Good News for Virgin Flyers

Well, here's some good news for those who are loyal to the Virgin Airlines (Virgin America, Virgin Blue and Virgin Atlantic) - the three carriers are rolling out frequent flyer reciprocity.

What does that mean? Well, if you're loyal to one Virgin carrier, you can earn points in that airline's loyalty program. So, I'm a member of Virgin America's Elevate program. When I fly Virgin Atlantic, I can now earn Elevate points. Over the next few months, the three airlines will roll out the ability to redeem points on each other's flights.

This is something that has been talked about in stages for awhile - for example Virgin America and Blue were already planning this. But reciprocity among all three carriers is a new thing.

So what can you do today? Well, you can earn points in any program on any Virgin carrier. Yay. Also, members of Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club and Virgin Blue's Velocity and redeem on either airline.

In the fourth quarter of this year, redemption between Virgin Blue/V Australia and Virgin America will be set up, and in the second quarter of next year, redemption between Virgin America and Atlantic will be ready to go.

A nice move, I say!

A Human Fee?

Oh, Spirit. Just as you're in the midst of adding a carry-on bag fee you mention the possibility of the fee for talking to a human being at the airport. One at a time, please?

But seriously, before another media firestorm hits, I feel I should defend Spirit - sort of. It's simple - fees are their strategy. Spirit wants to unbundle as much as possible, which lowers their costs, and customers who want the extra frills send Spirit some nice ancillary revenue. If you don't like it, I would recommend flying someone else.

A fee for talking to a person at the airport shouldn't really surprise anyone. The airlines have been encouraging us travelers to engage in less human contact for years. I mean, most airlines charge for you to make a reservation over the phone, and charge you more to pay for a checked bag at the airport. Not to mention encouragement to check-in online. Plus Continental is even now testing self-boarding in Houston. So this seems like more of a natural progression than anything to me.

Nevertheless, Spirit says this won't be coming until they enhance their kiosks to handle more functions.

Thoughts on a Marathon Week of Travel

So, I'm finally back in DC after more than a week of travel. I was off to cover EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin - twice. I was already planning to go, and then Southwest announced a special event at the show after I would return, and they offered to fly me out. I figured, why not?

After a week on the road I just wanted to share some random thoughts on travel...

Social Media is an Awesome Tool

I've written in this space plenty of times about how social media can be powerful for airlines and airports. For example, my original trip to Oshkosh involved flying from DC to Appleton with a connection in Chicago. Unfortunately my connecting flight was canceled. Thanks to some tweeting on the part of my traveling companion, we found a ride, and got there earlier than the next flight out did.

The TSA And the iPad

The TSA has an official policy on the iPad and netbooks - they don't have to come out of your carry-on like a larger laptop. But yet again I was told the opposite. Can the TSA please make up their mind here?

Sleep - What's That?

This trip had me working pretty long hours for a few days - and I think I may have averaged about 4 to 5 hours of sleep each night. But you know what? In the end, I was fine with that. Personally, if I'm out somewhere I like to be doing something as much as I can. I can sleep for free at home.

Avoiding Overpriced Tourist Traps

My trip also involved a day trip to Chicago. Southwest was flying up to Oshkosh from Chicago on Saturday, and they were flying me up on Friday. (Full disclosure: they covered my flights and hotel.) Since I had never been to Chicago before, I decided to take an early flight. Unfortunately a couple of hours were tied up on the Sears (I mean, Willis) Tower, which costs a shocking $16.50 a head. Yeah, the views are cool, and the fact that I was able to catch up with a friend in the process was nice, but on future trips to other cities I think I might ditch some of the normal tourist attractions.

Taxi Magic is Awesome

Awhile back a friend of mine recommended the Taxi Magic app for iPhone, and boy is it handy. I finally got to use it for the first time. The app uses your phone's GPS to help determine the pickup location, and it will let you track the status of your cab (it even shows it on a map after its dispatched). Best of all, you can pay right on your phone, which saves time and means you don't have to carry a bunch of cash. Plus you don't have to deal with paper receipts - a detailed PDF is automatically e-mailed. You do have to pay an extra $1.50 but I think it's worth it.

More on My Little Airport

I talked about my little airport a bit last week, but, I'm going to talk about it more!

Yesterday, T.F. Green in Rhode Island announced a new Frequent Parker Program. It's pretty simple - get one free day after ten days of parking.

So why would an airport want to do this? It's pretty simple - encourage on-airport parking. Free stuff is always appealing. Plus, since travelers will be able to use their membership card to enter and exit garages - that makes travel easier. Which all builds to the main objective - make people park on-airport instead of off-airport. That fits into T.F. Green's strategy of building up more air service. To build more air service you need to lower your airline costs. You can lower airline costs by using other revenues - like parking - to cover them.

Also, you get to track the behavior of your most frequent customers - which is very powerful.

You can learn more here.

Airports as Transit Hubs

This week, Roger Yu had an article in USA Today that gave an overview of airports with transit links.

Of course, I was happy with the article because it have a huge shoutout to my home airport - TF Green in Rhode Island. The intermodal station - now officially known as Interlink - has been talked about for years. In fact, I think it was supposed to be done when I was twelve at one point.

I turn twenty on Monday.

But the new facility will bring Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority trains to the airport, providing service to Providence and Boston. Unfortunately, one of the big justification of the project (in my humble opinion) - Southwest not wanting to serve Boston Logan - is now gone. But the airport does hope the rail station enhances its image as a Boston alternative, especially to international carriers. The facility will also house new rental car space and a bus stop.

But enough about my little airport (that I love dearly).

The article focuses on transit links to airports. Which I've come to support more as I've been living in Washington for two months now. For example - a cab to Dulles could easily run me $70. I can get to National in less time for less than $5 riding the subway. (Dulles will have rail access in a couple of years, though.)

Or take Boston. It has two mass transit lines, subway and buss rapid transit, constantly running through. Philadelphia has pretty good service from the terminal to Center City via SEPTA.

I like transit for a few reasons. First, it's cheap compared to a taxi or a car rental. Second, I'm not a huge fan of driving in unfamiliar places so good mass transit aovids that. Third, it cuts down on airport traffic. Finally, while this isn't a huge thing for me, it is supposedly better for the environment.

So let's hope the transit experiment at Providence goes. I have my concerns - mainly related to frequency. Having only a few trains per day makes for inconvenience. It's nice having a subway at National, for example, because a train is coming every few minutes. But I would like to see more airports embrace mass transit for sure.

What are your thoughts?

LAX Observation Deck Re-Opens

If you're an airplane spotter like myself - here's some good news! (For once.)

I say that because spotting has been a tough hobby to have during the past nine years or so. Ever since September 11th, spotters have been looked at with additional scrutiny. People at airports with long lenses can certainly look suspicious to those who aren't really aware of the hobby.

Of course, I find it a bit ironic that spotters are sometimes seen as a security risk, since legend has it the spotting hobby really got going during World War II. With limited radar coverage, sometimes spotters were the best way to track the positions of spotters. But I digress.

Security concerns have made spotting harder. But at most airports it's still possible - though some areas might be off limits. Encounters with law enforcement are not all that uncommon. (These are generally pretty mundane - just be cooperative and you'll be fine.)

But to get to my point - for the first time since September 11, the roof of the Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport is now open to the public for spotting. Unfortunately, the viewing area is only open from 8 am to 5 pm on weekends. But still, this is progress for those of us who love to just relax and watch airplanes. It's how many people I know developed an interest in aviation during childhood.

Anyway, I'm just happy we're seeing some progress at LAX. How is the spotting at your airport?

(Hat tip to my friend Chris for finding this story.)

One-Third of the US Fleet Now Has Wi-Fi

I've written about in-flight Wi-Fi plenty of times before, but this PC Magazine article got me thinking about it again. According to them, about a third of the US fleet is now equipped with Wi-Fi.

That's pretty impressive for something that's only about two years old, methinks.

For full-fleet installs, however - there's a ways to go. It's only still AirTran and Virgin America. But Delta is getting close to having the mainline domestic fleet done. American is slowly making progress. United only has Wi-Fi on its p.s. flights but says it is considering more. Frontier will have the E-Jet fleet done soon. Alaska will have its entire fleet done by the end of the year. Southwest is now moving along with Row 44 and should be done by the end of 2012. US Airways has the entire A321 fleet equipped.

What I'm getting at is that Wi-Fi has become big. But I wonder how many people actually use it? Gogo has remained mum on the topic. Does it actually influence someone's purchase decision? If an airline is behind will that eventually have a negative effect on their bottom line?

Have you used in-flight Wi-Fi? How often do you plan to use it?

In Defense of Fees

I honestly did not think I would write those words.

But anyway - there was a hearing here in DC yesterday about ancillary revenue. Of course, Spirit Airlines was a big topic of discussion because they're the closest thing we have to Ryanair here in the States. As a result, they charge for nearly anything. What's caused particular attention in the press is the airline's decision to begin charging up to $45 for a carry-on bag. But other airlines have been raked through the coals as well.

I'll be honest - I'm not the biggest fan of paying extra for things. I'm pretty sure everyone else would agree they prefer free things as well. But I just don't like the way some fees are being portrayed in the media. For example, this Good Morning America video piece tries to portray an upgrade fee as a big surprise. Um, why? Were you expecting to go to the ticket counter, and get an upgrade to first class no questions asked?

Now I'm not saying fees are popular - but airlines should have a choice as to what they want to charge. Likewise we as the consumer have the ultimate power. Don't want to pay for bags? Well, look at Southwest or JetBlue, for example. And while others might criticize Spirit in the press for fees, other travelers might still like them. For example, a friend of mine and his girlfriend are going on vacation on Spirit soon. They knew about all the fees, but even after that they still came out ahead compared to other airlines. So what's exactly the big deal here?

So here's my main point - yes, fees are annoying. But they've become and important source of revenue for the airlines. And often despite what consumers say, most booking decisions are made based on price and schedule, not fees.

I agree with members of Congress who feel that airlines can be more transparent about fees, though. And I think some carriers are getting better about it, but unfortunately they still have a ways to go. If you want to compare carriers, I'd highly recommend this handy chart of all the domestic fees from the folks at FareCompare.