DansDeals.com

Here are the current standby policies of the major carriers as of 07/31 and incorporates the policy changes by AA, Frontier and USAirways that have occurred during July.

Prediction: Traditional free unconfirmed standby will be the next victim of $150 oil.

AA:
-Confirmed standby is available for flights departing the same day as your original flight for $35 $50. This can be confirmed within 12 hours of the departure of the new flight. Confirmed standby requires special inventory (“E”) to be available on the new flight which will require a phone call to AA to check on and confirm.

-Regular unconfirmed standby is still available for free for flights departing on the same day as the original flight.

-Standby is only available for travel within the U.S., Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada and the Caribbean.

Airtran:
-Confirmed standby is available only at the airport for flights on the same day as your original flight for $25.

-Regular unconfirmed standby is still available for free for flights departing on the same day as the original flight.

-Standby is available systemwide.

Continental:
-Confirmed standby is available for flights departing within 24 hours of your original flight for $50. However, this can only be confirmed within 12 hours of the departure of the new flight. Confirmed standby requires inventory available in the fare class that you are currently booked into. As long as any seats are available, Continental will open up availability in all fare classes at exactly 12 hours before their flights to allow for confirmed standby changes.

-Confirmed standby is $25 for Continental Gold and Platinum elites.

-It is free to be added to a regular unconfirmed standby list, but you will be charged $50 if you clear the list ($25 for Continental Gold and Platinum elites.)

-Standby is available systemwide.

Delta:
-Confirmed standby is available for flights departing the same day as your original flight for $50. This can only be confirmed within 3 hours of the departure of the new flight. Confirmed standby required special inventory to be available on the new flight which will require a phone call to Delta.

-Confirmed standby is free for Delta Gold and Platinum elites.

-Delta has completely eliminated unconfirmed standby except for Delta Gold and Platinum elites.

-Standby is only available for travel within the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Frontier:

-Confirmed and unconfirmed standby is now only available for Summit level elite members.

-Changes may only be made for flights departing the same day as your original flight by paying the difference between the fare paid and the walk-up fare for the new flight. The $150 change fee will be waived for same day flight changes.

-Confirmed standby is available for flights departing the same day as your original flight for $50 at the airport within 4 hours of the departure of the new flight.

-Regular unconfirmed standby is free for flights departing the same day as your original flight.

-Standby is available systemwide.

Jetblue:
-Confirmed standby is available beginning at midnight in the time zone of your original flight to change to any other flight on the same day for $40.

-Regular unconfirmed standby is available for the flight prior to your original flight for free. If you are flying on the first flight of the day then you may use unconfirmed standby to go on the flight right after your original flight for free. If there is only one flight between your city pairs then you may use unconfirmed standby to go on the flight the day before your original flight for free.

-Standby is available systemwide.

Midwest:

-Confirmed standby is available for flights departing the same day as the original flight for $35 at the airport within 3 hours of the departure of the new flight.

-Regular unconfirmed standby is free for flights departing the same day as the original flight.

-Standby is available systemwide.

Northwest:
-Confirmed standby may or may not be available for select flights only when you initially checkin online, for the same day as the original flight for $25. The program is called FlyNow and nobody at Northwest really knows what it’s all about or how it works. Good luck with that one.

-Regular unconfirmed standby is $25 for flights departing earlier on the same day as your original flight.

-Regular unconfirmed standby is free for all Skyteam elites.

-Standby is only available within the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Southwest:

-Southwest does not have Standby. Southwest never charges a fee for ticket changes, but you will have to pay the difference in fare.

United:

-Confirmed standby is available for flights departing the same day as your original flight for $75. This can only be confirmed within 3 hours of the departure of the new flight. It can be confirmed over the phone or at the airport. Confirmed standby requires inventory to be available in your original booking class or in “H.”

-Regular unconfirmed standby is still available for free for flights departing on the same day as the original flight.

-Standby is only available within the U.S.

Regular unconfirmed standby is still available for free for flights departing on the same day as the original flight.

USAirways:

-Confirmed standby is available only at the airport for flights departing the same day as the original flight for $25 $50 within the US48, Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada and Alaska.

-Regular unconfirmed standby is free, but is only available if confirmed standby is not available.

-Standby is not available to Hawaii or Europe.

Virgin America:

-Confirmed standby is available for flights departing the same day as the original flight for $25 at the airport only.

-Regular unconfirmed standby is free for flights departing the same day as the original flight, but must be requested at the airport before the departure of your original flight.

©2008 Dansdeals.com Research.
Please do not post this entire article on any other website without explicit prior permission. Thank You!

Citing fuel costs, Israir will discontinue their JFK-Tel Aviv service after this summer.

With the low-cost carrier out of the market, expect airfares to be on the rise…

The move leaves Continental, Delta, and El Al as the only airlines flying nonstop between the US and Israel.

Haaretz News Article Linky (Hebrew)

For a short period of time Continental had information on their new BusinessFirst seat up on their website.  This was confirmed by Continental to have gone up too early…but they can’t take back what’s already been saved!

BusinessFirst is arguably the best class of service available between the US and Israel.

The rumor is that the new seats will be in a 2-2-1 configuration on the widebodies and a 2-1 configuration on the narrowbodies.

The seats will be completely lie-flat.

Looking to use miles to fly in Continental’s BusinessFirst class to Israel? It’s 100K directly from Continental, but just 80K if booked via Alitalia, which is a Starwood transfer partner at 20,000 Starwood=25,000 Alitalia.

Here are links where you can read from the now taken down articles.

Article part 1

Article part 2

Article part 3

Article part 4

Article part 5

Just a month ago I noted that while most foreign carriers charge a fuel surcharge on award tickets, none of the US carriers charge one.

What a difference a month makes…

4 US carriers now charge a fuel surcharge on award tickets, although at the present the time the surcharge is significantly less than the hundreds of dollars that foreign carriers charge.

The airlines claim that miles are now worth significantly more now than they were a year ago because tickets cost much more now.  While this is true, the fact remains that people are paying more money now for the tickets to earn those miles, so it’s not a valid argument.  This is plain and simple a new way to devalue what was once pitched as free travel.

(Side note: Is this really legal? When flying the flight attendants still announce that you can be earning “free travel” by signing up for the airline’s mileage program. How can they promise free travel and then charge for it?)

At any rate, here are the latest fees:

AA: Effective 06/21: $5 fee on all award tickets.

Delta: Effective 08/15: $25 fee for US and Canada travel, $50 fee for international travel. Up to $400 fee for flights originating in Europe.

Northwest: Effective 09/15: $25 fee for intra-North America travel, $50 fee for Trans-Atlantic travel, $100 fee for Trans-Pacific travel, $50 fee for most other itineraries.

USAirways: Effective 08/06: $25 fee for US and Canada travel, $35 fee for Latin America and Carribean travel, $50 fee for Hawaii and Europe travel.

Remaining carriers with no fuel surcharge on award tickets:
Air China
Airtran
Alitalia
Alaska
Continental
Emirates
Jetblue
LAN
SAS
Southwest
United

I’m in awe of what USAir has just announced. Sure, times are desperate, but there’s only so much your frequent flyers will put up with before jumping ship.

In February USAir angered its frequent flyers by eliminating the industry standard 500-mile minimum mileage accrual in a move that was only matched by equally pathetic alliance partner United (as was predicted in that dansdeals.com posting)

Blessedly I have exactly 0 miles in my USAir mileage account-if you have any miles there the time to burn them is now!

Here is what has just been announced:

-Elimination of free beverages effective 08/01. Soda, juice, water, and coffee will now cost $2. Alcoholic beverages go from $5 to $7.

-Elimination of free checked luggage for tickets booked on or after 07/09. USAir/Star Alliance elites and their companions are exempt. 1st bag will be $15 each way, 2nd bag is $25 each way.

-Call center booking fees go from $15 to $25 (domestic) and $35 (international).

-Airport/ticket office booking fees go from $20 to $35 (domestic) and $45 (international).

-Award redemption fee effective 08/06 of $25 (domestic/Canada), $35 (Mexico/Carribean), and $50 (Hawaii/International)

-Elimination of the elite mileage bonus. Elite members on all airlines receive between a 25%-300% mileage bonus for flown miles depending on the airline and elite status. USAir is the 1st airline to eliminate this bonus.

In addition they will for all intents and purposes be eliminating their hub in Las Vegas, which joins Pittsburgh as the 2nd post-America West merger hub to close.  Let that be a lesson for anyone who believes that mergers don’t lead to the elimination of hubs…

Related:
United Airlines: We Really, Really Don’t Want Your Business. (Honest!)
Airline Ticket Change Fees Are On The Rise…
2nd Checked Bag Fee Roundup…
United Airlines Continues On Its Downward Spiral Into Oblivion…
AA: No More Free Domestic Checked Luggage For Non-Elites

United just announced that they will start charging for all checked luggage starting with tickets bought on 06/13 for travel on 08/13 or later.

This affects coach travel within Canada/US/Puerto Rico/USVI.

The first checked bag will be $15 each way, the 2nd checked bag is $25 each way.

Additionally, checking a 3rd bag or an overweight or oversized bag will now set you back $125!

United and Star Alliance elite members, along with anyone traveling on the same itinerary as an elite member, will continue to be able to check 2 bags for free.

In other news, United has won the title of Worst. Airline. Ever. Congrats UA!

Continental is finally launching a million miler program. They join AA, Delta, and United in offering lifetime perks for people who have flown 1,000,000 miles.

Elite status is typically earned by earning at least 25,000 elite qualifying miles in a year. There are however many other ways of becoming elite, such as via a challenge, a status match, or via a million miler program.

Continental’s million miler program is similar to Delta’s and United’s in that it only counts flight miles, and not other miles. AA is by far the most generous in counting all miles earned for million-miler status.

Unfortunately only elite qualfying miles count for Continental’s lifetime elite status-so award flights taken don’t count ;(

The most unique and intriguing part about Continental’s program is that it will give you the ability to grant million-miler status to a companion. I can only imagine what that status will fetch on ebay!

I came across Continental’s new million miler program while beta-testing the latest version of their website, scheduled to be deployed on the 14th. Here are some pictures showing the new program from the beta site.  As you can see, I’m not even in the ballpark…but if anyone who is needs a companion, just send me an email!

Another positive change coming on the 14th is the ability to see exit-row seat availability while searching for a flight, which on the current site is not possible:

With all of the bad news in the aviation industry I’d like to talk about something positive.  Continental recently launched one of the most impressive mobile sites ever: pda.continental.com

Here is the scoop on some of it’s groundbreaking features:

-Flight status that tells you the flight number of your inbound aircraft.  With the inbound flight number you can have a much better idea about the chance/time of delay for your flight.

-Real-time Battlefield upgrade standby list with passenger names.  This list tells you your upgrade priority rank versus every other elite member on the plane.  It also tells you how many elite members have received a complimentary upgrade, and even which seat they are in.  Additionally it says how many people are booked and checked into first class.  It maintains privacy by only listing your first initial and the first 3 letters of your last name.

-Real-time flight standby list: What your rank is for clearing standby on a flight, and how many passengers have already cleared standby or are still on the list.

-Real-time seating maps showing the availability of every seat on the plane, including blocked seats that only a gate agent can assign.

-Online check-in.

-Boarding pass display so that you don’t need to print a boarding pass to clear security (Limited airports only at the current time)

-And many, many more features.

To illustrate how I was able to use it to my benefit:

Continental offers unlimited complementary first class upgrades for their elite members in two manners.   The first is the EUA, which is an automated system that upgrades platinum members at 5 days out, gold members at 3 days out, and silver members at 1 day out.

The EUA only works if the elite member is on their own itinerary without any other passengers and only if their is availbility in “F” class at the time that the EUA runs its course.

The 2nd upgrade manner is the battlefield upgrade in which the gate agent manually processes upgrades by elite status ranking and fare purchased.  On Continental the gate agent will actually get disciplined if they send out a flight with empty first class seats if there were elite members in coach!

When I flew from Ontario, CA to Cleveland after Pesach I knew from Continental’s new mobile site that “ELE. D.” I was #1 on the battlefield upgrade list.  I also saw that first class was fully booked, but that one passenger hadn’t yet checked in.  After I settled into my exit-row seat I took a look at the pda site and noticed that I had been upgraded to seat 1F.  I waited until boarding was complete expecting to be pulled up to first class, but noone came.  So, I got a flight attendant’s attention and asked to please double-check with the gate agent who should be sitting in 1F.  I was settled in the comfy leather seat within 60 seconds!

It’s nice to see an airline truly empower the customer with such proprietary information in today’s day and age, and it’s one example of why Continental will survive the impending airline blood-bath…

AA has started off the next round of airline fees with a new $15 (each way) fee for the first checked bag in addition to the $25 (each way) fee for the 2nd checked bag.

AA/OneWorld elite members, full fare passengers, AAnytime AAward passengers, business/first class passengers, passengers on an international itinerary, and all traveling companions of any of these exempted members will continue to be allowed to check 2 free bags.

The new bag fee applies to tickets purchased on or after 06/15, regardless of the date of travel. In other words:
-If you bought an AA ticket before 05/12 you will get 2 free checked bags.
-If you buy an AA ticket on or after 05/12 but before 06/15 you will get 1 free checked bag.
-If you buy an AA ticket on or after 06/12 you will not get any free checked bags.

-Effective for tickets bought 05/21, AA also has matched the new, soon-to-be industry standard $150 domestic change fee.

-International change fees will now range from $150-$300, depending on the market.

-Phone reservation fees (for revenue and mileage tickets) are now $20.

-Airport reservation fees are now $30.

-Mileage ticket city changes and cancellations are now $150.

-Date changes on mileage tickets continue to be free.

Finally, AA said that they will retire 75 aircraft while reducing domestic capacity by 12%. Although AA currently has the industry’s best mileage ticket availability, these cuts may well change that.

Effective 07/01:

• Matching USeless Airways policy of the elimination of the 500 mile minimum mileage earned+minimum elite mileage earned for flights under 500 miles. Accrual will now be at actual rates.

Effective 05/15: United’s top tier 1K/GS members are exempt. No exemption for 1P/2P/3P elite members.

• Change in origin/destination city on an award ticket goes from $100 to $150.

• Change in connection points on an award ticket goes from $100 to $150.

• Cancellation of an award ticket (Mileage redeposit) goes from $100 to $150.

• Award handling fee goes from $15 to $25 over the phone and $30 at the counter. (The industry’s worst website, nicknamed “united.bomb,” is still free)

• Date change on an award ticket to fly within 7 days was $75, now $100.

• Date change on an award ticket to fly within 14 days was $50, now $75.

• Date change on an award ticket to fly within 21 days was free, now $75.

• Expedite fee on an award ticket to fly within 7 days was $75, now $100.

• Expedite fee on an award ticket to fly within 14 days was $50, now $75.

• Expedite fee on an award ticket to fly within 21 days was free, now $75

Jetblue canceled its new LAX service that was schduled to start flying later this month.

While the media has said that small cities would be the biggest losers of rising jet fuel prices, this may be the highest profile route cancellation blamed on jet fuel ever.

Jetblue’s LAX-JFK service on their 150 passenger Airbus A320′s was planned at under $10,000 in fuel costs per flight, but would now cost over $15,000 per flight. In other words over $100 of every passenger’s one-way, pre-tax fare would be going just to pay the gas bill.

No wonder they’ve added a $100 change fee and 2nd checked bag fee!

With 5 carriers offering nonstop service between LAX and NYC (AA, Continental, Delta, United, and Virgin America) which all offer first class seating to subsidize net loss customers, the competition for the route was deemed too strong to start up with at the current time.

Jetblue will continue to operate nonstop service between its 3 current LA area airports (Burbank, Long Beach, and Ontario) and NYC.  None of those routes have any current competitors, and all of those airports charge less than LAX for takeoff, landing, and airport facility fees.

Yet again, United started off the party about 2 weeks ago and the rest of the changes have all occurred since then.

This list will be updated as other airlines raise their change fees.

These fees apply only to tickets made after the respective airline’s change in policy.

Domestic restricted coach change fee, by airline: (Fee does not include charge/refund for difference in fare)

(Bold font indicates that the airline has raised their change fee within the past 2 weeks:)

AA-$100

Airtran-$75

Continental-$150 (Was $100)

Delta-$100

Jetblue-$100 (Was $40)

Northwest-$100

Southwest- No charge.

United-$150 (Was $100)

USAirways-$150 (Was $100)

Update-5:25pm: DEAD!

www.continental.com

Use code: ZB5HBFJEBT

Speaking of Continental, 2 thumbs way way up for having the courage to tell United to go take their sorry airline and find a different partner! (Have I mentioned yet how much I love Continental? Full disclosure: Continental gave me complimentary transcontinental upgrades into first both ways on my recent $98+ RT flight.)

Here’s hoping that CO will now hop on over to OneWorld and spurn DeltaNorthworst’s Skyteam…(I’ve got over 2.4 million reasons for rooting for this development!)

Update: AA has joined the party and United has extended the elite exemption to anyone traveling with an elite member.

Originally posted on 04/23:

Here is my shot at providing some sanity to the new baggage fee. While most airlines have adopted it, they don’t share the same exemptions. The airlines are still tinkering with these new fees, so thay are all subject to change. While I hope these are all accurate, mistakes happen, so please feel free to comment if you think you’ve found one.

Here’s where it gets interesting. According to the contract of carriage of nearly every airline, if they change policies after you buy the ticket and don’t grandfather the old rules you have the right to demand a refund of your ticket. As of the time of this posting Airtran and Delta are not planning on offering a free 2nd bag to people who bought tickets before they announced their respective rule changes, and therefore should have to give out full refunds to people affected if they demand it…

The following chart is for economy class travel only:

©2008 Dansdeals.com Research.
Please do not post this entire article on any other website without explicit prior permission. Thank You!

United will now charge a shocking $150 (plus fare difference) to change a non-refundable domestic ticket. In addition in order to get the cheapest fares they now require a Saturday night stay for all markets in which they don’t compete with a LCC (low-cost carrier).

Now we play the waiting game to see if the other majors match…
United sparked the industry to move from 2 to 1 free checked domestic bag back in February. Over the past few months US Airways, Delta, Northwest, and Continental (in that order) have all matched that policy.

United has also added their own double elite miles promotion.

www.newglobalairline.com

In what will be looked back upon as the beginning of the end for true US airline competition, Delta and Northwest have agreed to be the first in what is sure to be a wave of merger activity.

They are currently the nation’s 3rd and 5th largest carriers respectively by passenger enplanements, but if the DoJ approves the merger the new Delta will be the world’s largest airline.

Continental, the nation’s 4th largest carrier, is now finally free to buy back its golden share from NWA and find its own merger partner. It will undoubtedly leave the Skyteam alliance, from which it was for all intents and purposes snubbed from just last week.

I’d be extremely (and quite pleasantly) surprised if Continental and United don’t announce their own merger plans by the end of this month. I would venture to say that Continental and its more adept management team would be the one acquiring the much larger United, but will move to the Star Alliance and probably keep the United branding as well.

The funniest thing (well, besides for the idea that Delta and Northwest could possibly become America’s “premier carrier”) about the Delta/NWA merger press release is the notion that all hubs for both carriers will continue to be hubs under the new Delta Airlines.

I don’t think that there’s ever been a major merger in the history of aviation in which all exiting hubs survived.

Sure some hubs may remain as so-called focus cities, but that’s not much to brag about. Just ask Pittsburgh what happened when America West bought USAirways.

There’s simply no way that 2 carriers that are merging in order to have improve their operational efficiencies would operate 7 domestic hubs. Memphis and Atlanta? Cincinnati and Detroit? No way that’s happening.

At any rate, I predict that the next month will hold some very interesting M&A activity in the domestic aviation industry…

I haven’t reported on all the merger stuff for a while because honestly without the backing of the pilots I felt there was little chance of it happening.

Delta’s pilots are apparently now behind the deal, so it’s only a matter of time before the announcement is made.

What can we expect now?

Higher fares, less available mileage seats, closed hubs (Cincinnati and Memphis have little chance for survival), and more merger activity.

Worse yet, this will allow Continental, arguably the best domestic network carrier, to buy back their golden share from Northwest and pursue their own merger opportunities…

Related: “Aloha, Aloha”
“Another One (ATA) Bites The Dust”

“How do you become a millionaire? Begin as a billionaire, then go into the airline business.”
-Richard Branson (You can find many variations of this truism online)

Skybus ceased operations on Saturday, finishing an unglorious week for aviation in which an unprecedented 3 US airlines with published schedules went out of business.

With fares like this, it’s easy to see how they burned through $160 million in startup funding in under a year of flying:

I was quite proud of myself when I nailed 7 RT tickets at that price for my pittsburgh cousins. (C’mon you would also drive a couple hours to save that kind of money!) Unfortunately it doesn’t help much when they close down less than 2 weeks before the flight…At least it was bought on a Starwood AMEX, looks like it’s time for a chargeback! (Little consolation at that price…)

Free advice to new airline startups:

1. Don’t name your airline after something with as negative a connotation as “bus.” The last thing air travelers want to fly on is something related to Greyhound; Stay classy. (What’s next SkySubway?)

2. Don’t form your business plan based on $40 oil, because those days aren’t coming back anytime in the near-future.

Coming soon: $100+ oil means bad times for US aviation, but especially for LCC’s (low-cost carriers) -so who’s next to go bust?

ATA (not to be confused with Airtran Airways) ceased operations today without any prior warning.

It’s a good reminder for reason #1,203,304 as to why you should never use a debit card over a credit card which offers true chargeback protection.

The shutdown is yet another blow for Hawaii travelers as ATA was the only LCC that provided service to Hawaii, and fares are now all but guaranteed to head north…

As reported earlier, Jetblue founder and Brazilian native David Neeleman is founding his fourth airline in Brazil. Leave it to Neeleman to come up with such a cool promotion!

Promotion Linky (Portuguese language skills would be most helpful…)

Rules:

1- O ganhador será o primeiro internauta a enviar o nome que venha eventualmente a ser escolhido, através de uma votação que faremos aqui neste mesmo site, a partir do dia 15/04. O vencedor receberá um passe vitalício para voar, de graça (sujeito a espaço) em nossas aeronaves, com direito a levar um acompanhante por ele (ela) designado (a).

2- Os primeiros 1.000 internautas que votarem no nome que eventualmente venha a ser eleito também ganharão como prêmio um bilhete gratuíto de ida-e-volta em um dos vôos regulares operados pela nova companhia, em um trecho que seja de sua escolha. Igualmente, poderão levar um viajante.

Here’s a stab at a rough translation/summary of the rules:
1. The first person to send in the name that will be chosen via voting at this website starting on 04/15 will be the winner. The winner will receive a pass for free travel for life for him/her and a companion on our airline.

2. The first 1,000 people who send in the name that will be chosen will win a free round-trip ticket on our airline to the destination of their choice. Likewise a companion can come with them for free as well.

I honestly can’t recall ever seeing such a rewarding promo to attain elite status. You can become elite (good through 02/28/10) with just two transcontinental round-trip flights (with some help from creative routing)! Maybe they want to make up for all those new fees?

Promo Registration Linky

-Registration is required.

-Valid for tickets booked booked between 03/31 and 04/30

-Valid for travel through 06/30.

Delta will soon be changing their checked luggage policy, I am waiting until the official policy is released before commenting…
No fooling, all of these charges are effective today, 04/01!

• Handling charge for any award that includes a segment on another airline: From free to $25
• Award ticket re-issues and redeposits: From $75 to $100
• CRC one-visit pass: From $25 to $30
• Unaccompanied Minor fee: From $50 nonstop/$100 connecting flights to $100 for all flights
• Pets in cabin fee: From $75 to $100
• Pets as checked luggage: From $150 to $200
• Curbside checked bags: From free to $3
• Oversize bag fee: From $100 to $150
• Direct Ticketing Charge: from $20 to $25
• Reissues of non-refundable tickets: From $75 to $100 (only for tickets originally issued after 4/1)

Aloha Airlines abruptly ended 62 years of service today when it shut down today.

They were the victim of a prolonged interisland fare war with Hawaiian and Go which saw advance purchase one-way flights plummet from over $100 to just $19-$49.

It should be interesting to see what interisland fares will do in the coming months with the market narrowed to 2 players.

I flew with them a few months ago between the paradises of Maui and Kauai (they were the only airline that flew the route nonstop). I can’t say that it was the best experience-I’m not a fan of Southwest style open seating and the bilingual signs on their ratty 737-200′s didn’t exactly inspire confidence…

-Jetblue is launching EML, or “even more legroom,” its own version of Economy Plus. Rows 1-5 and the exit rows will now have a 38″ seat pitch and will be considered EML seats, while all other rows will have a 34″ seat pitch. EML seating will cost $20 for transcontinental flights and $10 for shorter flights, each way.

-You are now finally able to see the seatmap of a flight before purchasing your tickets. The seatmap now appears after you type in your personal information, but before the payment page.

-Jetblue will no longer be giving away free headsets on its flights.

-Orlando has been upgraded to a Jetblue focus city (their 7th)

-Jetblue founder and Brazilian native David Neeleman is going to try replicating Jetblue’s success in Brazil. He has already raised more capital than he did to start Jetblue. This is the 4th airline that he is launching. (The others being Morris Air which was bought out by Southwest 15 years ago for $130M, Westjet which is Canada’s 2nd largest carrier, and of course Jetblue.)

-Jetblue’s new terminal at JFK airport (T5) is running ahead of schedule, and should be operational by this September. It had been scheduled to debut next year.

“•It will have 26 gates, vs. 21 at the current JetBlue terminal. The airline will also gain 10 security lanes and two baggage carousels.

•A 900-foot covered walkway will connect the terminal to AirTrain, JFK’s rail link.

•Like many new terminals, it relies heavily on self-check-in. It has 108 kiosks flanking each side of the security checkpoint. JetBlue will have a separate set of podiums for self-service passengers wishing to have their bags tagged by agents without standing in line at the traditional counters.

•The focal point of the Y-shaped concourses after the security checkpoints is designed to have a town-square feel. It has two sets of grandstands where people can sit, eat and relax.

•Each gate will have 100 seats and two TV monitors with DirecTV programming, including sporting events. Agent podiums at the gate will be smaller and are designed to let agents sit while working.”

Bad news: 

USeless Airways has matched United’s nickel-and-dime 1 checked bag per non-elite customer policy.

Good news: 

Fortune explains why a Delta-Northwest merger won’t work. 

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports on the shift of momentum away from the merger.

Service between the US and Australia has long been expensive and dominated by the United and Qantas duopoly.

(To be fair Continental does serve Cairns, Australia via twice-weekly flights from Guam in case you want a tour of Micronesia. It’s actualy a Onepass bargain at just 60,000 miles and even allows for a free stopover along the way in Hawaii or Micronesia)

With the new agreement any US or Australian airline will be able to start service between the two countries.

Here are some basic predictions and information, without taking any merger activity into account:

-AA is unlikely to start new service because its bases are covered by partner OneWorld partner Qantas.

-Continental and Northwest will likely wait until they receive their 787′s in the next couple of years before entering the Australian market. Look for Continental to serve Houston-Sydney nonstop by the end of 2009.

-Delta will have the potential to serve Atlanta-Sydney with their 777-200LR aircarft which they will be receiving within the coming months.

-V Australia, a venture of Australia’s Virgin Blue will soon serve Los Angeles or S. Fransisco with their 777-300ER aircraft.

-No other US or Australian airlines have the aircraft to enter the market.

-The agreement locked out Singapore Airlines, which desperately wanted to enter the US-Australia market.

The only thing going against US-Australian expansion is the fact that it is primarily a tourist and not a business market. There is much more money to be made with Chinese and Indian expansion due to business travel. Nonetheless fares will definitely be dropping in the near-future as competition heats up.

Last week USeless Airways released the most ridiculous PR ever.

“As part of our continuing efforts to provide valuable benefits to our frequent flyers, US Airways is making a change to our Dividend Miles program…Beginning May 1, 2008, Dividend Miles will award the actual number of miles flown rather than a minimum number of miles flown for each segment. Also, members who redeem miles for award travel within 14-days of departure on usairways.com will be assessed a quick ticketing fee.”

I hate PR spin.

At any rate the quick ticketing isn’t a surprise, every other major airline charges that as well.

The surprise is the elimination of the 500-mile minimum.

How much savings can this possibly provide them?

Is it really worth angering your bread and butter Boston-LaGuardia shuttle flyers by giving them 180 miles instead of 500?

C’mon United, go after these shortsighted losers will ‘ya, you two would be just perfect together. Keep Continental my Continental!

Update: Jetblue will start with 3 daily flights to JFK and 1 to Boston on 05/21. They will fly out of LAX T6 (Yay-President’s club access!) They are also adding flights from their other SoCal cities. Full info in this just-released press release.

This should hopefully reignite transcontinental competition once again-There will now be 6 carriers serving the LAX-NYC market!

Unfortunately I doubt we’ll see a repeat of AA’s best promotion ever which they launched in response to a growing Jetblue. You know which one I’m talking about. The fly twice from NYC to Florida or California and get a free systemwide ticket promo!

I got 8 worldwide tickets from that promo-Did anyone else participate in that promo? Unfortunately it pre-dated the launch of this website.

However I do think there will be some sort of promo response from the major carriers to Jetblue’s entrance into Los Angeles International-we’ll just have to wait and see.

Merger talks are back in full force in the airline industry, but I can guarantee that one company won’t be the first to break the ice.

You see, Northwest owns a golden share of Continental.  As long as NW is in control of that golden share Continental can’t merge with another airline.

However as soon as NW announces plans to merge, regardless of whether it passes regulatory muster,  it must sell the golden share back to Continental for $100.

At any rate here’s hoping that none of the mergers pan out, industry consolidation is never good for consumers. (and it’s more often than not bad for the companies involved…except for the investment bankers that is!)

Spirit will now charge $10 per checked bag each way if pre-reserved online, and $20 per checked bag each way at the airport. As 1 of the 2 (Skybus being the other) US based “ULCC’s” (ultra-low-cost carriers) they do not offer any free checked baggage allowance.

Effective 01/29/08, Southwest has quietly eliminated the 3rd free checked bag from their free allowance.

In the good-news department, none of the “Big-6″ carriers have as of yet matched United’s new stingy 1 free checked bag policy.