Some Admirals Club News

American has come out with some news about its Admirals Clubs over the past couple of days - so I wanted to consolidate them into one.

The biggest news came out today - and it's pretty self-explanatory: free booze!

Beginning on October 1st, American will offer free beer, wine, and liquor. This is something that I've heard requested for a long time, and it also aligns American with other carriers. After today's announcement, United is the only carrier to not offer free booze. But Continental does - so we'll see how that shakes out in the merger.

While some alcohol will be free - some of the nicer wines and liquors will cost you. But still a very nice perk.

American is also introducing some new HP computers at its lounges. I'm a fan - especially of the touch screens. American produced a YouTube video that shows off all the features.

Porter Opens New Lounge at its Hub

Porter Airlines is a very cool carrier - the company saw opportunity at Toronto City Centre Airport (now Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport) and built up an operation that is appealing for those who live and work downtown - as the airport is much more convenient than Pearson for them.

The airline has been growing, and to accommodate more passengers it opened a brand new lounge on Sunday. The lounge offers free Wi-Fi, free snacks and beverages, and workstations with iMacs. Not the fanciest of lounges by any means, but the great part is this lounge is for all of Porter's passengers. (Sounds a lot nicer than a regular departure area!)

Porter's new lounge will only be used for passengers flying to other Canadian cities - while the old lounge will be solely available to passengers on Porter's transborder flights.

You can catch the full news release here - and pictures of the new lounge can be found below.

JetBlue’s Latest Tail Design

I figured that since it's the end of the week - it's time for a nice, light story. Earlier this week, JetBlue revealed its latest tailfin design, called "barcode" earlier this week. The new design can be found on an A320, registered N531JL, which has named "All Blue You Can Jet."

Why that name? The airline just launched its second year of its "All You Can Jet" program, where those who purchased a pass can fly an unlimited number of flights on JetBlue. (One version allows this every day of the week, another won't let you do so on Friday or Sunday). It's a cool little program, actually, and fills seats during a weak part of the year demand-wise.

Funnily enough, this particular A320 was originally delivered to JetBlue, then made its way to Blue Wings and Germany, and is now back with JetBlue after that airline had ceased operations earlier this year.

You can catch more details at NYCAviation.

Photo courtesy of JetBlue.

American Changing Terminals at San Francisco

American Airlines announced today it will change its location at San Francisco International Airport next spring, moving from its current location in Terminal 3 to Terminal 2, which is currently being renovated.

Terminal 2 was closed in 2000 when SFO opened its new international travel. Plans to renovate the terminal were shelved in the wake of the decline in air travel after the September 11th attacks, but in 2009 the airport decided to do so, citing increased passenger travel.

American says it will also be constructing a brand new Admirals Club in the terminal, with seating for 165 passengers. Features like computers and televisions are pretty standard, but showers at a domestic lounge aren't all that common, so that's a welcome addition.

The airline currently flies to Boston, Dallas, Chicago, Miami, New York (JFK), and Honolulu from San Francisco, though Boston service will be dropped in November.

Virgin America will also be calling the renovated terminal home.

Great News For Delta Flyers Out of New York

Delta has said for awhile that they want to "win" New York. Of course a big part of that has been boosting both domestic and international service. But the airport experience plays a very big role into that as well, especially when a lot of travelers are arriving a couple of hours before a flight. Simply put, you don't want your customers to have a sour airport experience, because it will negatively affect their satisfaction with their entire trip.

This is important for Delta as they try to differentiate themselves. Plus, their biggest competitor in New York, JetBlue, has a shiny new terminal at JFK to show off. But we saw a couple of announcements this week that should help out Delta's airport situation.

First, the airline is completely re-vamping its concession options at LaGuardia, and has selected the management company OTG to handle the operation. This is the same company that does T5 at JFK for JetBlue, and while I haven't flown through there, I've heard great things. What I really like is how OTG is making a commitment to local food here. For example, Tagliare will serve the same pizza found at the DiFara pizzeria in Brooklyn, while Harry's Deli will use ingredients and recipes from three local delis.

You can read all of the (delicious) details here.

The bigger news, however, seems to be over at JFK, where Delta's plan to get rid of Terminal 3 and move those operations  Terminal 4 has been approved.  Terminal 3 does have plenty of history as the old Pan Am "WorldPort," but it hasn't been renovated for a few years and has taken on the name of "Third WorldPort" among some circles of frequent flyers. There aren't a whole lot of details yet, but the $1.2 billion project involves demolishing Terminal 3, expanding Terminal 4 by nine gates, and connecting it to Terminal 2, where Delta hosts its domestic operation.

Like I said, there aren't a whole lot of details out there, and this is a few years away. But it's great that Delta has now made a commitment to improve its JFK operation.

Are These Good Reasons to Hate the Airlines?

One article that I've been seeing a lot of late is a list from Time - "20 Reasons to Hate the Airlines." When I see articles like this, I start to cringe - just a little - because I know what's coming - a litany of complaints.

And, like I expected, that was the case. But are many of these complaints justified? Doubtful.

For example, take reason number ten - "The Security Line Confiscation." The authors argue that dealing with the TSA can be annoying. I agree that security can be a hassle. Is this the fault of the airlines, though? The answer is no.

Or number eight - "Pay TV." I think this one is a missed opportunity here. The authors bemoan the fact that we have to pay for headsets now. First, was a headset you ever received from an airline all that great? Secondly, many airlines now have the same audio jacks on their aircraft that you'll find on your iPod, laptop, or whatever. In the past, you'd need a converter to do that. So I think that change makes airline headsets less necessary. Meanwhile, the authors could've criticized some airlines, like US Airways, for dumping domestic in-flight entertainment, but chose not too. Also, let's point out that on a few carriers you'll find multiple channels of live television. I don't think we can really complain.

The last item I'll focus on is number six - "Lunch is Not Served" - which is a complaint about the loss of meal service. First, how many people out there in coach actually enjoyed airline meals? Not many. Second, does the food make someone willing to pay a higher fare? Not often. I'd even argue that cutting free meals has resulted in better food onboard. Airlines offering a buy-on-board product actually need to offer something of value to make people buy it. Case in point - I happily spent $10 for a roast beef sandwich on Virgin America a couple of weeks ago because it was a good size, and, frankly, delicious (and that's by normal food standards, not airline food standards).

Here's my main thought - yes, it's a shame that some amenities are now gone forever. But the airlines realized that for economy passengers, our purchase decision is largely driven by price and schedule and not by the extra frills. So I think consumer behavior might be the biggest culprit here.

Some (Potential) Good News for British Airways Passengers

If you're flying British Airways this summer - good news - Unite, the union that represents British Airways flight attendants has decided to put a strike ballot for this week on hold. The decision was made since management gave the group a new offer on Friday, so this will give union members time to mull over the proposed contract and then make a further decision on if striking is worthwhile or not.

I really, really, really, really, hope the end to this sag is approaching. The union has been on strike for 22 days this year, and it has cost the company a lot of money, and has also been a major inconvenience for passengers. BA has done its best during the labor action - going as far to training other employees to be stand-in cabin crew. And some crew have even decided to come to work anyway, allowing BA to operate a good chunk of its operation, especially the very-important long-haul Heathrow routes.

Still, though, a good number of flights were canceled and while the stand-in crews helped keep things running, those employees just aren't as experienced as the cabin crew they're replacing.

So I'm really hoping the union can approve this measure and we can all move on.

A Couple of Airline Incidents This Week

Well, there have been a couple of interesting incidents this week. Fortunately, there weren't any fatalities or major injuries.

First, on Tuesday morning, an American Airlines flight arrived at the airline's hub in Dallas after a normal flight to Brazil. The Boeing 777 taxied to the gate, and then the plane rolled backwards, ripping a door off the airplane. American tells me that no one was hurt, which is great! The plane is out of service right now, but American tells me it could be flying later today depending on the repair work. And no other flights were affected by the plane leaving service. So overall pretty minor. But you can see some photos of the incident here over on the Star-Telegram's Sky Talk blog.

Below you'll find a video of an accident at Ottawa's airport. A United Express flight, operated by Trans States Airlines skidded off the runway. The flight, from United's hub at Washington's Dulles airport, was flown with an Embraer 145 aircraft. Two crew members sustained minor injuries - fortunately it wasn't worse.