Scoot - new airline, still a lot of SEO work to do

Scoot is the new (mid to) low cost carrier coming out of Singapore. They launched sales yesterday and have just commenced the first push in Australia with a sale for departures in June and October. Unfortunately they have not prepped properly for their launch. Have a look at the below Google search results for keyword Scoot. Lots of code in their ranking and Jetstar news article in number two. Gentle (if not firm) reminder how important it is to get SEO right at any time but particularly before a launch.

PS - they also need to get their twitter planned sorted out. @scootariline is not them and neither by any stretch is @flyscoot

CustomerUnderground is mad as hell and low cost carriers are to blame

Over at the CustomerUnderground I posted a 5,500 word rant about my living, loving and hating Dell. CustomerUnderground co-founder "Higherthanexpectedcallvolumes" has posted a piece that might interest you. He has put up an old school customer I've-had-enough-a-thon about the low cost carrier business. The trigger the story of a nurse who tried to help another passenger on a Jetstar flight. As a result she missed her return journey and Jetstar tried to charge her to rebook her flight.

Check out the rant here - it is called "Why do Low Cost Airlines Hate their Passengers (and What Do We Do About it)?"

Virgin Blue starts brand review - why not rebrand Ansett?

News out that Virgin Blue CEO John Borghetti has brought on long term collaborator Hans Hulsbosch to help with a brand review for Virgin Blue.

Hulsbosch previously helped Qantas with their brand review though I think the minimal changes of lengthening the Roo tail and slanting the acronym is more of a tweak than a review.

From press reports it looks like nothing is off the table including scrapping the use of the world "Virgin". Given the current DJ product and announced plans for it, I recommend DJ drop the Virgin brand, write a cheque to administrators KordaMentha and re-brand the whole business Ansett.

I am being facetious of course but there is some rational thinking behind this. Below is a table comparing the Ansett of 2001 with the Virgin Blue product of the same year and of 2010

My point is that as Virgin Blue chases more and more of the Qantas business (aiming to increase corporate share from 5% to 20%) it is getting closer and closer to the Ansett business model and further and further away for what made it a success. From the table you can see that the edgy brand and free food are the last pieces differentiating DJ from Ansett. They need to be very careful in this process that DJ do not end up catching just enough of Qantas share to lose what built their brand and suffer the same fate as Ansett.

PS: for those that don't know Ansett was the long term Star Alliance full service competitor of Qantas that went bust in 2001 after (but not caused by) Sept 11. Virgin Blue launched in August 2000

Follow #APAOS for updates from Asia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit. BOOT on stage at 2.35pm

I will be speaking and tweeting today (Thursday) from the Australia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2010 at the Four Seasons hotel in Sydney (Travel Technology & Distribution day). I am on stage at 235 pm on The role of airlines and distributors in the “inspiration funnel” and will be back at 440pm on a panel for Leveraging social media to create customer interaction and brand awareness

If you want tweet coverage of the conference then track the hashtag #APAOS. I also recommend following @winglets747 and @sam_lindner for their coverage

Liz Savage (EGM Commercial) of Virgin Blue on the difference between Euro and AU Air markets

For part of today I was at the Australia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2010. Highlight speaker of the seasons I listened to was Liz Savage the (relatively) new Chief Commercial Officer (now Executive General Manager Commercial) of Virgin Blue. Ninemsn is carrying the traditional news part of her speech around DJ's determination to carve a space in between the hard core low cost of Tiger yet steal premium customer share from Qantas. She announced a desire to double DJ's share of the corporate sector from 10% to 20%.

Savage's background (linkedin profile here) was with easyjet and Monarch. She took some time in her speech to share three key differences between the Low Cost/New World Carrier market in Europe and Australia. They are:

1. Number of competitors and low cost carriers: Compared to her time in Europe, Savage was intrigued to discover how concentrated market share was in Australia. This lack of competition was particularly acute for Savage when it came to LCCs. Europe is filled with point to point low cost carriers. Savage mentioned that her previous employer - Monarch - was a medium sized carrier (some 30 aircraft and 100 routes) but was also a profitable airline and of size enough to compete. In Australia, no matter how you measure the market, there a very limited number of competitors - on an absolute scale and relative to Europe;
   
2. Number of secondary airports: Savage reminded us that the success of Ryanair was in no small part due to the use of secondary airports. In Australia there are virtually no secondary airports, forcing low cost and new world carriers to sit with the same airport cost base as the full service/premium carrier(s); and
   
3. Need for an international network: European LCCs can survive and prosper on the back of point to point short haul. But given Australia's distance and market, a carrier must says Savage have an international network (either directly or a virtual one via alliances).

Great to get a new view on the Australian market. Any other major differences between the Euro and Australian air markets?

The BOOT at Asia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 27-30 July - Sydney

I will be speaking this week at the Australia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2010 at the Four Seasons hotel in Sydney. The conference runs July 27-30. Day three of the conference (July 29) is the "Travel Technology & Distribution day".

Also speaking on the Tech and Distribution day are:

• Richard Noon (CEO Webjet);
• Claire Hatton (Head of Travel, Government and Local for Google);
• Steve Sherlock (MD Oodles);
• Shashank Nigam (SimplyFlying) and
  
• Martin Symes (CEO Wego)

I am in two sessions

Solo at 235 pm on

The role of airlines and distributors in the “inspiration funnel”

* What are the four phases of online travel?
* How consumers get from an idea to going away and making a booking
* The role of airlines, tourism authorities and OTAs in the inspiration funnel

and on a panel at 440 on

Leveraging social media to create customer interaction and brand awareness

* Making better use of existing channels vs investing resources in newer distribution avenues
* How well do suppliers understand the value proposition of social media?
* Brand management through social media
* Integrating User Generated Content into the booking path

Hat tip in advance to Martin Collings of the Shearwater blog who first introduced me to the role of airlines in the bow tie/inspiration funnel.

Water Skiing Aircraft - video

Sure we now know thata- but can a plane water ski??? Must watch video of the Flying Lions Aerobatic Team "water skiing" in South Africa using four T6 Harvard Aircraft.



Hat tip to my Dad for sending me this link

Cathay Pacific vs Virgin Atlantic business class - the battle of the herringbone seats

I did a post yesterday with mine and Skytrax's airlines of the year. Numbers one and two on my list were Cathay Pacific (CX) and Virgin Atlantic (VS). There was a debate in the comments on the merits of the CX herringbone business class seat vs the VS herringbone. Hence this post - the battle of the herringbones. Why I think the CX herringbone beats out the VS version.

Three reasons why I think CX herringbone is better than VS

1. The entertainment system starts as soon as you sit down whereas VS make you wait until after take off and after a welcome on-board video has finished;
2. The CX seat converts to bed without having to get out of seat whereas the VS seat is a flip to bed version. Means you have to get out of the seat, convert to a bed and get back in; and
   
3. The VS seat narrows to the feet a little more making it slightly tighter in fit that the CX version.
   

Three reasons why VS herringbone is better

1. The on-board bar is a smash hit (hold on that is not related to the seat!);
2. The Upper Class Lounge at Heathrow is nearly unmatchable in quality (QF first class Sydney is its only competitor). With a haircut, spa bath, sauna and video games. (hold on that is not related to the seat either!); and
   
3. You get pyjamas on VS (hmmm...also not related to the seat)

I am being mean to VS. Focusing just on the seat, here are the three VS winners:

1. The table is large and can be moved to allow you to get out without having to put the table away;
   
2. The doona is much more bed like that CX's making for a more bed like feel; and
3. Big pillow - also better for a bed like feel.
   

Very close fight but CX by a whisker.

Full CX business class seat review here. Full VS business class (upper class) seat review here.

thanks to Lora_313 for the photo via flickr

Skytrax vs the BOOT - airline of the year rankings

Every year Skytrax publishes the results of their Annual World Airline Awards survey, Most years since the launch of the BOOT I follow up by ranking my top airline choices against the Skytrax winners. [here are my 2006 rankings and 2008 rankings].

This year I have the added content weight of 10 airline seat reviews to draw on (all here). On to the list

Skytrax top ten Airlines of the Year 2010

1. Asiana Airlines
2. Singapore Airlines
3. Qatar Airways
4. Cathay Pacific
5. Air New Zealand
6. Etihad Airways
7. Qantas Airways
8. Emirates
9. Thai Airways
10. Malaysia Airlines

[notes SQ down a place, CX down two places and Qantas down 4 place]

The BOOT's top five airlines

1. Cathay Pacific (up 3 places due to new herringbone seats)
2. Virgin Atlantic (steady)
3. British Airways (steady - despite crew troubles their flat bed seat is still a winner)
4. Qantas (up a spot)
5. Singapore Airlines (down 4 spots - I don't like the new seat. Too wide, not long enough).

Where do you stand?

Update (check out the Professor's rankings here)

Update 2 - why Cathay just beats Virgin Atlantic in my rankings in a post "Cathay Pacific vs Virgin Atlantic business class - the battle of the herringbone seats"

First Class is dead. Long Live First Class.

10 years ago last month(January 2000) British Airways changed business class flying forever when they introduced the lie flat business class seat. I am sure that the revenue management team putting together the pricing and yielding plan for that launch did not realise that 10 years later they would be causing the death of first class. The launch itself completely changed the pricing for the standard 3 class airlines. In the early nineties (with the old Business Classes) the general rule for pricing between Economy, Business and First was "double double". Business was twice the cost of Economy. And First twice the cost of Business. But with flat beds stripping out seats, the pricing had to change. The rule went from "double double" to "by four by one point five". Sydney to Europe in economy was a $2,500, Business by 4 at $10,000 and First by 1.5 at $15,000. The gap between the price of Economy and the price of Business grew too great to withstand the Global F'n Crisis.

Today Qantas announced (during the publication of their results) that they would spend $400mm refitting most of the fleet to eliminate first class in all but 12 of its A380s.

On Jan 26 this year Air NZ announced their new plans for class configurations. They announced a revamped business, high end premium economy and the first efforts at beds in economy class. It does not include a first class (Upgrade:Travel Better blog post here on the announcement).

I therefore conclude that First Class is on its deathbed. My prediction is that within the next 3 years (by end 2013) all but the most luxurious of carriers that have flat or near flat Business Class seats (ie everyone bar Emirates, Qatar, Etihad and maybe Singapore) will follow suit and remove First Class from their configurations. That will leave Business as the new First with a huge gap to Premium Economy and smaller gap to Economy. In effect having moved from a 3 class airlines product to a 4 class airline product to a 2.5 class range of product.

But the change will continue. I predict that over the course of the following 7 years (starting in 2013 and ending in 2020) the seats in premium economy will start to lean a little more, then be spaced out a little further, then go a little flatter, then have their own lounges and check ins and finally an airline will announce Krug being served in "Business Class". We will realise that Airlines are back to the "natural order" of front of the plane with flat beds, middle of the plane with large, very comfortable seats and the back filled with grouchy people wondering why they signed up for the "enhanced transportation techniques" afforded by economy class.

In other words we are witnessing the end of First Class....until they rename Business, flatten out Premium and we go round again. Do you agree?

PS - if you like stories and analysis on the life, death and opulence of first class travel check out Shashank Nigam August 2009 post on SimplyFlying called " Singapore Airlines A380 Suites – A Class Beyond First or a First Class Branding Debacle?".

thanks to x-ray delta one via flickr for the photo of a 1959 707 first class on board lounge area

Qantas to Amadeus – what the hell was that???!?

In 2007 Amadeus and Qantas were riding high. A joy filled press release heralded that their relationship would bloom for another ten years. The then CIO John Willett was full of praise saying

"The development of Altéa [Amadeus' airline customer management system], which has become the leading customer management solution for airlines, has been a milestone for the industry and we expect that the next 10 years will help us to innovate further,"

A year later there was a new CIO at Qantas (Jamila Gordon) and the good times continued. The companies announced that the Altéa system was fully implemented. Gordon was filled with the joy and expectation that can only be found in press releases

"Exceptional customer service is a key competitive weapon and you can only deliver this by understanding the needs of individuals which is what the integrated Altéa system provides." She added, "As the operating environment for airlines gets tougher, it is essential that technology is able to both deliver greater operational efficiency as well as support the implementation of policies that build customer loyalty and drive increased revenues."

Remember those words “deliver greater operational efficiency”.

Fast forward to Jan 3 2010 and the Amadeus and Qantas bromance took a blow (though it does not look fatal) when the Amadeus Altéa system appeared to suffer a world wide hour long blue screen of death crash-a-doodle-do. Automated check-in came crashing down. Customers were stuck and airline crews abused. Qantas firstly called it “intermittent” (SMH) . But later an ABC commentator found out that the system had crashed on three separate occasions during the outage period. Delays, angry customers and twitter rant–a-thons ensued.

Unlike the PR love-ins of the previous announcements, Qantas was very happy to very publicly blame the whole thing on Amadeus. Newly appointed Qantas spokesman David Epstein used all of the tact that his former Labour party bosses are famous for by being very polite in his finger pointing but stating clearly and cleanly

"We are seeking assurances this won't happen again,"

(according to a report from the ABC)

The Herald Sun very neatly summed up the response from Amadeus to the blame game “Amadeus could not be reached for comment”. I bet they couldn’t.

Thanks to Aaron Frutman over at Flickr for the phot of Kobe in flight

Seat Review - British Airways World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy)

A family emergency sent me to Berlin. The trip back (which was filled with stress and eventually relief) was on British Airways Premium Economy – branded World Traveller Plus. Due to the circumstances of the trip I was not in a good mood. This almost certainly impacted my attitude toward the flight and the product and therefore this review. That said, it is clear that World Traveller Plus (WTP) is closer to economy than business. It is a product a little above economy but well below business. The problem is that the pricing (absent a deal/special) is mid way between Business and Economy. Therefore without a deal or pricing special then WTP is not worth the money - especially if your frequent flyer status already grants you access to premium check in and lounges.

With that background, the BOOT rating for British Airways World Traveller Plus (International Premium Economy) is a 2 stars out of 6 or "Bad Seat". Here is the detailed review (Details and scoring system for airline seat reviews)

Getting on Board	Score 0
Not sure why and it was not a factor associated with World Traveller Plus, but this was the slowest boarding I have every experienced on a 747. BA was using one door rather than two but even so there was an annoying long delaying in boarding and chaos at the gate. It felt at times like a queue for Space Mountain at Disney land, each time I eventually came around a corner I thought that it would be the last one and I would get a glimpse of the door only to be disappointed and realise there was another stretch of the gate and corner to go around. My mood was also a factor due to the nature of the trip but also because Terminal 4 at Heathrow is an abandoned wasteland with construction, closed shops and poor facilities. The BA lounge is sub-par by any measure (against competitors, against other airports and against BA’s other offering in Terminal 5). On board there is no pre-flight drink or other offering from BA in this class. Combined this contributed to me reaching my seat in an even worse mood.
The Seat	Score 0.5
There is a reason why the product of Premium Economy or World Traveller Plus is tied in its definition to the Economy product. The seat is a step above economy but it is not a leap above. Put another way this is not a product that sits in between the Economy Class and Business Class (Club World) products. Instead it is a noticeable but incremental improvement on economy. The extra seven inches of leg room is nice but not transformative. This means that you are more comfortable but is does not make for an ability to sleep for an entire sector (ie 7-8 hours). There were also some very annoying parts to the seat. Something (I think either the VOD unit or lifejacket) was placed under the seat in front in such a way that it impeded my ability to freely put my feet under the seat in front. For someone of my size (185 cm) the foot rest is useless (too high) and the leg rest is meaningless (does not come out far enough) so the benefit of the extra leg room comes from the ability to put my feet under the seat in front. This is not as possible in this BA product as it should be. Also annoying is the location of the Entertainment (VOD) remote control. I had this issue on Qantas economy also. The controller is at thy height in the arm rest. Means that each time I moved my legs, I hit the controller which paused, fast forwarded or otherwise messed up the movie I was watching. In the end had to store the controller in the magazine flap in back of the seat in front which was annoying for me and the passenger next to me when she tried to go to the bathroom.
The Service	Score 0.5
The service provided is attentive, punctual and functional but it is also procedural. That means I felt I was on the staff’s timetable with limited flexibility. I would have liked to have received a little more proactive service such as bringing me more drinks and walking around looking for passengers needing help. The trick to long haul Europe to Australia is to stay awake for the first sector and sleep for the second. That way your longest period of sleep ends with the early morning landing into Australia. This means staying awake for 12-13 hours. To do that I need a lot of support in drinks and other care. I feel there could have been more. I did like the dedicated cabin aspect. Regardless of food, seat and service, having less people fighting for air, toilets and attention is valuable.
The Food	Score 0.0
As with the seat, the food is a step above economy but two or three below business class. It is a one tray service, all packaged and very carbohydrate heavy. The last meal of the trip (breakfast) after 9 hours of flying from Bangkok was a “deli box” – something that should be more at home on a Sydney to Melbourne flight than a meal designed to break a six hour break without food.
The Entertainment	Score 0.5
The Entertainment is solid enough with a fair selection of movies and TV. But BA VOD is a step behind the leaders in this space (Cathay and Singapore). Issues that detract from enjoyment of the system and place it a step below the leaders are: (1) the delay in starting – 15 minutes after seat belt sign is turned off; (2) the location of the controller (see above); and (3) turned off tow soon – 30 minutes before landing.
The BOOT factor	Score 0.5
It my BA Business Class review (Club World) Review I expressed my annoyance that World Traveller Plus is located between door one and two giving WTP passengers a head start off the plane over business class. When in business class this annoyed me. Now I am in WTP, it is a nice bonus. BA’s other WTP twist is their “raid the larder” snack program where business and premium economy passengers can access a mini bar area with drinks, fruit, candy and sandwiches. This used to be one of my favourite parts of the BA premium product experience. But on this flight it was not as good as I remember. It could have been my grumpy mood but it did not look as enticing as previous flights.
Final Score	2.0 - Bad Seat

Details and scoring system for airline seat reviews

thanks to caribb for the photo

Jetstar on Virgin Blue - Perils of in-flight TV

In flight TV is all the rage with Low Cost Carriers because it opens up a revenue stream without the complexity of managing a video on demand system. Unfortunately streaming live TV comes with a lack of editorial control. Here is a photo of me watching a Jetstar TV advertisement while sitting in a Virgin Blue seat somewhere between Sydney and Melbourne. That is 192 people looking at your competitor's brand while consuming your product.

Lies, damn lies and statistics about Jetstar

I hate it when Airlines use statistics to tell bald-faced lies and make themselves sound more successful they they deserve to sound. I hate it at a purest marketing level and also because it helps perpetuate consumer mistrust of travel companies.

I came across a piece on TravelWeekly (AU) titled "Jetstar edges out rivals in share battle". Summary of the piece is that the Qantas owned Jetstar is now ahead of Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand in Australia in term of international market share. This (in theory) puts Jetstar in the number two international carrier spot behind Qantas. Jetstar's share (according to the article) is 9% of the international market in May up from 6.1% the previous year. But over the same period Qantas' share dropped from 26.2% to 22.4%. A large part of the drop in Qantas is because Jetstar flights replaced Qantas flights. A simple carrier for carrier switch by the parent company. Clearly the near 3% lift in Jetstar numbers was helped by the near 4% drop in Qantas carriage share. Jetstar CEO Bruce Buchanan (in his press release on this story) clearly attributes the results to the performance of the airline and does not credit being given free traffic and passengers by Qantas. By "free customers" I mean customers they did not have to earn by marketing to and beating a rival to acquire.

At a conference last year a Jetstar rep put up a graph showing the domestic number passengers that Jetstar was carrying per month since its launch in 2004 and compared that to the number of passengers that Ryanair was carrying four years after its launch. On that comparison Jetstar was way ahead of Ryanair, the clear implication being that Jetstar is a better LCC that Ryanair at this stage of their development. They supplement this on their website by praising themselves for winning awards such as the "Top 5 Carriers for Passenger Growth 2009" award.

However just like international it is unambiguous that Jetstar owe more of their domestic passenger growth to the huge amounts of "free" traffic/passengers they were given from Qantas routes being handed over to Jetstar than to any creative marketing or pricing on Jetstar's part. In fact I would argue that a number of their marketing campaigns would do more to turn customers off the airline rather than on. Whereas Ryanair had to steal/lure away each customer from BA, easyjet, Aer Lingus, Jetstar simply had to wait for the customers to turn up looking for a red rat tail and then resign themselves to being served by people dressed in grey and orange.

I am not arguing that Jetstar is a bad airline. They have a much more enjoyable product offering than Ryanair and other LCCs I have flown. But to celebrate this growth as if they had started from a zero base (like Raynair and Virgin Blue) is disingenuous to say the least.

Am I being too tough of Jetstar? What do you think?

Thanks to StarvingFox at flickr for the photo

Airline sector to lose US$9 billion this year - Wharton

BOOT read of the week is a June article from Knowledge @ Wharton called "The Airline Industry's Rising Crisis". The article quotes IATA's Giovanni Bisignani as increasing his estimates on 2008 losses for the air industry from US$8.5 billion to US$10.4 billion. Passenger traffic is not the only area of pain - cargo is likely to drop by 17%.

The article tries to point to some good news such as fuel back below $100 a barrel, increasing consolidation and teaming up by airlines and new technologies helping to reduce costs.

The final part of the article gives some specific and detailed analysis of the LATAM aviation market.

June 2009 stats from IATA (care of e-tid registration required for link) are tracking June revenue on international markets down a horrifying 25-30% with load factors of 75.3%, down from 77.6% in June 2008.

Top 5 ways to know that your airline is trouble

Madame BOOT's sister lost a day and hundreds of Euros this week with the collapse of Italian low cost carrier MYair as her flight from Paris to Venice ceased to be. Two things came out of this. First - it is one thing to have travel insurance (which my sister-in-law has), but it is another to find in the fine print that the policy excludes costs from airline bankruptcy. This is definitely something all consumers should be checking before buying travel insurance. Second- it turned me to thinking about the top five signs that your airline or flight is in trouble. Here they are

5. Like USAir flight 1549- Kamikaze Canadian Geese are seen in the vicinity for your aircraft;

4 Like United Airlines - you put your very creative but completely incomprehensible sea orchestra advert on Youtube and hit 16,500 views. Then an unknown Canadian country and western band do a cheesy song on your baggage handling stupidity and who cares customer service attitude and it gets 4.3 million views and a distribution deal with iTunes;

3. Like Alitalia - the leader of your country (Berlusconi) promises to revolutionise your national carrier (Alitalia), keeping it in local hands, restoring it to its former glory and bringing back profitability, sunshine and smiling children. Result a much smaller airline, part owned by foreigners Air France, merged with a smaller rival (AirOne), still stuck with the same union contracts and children crying over lost baggage;

2. Like Qantas - you spend 2 years developing a brand new video on demand system and claim that it is the best in the world. It does not matter that it is not the best system in the world but it does matter that for more than two years the VOD system does not work ; and

1. Like Italian Low Cost Carrier MYair - your airline is so badly run that even the Italian Civil Aviation Authority feels compelled to suspend their lunchtime nap and annual "bring your mates to work" day celebration to suspend your licence.

Update - had to add a number 6 that I remember

6. Like World Focus Air - your airline has a "W" as the key brand icon and changes its name from "World Focus Air" to "Ank Air" but keeps the "W" prominently displayed on the plane (check out the original post and picture if you do not yet get the almost not safe for work reference)

What other signs do you have for an uncertain traveller to watch for?

thanks to break.com for the photo

AirAsia bidding for hotel words in Google - Low Cost Carrier embracing quasi-OTA status

Back in December I re-posted a story from 2007 (and one of my original tips from the t-list posts) that contained my three recommendations for airlines that were winning with supplier direct online on how they can improve their online offering.

One of the recommendations was to " invest in being a true online hotel (land) business". We has seen strides from the low cost carriers in this first (for example Easyjet's seamless packaging integration). Now I have seen another next step from a low cost carrier - reports have come in of KL based AirAsia have been bidding on hotel based keywords on Google. In effect competing head to head with online travel agents, hotel only intermediaries and hotel suppliers on hotel sales rather than waiting for air cross sell to provide ancillary revenue.

This has been hard for me to replicate in a screenshot to show you as it looks like they are currently targeting certain Asian IP addresses (ie customers) and not yet targeting Australia. John Fearon of Asiarooms sent me through this shot from an Alexa search he was doing. You can clearly see AirAsia targeting Bangkok hotels along side Booking.com and others. It is the second time Fearon has spotted AirAisa actively promoting hotels.

I applaud this move by AirAsia. It is consistent with there "we do want we want and love to break the rules" brand message and it embraces my rules for growing airline online share. That said as an online hotel player is gives me the willies. Anyone else seen more examples of AirAsia or other airlines bidding for hotel words to support their ancillary business.?

thanks for the tip John.

Baggage container meets airline and square peg does not fit in jet engine hole

What happens if a airline cargo box full of luggage gets stuck inside a jet engine of a 747 aeroplane? Have a look at the below video and find out. I can imagine the exchange

"What do you mean you lost my luggage, where is it?"

"um...well.. sir... it is here at the airport"

"It is, great. I thought it might be in Timbuktu. OK. Can you organise for someone to deliver the luggage to me."

"Not really you see the luggage is in the plane"

"Even better. If it my bag is on the plane can't you just send someone over there to pick it up and bring it to me"

"No sir...sorry...I said 'in the plane' not 'on the plane'"



Direct link to video if embedding not working

hat tip to latimes where I saw the story first

Qantas Hotels - temporarily unavailable

Bad day at the office for Qantas.com. First time I have seen on their website a promotion around "no hotel booking fees" and at the same time their "hotel bookings are temporarily unavailable" Oops. Image below.

United Airlines wants to know everything about me....and I mean everything

While boarding a recent United Airlines domestic flight I was presented with a "Survey America" which is United's customer survey form. You know the type - where an airline asks you a series of questions about you and your experience using the airline. In exchange you all you get is a nice smile and a warm feeling or sometimes (as with United) a nice smile, warm feeling and a slim chance of winning something. Normally I love a questionnaire. It helps pass the time on the flight and I feel like I have a place to vent about the experience on the airline.

But the United "Survey America" contained questions that I am surprised that anyone wants to let any company know about them, let alone an airline. Plus the way you post the form back to United guarantees that the whole world will know more about you than you could ever want.

Below is a (badly) scanned picture of the worst page but let me list for you a few of the questions on this survey that United is crazy to think that consumer would want to answer and consumers would be mad to answer. On their own (some of) these questions might be ok, but put together the would tell United (and a lot of other people) enough about you for United to all but take over your life (ok maybe that is a bit over the top but still).

Selected Questions

18. Including this trip, how many round trips by air have your flown in the past 12 months (by class and airline)?

19. In total how many times in the past 24 months have you flown to Europe, Asia, Latam?

21. List all the frequent flyer programs you are in and which you are an elite for (check box will all the majors)

22. a) are you Male/Female
22. b) Age
22. c) Approximate household income (in thousands)
22. d) Occupation (with check boxes)
22. e) Race (with check boxes)

then - space to fill in your full name with middle name, address, phone, email etc

And here is the best part. When you fold up the questionnaire to send it to United with the prepaid address on the front, then Question 22 (income, age, sex, race) and your name, home address and contact details appear on the back for any and all to see.

Amazing. Who in their right mind would would complete this survey. Here is a shot of the back page.

PS - was trying to put up a link to a pdf version of the whole survey. I used to be able to load pdfs onto Google Base and then do a link but could not get it to work. Anyone know how to a pdf or link to a pdf on a blogger page?