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UP FRONT..........................................................
Southwest's Costs Set to Take Off
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Among the first to announce 2nd-quarter financial results was Southwest, which reported a $113 million profit for the Apr. - June period. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. And a result the Big 6 would kill to achieve, even collectively.
But the numbers were slightly lower than Wall Street estimates. And on the very same day the figures were released, Southwest's CEO, Jim Parker, stepped down, citing "personal reasons."
"Personnel reasons" would be closer to the truth.
Parker's real failure was in poisoning the airline's relationship between management and labor. And the results of that failure will be reflected in many quarterly income statements to come.
What happened? After 2 years of increasingly acrimonious negotiations between Parker and Southwest's flight attendants, Parker finally had to remove himself from the talks. Replacing him at the bargaining table was no less a personage than Southwest's legendary co-founder and chairman, Herb Kelleher.
Even with the goodwill Kelleher enjoyed as a longtime trusted ally of labor, the best he could wrest from the deeply entrenched attendants was a package which included a 31% salary increase, on average, plus profit sharing and work rule improvements. Those changes will force Southwest's costs higher in the short term, as the flight attendants' new packages take effect. And longer term, costs will spiral higher still, as other labor groups raise their hands demanding wage and benefits adjustments commensurate with the attendants'.
Long after this quarter's lackluster profit is forgotten, Parker will be remembered as the captain on whose watch Southwest's cost advantage -- the company's principal competitive advantage -- began eroding.
ON SITE...........................................................
FrequentFlier Forum Topics
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As always, there's plenty of activity on the FrequentFlier Forum.
Jbirdsmommy shares a positive experience redeeming Northwest miles for award travel. Michael needs to get to Hawaii fast, and cheap, to run the Honolulu Marathon. Mary worries: "We have reservations using our miles to go back to the midwest in September. If UAL goes belly-up, will all be lost????" And much more...
Do you have questions, answers? Post them to the Forum!
-> More: http://frequentflier.com/forum/index.cgi
MILES & POINTS....................................................
AirTran Freebie After 2 Paid Flights
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Members of AirTran's A-Plus Rewards program who book online at airtran.com and fly twice, 1-way or roundtrip, between Boston and Philadelphia by Nov. 15 will earn 1 free ticket, 1-way or roundtrip respectively, on the same route. The free ticket will be in the same class of service as the qualifying tickets.
To earn the free ticket, bookings for the qualifying flights must include the member's A-Plus membership number.
-> More: http://www.airtran.com/programs/aplus/specialoffers.jsp
Alaska Discounts Fall Award Travel
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Alaska Mileage Plan members may now book coach Saver awards for travel between Sept. 7 and Dec. 8 on Alaska or Horizon between Portland, Eugene, Klamath Falls, Medford, North Bend/Coos Bay, Pendleton, Redmond, or Eureka and Burbank, Los Angeles, Ontario, or Orange County for 13,000 miles. That's a 7,000-mile discount off the normal 20,000-mile price. There's a 1,000-mile bonus for online bookings, bringing the net award price down to 12,000 miles.
Award bookings must be made online at alakskair.com to qualify for the discount.
-> More: http://alaskaair.com/shopping/OnlineAwards/AwardPromo.asp?promo=ASYOS
AA Miles for Groceries (TX Only)
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AAdvantage members in the Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin areas can earn miles when shopping at participating local supermarkets.
Dallas-area members will earn 250 miles for every $250 in qualifying purchases using the Tom Thumb Reward Card at Tom Thumb or Simon David stores. And Austin-area members will earn 125 miles for every $250 in qualifying purchases using the Randalls Remarkable Card at participating Randalls.
Through Sept. 12, there's also a bonus for registering online -- 1,000 miles for new Tom Thumb card sign-ups, 2,000 for the Randalls card -- plus a 1-time 500-mile bonus after $500 in qualifying purchases.
-> More: http://www.frequentbuyermiles.com/tomthumb
Earn 15 OnePass Miles per $1 at SkyMall
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Continental OnePass members who order from the SkyMall catalog using the SkyMall/OnePass Onboard Order Form while flying on Continental Airlines will earn 15 miles per $1 spent.
Yes, that's right: the offer is for inflight transactions only, a departure from the trend in recent years to encourage consumers to purchase online.
Big Priority Club Points at the Big Easy Crowne Plaza
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Through Aug. 31, Priority Club Rewards members will earn 5,000 points for any 2-consecutive night stay at the New Orleans Crowne Plaza.
To participate, print out the webpage describing the offer and present it at check-in.
-> More: http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/pc/1/en/fo/05388
More Real Estate Miles from United
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Between July 19 and Oct. 19, Mileage Plus members will earn bonus miles for selected real estate transactions as follows --
For every $10,000 financed or refinanced at closing, earn a 500-mile bonus (1,800 miles versus 1,300 regularly) with Washington Mutual Home Loans, Chase Home Finance, CitiMortgage, or Wachovia's Corporate Mortgage Services division. Cite reservation code LN500 to receive the bonus.
For every $10,000 financed at closing, earn a 2,950-mile bonus (4,250 miles versus 1,300 regularly) with a second mortgage Home Equity Loan or Line Of Credit from Chase Home Finance or Wachovia's Corporate Mortgage Services division. Cite reservation code HE2950 to receive the bonus.
Earn a 10,000-mile bonus for each buy and/or sell transaction when buying or selling a home through a participating real estate agent in the Awards for Mortgage and Real Estate program. Cite reservation code RE10K.
All qualifying transactions must close by Mar. 31, 2005.
-> More: http://www.awardsformortgageandrealestate.com/united/
Bid US Air Miles for Golf Vacation in Scotland
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Through July 29, Dividend Miles members may bid their miles in an auction to win a golf package comprising the following: 2 Envoy Class tickets from anywhere US Airways flies to Glasgow, Scotland; a 5-night hotel stay for 2; and 1 round of golf on each of the 3 courses at the Westin Turnberry Resort in Ayrshire, Scotland.
-> More: http://www.usairways.com/dm/auction
STEALS & DEALS....................................................
Deal Alert from SmarterLiving.com
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Since they remain by far the most compelling values available, we're reprinting the JetBlue and Southwest promotions featured in last week's Crier.
1) JetBlue's Million-Seat Sale from $29
JetBlue has announced a 1-million-seat sale with prices starting as low as $29 1-way on many of the airline's most popular routes. Destinations include cities in California, Florida, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. Departures are valid from Sept. 7 through Dec. 15. Fares may be combined for roundtrip travel.
Book tickets at least 14 days in advance, and by Thursday, July 29.
-> More: http://www.smarterliving.com/air/deal.php?id=6931
2) Southwest Systemwide Sale from $39
Southwest has announced a systemwide sale on all of the routes it flies, for departures from Aug. 16 through Oct. 29. Prices range from $39 to $99 1-way. The sale fares may be combined for roundtrip travel. America West, American, and US Airways have announced similar sales for roundtrip travel only.
Book tickets at least 14 days in advance, and by Thursday, August 5.
-> More: http://www.smarterliving.com/air/deal.php?id=6884
SWEEPS & FREEBIES.................................................
Win a Chance to Play Ball with Noland Ryan
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Through July 31, enter Southwest's "Play Ball With Nolan Ryan" sweepstakes for a chance to win 1 of 10 grand prizes: trips for 2 to Cooperstown to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame and play in a softball game with baseball great Noland Ryan.
To play, fill out the online form at the below link.
-> More: http://www.southwest.com/contest/nolanryan/nolanryan.html
READER RANTS & RAVES..............................................
Feedback from the Frontlines of Travel
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"Just read the latest edition of your fine newsletter. It does look as if there are a great number of different opinions and experiences with award redemptions. What I will agree with though, is that it does seem to be getting a little more difficult to redeem with United, and that's where the Star Alliance awards were really handy.
"Which brings me to the main point of this email. I tried to redeem a Mileage Plus Star Alliance award yesterday and discovered that UA has changed the rules somewhat to require significantly more miles for awards on certain routings. What they have done within the last week or so (it seems without telling anyone, not even all their staff) is to superimpose on top of the Star Alliance Award chart the requirement that each trip be within the maximum mileage allowed for any given city pair.
"For example, I wanted to go Sydney-Tokyo-Sydney, which according to the Star Alliance Award chart, should be 50,000 miles in economy. When I enquired a couple of weeks ago, I was told by UA that as there were no direct Star Alliance flights between SYD-TYO, I could be routed via Singapore or Bangkok. Fair enough I thought. However when I tried to book the flights yesterday, I was told that because of the new maximum mileage rule, I would have to book two awards, one to SIN/BKK and then another one to TYO (a total of 90,000 miles). Thus, applying this new "hidden" rule, it will now cost a minimum of 90,000 miles for a Mileage Plus redemption to fly from Australasia to Japan or The Philippines, as well as numerous other places I haven't even thought about. This seems to be a stealthy way of increasing award redemption mileage requirements and will make a whole range of trips unattractive for Mileage Plus redemptions (it's worth noting that you can fly from Australasia to the Caribbean business class for 90,000 miles).
"Looks like the legacy airlines will leave no stone unturned in finding ways of squeezing that last drop of blood out of their loyal customers." (Peter)
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"I have been trying since April to get seats for two on Delta to Munich and return to Atlanta using my SkyMiles . All I can get is: N0 Seats available. What good is SkyMiles if you can't get a seat. Keep up the fine work." (Bob)
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"I don't think the airlines really know how many unsuccessful attempts there are for Award Travel. Most have a Web site which travelers "play around with" to see if/when they can get desired seats. But how does anyone know if one is just looking at options between carriers / dates / etc. or would use Awards if routing was available?
"BUT it would be interesting to see how many flights fly less than 70% full (non holiday) AND have not had any Award seats available on those flights. (and especially no Award seats available the prior week, when one would think there would be no way they could sell them all). I know I have looked at seating charts 1-2 weeks before flying, and even if only 50% of seats are taken, Award seats not available!!" (Mike)
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"Are you planning any coverage of Independence Air, the new start-up hubbing out of Dulles?? I was going from Greenville, SC to Newark and paying $900!!! Independence is now there and I'm paying $189....and guess what....everyone is matching!" (Ed)
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"Just last week, I was traveling on Alaska Airlines from Portland, OR to San Francisco. When I boarded the plane, I found that all of the overhead storage bins were full. It was obvious that many of the passengers obviously disregarded the bag size and number of bags guidelines prescribed by Alaska Airlines. My overhead bag had to be stored 5 rows behind me and that creates a waterfall effect for everyone that is seated in the rows behind my seat location. I also had the aisle seat, so the space under the seat in front of me barely contains my long legs.
"My other rant is reclining your seat back. Reclining seats in the coach cabin should be eliminated. That is my opinion. We are shoehorned into tight quarters to begin with. Having a seatback under my chin is adding insult to injury. The only time I did not have a problem with reclining seatbacks was on an American flight that had the "more leg room in coach" program.
"The airlines should absorb most of the blame for these problems. They do not enforce their carry-on baggage rules, unless someone tries to bring on a suitcase. I do feel that out of common courtesy, passengers should think about the other passengers comfort and convenience, as well as their own. It is hard enough on those of us who travel coach, but it would be nice to see the "me first and selfishness" go away. We are all in coach together.
"As for the reclining seats, I would like to see them just go away." (Matt - Burlingame, CA)
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"About a year ago, if memory serves, I came across a link that listed seat availability allocations by flight number. I seem to recall the site listed the codes and deciphered them. The beauty of this site is/was that you could see how many frequent flier seats were set aside on each flight.
"Anybody else recall this??? Or was it all part of a dream?" (Tom - Silver Spring, MD)
[Editor's Note - I'm drawing a blank. Anyone?]
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"All the travel deals are for the continental US. I guess that the airlines realize they have a "captive" audience here. I am so tired of looking at all the deals and hoping that I will find something from Anchorage to ANYwhere. I don't care where I go it would just be nice to be able to zip off for a weekend without paying through the nose." (Susan - Anchorage, Alaska)
[Editor's Note - As I suggested to Susan, Scott McMurren's Alaska Travelgram newsletter is the definitive guide to deals to, from and within Alaska. Subscribe at http://www.alaskatravelgram.com/ .]
If you have a rant or a rave, e-mail us at rants@frequentflier.com.
SITE 2 SEE........................................................
Travel Notes
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To keep up with breaking news in the travel industry -- no small task in today's tumultuous environment -- I find myself spending an ever-increasing amount of time reading. Newspapers, magazines, newsletters, blogs... you name it, I read it. But I've reached the point where the time spent researching is intruding on the time available for my first priority, reporting and commentary. So the idea of perusing more news in less time hits me where I live, literally.
Chris Elliott's new daily e-mail newsletter, Travel Notes, perfectly fits that bill: thumbnail summaries of the day's most important travel stories, in a succinct, quick-read format. It's a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of the travel biz, without sacrificing your life on the alter of research.
Sign up to receive Travel Notes using the below link.
-> More: http://elliott.org/blog/about/noted.htm
Until next week...
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