Posts Tagged ‘BNET’

Cranky on the Web (August 30-September 3)

September 5th, 2010

Remember, I’m on vacation starting now. Be back with you again next week.

—-

Why Continental and United Chose Southwest to Curry Favor with the FedsBNET Headwinds
The big news is Southwest grabbing slots in Newark as part of the Continental/United effort to get federal approval. Why did Continental/United choose them?

How Not to Negotiate: Continental and United Pilots Boldly Ask for the MoonBNET Headwinds
Continental and United pilots have come together to ask for something that they know they won’t get. Can’t say that’s the strategy I would have chosen.

Southwest Flight Attendants Strike Back, Deny Intent to Block Larger AirplanesBNET Headwinds
Southwest flight attendants weren’t happy with my previous post, but I’m not walking away from my stance.

United/Continental Merger: Three Exec Appointments That Stand OutBNET Headwinds
The next level of United/Continental exec appointments has been announced and there were three that stood out for me.

Southwest Pilots Chime in With Caution on New Aircraft PurchaseBNET Headwinds
The news keeps unfolding with the Southwest 737-800 order. Now the pilots appear to be sending up signals of caution.

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Cranky on the Web (August 21-27)

August 28th, 2010

Some feel blue as United, Continental wedding mixes old, newChicago Tribune
The Trib looks at the United/Continental branding efforts, and I chime in with why I’m not a fan of what I’ve seen so far.

American’s Express Seats: How Not to Introduce New Fees to CustomersBNET Headwinds
American has a new fee, and while it could be relatively straightforward, the way American released it was anything but.

US Airways Positions Itself as a Takeover Target with New York MovesBNET Headwinds
The US Airways build-up in New York seems goofy, but it could actually be a smart play to get itself bought.

Passengers shocked by new touchy-feely TSA screeningBoston Herald
I didn’t even know that the TSA was tightening its screening process until I was contacted for this article. Sounds like a cheap way to get felt up to me.

Hmm. Alaska Air Group May Be Looking to Sell Horizon AirBNET Headwinds
Horizon Air has changed its business model, and that has me wondering if Alaska is looking to sell.

Mammoth Mountain Lures United to Bring Bay Area Folks to SkiBNET Headwinds
Another small town getting new air service. But this one makes more sense than many.

American Mechanics Shoot Down Tentative Agreement, Move Closer to StrikeBNET Headwinds
Unsurprisingly, American’s mechanics voted against the tentative agreement that had been presented. They’re moving toward a strike, but I doubt they’ll ever get there.

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Cranky on the Web (August 16-20)

August 22nd, 2010

Weak July Traffic Shows Allegiant Lost AltitudeBNET Headwinds
Allegiant saw weaker traffic numbers in July. It’s not what you expect from an airline that continues to find ways to fill more and more seats.

LAN-TAM Merger: U.S. Carriers Sweat The Fate of Alliance PartnersBNET Headwinds
LAN and TAM are merging, and everyone wants to know which alliance the combination will choose. Could it be both?

how to keep your flight attendant from jumping off the planeAntibride
Admittedly a fluffy story, but it’s a light-hearted look at how to treat a flight attendant onboard (with some serious points).

JetBlue’s All-You-Can-Jet Turns Back to Twitter to Fill SeatsBNET Headwinds
It’s baaaackk. JetBlue’s All You Can Jet has returned and the airline is relying on Twitter to get the word out.

Flight Attendant Demands May Block Southwest’s Push Toward Bigger PlanesBNET Headwinds
I thought Southwest’s announcement about getting a larger plane was odd, but I then I started looking at the labor angle.

How to Fix LAX By Bringing Alliance Partners Together< – BNET Headwinds
I admit it’s a reach, but LAX won’t be able to spend much money and this could be a big improvement for the customer.

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Cranky on the Web (August 9-13)

August 14th, 2010

Why is SkyWest Buying ExpressJet?BNET Headwinds
You’ve probably been wondering why I was silent on this, but it was just a backlog of posts on the BNET site.

Why Delta Airlines Decided to Invade IcelandBNET Headwinds
Delta’s going to Iceland, just like everyone else. But I don’t think it’s a bad move.

Stressed JetBlue attendant not flying soloCrain’s New York Business
Crain’s asked me about the now famous JetBlue flight attendant who popped a slide and walked away.

JetBlue’s Stress Test: A Peek at the Secret Fantasy of Every Flight AttendantBNET Headwinds
I honestly didn’t want to write about this, but the story blew up so fast, that I had to jump in.

Pilot Outsourcing a Tough Challenge for United-Continental MergerBNET Headwinds
Pilot scope clauses are going to be front and center in the United/Continental merger. Did the SkyWest acquisition of ExpressJet have something to do with that?

JetBlue Plays It Smart (and Serious) After Steven Slater IncidentBNET Headwinds
It’s been an interesting week for JetBlue, and now the airline is talking directly to its employees about the Steven Slater incident. It’s an excellent letter.

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Cranky on the Web (August 2-6)

August 8th, 2010

oneworld Alliance Surging, Adding Airlines — and Finally Offering Customers Some PerksBNET Headwinds
oneworld is finally surging after years of being lame and boring. Finally.

Southwest Wages a Battle for Milwaukee in… Oshkosh?BNET Headwinds
Southwest flew into Oshkosh last weekend. Why? It’s a battle for the hearts and minds of cheeseheads.

Air Berlin’s Alliance Move Signals Big Strategy AmbitionsBNET Headwinds
As a follow up to the oneworld piece, I thought it would be interesting to look at it from the Air Berlin side.

Alaska Airlines Competes For Bellingham via HonoluluBNET Headwinds
Alaska is trying to beat Allegiant to the punch by starting flights from Bellingham to Hawai’i.

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It’s Guest Post Time – Submit Your Ideas

August 7th, 2010

I’m tired. As you know I pump out blog posts five days a week here on Cranky and also over at BNET Headwinds. I don’t take vacation. Or I should say, when I do take vacation, Cranky Needs a BreakI pre-write posts for the days that I’m gone. The last time I took a real vacation was about a year and a half ago when I went on my honeymoon. (If I didn’t take that time off, it might have been a short-lived marriage.) But now, I’m feeling burnt and I need a week off, so that means it’s time to sharpen your writing skills and get ready for some guest posting.

My birthday is September 4, so I’m just going to start there and take the whole week off. Since Monday the 6th is Labor Day, I really only need to fill the spots on four days. That being said, I’m looking for guest posts on Cranky and on BNET, so there will be a total of 8 that go live. If you’re interested, here is what I’m looking for.

Cranky Posts
The criteria for guest posting on Cranky is relatively broad. Just make it about airlines and make it interesting. (And yes, it has to be well-written.) If you’d like to see guest posts that have made it in the past, check these out:

http://crankyflier.com/category/guest-posts/

The last few guest posts have been pretty thought-heavy, but that’s not a requirement. In fact, some of the ones I like best are just enjoyable reads. If you have expertise working in the industry and want to write about what you do (a la, The Dispatcher), then that’s great. If you’re a traveler and had an interesting experience that would appeal to the masses, go for it. There really aren’t any guidelines except that it should be a good read and it should be grammatically correct. (I’m a stickler.)

The one thing that won’t make the cut? If you’re trying to promote a product or service, it’s not going to happen. That’s what advertising is for, and this isn’t advertising.

BNET Posts
Since BNET is owned by CBS and not by me, the rules for posts are much more strict here than on Cranky. For that reason, I ask that if you’d like to write a guest post for BNET, you’ll need to clear the topic with me first and you can expect revisions, a lot of revisions.

BNET is a site about management, so your post has to be something relevant to managers in the industry. It can be about a business decisions, macro or micro trends, or anything along those lines. Since the post will have to be written in advance, it’ll need to be more of an “evergreen” post, meaning that it can’t be based on the day’s news but rather larger trends so that it will still be relevant when it goes live.

A BNET post has to contain analysis. It cannot just be reporting on the news or situation. It has to break down a topic and give insight on it.

Hopefully some of you will be interested in having your name in lights. If you’re interested, just send me an email at cf@crankyflier.com.

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Introducing BNET Headwinds – Cranky on the Web (July 26-30)

July 31st, 2010

It’s been a quiet week on BNET this week, and that’s because they were busy launching a completely revamped site. So they locked us out while they made the changes, but now it’s back and better than before. Instead of being a contributor on BNET Travel, I now have my own blog called Headwinds (BNET Travel is gone). I’ll continue to post at the same rate as before, but you’ll now only see my posts. I would, however suggest browsing the other blogs as well, because there is some great stuff in there.

So make sure you update your bookmarks. The old industry.bnet.com/travel site is so 2009. Start using this link from now on:
http://www.bnet.com/blog/airline-business
And the new RSS feed is:
http://www.bnet.com/blog/airline-business?mode=rss

Southwest’s Chronic Flight Delays Are Getting WorrisomeBNET Headwinds
Southwest had another month with a fair number of flights delayed more than 70 percent of the time. With the DOT’s increasing focus, they’re going to need to work on this.

Delta Woos N.Y. Fliers as Chicago Shuttle Targets UAL, AMRBloomberg
Bloomberg ran a piece about Delta moving into the LaGuardia-O’Hare market with full force. I see this as an attempt to “win” New York, so it’s targeting American more than anyone else.

How Southwest Made Hay With “Bags Fly Free”BNET Headwinds
Southwest keeps getting more creative with selling its bags fly free prop. This time, it’s a ground ops agent getting in on it.

US Airways Pilot Dilemma Spills Into the Courts -BNET Headwinds
The US Airways pilot brawl is heating up, and management has been dragged in. Now the airline want clarification on what the heck it’s supposed to do.

United-Continental Merger: Suspicions Confirmed as Exec Team Leans Toward ContinentalBNET Headwinds
John Tague is out, and Continental is starting to take over.

How Social Media Can Save Airlines Time and MoneyBNET Headwinds
There’s a lot of debate about whether or not social media is worth. I say yes, and the benefit can be quantifiable.

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Cranky on the Web (July 19-23)

July 25th, 2010

Airport Effort to Charge More During Peak Times Could Hurt PassengersBNET
Airports are one step closer to being able to charge more to airlines during peak times. This may not be a good plan.

JetBlue and American: Why Frequent-Flier Sharing Makes SenseBNET
JetBlue and American have gotten one step closer to each other by starting frequent flier earning on select flights.

Delta Earnings: Outlook Weak Despite Strong Industry Premium Traffic TrendsBNET
Lots of conflicting information out this week. Huge profits but weaker outlook = confusion.

LA World Airports Smartly Reconsiders Regionalization StrategyBNET
Interesting words from the LA airport folks – they’re thinking twice about the regionalization strategy now that traffic is so far down at LAX itself. Good.

Continental and Wired: How Not to Do a Promotional PartnershipBNET
Continental has teamed up with Wired to do a pretty awful job of promotion.

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Cranky on the Web (July 12-16)

July 17th, 2010

Strong June Traffic Means It’s Time For Airlines to Raise Airfares — CautiouslyBNET
Continued strong traffic numbers mean airfares are going to continue on the march. But airlines need to be careful not to go too high. Huh?

US Airways Shows Stellar Operational Improvement, but Nobody Knows ItBNET
US Airways has really done wonders for its operation and that’s great, but nobody else knows about it. They need to work on that.

How JetBlue Tends To Its BrandBNET
There was a good interview with JetBlue SVP Marty St George about how JetBlue focuses on its brand.

A road trip is a great way to tell a person’s story, as The Cranky Flier proves -Budget Travel
Sean over at Budget Travel had a great review of my newly-released book.

Why Allegiant Shuffles Airports in Ways Most Airlines Wouldn’t DareBNET
Allegiant is switching its Idaho Falls flights from LAX to Long Beach. Seems strange, but there is a method to the madness.

American, oneworld Step Closer to Legitimacy with EU ApprovalsBNET
The EU has approved the American and BA joint venture along with the BA and Iberia merger.

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Cranky on the Web (June 28 – July 2)

July 3rd, 2010

Tips to minimize the impact of a flight cancellationThe Detroit News
With the 3 hour ground delay rule likely causing an increase in cancellations, the Detroit News looked at what people should do. They came to Cranky Concierge for advice.

Virgin America’s First Quarter Loss Means More Work Ahead for Troubled AirlineBNET
The first quarter numbers are in, and once again, it’s a loss.

Subsidy reservations: Kansas taxpayers support airlines in Wichita, but KCI complains of turbulenceKansas City Star
It’s an interesting situation in Wichita these days when it comes to airline subsidies, and the Kansas City Star dug in on the subject.

Facebook Fan Numbers Aren’t Nearly as Important as Airports May ThinkBNET
There’s a lot of hype about Facebook and Twitter, but it shouldn’t be a race to collect fans. It’s all about how to deal with them.

Random Expansion: Virgin America Is Going to Regret Its New Flights to MexicoBNET
My take on Virgin America’s move into Mexico. Wanna guess how I feel?

Open Skies Turns to Trains to Help Fill AirplanesBNET
Open Skies has no feed on either end of its network, so it’s looking at trains. I like it.

Google Acquires ITA Software, and the Likes of Kayak and Bing Cry a LittleBNET
Personally, I think the acquisition of ITA by Google could be just awesome. But there are definitely going to be some unhappy campers.

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