AIRTRAN’S DARK ‘N STORMY LOOK. AirTran is flexing its sports marketing muscle with special new paint jobs sporting the logos of the Atlanta Falcons and the Baltimore Ravens. (AirTran picked up the Falcons sponsorship this year when Delta bowed out.) We are so used to seeing AirTran’s bright white and teal that these mostly black planes really stand out—looking classy and sorta dangerous…but in a good way. What do you think? Leave your comments in the space provided below.
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OCT 29 BULLETIN: TRAVELING TO SAN FRANCISCO? Take note. The Bay Bridge that connects San Francisco to Oakland has been shut down due to unexpected structural issues. This is causing huge traffic headaches in the region, so expect traffic on nearly all freeways and a longer than expected commute from airport to city. No word yet from California’s transportation department about when it might open up again. Check in with SFGate for updates.
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HOW DOES DELTA SAY SORRY? Delta’s issued an apology to all the passengers aboard the flight from San Diego that overshot the airport in Minneapolis. (In a nutshell, each passenger got a $500 credit for future Delta flights.) The apology letter is published in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The latest in this saga: the FAA says that pilots flew “carelessly and recklessly” during a “frolic” (full story from Bloomberg). Delta also provided $500 credits to those on the flight from Rio that landed on a taxiway instead of a runway at ATL.
See post below for tips on getting FREE wi-fi on AirTran, Delta and other carriers this winter.
SO LONG CONTINENTAL. What do Delta/SkyTeam flyers have to lose with Continental’s recent departure into the loving arms of United and the Star Alliance? Not a whole lot. Continental offered flights to a lot of smaller cities in Central and South America via its Houston hub—along with opportunities to earn and burn SkyMiles. There were a handful of Presidents Clubs in cities where Delta has no Sky Clubs. On the upside, there will be 40 million fewer OnePass members crowding airport clubs and vying for those award seats and upgrades. So overall, not much impact. Are we wrong? Will you miss the alliance with Continental? LET US KNOW! Leave your comments below.
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airtran.com | delta.com | Hotwire
Super Cool! Delta 747 in Tokyo
DELTA JIGGERS INTERNATIONAL ROUTES. Delta’s made a few changes to its international schedules, which will go into effect next summer. Most of these won’t have a huge impact on those flying to/from Atlanta because of the plethora of non-stops from here. But there are some new opportunities for one stop routings. For example, Delta will offer nonstops from Seattle to Beijing and Osaka. It will bring back nonstops between Salt Lake and Tokyo. From Detroit, it will add nonstops to both Hong Kong and Seoul, and increase frequencies to Shanghai. It will add new nonstops from New York to Copenhagen and Stockholm (using 757’s). Delta will add one new nonstop between Atlanta and Accra, Ghana, and will resume summer season nonstops between Atlanta, Athens and Venice.
STILL HURTS. BUT NOT AS MUCH. Revenue from passengers on U.S. airlines was down a painful 19 percent in September year- over-year—the tenth consecutive month of declines. On the positive side, the number of passengers carried in the month declined only 2 percent compared to last September…that’s an improvement over August’s 5 percent decline. Business Travel News reports that, “American Express reported $3.5 billion in corporate travel sales in the third quarter, a figure 31 percent lower than the $5.1 billion logged in the third quarter of 2008 but on par with the $3.4 billion and $3.6 billion figures reported in the first and second quarters of 2009, respectively. Though American Express’ 2009 business travel sales have remained largely flat through the first three quarters, chairman and CEO Kenneth Chenault said there are ‘indications that spending by corporate cardmembers is beginning to pick up.'”
BUSINESS ELITE SEATS ON DOMESTIC TRANSCONS. You won’t get this flying out of ATL, but if you ever find yourself flying Delta between New York JFK and SFO or LAX, Delta’s got some nice internationally configured business class seats on its 757’s for ya. Check out Delta’s video on this here.
DELTA AND MINNEAPOLIS. Having lost their hometown carrier to the slick widget from The South, the sturdy midwestern folk of Minnesota seem to be taking the loss in stride, and even focusing in the bright side. Here’s a quote that sums up that spirit in an insightful article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune: “The quality of the first-class cabin has increased a lot under Delta. The seats have been leatherized, the food is a notch better. … I know things are going to be good…” (We agree. Delta’s got to be a big breath of fresh air for long suffering frequent NWA flyers from MSP.)
AIRTRAN AND ORLANDO. Most folks may not realize that AirTran’s home base is actually Orlando (not Atlanta), but the carrier is starting to make some overtures to the locals there—who may not be feeling the love. In her Orlando Sentinel column about AirTran’s recent signing of an exclusive advertising deal with the Orlando Magic, Beth Kassab writes, “It’s about time. For years AirTran has dipped a toe in Orlando — where it maintains its technical corporate headquarters — while most of its operations, employees and community outreach have been firmly planted in Atlanta.” The deal means that the JetBlue Crew at Magic games will be shown the door. It just so happens that JetBlue is currently considering making Orlando its hometown, too, in an effort to escape the sky-high costs of basing its business in New York.
BIGGEST PROGRAM IN THE WORLD. Despite the fact that Delta and Northwest will continue to operate as two separate entities through next year, SkyMiles and WorldPerks have completed their merger, making the new SkyMiles program the largest in the world, by far, with 70 million members!
YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! We are loving all the prattle and snippets about the upcoming movie, “Up in the Air” about a mileage obsessed frequent flyer played by George Clooney. Here’a a classic scene that should hit home with many TICKET readers!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCCx9CfwARc
Don’t Forget! BOOK ALL YOUR ONLINE TRAVEL VIA LINKS FROM THE TICKET!
airtran.com | delta.com | Hotwire
What did Delta flyers lose with the ouster (or defection) of Continental? The Newark → Europe routes are a bigger hit than the loss of US routes. For instance, I’ve taken CO to BHX several time; now I fly into CDG and transfer to a regional to BHX—which means changing planes at CDG.
CDG is one of the best-hated airports I know for changing planes. I’ve missed more flights there than at all other airports combined.
sure will miss that convenient EWR/PEK nonstop over the pole!
The biggest loss with the CO departure from SkyTeam is the BusinessFirst cabin on their 767s. With a 2-1-2 config, it was a much better award redemption than flying on a DL 767 with 2-2-2. Overnight to EZE, CO was the winning choice for an award.
Delta pulled it’s sponsorship of the Falcons this year…..says it will focus more on baseball. http://www.ajc.com/business/airtran-s-falcons-sponsorship-161883.html
Interesting that Airtran has gone with a Atlanta Falcons paint job on one of their planes. It is my understanding that Delta is actually the official charter carrier of the Falcons.