Kinglobjaw's Blog

Archive for the ‘Airline News’ Category

Off course you don’t find that out from the email that US Airways sends you. The email reads: “Tell US how we’re doing. We want to hear about your recent overnight flight. We know your time is valuable and we appreciate your feedback!”

I’m not sure if it’s targeted or not, but my recent overnight flight took place in late April from Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii to Phoenix. The survey really did take no more than five minutes of my time and it only focused on in-flight entertainment (IFE) during overnight flights. It asked me what things I do on board to make the time go by (read, sleep, listen to ipod- funny they didn’t mention take photos and chat with crew members). It then asked if I would enjoy IFE on all flights, later if I would pay $5 for IFE on all flights . Later, it asked me if I would do both on overnight flights specifically.

The final page offered me a text box to input comments. I shared with them how I would enjoy of real meal service on overnight transcon/Pacific flights.

I’m pretty sure this has to do with their ongoing seat back entertainment system trials. They’ve just completed the Lumexis trial and are in the midst of testing the LiveTV trial. Since those systems would be available anytime on any flight, they are trying to figure just how many people would watch them on overnight flights. It could also have something to do with the Pacific return flights which are all overnight flights and whether or o not people will pay for a movie on the ceiling TV display on the 757′s. Personally, I wouldn’t, but that’s just me.

Here’s some food for thought. Once installed on the entire fleet, would a Lumexis or LiveTV system be complimentary in First Class? I’m not 100% sure, but I think Delta comps it for First Class passengers. I know internet is for a fee regardless of whether you’re in First or on a premium ticket, so I’m sure US will follow that if & once they install internet capabilities on their planes.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

US Airways will soon receive it’s first batch of the brandnew Airbus A330-200 (A332) which is a slightly meaner, leaner version of the A330-300 (A333). This will allow US Airways to fly nonstop long haul nonstops such as Philadelphia to Tel Aviv or to Beijing (should they choose to use this aircraft for that route). Regardless of what they decide for the future, US Airways is running this plane to San Juan even before they start using it to Tel Aviv. Obviously it makes sense as they need the crews to get acquianted with the new “bird” and it’s a smart business decision to run iton San Juan flights- US1071/1024. I swair, I have these two flights memorized! Those two flights, the outbound and return were previously flown by the A333, so US isn’t really wasting capcity by using a “heavy”.

And while coach class will only take in a whiff of brand new leather on the seats and that new plane smell, starting in June passengers up front in Envoy (seat is Envoy, service is domestic First) will get to enjoy a different kind of business class seat on US Airways. Tempe HQ is staying silent, but an airplane seat manufacturing company said the seats wil be fully flat and supposedly in a suite style setting. Looking at USAirways.com’s current Envoy seat map for the A332, it’s showing a 2-2-2 configuration so I doubt it will be suite like, but I’ll never really know till I try it, will I?

Based on schedules, the brand new US Airways A332 starts flying daily to San Juan as US1071 and back as US1024 on Sunday, June 7, 2009. It’s daily throught June and beginning of July with the exception of a few dates. Here are the details:

6/7/2009 – 6/15/2009 Daily A332

6/16/2009- 6/17/2009 B757 on both days, no A332 service

6/18/2009-7/1/2009 Daily A332

7/2/2009 B757 on this day, no A332 service

7/3/2009-7/5/2009 Daily A332 on all three days

After 7/5/2009 the flight goes back to B757 as the A332 starts flying to Tel Aviv daily on the evening of the 5th of July. We could see the A332 flying to San Juan again in Fall of 2009 as US Airways takes delivery of additional A332′s.

I’m tempted to hop down to San Juan just to check out the product in Envoy. If I can’t do that, I’ll try to arrange a tour with the US Airways Philadelphia Satellite Headquarters while the A332 is on the ground in Philly. I’ll schedule enough time connecting time on my way to Los Angeles or maybe on return portion. Whatever works for them and reasonable enough for me.

Here’s a picture of the aircraft itself, courtesy PictAero,

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Aside from my other Twitter account, LOTPolish, I didn’t think there were any actual airlines out there broadcasting news related to their companies. There’s also an USAirways on Twitter, but I was never really sure if they were the ones who created the account on Twitter.

Apparently, Twitter is the newest addition to United’s marketing plan. They have a “friendly being” who could or could not be UnitedPR on FlyerTalk twitting away at other people. He or she is alerting subscribers of United’s most recent fare sales and bonus mile offers. He or she is also offering advice, talking aviation and sharing behind the scenes tid bits. Given my general disdain for United Airlines and my curiosity if such “friendly being” will reply to absolutely anyone, I’ve decided to twit @unitedairlines:

@unitedairlines joins @usairways on Twitter! Does it mean United is dropping StarNet blocking and becoming the good guy like US Airways?

Talk about asking a loaded question! For those of you that don’t know what StarNet is, it’s the a program that makes your United miles basically worthplace should you choose to redeem on Star Alliance partners.  United uses StarNet to block the majority of available award seats on Star Alliance member carriers like Lufthansa, Air New Zealand or Singapore Airlines. This is the opposite of what US Airways does, which matches all award availability that the other Star Alliance members release. I guess I don’t have to tell you who the good guy is…

Let’s see what they [UnitedAirlines] say!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

While certain members on Airliners.net reported seeing United flights scheduled between Pittsbugh-Los Angeles and Pittsburgh- San Fransisco, I’ve been silently, yet decidedly calling it BS! Maybe I was scared? I thought, surely this will mean one thing- US Airways will drop both routes it so desperately promised to retain.

Turns out it might be true. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran the article today. Looking at USAirways.com (both the old and Beta sites) I don’t see any flights on August 18, 2009, but I do see some in Sepetember and December of 2009. Maybe they haven’t zero’ed them out yet!

Anyway, if US Airways goes through with the pull out, it will only mean one thing- now more non hub/focus city routes out of Pittsburgh on mainline. The only non hub/focus city flying from Pittsburgh will be done by US Airways Express partner Trans States Airlines to Hartford/Springfield, Raleigh/Durham and St. Louis. I’m willing to bet those three cities will be soon cut as well. The nonstop to Las Vegas is also questionable, as Las Vegas’s status as a hub as US Airways is heading in Pittsburgh’s direction- more flight cuts. Then again one of the FA’s on my KOA flight last week did say FA’s were told some LAS flying would be added back.

I’m flying to Los Angeles in July, so I’m thinking of creating a routing to somehow make it on the Pittsburgh to Los Angeles flight. This would be to honor the last direct Pittsburgh service.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

I’ve waited for this day for years!

I just had the pleasure of using the new USAirways.com, which technically, is still a beta website. Both the old and new versions of the website will still be on for a few more months, as select customers will test the new site’s functionality. If the new website generates an error, you can still head back to the older version to try to complete your task. Good planning and thinking on US Airways’ part.

Personally, I find the new site catchy and easy on the eyes, but at the same time, well organized. While the site is slow, I’ve found a lot of the added features beneficial and time saving for customers.

I understand this is for select users, but I’ve included a link that “might” allow you to preview the new site for yourself, https://membership.usairways.com/Manage/AccountSummary.aspx. Try it in FireFox before Internet Explorer! That did the trick for me.

All of the reseravtions I made over the phone and on other websites, I was able to see after logging in. If I were to be too lazy to log in, I could still acess my PNRs by inputing my flight number or dividend miles number and last name without having to remember the PNR.

The award booking calendar is well organized and it took just one search to find saver Envoy tickets to TLV (Tel Aviv, Israel) using my Dividend Miles.

The homepage lets me do the four basic things (book flights, check-in, manage reservations and check flight status) without having to use links for more options.

I don’t have photoshop on my Dell Mini 9, so you’ll have to wait before I get back from my trip to see some screenshots. Who knows, maybe by then you’ll get to see the site for yourself!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

A recent discussion on Airliners.net about US Airways’ presence at Chicago- O’Hare got me thinking; how will the airlines and airport authority handle Delta’s move to Terminal 2 to join merger partner Northwest.

I know that Continental will be moving to Terminal 1 to join United, so the the lounge operated together by Northwest and Continental will become a Delta SkyClub. I assume, Delta will prefer to pick up additional ‘E’ gates instead of moving to the F councourse . This makes sense due to the proximity of the lounge.

Since US Airways uses two (at times three) ‘E’ gates, this will surely cause trouble and limitations for Delta. The combined US Airways and America West need more gate space than what pre-merger US Airways had. I’m also sure US Airways would welcome an opportunity to consolidate gates into one specific concourse as walking from ‘E’ to ‘F’ or vice versa is a bit of a schleep!

I’ve been thinking about this for a few weeks and I think it would be best for Air Canada to move to the E concourse, so United Express can operate out of Air Canada’s gates. That would free up F6 and F12 so US could use it permanently instead of sharing it with United Express.

Also, what would happen with Delta’s ‘L’ gates? From what I’ve heard, American Airlines would try to pick up most of them, but couldn’t JetBlue relocate from ‘E’ to the ‘L’ area to make room for Delta?

With the O’Hare’s largest carriers cutting back on flights, it does make sense to consolidate gate space and allow for those who are still operating at maximum capacity to ‘move about freely’. No pun intended.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Was recently reading a thread on Airliners.net about LOT’s ongoing financial problems. Found a very unique, yet depressing picture of a LOT B767. I believe this was taken in Warsaw. I sure hope LOT can “ride out” the storm and receive delivery of a brand new B787. LOT will be the first airline to fly the B787 in Europe.

"Grounded" LOT B767

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

I was able to change some flights on my return from FRA to LAX to route myself FRA-ZRH-JFK-LAX on Swiss and United so I could enjoy the brand new Swiss First Class product on LX14 between Zurich and JFK. The flight is on Swiss’ newly delivered A333 aircraft which commences service on April 20, 2009. Then it’s PS First on United yet again- one of the very few good things United still has to offer (mainly due to the seat in this market). Unfortunately, neither JFK-CLT-LAX, JFK-PHX-LAX nor JFK-PHX-LAS-LAX were available on US in First- ‘O’ class, thus I settled for United and PS F is better than regular United First so no argument there. Who would argue anyway?

Anyway, back to the main event- new LX F class. It’s stunning. It will be by far the best transatlantic First Class offered. Surely outperforms parent company Lufthansa’s First Class. I think Singapore Air’s  New First Class on the 77W isn’t as nice as this either. Link that with award winning Swiss hospitality and you can’t go wrong!

He are some pictures courtesy of FlyerWiki.

Only 8 seats in the cabin in a 1-2-1 arrangement on this A330-300 aircraft

Passengers traveling alone: no longer worry about lack of privacy in a double seating section

Large, personal TV screen

Non-angled, fully flat bed in an suite like enclosure

I will be able to compare the new product to Swiss’ current First Class on the A343 on my way down to JNB and it may actually be my first full trip report. I’ll be taking my Mini 9 along so I could use some of my transit time to type up some drafts and keep my immediate reflections stored before they’re replaced with newer ones. Rush of excitement, I guess! Who wouldn’t be excited?

Luckily, US Airways has already “trained” me to enjoy the A333, so the ZRH-JFK flight will be on familiar aircraft “territory”.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

A few days ago, US Airways announced changes to its catering service for PHX-Hawaii flights. As you already know, I will be flying PHX-KOA in late April and am already confirmed in First Class so I’m looking forward to the new selections.

Here’s the whole “brochure” that outlines the 3 seperate meal rotations. (Requires Adobe Reader) Since I’m not big on seafood, I’ll be going with the macadamia chicken breast.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

For those who haven’t heard yet, US Airways was one of two airlines chosen for the new 2009 Q2 Brazil air services. That means, US’ service from PHL via CLT to GIG will commence in October 2009! Nice!

US is planning to use a 767 for this service, however there is a possibility of an upgrade to the A332 if all goes well and profitable.

Of all the carriers flying to GIG, I think Delta and United should fear the most. US Airways’ proximity of the CLT hub will most likely affect Delta’s ATL-GIG. United’s route from IAD will probably loose some passengers who will prefer to fly from DCA and connect through CLT instead of going out all the way to IAD. Fact of the matter is, DCA is so much more convenient than IAD and everyone knows it!

Again congrats and best of luck to US Airways on the route. May it do well an open up the possibility of new South American routes!

If you’d like to know what I think about US Airways opening an Envoy lounge in CLT, look here: http://www.usaviation.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=45319&view=findpost&p=675396

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark