or schedule changes that are more than or 3 hours within the 50 US states and US territories or 6 hours everywhere else
• An extra stop is added to an itinerary beyond what was originally booked
• Change in origin or destination airport
• Traveler is downgraded to a lower cabin
• Disabled customers have a change in connecting airport or a change in aircraft types regulating in accessibility features not being available
• A passenger is required to connect through Newark against their will (passengers in window seats whose flight path takes them over Newark will be offered partial refunds)

It’s important to know the government did leave a carve out for Basic Economy passengers, saying that not only are they not eligible for refunds ever, they are actually responsible to find their own way home if any of these qualifying events happen as punishment for booking the Basic ticket in the first place.

Unfortunately the law of unintended consequences could actually make things worse for the traveling public under these new policies. For instance, a major schedule change on one half of a roundtrip, the whole trip could be cancelled and refunded, potentially leaving travelers out of luck on their return. For more on this change and its potential downsides to consumers, please visit Wednesday’s post on crankyflier.com.

DCA Sweepstakes Objections are Filed

As expected, the three carriers that lost out on receiving slots in the DOT’s DCA sweepstakes last month filed their objections this week in what will likely be a fruitless attempt to change the result of the allocation.

Frontier, JetBlue, and Spirit filed objections with the DOT, with each having their own beef with the process. Frontier still believes it is a limited incumbent carrier and Alaska is not. It also says it has cute animals on its airplanes while Alaska has a scary looking eskimo and that the government did not take aircraft livery into account when making its decision.

Spirit also believes it is an incumbent carrier at the airport, and got San Jose International Airport located near San Francisco Bay to join its filing. Spirit says while it is an incumbent carrier, Frontier is not, and that Frontier should be required to cover the animals on its aircraft in bright yellow paint. Lastly, JetBlue took a different tact, saying the DOT did not support increased competition at the airport by denying its attempt to increase service to San Juan. JetBlue even goes so far as to say that the government should disregard the high price of its service from Washington/National to San Juan as it’s a longer flight than average from DCA, which, of course, is unrelated and silly.

While none of these objections are likely to result in anything, its JetBlue’s that is particularly weak and unlikely to result in a change.

• Aer Lingus is cutting staff.
• Air Canada‘s Q3 report is out.
• Air France is going to Disney World.
• Air India is canceling some flights to the U.S. because of aircraft maintenance delays.
• airBaltic ended its A220 wet-leasing operation.
• Alaska is enhancing the price of its lounge membership fees.
• Bees Airlines was stung this week as one of its A320s is being held over an outstanding debt.
• Delta filed its lawsuit against Crowdstrike late last week. Crowdstrike responded by countersuing. Though we don’t know how it will end up, we’re sure a SkyMiles devaluation is in the cards.
• Fly Vaayu, the UAE-based carrier you didn’t know existed, got its AOC and plans to begin flying later this year.
• Garuda Indonesia changed its mind on an A330-800 order.
• Hawaiian‘s A330 outfitted with its Moana 2 livery is now flying.
• Iberia took delivery of its first A321XLR.
• LATAM‘s dream to add 15 B787s is now a reality.
• Lufthansa Discovered it would rather have someone else fly to Minneapolis/St Paul.
• Qantas is out of the B717 business, leaving Delta and Hawaiian as the last two.
• Riyadh Air is ordering 60 A321s.
• SAA could be putting its London/Heathrow slots on the market. Anyone interested in flying scheduled commercial service to the airport should contact SAA immediately.
• SpiceJet continues to be peppered with bankruptcy challenges.
• SmartLynx received permission to operate its Latvian fleet to the United States.
• Southwest‘s new bamboo cups and wood stir sticks will reduce its single-use plastic consumption by 50%, but it’s shy of the 60% reduction Elliott demanded. The carrier is expected to give up one more board seat as compensation.
• Spirit sold 23 airplanes to GA Telesis. The total for the 23 planes came to $519 million, but if it goes to the airport and pays in-person at a Spirit ticket counter, it can save $13.99 per plane.
• Turkish is increasing its Denver service from 4x weekly to daily beginning June 9.
• Vietnam Airlines signed an MoU with Emirates to continue to be friends.