schedules Archives - TravelSkills

Newark Airport dodges transportation bullet

July 10, 2017

New Jersey Transit trains take passengers from Newark Airport to Penn Station in Manhattan (Chris McGinnis)

One New York City publication is calling it a “summer of Hell” for train commuters as emergency track repairs get underway this week at Penn Station in Manhattan, one of the nation’s busiest rail hubs.

The repair work started this week and is due to continue until September 1, causing some major schedule disruptions, cancellations and detours for rail travelers.

But how will this affect frequent fliers? The most frequent use of Penn Station by air travelers is to take trains to and from Newark Airport – and it looks like those individuals dodged a bullet.

The vast majority of the trains used by Newark Airport travelers to and from Penn Station in Manhattan (don’t get confused – the trains also stop at Penn Station in Newark) are operated by New Jersey Transit. The trains don’t run to the airport itself, but to the Newark Airport Station, with transfers to the terminals via the AirTrain.

Train schedules for Newark Airport’s station should be unaffected. (Image: New Jersey Transit)

The Newark Airport Station is a stop on New Jersey Transit’s Northeast Corridor Line and North Jersey Coast Line. And the rail company said on its website that “all Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Line trains to PSNY (Penn Station New York) will operate on regular weekday schedules with minor time changes.”

Amtrak reports that while a few northeast Corridor regional trains between Washington D.C.-New York and Philadelphia-New York will be canceled, there will be no changes to the schedules for its high-speed Acela trains in the Northeast Corridor – the trains most often used by business travelers.

Image: New Jersey Transit

Some travelers also use Long Island Rail Road commuter trains from Penn Station to travel to Jamaica Station in Queens for a transfer to the JFK Airport AirTrain, which takes travelers to the JFK terminals. There could be minor schedule changes for the LIRR, but there are so many trains running between Penn Station and Jamaica Station that any difference should be negligible.

The New York Times has published a handy guide with several links to help readers find their way around the transportation troubles resulting from the Penn Station repairs.

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Do airlines pad schedules for better on-time performance?

June 30, 2017

Scheduling longer flight times can make a difference in on-time arrivals. (Image: Jim Glab)

Do you ever pick one airline over another because it has a better record of on-time flight operations? Those statistics might not be as solid as you think.

An interesting article in The Wall Street Journal explores how Delta’s current number-one ranking in the Transportation Department’s on-time arrivals listings was achieved in part by “padding” its flight schedules with a little extra time.

The Transportation Department defines an on-time arrival as one that gets to the gate within 14 minutes of the arrival time shown in its schedule. If it gets there one minute later than that, it’s considered late for statistical purposes.

The article notes that Delta has increased the “cushion” in its flight schedules every year for the past seven years. The result? It went from an on-time arrival rate of 78.6 percent in 2009 to 86.5 percent for domestic flights last year, the best in the industry.

Do on-time arrival statistics make a difference to you? (Image: Jim Glab)

The analysis notes that because airlines are free to set their own schedule times, it is possible for flights of two airlines from point A to point B to take the exact same amount of time from gate to gate, but one could be on time while the other is considered late because it estimated a shorter flight time in its schedule, while its competitor padded its schedule with a few extra minutes of estimated trip time.

The Journal noted that since Delta has done so well with it scheduling strategy in terms of its on-time record, United has started to adopt the same technique (more WWDD!), padding its schedules by an average of nine minutes in 2015 and 10 minutes in 2016.

By contrast, American’s average domestic flight has a padding of just four minutes, and the flights of Hawaiian, Alaska, Virgin America and Spirit “are the stingiest on padding schedule minutes,” the article notes.

Have you noticed the padding? Is it fair? Please leave your comments below.

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United beefs up by the Bay to counter Alaska/Virgin

May 8, 2017

United is adding more flights and larger aircraft like this Boeing 737 on many domestic San Francisco routes. (Image: United)

Faced with increasing competition at its San Francisco hub from Alaska Airlines/Virgin America, United Airlines just announced another growth spurt for its domestic SFO schedules this summer, focusing not on new destinations but on increased capacity in existing markets.

The escalating battle at SFO will mean more choice of flights for local travelers. Whether it will also mean lower fares remains to be seen.

It’s the second round of SFO expansion to be announced by United this year. In February, the company said it would add seven new domestic destinations from SFO in June and July. Less than two weeks later, Alaska/Virgin unveiled plans to start 13 new routes from SFO and San Jose in late summer.

And now United says it will schedule additional frequencies from SFO in eight domestic markets, and switch from regional jets to larger mainline planes in 10 others.

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United beefing up by the Bay (Image: United)

On August 1, the carrier will boost San Francisco-Seattle frequencies to 10 a day, and on August 15 will increase schedules to nine flights a day to Portland, three a day to Philadelphia and Kansas City, and two a day to Albuquerque, Baltimore/Washington, Indianapolis and Nashville. United flies E175s to Albuquerque and Kansas City; the other routes use A319/320s.

Effective June 8, United said, it will switch from regional jets to 737s for service from San Francisco to Burbank and Palm Springs, and to A320s on routes from SFO to Dallas/Ft. Worth and Minneapolis-St. Paul, as well as SFO-Calgary and SFO-Kansas City for the summer. On July 1, United switches to 737s for SFO-Sacramento flights, and for seasonal SFO-Bozeman service. And on August 15 it shifts to 737s for SFO-Fresno service.

Alaska Airlines/Virgin America are also planning significant growth at SFO. (Image: Alaska Airlines)

Some of those same routes are being added by Alaska/Virgin, including mainline service from SFO to Philadelphia (starting August 31), Nashville (September 5), Indianapolis (September 26) and Baltimore/Washington (October 16); and new E175 service from SFO to Albuquerque and Kansas City effective September 18.

Earlier, United announced new year-round daily service beginning June 8 from SFO to Cincinnati, Detroit, Santa Rosa and Spokane, along with new seasonal service from SFO to Hartford and Kalispell, Montana. It also said it would add summer service and expand to year-round daily flights from SFO to New Orleans, a market that Alaska/Virgin will enter on September 21 with daily mainline flights.

Starting May 24, United will launch nonstop, seasonal service between San Francisco and Munich (MUC) using a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

As we asked when Alaska made its big announcement, Where are all those new flights going to fit at SFO’s limited number of gates? That remains to be seen and I wonder if we’ll be faced with more frustrating waits on the tarmac waiting… hmmm

So whaddya think? Do more flights on bigger planes make you less likely to stray to the emerging Alaska/Virgin beast which has stated is desire to be the west coast’s preferred carrier? Please leave your comments below.

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What is Thomas Cook Airlines?

April 22, 2017

Thomas Cook Airlines is expanding U.S.-U.K. service this summer. (Image: Thomas Cook Airlines)

We mentioned recently that Thomas Cook Airlines will begin San Francisco-Manchester, U.K. service this spring. But it’s also planning lots of other new summer service between the U.S. and the U.K., with relatively low fares.

So what is Thomas Cook Airlines, how does it compare to other low-cost transatlantic airlines, and what does it have to do with Thomas Cook, the venerable U.K.-based travel agency group?

First, let’s look at its summer schedule. Besides twice-weekly (Thurs & Sun only) SFO-Manchester service starting May 14, the airline will start flying to Manchester from Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York JFK on May 1, with schedules ranging from three flights a week to daily, as well as Orlando-London Gatwick. On May 3, it adds Orlando-Manchester and Las Vegas-Glasgow, followed by Boston-Manchester May 16; Miami-Manchester June 15; Orlando-Belfast June 25; and Las Vegas-London Stansted August 3.

Premium economy on Thomas Cook Airlines

The carrier uses Airbus A330-200s widebodies on its U.S. routes, with economy and premium economy seating. To Manchester, it cites one-way fares of $279 economy/$419 premium from San Francisco, $279/$359 from Los Angeles and $249/$349 from JFK, for example.

And does that buy you nothing but a seat as on low fare carriers like Norwegian or WOW? Nope: “All tickets include a minimum of 50 pounds checked luggage and 13 pounds of cabin luggage, as well as meals. Inflight entertainment is available on seat-back screens, with a choice of free or paid-for content, featuring more than 30 movies and 50 TV shows,” a spokesman said. On airlines like Norwegian and WOW, those things cost extra for economy class travelers.

According to Seatguru.com, premium economy in Thomas Cook Airlines’ two-class A330-200s has 49 “recliner seats” (seven across) that are 19.7 inches wide, with 35-inch pitch; and 273 regular economy seats (eight across) that are 18.2 inches wide with 31-inch pitch (pretty much the industry standard for economy class these days).

Seating on a Thomas Cook A330-200. (Image: Thomas Cook Airlines)

The airline is part of the U.K.-based Thomas Cook Group, a travel conglomerate that evolved out of the original travel agency chain. Besides Thomas Cook Airlines, the group also owns Germany’s Condor Airlines, both catering to the leisure market. Condor is an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan partner as of last winter, too!

Thomas Cook Group has five operating divisions across Europe; besides the airlines and the travel agency chain, it also has several tour operators and a hotel booking website. And it’s huge: The group has total sales of more than $10 billion and more than 21,000 employees.

The airline’s U.S. routes are largely seasonal. Its winter 2017/2018 schedule shows U.S. service only to New York JFK and Las Vegas from Manchester, and to Orlando from Manchester and London Gatwick.

More about Thomas Cook Airlines here.

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Delta accused of blocking key data

May 20, 2015

Are Delta and other airlines driving customers to their own websites by blocking third-party access to fares and schedules? (Image: Delta)

The Travel Technology Association (TTA), a group that represents online travel agencies and airfare metasearch sites, has issued a scathing report charging major airlines with blocking some of its members from access to fare and schedule information, a practice that the group said prevents comparison shopping and costs consumers billions of dollars.

The group’s report said Delta has been especially active in this area, ending its relationships with 21 online travel agencies in 2010-2011, then in 2014 cutting off its data to metasearch sites (which aggregate data from a large number of airline and online travel agency sites) TripAdvisor, Fly.com, Hipmunk and Routehappy. It said other airlines have also restricted access to their schedule and price information, all in an effort to drive consumers directly to their own websites instead of comparison shopping through the affected sites.

As fares have gone up due to airline industry consolidation, the ability to compare fares and fees becomes more important for consumers, the group argued.

“This combination of airline concentration with heightened attempts to lead travelers away from OTAs and metasearch travel sites is likely to lead to higher average airfares, increase consumers’ search costs, make entry into city-pair routes by smaller airlines more difficult, reduce transparency, and strengthen the market power of the major airlines,” TTA said.

It said that as a result of the American-US Airways merger, “in certain city-pair markets in which the merger reduced the number of significant competitors from 3 to 2, or from 2 to 1, fare increases have been 7 to 17 percent. The welfare-enhancing impacts of broad access to airline fare and schedule information may be even larger in duopoly or monopoly city pairs.”

The group estimated that lack of consumer access to fare and schedule data could mean an increase of up to 11 percent in ticket prices, so that “223 million American leisure and unmanaged business travelers would pay $6.7 billion more in airfares, and it may result in up to 41 million passengers annually choosing not to fly because of higher ticket prices.”

You can see the full report here. It was compiled for the group by Dr. Fiona Scott Morton, an economics professor at Yale who formerly headed up the economic analysis office at the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.

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