The launch of Open Axis as the standards group for Airlines in Ancillary Services and Direct Connections last week caused a bit of a stir. It has definitely miffed a lot of people. The Legacy GDSs and those who depend on them are good examples of that camp. Indeed also last week at the same time that the Open Axis group was holding its inaugural press conference – in Washington there were hearings where outraged players were moaning that the airlines were not playing ball and providing the Ancillary Services information to the GDSs. I never thought I would see the day when a Hearing in the US Capitol would be held to support the GDSs!
In sifting through the responses over the past few days – I was enjoying a degree of reading how different groups want to see it play out. There is a very good article by Ian Tunncliffe in Travel Technology Update. (Sorry this is by subscription only). So I will give you the essence. Travel Industry Technology needs to get a life and the debate over standards is irrelevant to a market where a vendor can deploy a solution such as an iPad and get traction of thousands of Apps and users without paying any attention to such standard. (OK so this was my interpretation of the piece but I am sure Ian will forgive me for this latitude).
What’s more he is right.
The Professor definitely believes that standards help and has already put his money where his mouth is by endorsing the Open Axis standard (via my alter ego). I am also a great advocate of the Open Travel Alliance and I really hope that the two bodies come to an accommodation if nothing else.
So are these views inconsistent?
Actually not in my view and here is why. I have for a long time believed that the rigid structure of the legacy GDS controlled travel workflow restrained innovation not to mention the free flow of commerce. In the early 1980s it was very useful for piggy back technologies such as Lanyon Boards. In the 1990s the standards enabled the OTAs to come into being. However the real Travel 2.0 the one we all use didn’t want to be constrained. In the past 5 years new businesses in search and itinerary management emerged and have done a very good job. Much better than the GDSs did. So the footprint of the legacy GDS shrank further and further inwards. Having worked in extensively in the OTA world I have witnessed all the major functions of the GDS have been replicated and indeed far exceeded bar one. To wit:
Fare Search – OTAs do better – and Meta Search does just as well particularly in combining fares and availability
Availability – OTAs do better in presentation
File Management/Itinerary – OTAs do better – and Itinerary management services do even better
Customer Management – OTAs do better
Supply Chain access – GDSs do better.
Then add Web 2.0 with the Social components to it and there is no way for the legacy GDSs to hope to match that capability. Even in the interaction of their customer users they have abandoned their dedicated networks in favour of web based solutions.
With the commercial model being driven by the supply chain component – it was only natural that for both commercial and technical reasons (as well as a host of others) that the suppliers would want to tap into the broader market where innovation and customers live. This meant that there was an inevitability about the Supply side wanting to open up access to the general market. (I need not elaborate for my readers that the restraint of the GDS so called “incentives” to users is an evil thing in my view.)
And this is not just theory of the world being a happy place where the GDS model alone addresses distribution to the open market. The legacy GDS global market share of airline traffic has been falling steadily for years. Eroded by both the emergence of LCCs and the greater direct distribution by the Full Service Network Carriers.
Returning to my questions… The real problem has been that the bootstrapping of airline and travel IT to extend the old GDS based model has reached the end of its life cycle. And yes – a new world where Apps can be built and deployed in hours vs years in a far less rigid world has become the de facto standard. Open Access by what ever name has become the norm. The real answer is that we have to now go back to the core reservations systems providers – the PSS vendors – and start beating the drum of revolution. Now is the time for the IT infrastructure to become open and decidedly more nimble. I can imagine that the airlines will not like this. Decidedly the big hosting companies – Amadeus, Sabre and HP/EDS will hate it. The GDSs who have depended on this closed architecture for years are going to be very unhappy. But in my view they have no choice but to change and reform. Then we can stop having IT get in the way of business.
So what are we waiting for?
15 July 2010
Disclosure Of Fees and Charges - Ancillary Revenues
Heads up everyone - the bun fight has started.
last month in Washington - Mr Oberstar held hearings on the subject of Airline Fees.
There are several issues - taxes charged, the amount of fees and the type, the manner of charge and exceptions etc etc.
What some want - such as Kevin Mitchell - is a full disclosure and an easy way to buy the products and services equally in all channels. This challenges the core precept that airline pricing is designed to be as complex and obfuscated as possible.
This seems to have been lost in the warring factions.
In my view the way that a product is charged should be at the decision of the person who sells the product subject to things like lying and dishonesty.
At stake is a lot of money but there is clearly a set of influences at work.
So here is my view on the subject. I feel strongly that the consumer should be able to see what he is buying. But in travel he has been lied to for so long as to what the product is and what the price really is as to have been accepted as being clear.
So what do you think?
Cheers
last month in Washington - Mr Oberstar held hearings on the subject of Airline Fees.
There are several issues - taxes charged, the amount of fees and the type, the manner of charge and exceptions etc etc.
What some want - such as Kevin Mitchell - is a full disclosure and an easy way to buy the products and services equally in all channels. This challenges the core precept that airline pricing is designed to be as complex and obfuscated as possible.
This seems to have been lost in the warring factions.
In my view the way that a product is charged should be at the decision of the person who sells the product subject to things like lying and dishonesty.
At stake is a lot of money but there is clearly a set of influences at work.
So here is my view on the subject. I feel strongly that the consumer should be able to see what he is buying. But in travel he has been lied to for so long as to what the product is and what the price really is as to have been accepted as being clear.
So what do you think?
Cheers
14 July 2010
Here It Comes - Spanish Fly
OK so the headline is a bit hokey but BA and Iberia have had their merger blessed. So now we have definitely have airlines in Europe who are part of a cabal and have not airlines who are - well have not players.
The big 3 groupings of legacy carriers are the expected players -
BA (OneWorld)
AF (Skyteam)
LH (Star)
Their partners cover almost all of Europe. However and in my view this is a good thing - the total pie they control is much less than say in the USA. Ryanair, Easyjet Air Berlin and Wizz all represent a sizeable chunk of the EU market. With North America pretty much aligned and Europe the same - there really is little opportunity for choice amongst consumers other than from just 3 group choices.
In my view this is going to finally dawn on the consumer that he has only 3 options plus a few minor ones when ever he is looking to buy airline seats.
did someone say pork?
Cheers
Millenials Turn Away From Facebook
Lately as regular readers of this blog will know - I have been spending time with younger users. Millenials who will represent the next generation of users. Their parents are my generation and some of them are both colleagues and students.
In speaking particularly to teachers I have found that there is a greater awareness of the lack of attention with the distractions available to teens and recent adults. I am not criticizing them in any way. This is a fact of life. This will have a major impact on their interaction with the products and services we create in Travel.
eMarketer cites several studies in a recent piece on defections. What is particularly worrying as to how many just find it boring with generally the high abandonment rates.We are approaching a problem I have long suspected exists. We actually have too many shiny objects to cope with. As a result we lose interest and move onto the next thing. And if we - (in my case as a Boomer) - lose interest quickly just think how difficult it is to maintain the interest of a Millenial?
In my opinion we need to start to engage differently with the emerging user generation(s). That means we have to do a better job of providing access to the services.
Key amongst these will be:
A social component.
Individual content
more implicit interaction (ie a direct opposite to the current explicit interaction required).
Engaging and maintaining interest by constant refreshing.
it is the last one that makes me cringe because keeping things fresh is always hard. For the travel industry - that has been assumed to be fresh content - new products and promotions. But in my view it has to be deeper. Don't please ask me how yet - I am just coming to grips with the issue.
I do know however that if we don't then the abandonment rates for travel products and services on the web will rise. And travel sites will become as yesterday's news as Second Life and Myspace.
Cheers
12 July 2010
"Who Do You Love?" Or Trust...
That old Bo Diddly song was stuck in my head the other day. Actually the Geoerge Thorogood version. And I have been thinking more and more about the essence of Trust. It just amazes me in Travel how much consumers are expected to trust and are constantly let down.
And then I read two stories from emarketer. Both related to Trust. The first one related to consumers perspectives with regard to trusting Facebook. Interestingly they were more concerned with the commercialization than the abuse of their personal data.
The second item from the same day by emarketer was on the acceptance of mobile marketing messages. Today we are bombarded with the "year of the mobile" messages from interested parties. Yet the first truly mobile commerce generate - the Millenials are none to happy about being marketed/spammed via their mobile devices.
This doesn't bode well for people expecting to make squillions of dollars by sending messages (unsolicited) to mobiles - smart or dumb.
So dear friends - think very carefully about what you are doing before you go down that path...
Cheers
Apple to Face EU Probe
Seems like its the Government's turn to focus a little this week. It also seems like someone was listening or they are just plain smart. I will take either!
The EU is going to launch a probe into Apple’s iPhone business practices. Specifically they are going to investigate two of the 4 revenue streams and possibly the others as well.
The App Store is one, the other is the interoperability of iPhone and other phone systems. This is likely to extend into the Admob/iPhone dispute.
For a detailed read – go here:
Click here to read full story...
Cheers
The EU is going to launch a probe into Apple’s iPhone business practices. Specifically they are going to investigate two of the 4 revenue streams and possibly the others as well.
The App Store is one, the other is the interoperability of iPhone and other phone systems. This is likely to extend into the Admob/iPhone dispute.
For a detailed read – go here:
Click here to read full story...
Cheers
What Level of Scrutiny on Google + ITA, (aka Troogle)?
This was not going to be a quick and short post as I could use all my Professor skills to analyze the issue. However in starting to do some research on the subject I went back and visited some of my old posts on the subject. I have long felt that Google was already a monopoly in Travel before the acquisition. Troogle has a hot topic in 2008 and 2009. Then the chatter died down. So I reprint here for your edification and reading pleasure a post I did last year on the subject on what I think the Obama Administration is planning to use as a frame of reference on Google’s activities in travel.
Here are a few salient points.
1. I believe that the review time will take more than Admob. In the case of Admob – there are a large number of different options and it is a nascent business too early in its cycle to say that there will be a single business who can dominate.
2. Travel is a more defined category and the tentacles of the dark side that Google has become stretch far and deep and wide.
3. US law will prevail and US law is very specific in this area of what defines monopoly and how it can impact the transaction. (see below)
But – I want to be clear that I do not necessarily believe that Troogle will be bad for the industry. There are now clear winners and losers who will be impacted by the transaction. The world of GDS dominated distribution for one is probably headed for the sunset. The cost structure of meta-search on both the supply side and the seller side will be seriously impacted to the point where meta search may become irrelevant.
So what do you think? Let me know directly or privately.
Cheers
REPRINT POST August 31st 2009:
[Professor Sabena's Blog] Is Google A Monopoly?
I have this uneasy feeling about Google. The power they wield is significant. Fine if they don't abuse it - or is it? And what if they do actually use their power and abuse it?
I have written columns on this going back to 2006, here are two of my older posts on the subject:
http://t2impact.blogspot.com/2006/10/that-giant-sucking-sound-is-google.html
http://t2impact.blogspot.com/2009/08/is-google-new-evil-face-of-it.html
It seems that the Seattle Times and other Media outlets have started to feel the same way too. Today's editorial was somewhat less than subtle. The Times (a right wing paper in my view since it crushed the old Seattle PI), is calling for Google to be investigated for being in violation of the Sherman Act.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2009766680_edit31google.html
A quote from the Obama Administration assistant attorney general for antitrust, Christine Varney, as saying that Google was America's most obvious antitrust problem — Microsoft was "so last century" she said... ouch.
The editorial called for an investigation of Google under the Sherman Act. Section 2 which says:
Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a felony...
That has been the law of the United States since 1890. All it requires (per the Seattle Times) is that the Justice Department pick it up and use it.
Should we accept that Google is being altruistic all the time or is there something more sinister about Google? It seems that Google's hand has to be forced sometimes - hardly the behavior of a good global citizen.
For my own part - I am happy to use the Google search engine but I remain leery of Google's force in the market. It is downright scary the amount of power they have.
So what do you think?
Cheers
--
Posted By Professor Sabena to Professor Sabena's Blog at 8/31/2009 12:36:00 PM
Why Troogle Google?
With the Google + ITA acquisition now public, we can now evaluate how this will impact the world of travel. As I wrote in the 3 part series on search,(INSERT LINKS HERE) I have long felt that search was akin to an unnatural act and one that left the customer un-satisfied. I also opined that failure of the travel industry in its own right to address its deficiencies in search would open the world to Google coming in and changing the way search is addressed. But I regarded that while not necessarily as a bad thing for the consumer – it would change the dynamics of the Travel Industry Sector.
In the 3 part series I wanted to evangelize the concept of natural search. This did not mean that navigation to specific elements of travel was a bad thing, but the overly explicit nature of search in travel has long been too constrained by – in my opinion – a GDS like constrained process.
In my view the convergence of some key factors would drive change in from conventional search to natural search.
• The consumer-facing conventions make it possible
• Loosely coupled technology through mash-ups breaks the bonds of the supply controllers who held sway far too long over travel
• It also makes it far easier to make everything work – less dependency on making sure the tightly choreographed ballet of interlocking pieces actually function. Banish the word “seamlessly”. But don’t drop the word fast.
• Geo-location – mapping is finally ubiquitous.
• The line between mobile and fixed position makes the definition between the two largely irrelevant
• The supply side has better infrastructure and processes (not to mention better technology) to support Natural Search.
• The Cult of Individualism is a natural state and a natural act.
Over time the GDS based model has shown itself to be a false profit for the consumer’s need for access to information. As a result the GDS imposed workflows in search/shop became the highly constrained standard because it was necessary in order to get access to the final mile of the transaction namely the price/book/ticket.
Search and Shop outside of the GDS model suffered from a lack of trust. The various attempts by Meta search companies such as Kayak etc resulted in a permanent time delay of salient information. Thus you, the consumer could never shop in a trusted mode. And suppliers wondered why consumers didn’t have loyalty and trust??? With Troogle there are now several of these elements consistent and the results can be very different and trustworthy. This in my view is what the Google management team meant when they said they were “… building something that the industry has never seen before."
At WIT this year – I will expound on this subject and illustrate what I believe will be a way to address this.
But I think I made it abundantly clear that if Google had a mind to they would use some of their clout (and considerable cash pile) to address the subject and hurry the process along.
Commercially you have to ask why would Google plonk down $700 million in cash for ITA.
• Could it be for their revenue and commercial basis? If that was the case then the transaction would be up there with Sabre’s purchase of GetThere at $757 million at the height of the Internet Boom. So no not that alone – but over time Sabre was able to dominate a sector.
• If it was for the technology alone – I am sure that someone could replicate this for a lot less money. And indeed in my opinion at least one company has.
• Could it be for their Intellectual Property? ITA has a considerable number of important patents that I have previously stated could be very tough for the industry to challenge. Not that they should not be challenged but that the clout of Google and its legal team would make the relative minnows in travel hard to stomp up the cash for a protracted legal challenge.
• Could it be for their Hotel and/or Needlebase technology? Hardly try and play with it. It’s nice but hardly makes a dent in $1-2 million let alone that number of zeros.
• Could it be for their customer base? Very important – but not perhaps in the way you may think. ITA provides assured access backed by both technical and commercial service agreements that ensure that the data they provide is current. With Virgin Atlantic now joining the group of QPX users – the spread of Full Service carriers is broadening considerably. Yes there is a nice value to this one.
• Could it be the value of disintermediating several players in travel? Ah now you are talking. Consider the annual revenues for legacy GDSs and that number is big and very fat and ripe for diverting Google’s way.
• Could it be for eliminating meta search players with better solutions? This is an obvious answer. Yes but not the prime one.
• Could it be for filling the holes in some Machiavellian plan to dominate the Travel Industry? Hmmmm time will tell the answer to that question. Does it match Google’s vision of the world. Absolutely!
But are these enough? The correct answer is of course all of the above, and many more I have not outlined here.
Now the challenge is how to deal with the whole notion of the travel process from ideation through to sale. The world just changed and you and I have to change with it.
Cheers
03 July 2010
Did You Miss This - Woot
I love Woot. It is a hark back to the glorious days of a single but extremely focused application.
One product each day. It is addictive to watch it. Surprising then is that Amazon has plonked down a bunch of cash to acquire the irreverent site.
Check out their sarcastic comments here
Now just imagine for Travel that there was a singular "Best Deals" site.
Now that's a thought.
Cheers
One product each day. It is addictive to watch it. Surprising then is that Amazon has plonked down a bunch of cash to acquire the irreverent site.
Check out their sarcastic comments here
Now just imagine for Travel that there was a singular "Best Deals" site.
Now that's a thought.
Cheers
What Level of Scrutiny on Google+ITA (aka Troogle)?
This was not going to be a quick and short post as I could use all my Professor skills to analyze the issue. However in starting to do some research on the subject I went back and visited some of my old posts on the subject. I have long felt that Google was already a monopoly in Travel before the acquisition. Troogle has a hot topic in 2008 and 2009. Then the chatter died down. So I reprint here for your edification and reading pleasure a post I did last year on the subject on what I think the Obama Administration is planning to use as a frame of reference on Google’s activities in travel.
Here are a few salient points.
1. I believe that the review time will take more than Admob. In the case of Admob – there are a large number of different options and it is a nascent business too early in its cycle to say that there will be a single business who can dominate.
2. Travel is a more defined category and the tentacles of the dark side that Google has become stretch far and deep and wide.
3. US law will prevail and US law is very specific in this area of what defines monopoly and how it can impact the transaction. (see below)
But – I want to be clear that I do not necessarily believe that Troogle will be bad for the industry. There are now clear winners and losers who will be impacted by the transaction. The world of GDS dominated distribution for one is probably headed for the sunset. The cost structure of meta-search on both the supply side and the seller side will be seriously impacted to the point where meta search may become irrelevant.
So what do you think? Let me know directly or privately.
Cheers
POST August 31st 2009:
[Professor Sabena's Blog] Is Google A Monopoly?
I have this uneasy feeling about Google. The power they wield is significant. Fine if they don't abuse it - or is it? And what if they do actually use their power and abuse it?
I have written columns on this going back to 2006, here are two of my older posts on the subject:
http://t2impact.blogspot.com/2006/10/that-giant-sucking-sound-is-google.html
http://t2impact.blogspot.com/2009/08/is-google-new-evil-face-of-it.html
It seems that the Seattle Times and other Media outlets have started to feel the same way too. Today's editorial was somewhat less than subtle. The Times (a right wing paper in my view since it crushed the old Seattle PI), is calling for Google to be investigated for being in violation of the Sherman Act.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2009766680_edit31google.html
A quote from the Obama Administration assistant attorney general for antitrust, Christine Varney, as saying that Google was America's most obvious antitrust problem — Microsoft was "so last century" she said... ouch.
The editorial called for an investigation of Google under the Sherman Act. Section 2 which says:
Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a felony...
That has been the law of the United States since 1890. All it requires (per the Seattle Times) is that the Justice Department pick it up and use it.
Should we accept that Google is being altruistic all the time or is there something more sinister about Google? It seems that Google's hand has to be forced sometimes - hardly the behavior of a good global citizen.
For my own part - I am happy to use the Google search engine but I remain leery of Google's force in the market. It is downright scary the amount of power they have.
So what do you think?
Cheers
--
Posted By Professor Sabena to Professor Sabena's Blog at 8/31/2009 12:36:00 PM
Here are a few salient points.
1. I believe that the review time will take more than Admob. In the case of Admob – there are a large number of different options and it is a nascent business too early in its cycle to say that there will be a single business who can dominate.
2. Travel is a more defined category and the tentacles of the dark side that Google has become stretch far and deep and wide.
3. US law will prevail and US law is very specific in this area of what defines monopoly and how it can impact the transaction. (see below)
But – I want to be clear that I do not necessarily believe that Troogle will be bad for the industry. There are now clear winners and losers who will be impacted by the transaction. The world of GDS dominated distribution for one is probably headed for the sunset. The cost structure of meta-search on both the supply side and the seller side will be seriously impacted to the point where meta search may become irrelevant.
So what do you think? Let me know directly or privately.
Cheers
POST August 31st 2009:
[Professor Sabena's Blog] Is Google A Monopoly?
I have this uneasy feeling about Google. The power they wield is significant. Fine if they don't abuse it - or is it? And what if they do actually use their power and abuse it?
I have written columns on this going back to 2006, here are two of my older posts on the subject:
http://t2impact.blogspot.com/2006/10/that-giant-sucking-sound-is-google.html
http://t2impact.blogspot.com/2009/08/is-google-new-evil-face-of-it.html
It seems that the Seattle Times and other Media outlets have started to feel the same way too. Today's editorial was somewhat less than subtle. The Times (a right wing paper in my view since it crushed the old Seattle PI), is calling for Google to be investigated for being in violation of the Sherman Act.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2009766680_edit31google.html
A quote from the Obama Administration assistant attorney general for antitrust, Christine Varney, as saying that Google was America's most obvious antitrust problem — Microsoft was "so last century" she said... ouch.
The editorial called for an investigation of Google under the Sherman Act. Section 2 which says:
Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a felony...
That has been the law of the United States since 1890. All it requires (per the Seattle Times) is that the Justice Department pick it up and use it.
Should we accept that Google is being altruistic all the time or is there something more sinister about Google? It seems that Google's hand has to be forced sometimes - hardly the behavior of a good global citizen.
For my own part - I am happy to use the Google search engine but I remain leery of Google's force in the market. It is downright scary the amount of power they have.
So what do you think?
Cheers
--
Posted By Professor Sabena to Professor Sabena's Blog at 8/31/2009 12:36:00 PM
Occasional Flashes of Brilliance... and Fear
Today was not a good day for the South American Football Teams. The passion and the sheer drive of the Latins were sadly no match for the methodical onslaught of the Europeans. Well at least that's how the German's played - wearing down Maradonna's mob.
And so it would seem to be for some of the traditional power houses of travel. Google's onslaught puts them now in a very commanding position in sector that will be hard to unseat them - or avoid the long shadow they now cast. As I noted in the TNooz panel - the ITA purchase puts them in a commanding position in many facets of the travel ideation through purchase.
As PhocusWright noted "they claim to be building something that the industry has never seen before." And this is because they are now in a commanding position with more fingers in more pies than any other player - end to end.
But perhaps one of the biggest elements as far as I am concerned is that they have the ability to fundamentally change the rules as far as data quality and assured price offers. The veneer of "its good enough" has now changed and this is where the the old model will expire in the face of better technology as well as a solid business model.
So let me leave you with one thought. If you examine who has been making more money out of travel over the past 5 years 0 the fattest cats are the GDSs. Followed closely by Google. Those large EBITDAs quoted for Amadeus are now in the cross hairs of the boy wonders.
If anyone doubts that the GDS revenue stream was not one of the driving forces for Google - then they are clearly naive. So correctly the meta search players - as distinct from those who are active in real search and the legacy GDS players are to me the most vulnerable.
The formation of the OpenAxis group and the announcement of its formation on the day that Google announced its acquisition of ITA can hardly be seen as disconnected.
Be afraid - be very afraid if that is the game you are in.
Cheers
02 July 2010
So Apple Steps up and Acknowledges Too Fast Too Soon... But....
The iPhone has suffered what could be seen as a pretty hefty hit to its credibility. And for once the Professor didn’t have to harp on about it.
The complexity of the system integration causes it to – well become pretty useless as a device for which its primary purpose is – er – communication. I have been somewhat aghast at the poor quality of Smart Phones. I am a Crackberry user but in general do not like using the device as a phone. My preferred mobile is very much a phone but the swapping of sim cards and having to be very careful about how I use it drives me nuts.
In Apple’s case it’s highly oiled black turtle necked spin machine could not stop the huge groundswell about the set of problems that users had with the new device. As one new (and very unhappy) user told me – it was an interesting small desktop computer.
If it’s all the same to you – I will pass.
Cheers
The complexity of the system integration causes it to – well become pretty useless as a device for which its primary purpose is – er – communication. I have been somewhat aghast at the poor quality of Smart Phones. I am a Crackberry user but in general do not like using the device as a phone. My preferred mobile is very much a phone but the swapping of sim cards and having to be very careful about how I use it drives me nuts.
In Apple’s case it’s highly oiled black turtle necked spin machine could not stop the huge groundswell about the set of problems that users had with the new device. As one new (and very unhappy) user told me – it was an interesting small desktop computer.
If it’s all the same to you – I will pass.
Cheers
Greece Finds a Home For the A340s
Having been parked somewhat forlornly at ATH, the Greek Government is due to receive a large reward for its patience. Greece expects US$122 million from sale of four ex-Olympic Airlines A340-300s.It acquired them as part of the overall deal when it sold off Olympic to a banker.
These aircraft have been parted for the better part of a year at ATH. See the picture captured by the Professor last month
Now what to do with those 737s and the ATRs.
Will the States Get Greedy And Use New Legislation to Tax Ancillary Services?
Just as a new standards group called OpenAxis emerges from the group aligned with Farelogix - there are a few clouds on the horizon.
The first was the hissy fit that Mike Premo of ARC had earlier this week on the slow adoption of EMD.
The other is the looming issue of taxation.
A new bill has just been introduced into the US Congress. The “Main Street Fairness Act” was formally introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on July 1st 2010. If passed into law, it would require e-commerce companies to collect sales taxes, and thereby undoing judicial rulings and previous Administrations promises that exempted Internet and catalog retailers from collecting sales taxes in states where they do not have a physical presence. Sponsored by Massachusetts Congressman William Delahunt, the legislation ostensibly is in response to increasing pressure from state and local governments to increase tax revenues. As Ancillary Revenues are clearly subject to such taxation regimes it would cement the how a local jurisdictions could indeed demand tax.
If it is enacted, i expect a ripple out effect. The vast majority of e-commerce sites will begin collecting sales taxes, thereby reducing the perceived price advantage of shopping online.
Legislation would require sales tax collections on B2C Internet sales that are not exempt or otherwise accounted for.. The proposed legislation would require almost all online retailers to collect sales taxes in the states that adopt the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, an effort to simplify disparate tax laws and ease compliance. However it is safe to assume that there will be a period of time for adoption and their eminences (the judiciary ) will want to exert some form of stamp on this.
Interesting twist… stay tuned
The first was the hissy fit that Mike Premo of ARC had earlier this week on the slow adoption of EMD.
The other is the looming issue of taxation.
A new bill has just been introduced into the US Congress. The “Main Street Fairness Act” was formally introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on July 1st 2010. If passed into law, it would require e-commerce companies to collect sales taxes, and thereby undoing judicial rulings and previous Administrations promises that exempted Internet and catalog retailers from collecting sales taxes in states where they do not have a physical presence. Sponsored by Massachusetts Congressman William Delahunt, the legislation ostensibly is in response to increasing pressure from state and local governments to increase tax revenues. As Ancillary Revenues are clearly subject to such taxation regimes it would cement the how a local jurisdictions could indeed demand tax.
If it is enacted, i expect a ripple out effect. The vast majority of e-commerce sites will begin collecting sales taxes, thereby reducing the perceived price advantage of shopping online.
Legislation would require sales tax collections on B2C Internet sales that are not exempt or otherwise accounted for.. The proposed legislation would require almost all online retailers to collect sales taxes in the states that adopt the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, an effort to simplify disparate tax laws and ease compliance. However it is safe to assume that there will be a period of time for adoption and their eminences (the judiciary ) will want to exert some form of stamp on this.
Interesting twist… stay tuned
27 June 2010
Now Will FIFA Reform?
Earlier this year the FIFA mafia came down hard on the South African Airline Kulula. For a tongue in cheek advert.
All through the World Cup so far - FIFA has presented itself as the holier than though position. After the appalling decisions of the referee, Uruguayan Jorge Larrionda. The mistake by the officials will heighten the demand for goal-line technology – an ideology currently opposed by FIFA president Sepp Blatter. There is no way that nationality and history do not play a part. Perhaps it would have been more appropriate for FIFA to conveniently forget history and appoint such an official. Why not a Mexican or Brazilian official?
Now is the time for the entire FIFA KGB like organization to be frog marched off and replaced by a more modern open management. At the very least they should be transparent. So let's talk about Mr Blatter. According to Wikipedia (yes friends I dont make this stuff up)... "Blatter was elected president of the World Society of Friends of Suspenders, an organisation who tried to stop women replacing suspender belts with pantyhose".
Sure Germany was the better side in the end but to deny England its moment is surely something that will haunt the country for another 4 years at least.
Your disgustedly...
All through the World Cup so far - FIFA has presented itself as the holier than though position. After the appalling decisions of the referee, Uruguayan Jorge Larrionda. The mistake by the officials will heighten the demand for goal-line technology – an ideology currently opposed by FIFA president Sepp Blatter. There is no way that nationality and history do not play a part. Perhaps it would have been more appropriate for FIFA to conveniently forget history and appoint such an official. Why not a Mexican or Brazilian official?
Now is the time for the entire FIFA KGB like organization to be frog marched off and replaced by a more modern open management. At the very least they should be transparent. So let's talk about Mr Blatter. According to Wikipedia (yes friends I dont make this stuff up)... "Blatter was elected president of the World Society of Friends of Suspenders, an organisation who tried to stop women replacing suspender belts with pantyhose".
Sure Germany was the better side in the end but to deny England its moment is surely something that will haunt the country for another 4 years at least.
Your disgustedly...
Monetizing Social Media
OK I admit it – the Professor is decidedly skeptical when it comes to the economic value of Social Media. I have a hard time figuring out if there is anything actually good about Social Media other than it is the ultimate thief of time. Sucking out our lifeblood like a leech – a resource that is unrecoverable. Somehow on my holiday here in Greece where I am writing this post – no one among the locals seem to care about Social Media. I haven’t heard one Greek talk about Facebook. Actually other than the odd smattering of Brits and French few have been talking about it. Even under probing – few here in this little Cretan village seems to care.
So I was pleasantly surprised that someone has actually tried to put a value on this phenomena. Digital consulting firm Syncapse and research company Hotspex have come up with an empirical formula that puts an average value of $136.38 on the Facebook fans of the site’s 20 biggest corporate brands. I feel very uncomfortable about becoming a “fan” of anything. According to one of the online dictionaries a fan is” An ardent devotee; an enthusiast” Sorry but I don’t think I buy the whole “ardent “thing here.
Here are the results as presented by eMarketer.
Do I really think this is a valid formula – well I will keep my sense of skepticism for now thank you. For now I will just say that we are too early in the cycle to say if this will be the ultimate trend. I definitely think that one doesn’t need research to tell you some common sense things like the ground is hard. Monetizing the value of “loyalty” for example is a far harder thing to quantify. I would say consistently that is impossible.
Still this is pointing to some interesting ways we can evaluate things. But for now let me just say – I am happy being unquantified. Pass the Raki!
Cheers
Growth in UAE and EK in particular starts to worry some.
Today (June 27th) the world’s newest airport opens. Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International. Last week Dubai World had its first test flight. An Emirates 777 Freighter conducted the first flight of a commercial type operation into the new facility.
The statistics are staggering:
Phase 1 of the airport will feature one A380 capable runway, 64 remote stands, one cargo terminal with annual capacity for 250,000 tonnes of cargo and a passenger terminal building designed to accommodate five million passengers per year.
When completed, Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International will be the largest airport in the world with five runways, four terminal buildings and capacity for 160 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of cargo.
In the short term Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International will increase the airport capacity of Dubai to accommodate the 48% increase in cargo volumes from 1.9 million to the 3 million tonnes anticipated by 2015.
In the long term it will serve as a multi-modal logistics hub for 12 million tonnes of freight and a global gateway for the 150 million passengers per annum that are expected to pass through Dubai by 2030.
So now you know how EK is going to support the ground portion of that nice fat order of planes becomes obvious.
But don’t expect things to be smooth sailing. A number of airlines are getting restless and so too are their governments. If EK starts to capture significant traffic then we can expect governments to also get involved. Already we are hearing noises from the French. The new UK government should be paying a lot of attention to their actions. With the 3rd runway cancelled at LHR, the 2nd runways at LGW and STN non-starters for a long while, that just means the UK’s loss will be Dubai’s gain.
Cheers
Air Asia – Winners and Losers in the Seats.
Air Asia X is on a roll. Publicizing its new “lie flat seats” (I say that because perhaps the seats are not horizontal) it is really a great move. But let me just throw a little cold water on all the enthusiasm. The new seat configuration reduces the number of premium seats from 30 to 16. It might be seen that this lowers gross revenue because to pay for this change – the airline would have to raise revenues in premium class by a similar amount. But let’s look at the back of the bus. The new configuration adds a total 53 seats. That makes a whopping 21% increase in Y seat capacity – very cosy. Overall the total number of seats on the A340 configuration goes from 286 to 327 for altogether an increase of 14%..
Cheers
Cheers
About that A380 Order
It was a mega surprise of a mega order. But scratch beneath the surface and you start to see that the EK order is rational.
No doubt EK got a sweetheart of a deal. But have a look at the numbers. EK’s current fleet sits at 141 aircraft. It has almost the same number (168) on order through the end of 2017. By my calculation that is 84 months. Effectively 2 aircraft a month without a surge in capacity would seem to be a prudent process. Some of those aircraft will undoubtedly replace earlier models. The A350s will add growth as well as replace the A340s, the A330s and some smaller 777s. The 777-300ERs will be churning out replacing the earlier models as well as growth. The A380s can be used to replace smaller double dip flights but that strategy doesn’t necessarily play well. Frequency always trumps size for the passenger.
So what of the other possibilities – The GCC market is not necessarily built on the best economics. EK does seem to make money – its fellows in the region don’t fare as well. For Airbus they can now point to a full order book for the biggest pax plane and that can actually help them cover more sales. It’s a big blow to Boeing who thought that they could persuade the Dubai based carrier to load up on the 787-I. Bang there goes that market. It also means that Boeing will be trying to get a substantial sale to a GCC carrier. Saudi Arabian must be on the cards as their trump airline given their size and previous propensity for the aircraft and the fact that they don’t have the A380 on their order books.
Still – the EK order was definitely an eye opener. I wonder if anyone on Atlanta, Singapore, London, or Frankfurt or indeed any other major home city for the world’s airlines are thinking along the same lines. They should be. And did I say anything about Cargo? I think we can bet that a portion of those planes will be Cargo specific thus reviving the A380F that was cancelled by Fedex and UPS earlier.
Cheers
No doubt EK got a sweetheart of a deal. But have a look at the numbers. EK’s current fleet sits at 141 aircraft. It has almost the same number (168) on order through the end of 2017. By my calculation that is 84 months. Effectively 2 aircraft a month without a surge in capacity would seem to be a prudent process. Some of those aircraft will undoubtedly replace earlier models. The A350s will add growth as well as replace the A340s, the A330s and some smaller 777s. The 777-300ERs will be churning out replacing the earlier models as well as growth. The A380s can be used to replace smaller double dip flights but that strategy doesn’t necessarily play well. Frequency always trumps size for the passenger.
So what of the other possibilities – The GCC market is not necessarily built on the best economics. EK does seem to make money – its fellows in the region don’t fare as well. For Airbus they can now point to a full order book for the biggest pax plane and that can actually help them cover more sales. It’s a big blow to Boeing who thought that they could persuade the Dubai based carrier to load up on the 787-I. Bang there goes that market. It also means that Boeing will be trying to get a substantial sale to a GCC carrier. Saudi Arabian must be on the cards as their trump airline given their size and previous propensity for the aircraft and the fact that they don’t have the A380 on their order books.
Still – the EK order was definitely an eye opener. I wonder if anyone on Atlanta, Singapore, London, or Frankfurt or indeed any other major home city for the world’s airlines are thinking along the same lines. They should be. And did I say anything about Cargo? I think we can bet that a portion of those planes will be Cargo specific thus reviving the A380F that was cancelled by Fedex and UPS earlier.
Cheers
Can They Survive Without Merging?
Travel Weekly USA posited in Friday June 25th email that the fate of the merger hung on survivability. The recent hearings in Washington DC over the proposed merger are showing a harder time for the parties than the Delta/Northwest merger had under the Bush Administration. There are lots of reasons for this but there was a less than veiled threat put out by the airlines themselves which is – Let us merge or we fail and cause havoc. The dilemma was succinctly outlined in the Senate version of the hearings by its Chairman: "If this merger is approved, our passenger aviation system will have one less global network carrier, and I am not certain if this is good or bad, but it is increasingly clear that the current structure is not financially sustainable," Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) said at the start of his committee’s hearing earlier this month on the merger.
This is potentially true, but only part of the story.
As far as the overall ability of the two airlines to better compete – there is little duplication. For United Airlines the situation is more precarious than Continental. UA has mortgaged just about everything including some of its international routes. Its planes are old and even the announced order of 787 and A350s wont be on the flight line pool for many years. For what was for many years the largest US airline (indeed the largest by pax and flown miles worldwide for a while), the situation is not that great. For CO the situation is not precarious. It is healthy and so regarded on Wall Street. It has a relatively young fleet. It has good labour relations and a sensible route structure.
The labour relations have not started out well. The two Pilot Unions have failed to come to terms on “non-monetary” issues. Most likely seniority. The UA guys are so old that they would trump CO’s guys. The issue of seniority among pilots has been messy before. It still is over at US Airways with HP and US pilots still battling it out in court. I have flown more than a few DL flights this year where the crews have thanked me for “Flying Northwest”
But where I have the most trouble is in the competition area. The DoT seems hell bent on supporting the merger because they buy the argument of survival. The DoJ seems not to agree. The doctrine of bigger is better is not in the consumer’s best interests. As I have raised before the argument of “too big to fail” seems to be creating a monster no matter what the underlying arguments might be. Is that in the best interests of the US government which in essence would be agreeing to underwrite the ultimate commercial viability of the nation’s possibly soon to be largest airline. I think it comes down to the consumer’s best interests. In the more than 30 years of deregulation in the USA – the consumer on the whole has benefitted. It is not the government’s responsibility to police the stupidity of investors and managers. To return to a controlled oligopoly market either through mergers or regulation that must ensue, in my opinion, is not in the interests of the consumer. The basic economic argument points to a significant rising price to the consumer.
The better question is probably – do we need New United? If we take the worst case scenario that current UA fails, the impact across the board would be that the industry could accommodate such a failure. But both carriers are arguing they are vulnerable. CO’s Smisek and UA’s Tilton said, as standalone carriers they would not be able to weather the next big economic or industry "shock." The argument that one or both carriers could end up in Chapter 11 is being trumpeted. A new entrant however would possibly (I would say likely)emerge to challenge the status quo and offer low cost services domestically. The other carriers would be the stronger for it.
A challenging question. So what do you think?
Cheers
This is potentially true, but only part of the story.
As far as the overall ability of the two airlines to better compete – there is little duplication. For United Airlines the situation is more precarious than Continental. UA has mortgaged just about everything including some of its international routes. Its planes are old and even the announced order of 787 and A350s wont be on the flight line pool for many years. For what was for many years the largest US airline (indeed the largest by pax and flown miles worldwide for a while), the situation is not that great. For CO the situation is not precarious. It is healthy and so regarded on Wall Street. It has a relatively young fleet. It has good labour relations and a sensible route structure.
The labour relations have not started out well. The two Pilot Unions have failed to come to terms on “non-monetary” issues. Most likely seniority. The UA guys are so old that they would trump CO’s guys. The issue of seniority among pilots has been messy before. It still is over at US Airways with HP and US pilots still battling it out in court. I have flown more than a few DL flights this year where the crews have thanked me for “Flying Northwest”
But where I have the most trouble is in the competition area. The DoT seems hell bent on supporting the merger because they buy the argument of survival. The DoJ seems not to agree. The doctrine of bigger is better is not in the consumer’s best interests. As I have raised before the argument of “too big to fail” seems to be creating a monster no matter what the underlying arguments might be. Is that in the best interests of the US government which in essence would be agreeing to underwrite the ultimate commercial viability of the nation’s possibly soon to be largest airline. I think it comes down to the consumer’s best interests. In the more than 30 years of deregulation in the USA – the consumer on the whole has benefitted. It is not the government’s responsibility to police the stupidity of investors and managers. To return to a controlled oligopoly market either through mergers or regulation that must ensue, in my opinion, is not in the interests of the consumer. The basic economic argument points to a significant rising price to the consumer.
The better question is probably – do we need New United? If we take the worst case scenario that current UA fails, the impact across the board would be that the industry could accommodate such a failure. But both carriers are arguing they are vulnerable. CO’s Smisek and UA’s Tilton said, as standalone carriers they would not be able to weather the next big economic or industry "shock." The argument that one or both carriers could end up in Chapter 11 is being trumpeted. A new entrant however would possibly (I would say likely)emerge to challenge the status quo and offer low cost services domestically. The other carriers would be the stronger for it.
A challenging question. So what do you think?
Cheers
26 June 2010
Verdict on iPhone 4
I cannot take credit for this...
"Great if you hold it right"
This is from the UK Daily Mail.
I just had to share....
Cheers
"Great if you hold it right"
This is from the UK Daily Mail.
I just had to share....
Cheers
24 June 2010
How To Strike Greek Style
The Professor is on holiday in Greece. Its a great country but it seems to be plagued by strikes. The Greeks strike for every reason you can think of and some of the ones that you cant.
Today the Ferries are on strike, yesterday was the Government workers.
Great... can't send snail mail...
But as an example of the absurdity of it all - the Greek National Television Network NET1 - the Sports Commentators were on strike. So you had the rather strange situation of watching the entire match with just the Vuvuzela as sound.
Cheers
15 June 2010
Turn That Phone Off!
In Flight Use Of PEDs?
It amazes me that we are still going through the somewhat ridiculous rigmarole of turning off cell phones when we are on planes. So enough is enough – I want to start a campaign to eliminate or legislate the whole thing. The first question I wanted to ask was – IS THERE REALLY A PROBLEM?
As part of my research I consulted the FAA on the subject. Guess what – they can’t figure out if there is a problem or not. The FAA has a nice set of information on the subject. http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=6275 http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=6275 Here is an extract.
"Gathering Data
From 2003 to 2006, the RTCA — an organization the FAA sometimes asks to help study technical matters that affect policy and regulatory decisions – looked at the issue of electromagnetic interference from intentionally transmitting PEDs, such as cell phones and WiFi transmitters in laptops. Air carriers collected data to support the RTCA’s work.
The final RTCA report said there is insufficient information to support a wholesale change in policies that restrict use of PEDs. But the group did publish thoroughly detailed processes by which operators and manufacturers can assess the risk of PED interference with aircraft systems, and similarly detailed guidelines for certification of such products, if it is requested from the FAA."
They even have a caveat that they MIGHT change the rules…
"Cell phones (and other intentional transmitters) differ from most PEDs in that they send out signals strong enough to be received at distances far away from the user.
Since 1991, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has banned the inflight use of 800 MHz cell phones because of potential interference with ground networks. This ban requires that in addition to the testing the FAA requires to show non-interference to the airplane systems, an airline would also need to apply for an exemption to the FCC rule before it could allow cell phone use inflight. The FCC proposed modifying this ban in 2004, but subsequently withdrew the proposal based on the comments it received.
Even if the FCC ever rescinds its ban, FAA regulations would still apply. Any installed equipment would be subject to FAA certification, just like any other piece of hardware. The air carrier would have to show that the use of a particular model phone won’t interfere with the navigation and communications systems of the particular type of aircraft on which it will be used."
End Quote
So now you know. The basic issue of course is that the FAA is treating PEDs like special things and as a result they are working on the incremental vs the class approach. While the rest of the world is using Mobile devices as a matter of course. I even know of the odd pilot who forgets to turn off their cell phones and blackberries.
Cheers
It amazes me that we are still going through the somewhat ridiculous rigmarole of turning off cell phones when we are on planes. So enough is enough – I want to start a campaign to eliminate or legislate the whole thing. The first question I wanted to ask was – IS THERE REALLY A PROBLEM?
As part of my research I consulted the FAA on the subject. Guess what – they can’t figure out if there is a problem or not. The FAA has a nice set of information on the subject. http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=6275 http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=6275 Here is an extract.
"Gathering Data
From 2003 to 2006, the RTCA — an organization the FAA sometimes asks to help study technical matters that affect policy and regulatory decisions – looked at the issue of electromagnetic interference from intentionally transmitting PEDs, such as cell phones and WiFi transmitters in laptops. Air carriers collected data to support the RTCA’s work.
The final RTCA report said there is insufficient information to support a wholesale change in policies that restrict use of PEDs. But the group did publish thoroughly detailed processes by which operators and manufacturers can assess the risk of PED interference with aircraft systems, and similarly detailed guidelines for certification of such products, if it is requested from the FAA."
They even have a caveat that they MIGHT change the rules…
"Cell phones (and other intentional transmitters) differ from most PEDs in that they send out signals strong enough to be received at distances far away from the user.
Since 1991, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has banned the inflight use of 800 MHz cell phones because of potential interference with ground networks. This ban requires that in addition to the testing the FAA requires to show non-interference to the airplane systems, an airline would also need to apply for an exemption to the FCC rule before it could allow cell phone use inflight. The FCC proposed modifying this ban in 2004, but subsequently withdrew the proposal based on the comments it received.
Even if the FCC ever rescinds its ban, FAA regulations would still apply. Any installed equipment would be subject to FAA certification, just like any other piece of hardware. The air carrier would have to show that the use of a particular model phone won’t interfere with the navigation and communications systems of the particular type of aircraft on which it will be used."
End Quote
So now you know. The basic issue of course is that the FAA is treating PEDs like special things and as a result they are working on the incremental vs the class approach. While the rest of the world is using Mobile devices as a matter of course. I even know of the odd pilot who forgets to turn off their cell phones and blackberries.
Cheers
13 June 2010
The Power of Good
Yesterday I had the privilege to attend the Commencement of University of Washington. The speaker was William Gates (Senior). A distinguished chap in his own right not just for being the father of Bill.
He spoke about a change in his life of how he felt about public service. Something that he now felt all of us at some point should do. His message to the Class of 2010 was that they should consider that their mission should be one of Global Equality. In his lifetime he had gone from seeing his own country change where Black People were killed – in his example – for not moving off the road for Whites, to seeing an African American in the White House. But perhaps his most telling statement was a very simple message. “People are dying and we can save them.” As Co-Chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation he is doing just that. So I hope that all of us can remember that – we hold in our hands some incredible weapons. Let us try and use them for Good. And if we can save a life – directly or indirectly – then we have a responsibility to do it.
Thank you
He spoke about a change in his life of how he felt about public service. Something that he now felt all of us at some point should do. His message to the Class of 2010 was that they should consider that their mission should be one of Global Equality. In his lifetime he had gone from seeing his own country change where Black People were killed – in his example – for not moving off the road for Whites, to seeing an African American in the White House. But perhaps his most telling statement was a very simple message. “People are dying and we can save them.” As Co-Chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation he is doing just that. So I hope that all of us can remember that – we hold in our hands some incredible weapons. Let us try and use them for Good. And if we can save a life – directly or indirectly – then we have a responsibility to do it.
Thank you
12 June 2010
Ridding Digital Junk
I am an information junkie. But also tired of drinking from the firehose. In many cases I sign up for things on the belief that it will be valuable. But like most people if it doesn't survive of value after a year then it should go into the waste paper basket.
I am also a pack rat of the worst order I find it hard to throw things away.
So here is a plea for people who have signup sheets and encouragement to sign up. There should be another field added to the signup. An expiration date.
I am so tired of the hassle of dealing with things that need to just turned off... it should be the vendor's responsibility to enable me to turn it off easily and then to unsubscribe.
So I would like to see a code of conduct that says - the signup process needs to have an automatic renewal at 12 months. OR a date when the user can unsubscribe definitively.
Fat chance huh....
I am also a pack rat of the worst order I find it hard to throw things away.
So here is a plea for people who have signup sheets and encouragement to sign up. There should be another field added to the signup. An expiration date.
I am so tired of the hassle of dealing with things that need to just turned off... it should be the vendor's responsibility to enable me to turn it off easily and then to unsubscribe.
So I would like to see a code of conduct that says - the signup process needs to have an automatic renewal at 12 months. OR a date when the user can unsubscribe definitively.
Fat chance huh....
11 June 2010
Travel Recovery Stalled?
Last month I wrote that the recovery might be faltering. In the USA we are seeing mixed signs that the US economy might not be recovering as well as we had hoped. Jobless are stuck at near 10% and we are seeing consumers more cautious in their behavior but not necessarily what they tell survey takers.
For Travel we are seeing that the number of bookings is not growing that fast. They are back to almost regular levels from the terrible time of 2009. However yields are still on a healthy growth rate. Great for investors... not so sure about everyone else. This is not going to make US based legacy GDSs such as Sabre and Travelport's numbers look that much better because they need the volume.
So the airlines are very pleased with themselves because it seems we have a sellers' market. The hoteliers at this month's Hitec might not be quite so happy because hotel rates are still very low as are occupancy levels.
Markets like Las Vegas and Hawai'i are going to continue to suffer, IF all other things stay the same. But we are about to see some interesting dynamics in summer travel.
Let me list some of them:
1. Rates are high for Air Fares
2. Gulf Coast will become a dead zone for tourism another blow after Katrina but this time the recovery will take years if not decades.
3. Florida is on tenderhooks because those oil plumes are going to come ashore somewhere and Florida will take a hit - make no mistake about that.
4. It's predicted to be a bumper year for ... hurricanes so Caribbean and Mexico (eastern side) will be badly affected.
5. Transatlantic will suffer - the Euro is high so less east bound traffic and also while the US is very attractive the economies of Europe are not so healthy and people cannot afford to travel long distances. A lot of people who would normally have gone UK to Florida are now on their way to watch "The Beautiful Game" (Take your earplugs with you).
6. Brazil will continue to grow substantially and bring traffic northbound.
So a lot of confusing data which points in different directions.
Over the coming months I will try and handicap some of the players for you.
Cheers
But Will It Play On Channel 9?
Several Airlines have installed exterior cameras for viewing onboard in the passenger cabins. Airbus has been offering this as a service for quite a while now. EK has all its pax aircraft configured with it. So do many others. United let's you listen into the cockpit/tower communications. (BTW its much more fun to leave it on and listen in half way through the flight when you hear the arrival airport chatter about how bad the delays are....
But what inside the cabin? Do we want to see who is taking a shower in First Class on EK.. YUK!
However it seems that since we now have VOD and in-flight wifi (which I hope is not an endangered species) that now we are about to get in-cabin surveillance. Courtesy of those nice people at Lufthansa Technik.
I will let you be the judge of the rectitude of this move.
Cheers
But what inside the cabin? Do we want to see who is taking a shower in First Class on EK.. YUK!
However it seems that since we now have VOD and in-flight wifi (which I hope is not an endangered species) that now we are about to get in-cabin surveillance. Courtesy of those nice people at Lufthansa Technik.
I will let you be the judge of the rectitude of this move.
Cheers
EasyJet Leases 757s
Under the category of curious - U2 is leasing from several operators, aircraft that are not normally in their fleet. To be specific 2 757s and a 767. The latter wont be painted but here is a pic of the newly minted 757 in full U2 colors it will be wet leased from Air Finland. The second plane is coming from Astreus. The unpainted 767 will be from Titan. All 3 aircraft are being operated on long haul routes replacing the A321s that U2 is returning to lessors after their acquisition from the purchase of GB Air. Apparently they will be parted out by Airbus. Which seems to be strange unless you are trying to keep up the prices of your new A321s. They have to pay for the A380s somehow.
Cheers
(c) Photo Keith Wignall
More iProblems For Steve - This Time The FTC
Be careful who you pick your fights with Steve... now it seems that the Feds have iPhone well and truly in their sights. According to the Wall Street Journal, The FTC - US Federal Trade Commission are investigating Apple's Advertising system for the iPhone.
And the Feds are not being slow about jumping into the fray. Within literally hours of the AT&T security breach involving iPads becoming public - the FBI jumps in and announces a criminal probe. I guess exposing the White House Chief of Staff's email address was not a particularly good thing to happen
But wait - there's more.
Apple's attempts at opening up a whole new avenue of cash cow milking machinery - iAd- (aka Apple forcing advertising into the iPhone infrastructure) only a few days old and Google coming out swinging on that front (because they can't stand competition) the FTC steps in.
What seems to be so weird about this is that it took a long time - literally years - before the Feds stepped into the whole bundling thing at Microsoft for bundling the OS with the web browser - is that this is about hard cash. Whereas the Microsoft Windows/IE battle was about harming potential competition (as in whose free product was disadvantaged) , this is about how fat the spigot should be. And boy do they move faster now.
These are definitely not your father's Feds. The government cash sniffer nose has become a little more sensitive.
Now who/what else could they investigate. Here are some examples:
Apple vs Adobe over Flash
Google vs Just about Everything
I could make some comments about certain companies in the travel distribution food chain but I am keeping this more focused on Apple at the moment.
Apple's normally vaunted reputation for "it just works" also seems to be coming in for some scrutiny.
Steve Job's WiFi troubles in announcing the iPhone are just one of a host of issues that apple's smaller (but wildly more profitable) services are having. The iPad has significant issues on WiFi - just troll the web for some of this. For example this one.
Those of you who were early iPhone adopters will recall that when it first came out - the device seemed to have a teensy weenie problem with making - phone calls!
So now the world's second most valuable tech company (after Google) is going to understand what it means to have a degree of scrutiny.
I bet Obama is laughing all the way home. His special Blackberry doesn't have to be called the Devil's Instrument...
Cheers
10 June 2010
SkyFi An Endangered Species?
Onboard Internet has been a boon for people like me. I love it. Can't get enough of it. But hate the cost.
My travel is so varied - USA Domestic and long haul and to different places that I cannot get the same service. Also my ability to be loyal is very tough because of the variety.
So I was surprised to see the announcement today that CO is halting its deployment of OnBoard Internet.
With Row44 pretty much out of it (they lost the fight at Alaska who switched to GoGo) and GoGo struggling - there could be a chance that this will collapse just like Connexion by Boeing before it.
I so hope not.
Cheers
The Real Dark Side?
At some point in our lives we are faced with moral dilemmas not the collective we but the real we - you and me.
Should you take advantage of someone or some situation that you didn't create but will continue to support a bad thing happening.
Boycotts of products from different repressive regimes are often the case.
Should we buy food that is a luxury coming from far places that contributes to global warming? Kiwis for example. Should we trade in blood diamonds? Should we support brands that employ sweatshop labour? The Fair Trade movement is founded on the principal that we can buy our coffee (and other products) from companies that are performing properly and responsibly.
We face the dilemma in travel of what comprises "Fair Trade". Because Travel is a very personal experience - we are exposed to the dilemma at least twice - who you buy from and where you go - Should we visit China or Myanmar?
For the past few months I have been following the issue of the suicides among China's industrial complex workers. There are some gut wrenching stories of workers throwing themselves out the window.
A good story appeared in Infoworld this week.
However scratching below the surface one has to examine why the suicide rate is rising among the workers (largely male) who are producing our gadgets. Its easy to point the finger at a corporation that is so large. But also consider the plight of the individuals. With a one child policy and China's cultural heritage favoring males over females - the chances of a young healthy average worker male to find his mate and live happily ever after is significantly less in China than just about anywhere else.
And let's not just think that its the worker bees in factories who are similarly either disadvantaged or where the corporation takes advantage of their workers in this manner. I cite the case of Expedia who owns eLong. This week they upp'd their ownership stake to 16.9%. That makes Expedia powerful enough to influence how the workers are treated. In eLong the delivery and financial fulfillment vehicle is often a bicycle and a human who gets minimum wages and sleeps in a huge dormitory complex. I am not picking on Expedia for being particularly bad. They are doing what is conventional in China.
So do we have a moral dilemma in travel? Should we support our fixes of iPhones and Expedia based travel?
I know that for sure I have to do this willingly. And from now on I will knowingly make those sort of decisions. Ignorance is no excuse for resolving the truly personal dilemma.
Cheers
Should you take advantage of someone or some situation that you didn't create but will continue to support a bad thing happening.
Boycotts of products from different repressive regimes are often the case.
Should we buy food that is a luxury coming from far places that contributes to global warming? Kiwis for example. Should we trade in blood diamonds? Should we support brands that employ sweatshop labour? The Fair Trade movement is founded on the principal that we can buy our coffee (and other products) from companies that are performing properly and responsibly.
We face the dilemma in travel of what comprises "Fair Trade". Because Travel is a very personal experience - we are exposed to the dilemma at least twice - who you buy from and where you go - Should we visit China or Myanmar?
For the past few months I have been following the issue of the suicides among China's industrial complex workers. There are some gut wrenching stories of workers throwing themselves out the window.
A good story appeared in Infoworld this week.
However scratching below the surface one has to examine why the suicide rate is rising among the workers (largely male) who are producing our gadgets. Its easy to point the finger at a corporation that is so large. But also consider the plight of the individuals. With a one child policy and China's cultural heritage favoring males over females - the chances of a young healthy average worker male to find his mate and live happily ever after is significantly less in China than just about anywhere else.
And let's not just think that its the worker bees in factories who are similarly either disadvantaged or where the corporation takes advantage of their workers in this manner. I cite the case of Expedia who owns eLong. This week they upp'd their ownership stake to 16.9%. That makes Expedia powerful enough to influence how the workers are treated. In eLong the delivery and financial fulfillment vehicle is often a bicycle and a human who gets minimum wages and sleeps in a huge dormitory complex. I am not picking on Expedia for being particularly bad. They are doing what is conventional in China.
So do we have a moral dilemma in travel? Should we support our fixes of iPhones and Expedia based travel?
I know that for sure I have to do this willingly. And from now on I will knowingly make those sort of decisions. Ignorance is no excuse for resolving the truly personal dilemma.
Cheers
09 June 2010
It Is What It Is - Now Get Over It!
After two highly publicized and embarrassing security breaches - those wonderful people who brought you the TSA are happy to report that the TSA is now 100% responsible for domestic screening.
That means the government is now in control of our security after (let me see how long has it been since 9/11) what seems a very long time.
But wait it gets better.
According to the WSJ's "Middle Seat" it seems that there is a new form of profiling going on. Since the screeners are not allowed to screen for ethnicity or just about any other possible criteria - they have come up with a new one... "Cuteness".
I dont make this stuff up - read Scott's article.
Oh boy what a world we live in...
The Devil Strikes Again - Apple iProblems
Oh not a great day decidedly mixed for those of you who sniff the Apple glue, and a salutatory warning for those of you who don't.
First off - I have to tell my loyal readers that I purchased a Macbook today. It is for a family member. I felt like I had sold my sold to the devil..... and probably did. As a result I ended up with a 32GB iPod Touch. It came free with the Mac. As did the printer... they must really want to off load these things.
On the positive side - the iPhone OS will go out starting probably 21st of June and this includes the OS4 for the iPad. I suspect that even before that there will be hacks on bit torrent out there. But wait till its official. Trust me on this one - not a good idea to mess with this stuff.
On the iPhone upgrade - AT&T have loosely said they will expand the pool of people who are eligible for the upgrade. I foresee that Apple will bring its policy of full price upgrades rather than discounting upgrades to the iPhut market.
A further piece of good news yesterday is that those of you who signed up for unlimited data plans at AT&T will be grandfathered. The only downside is that ... you wont benefit from the cost reduction that everyone has. So you will have to navigate the byzantine rules for figuring it out. Ditto similar bizarre and complex rules for figuring out if you are eligible to upgrade.
Now the bad news...
Brace yourselves...
AT&T acknowledged Wednesday that a security hole had exposed iPad users' email addresses, a breach that highlights how corporations still have problems protecting private information.
Gawker Media, which reported the breach earlier Wednesday, said 114,000 email addresses were revealed.
AT&T said it had fixed the security problem by Tuesday. The company also said it would inform all the customers whose email addresses and iPad IDs may have been obtained. By my calculation that's about 5% of all the iPads sold out there. Hmmm that could be significant because it is probably a large number (read just about all of the 3G ones out there) who bought the 3G version.
Not a pretty sight!
Now for the worse news... Apple has decided to declare all out war on just about everyone. Not content to try and crush Adobe, and waving at Microsoft in its rear view mirror - now Apple wants to take on Google. At stake is the mobile ad market. Apple wants to add yet another revenue stream (on top of the 3 already it makes from its iPhones) advertising built into the OS. Well folks that's Google's purvey. They don't like competition for grand theft auto. Google is pushing back - hard.
So take that sniff now... might as well get used to it. You are officially addicted. The Apple a Day now becomes the Apple (kaching) multiple times a day. And you are not hallucinating... you will not be able to give it up either. With acknowledgment to the great Lloyd Bridges.
Cheers
08 June 2010
OMG - 32 of the Buggers....
Excuse the use of the decidely Brit term... but I was gobsmacked by the news this morning...
32 A380s....
Heavens above
Cheers
32 A380s....
Heavens above
Cheers
07 June 2010
Will They Or Wont They - Will QR One Up Them?
There is an interesting rumour doing the rounds - that Emirates will plonk down a chunk of cash and snap up 2 years worth of A380 production. Normally I dont harbour many rumours but this one is just interesting.
The one order is scheduled for Farnborough the other for Berlin.
There is another rumour floating around that QR will try and one up them by announcing a Major C Series order for their startup Regional LCC.
Now both of these are CLEARLY SPECULATIVE.... I have them from very mixed sources. I would put credence in the A380 order for a smaller number with some additional delivery positions.
As for the C Series. Well it would make sense - a 100 seater LCC plane in the GCC would be about right.
So we will see....
Cheers
A New Instrument Of The Devil
Its now out... Lord Help us all
The Apple iPhone 4
I would give you more detail but the presentation crashed...
Cheers
The Apple iPhone 4
I would give you more detail but the presentation crashed...
Cheers
06 June 2010
Simplicity Drives Better Interaction
Ah so Gerry McGovern went back to topics I like this week. His focus was on the customer as a stranger and how to deal with them.
And this is where I think we need to do a lot more than we are today. If any of you have used the wayback machine you will know how useful it can be to look at the progression of different websites. One of my colleagues Professor David uses it a lot to illustrate the growth of websites. His specific example is to look at Expedia and as it went through each major home page redesign.
At each redesign the site gets to be lovely and clean and then slowly gets junked up with silly crud. Of course I am picking on Expedia but it applies to almost any site. Even my favorite "clean" site ClearTrip has developed some of this crud creep.
The argument is used that this Crud Creep is driven by the commercial needs of the site management. But Gerry's argument is that actually you can get better commercials by improving and simplifying the UE (User Experience).
He sites some great examples but sadly none in travel. And this is where I think we are just about ripe for a new wave of travel search and shopping sites with better interfaces. I still hanker for that Natural Search solution that does the heavy lifting for me.
I will continue to pursue this
Cheers
And this is where I think we need to do a lot more than we are today. If any of you have used the wayback machine you will know how useful it can be to look at the progression of different websites. One of my colleagues Professor David uses it a lot to illustrate the growth of websites. His specific example is to look at Expedia and as it went through each major home page redesign.
At each redesign the site gets to be lovely and clean and then slowly gets junked up with silly crud. Of course I am picking on Expedia but it applies to almost any site. Even my favorite "clean" site ClearTrip has developed some of this crud creep.
The argument is used that this Crud Creep is driven by the commercial needs of the site management. But Gerry's argument is that actually you can get better commercials by improving and simplifying the UE (User Experience).
He sites some great examples but sadly none in travel. And this is where I think we are just about ripe for a new wave of travel search and shopping sites with better interfaces. I still hanker for that Natural Search solution that does the heavy lifting for me.
I will continue to pursue this
Cheers
Tech Based Bullies 2 - I Know Who You Are!
As a follow on from my piece yesterday on Technology Bullies, I want to have a stab at others who influence our lives and while purporting to be the underdog and our friend - in reality is that they are anything but...
The reasons for this are not always malevolent but that to me is no excuse. If you have a role in the world you must be straightforward and upfront about it. This means that you have a responsibility to fulfill your obligations of trust.
And so it must be with Facebook. If there was a company who has betrayed its core constituency - College Kids - it is Facebook.
I had a chat to some 2010 Graduates this past weekend. There were quite a few of them and while it was a social occasion the topic of Facebook was clearly one that animated them. There were a lot of Grad Parents in the group and the differences of opinion between the two sets - Parents and Grads was quite interesting. It does somewhat bear out the research I have previously published on the subject recently.
The parents were more concerned about the abuse of privacy as a distinct item. The Grads were bemoaning that for them the "there is no viable alternative" to the (evil - my word) Facebook. They needed Facebook because they depended on it for many things. The obvious thing was their social networks were anchored in FB. Yet one interesting issue emerged. The confederacy of the Grads to help themselves particular in getting jobs was highly dependent on their relationships and the tool for that was Facebook. With jobs for Grads a perennial problem this year - while better than last year - its still not great. But this lot of millenials who I have been associated with for a long time as a parent has always been a very caring lot. They are hardly selfish and are quite focused on helping others - particular their peers who have been less fortunate.
Frankly I was appalled at specific examples of how free and loose the new privacy (or lack thereof) tools and commercial motivations behind Facebook made the Grads feel betrayed by Facebook in abusing their trust and not protecting things such as privacy that they hold dear. As we all do. Several handy dandy smartphones and laptops were pulled out to illustrate the point.
Everyone agreed that the aggregate - "they try to do good" - was clearly not adequate for neither Grads nor their parents.
If I was working on University Drive in Palo Alto - this would be something that I should be paying attention to as opposed to paying lip service to.
Cheers
05 June 2010
Technology Bullies - You Know Who You Are
Great piece in Infoworld this week.
The gist is that everyone loves the underdog until he becomes the Uber-Dog. They go on to list 6 companies. The three that affect us most in travel are (in order)
1. Apple
2. Google
6. Microsoft
I would add - the following to that list of people who started as underdogs and became the Uberdog:
Amadeus - well they were not exactly the underdog because they started with huge airline weight behind them but they are definitely the Uber-Dog these days and throw their weight around.
Expedia - Again with Microsoft's weight at the time - they were not exactly the underdog but we definitely started from that perspective against the then giants of Travelocity and Preview Travel.
Anyone for any more?
Cheers
(With special thanks to its jacky for the use of the pic.
Choice And The US Traveller
Our friends in Chicago/Miami (that is Amadeus today folks) recently commissioned a study on how US Travellers view Ancillary Services.
There is good news and bad news in the study. From a consumer's perspective - the reluctant acceptance that this is the way things are is now there. So 2 years after being introduced - the consumer has now learned to accept it. Doesn't mean they like it. Also I would be careful of taking advantage of it.
So a good study to look at and reflect on. You can find it here.
Cheers
Teens Vs Adults.... Very Different Behaviours
So you think you know Social Media?
I harbour this sneaking suspicion that Social Media is a communist plot hatched by mad former KGB scientists slaving away in some mine shaft deep in the Urals.
The only reason everyone is using things like Facebook is that we are trying to keep up. Just like the Abilene Paradox - one day we will all wake up out of our 1984 like trance and go... say why did I do that?
Well it seems that teens may have it about right. I try and keep up with some teens and find out what they think. (Alert this is bar stool type research). I have noticed that Facebook and others have become less of an attraction. But teenagers are not just abandoning FB - rather they are lessening their degree of usage. The slow decline is occurring at the less and less use inflection point. But I see no less use of texting. I do see more and more people using Smart phones. Particularly iPhones.
The research from emarketer seems to confirm this fact.
What really is interesting is that the driving force of using the smart phones is not a utility or even the voice side of things - rather it is the fun and "something to do with my hands" sort of use.
If you dont believe me... just sit in a public place - sidewalk cafe - Micky Ds or some other high traffic area. You will be amazed at how many people are either using their phones but surprisingly a lot of people - especially teens touch and handle them. And lord knows its not good to see people using especially texting while driving.
During this week's D8 Conference - Alan Mulally head of Ford had an onstage session with Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal. He had some interesting perspectives on processing information while driving. He quoted that "Eighty percent of accidents involve taking your eyes off the road. So we're convinced that the mind has the cognitive ability to do other things while driving as long as you continue to watch the road. So we minimize anything that's a distraction: keyboard, certain confusing apps, etc. We are definitely going to be a gatekeeper with regard to apps because it's crucial that you not be distracted. "
Mulally said the need for a system like Ford's was demonstrated on his drive to the (D8)conference. He saw a woman driving with both arms extended through the steering wheel so she could text with both hands. "I was going, 'Oh, my goodness,' " Mulally said.
I would have thought Holy Crap and just got the heck out of there. Just think if she was driving a Toyota (He didn't reveal the brand of car she was driving nor her age).
So think about it.
Cheers
03 June 2010
Agents Can Breathe a Little Easier, For Now! But They Must Keep Up - Amadeus Survey.
Amadeus has just released a survey of 800 North American Travel Agents.
I highly recommend that you download it from here.
Focusing on Technology - the answers are pretty obvious. The Facebook juggernaut continues on apace with the agent community. Here is what Amadeus had to say about the survey:
The second trend focuses on the increased role of technology throughout the journey, from the trip planning phase through arrival back home. Travel professionals feel additional opportunity exists for technology to further improve the travel experience in areas including researching the trip (64.6%) and finding pricing/availability information (55.8%). They also expect next-generation travelers to get more "social." Social networking (47.5%) tops the list of what travel agents feel will have the greatest impact on how tomorrow’s travelers research and book travel, followed by user generated reviews (19.8%). Agents are responding to social media’s rise, with more than half (55.7%) indicating that they or their agencies are active in online social channels.
I would think that there is a fair degree of "keeping up with the Joneses" in the agent responses.
It is clear that technology is still a game the agents have to play whether they like it or not. But as the companion survey conducted in Ireland shows:
...the Amadeus survey also showed that agents felt improved travel technology systems were allowing them to spend time being more attentive to customers. But some 54% of leisure agents and 82% of business travel agents said further automation of back office tasks could speed up the time it takes to do them by a quarter.
The Professor's opinion is that this represents the dilemma of most agents. They have to invest in technology to maintain a competitive position. But the true cost of provisioning either from the GDS or 3rd parties is just going higher and higher. Their GDS are not keeping up. My team already estimates than more than 60% of all GDS sourced PNRs are touched by a third party technology system.
Cheers
I highly recommend that you download it from here.
Focusing on Technology - the answers are pretty obvious. The Facebook juggernaut continues on apace with the agent community. Here is what Amadeus had to say about the survey:
The second trend focuses on the increased role of technology throughout the journey, from the trip planning phase through arrival back home. Travel professionals feel additional opportunity exists for technology to further improve the travel experience in areas including researching the trip (64.6%) and finding pricing/availability information (55.8%). They also expect next-generation travelers to get more "social." Social networking (47.5%) tops the list of what travel agents feel will have the greatest impact on how tomorrow’s travelers research and book travel, followed by user generated reviews (19.8%). Agents are responding to social media’s rise, with more than half (55.7%) indicating that they or their agencies are active in online social channels.
I would think that there is a fair degree of "keeping up with the Joneses" in the agent responses.
It is clear that technology is still a game the agents have to play whether they like it or not. But as the companion survey conducted in Ireland shows:
...the Amadeus survey also showed that agents felt improved travel technology systems were allowing them to spend time being more attentive to customers. But some 54% of leisure agents and 82% of business travel agents said further automation of back office tasks could speed up the time it takes to do them by a quarter.
The Professor's opinion is that this represents the dilemma of most agents. They have to invest in technology to maintain a competitive position. But the true cost of provisioning either from the GDS or 3rd parties is just going higher and higher. Their GDS are not keeping up. My team already estimates than more than 60% of all GDS sourced PNRs are touched by a third party technology system.
Cheers
02 June 2010
Shock Horror - Hotel Rates Are Sometimes - WRONG
In probably the worst understatement of the decade - BTNOnline has done this shocking expose on Hotel Rates in the GDS. And they found... they can be wrong!!!
You can read the whole article here, and I wont bore you with the details.
However the fact that the hotel rate business is frankly fraught with a lot of junk should surprise no one in the business at all.
What is interesting is both WHY it occurs and what is being done to fix it.
With regard to the former - the real reason in my view is that no one cares about rates that are not tied to inventory directly. Since that is seldom the case - no one cares - literally.
With regard to the latter - this is where rate publishing systems and info pushing systems like EZYield and others are doing a pretty good job of fixing this awful problem.
Controlling the distribution of rates is a terrible mess and is ripe for reform. Until that happens we will get poor search and poor sales processes. It is time for this to get handled.
I believe that the poor process of rate distribution is one of the reasons companies such as Pegasus are seeing such dramatic rises in searches which are largely unnecessary and costly for all concerned.
Cheers
You can read the whole article here, and I wont bore you with the details.
However the fact that the hotel rate business is frankly fraught with a lot of junk should surprise no one in the business at all.
What is interesting is both WHY it occurs and what is being done to fix it.
With regard to the former - the real reason in my view is that no one cares about rates that are not tied to inventory directly. Since that is seldom the case - no one cares - literally.
With regard to the latter - this is where rate publishing systems and info pushing systems like EZYield and others are doing a pretty good job of fixing this awful problem.
Controlling the distribution of rates is a terrible mess and is ripe for reform. Until that happens we will get poor search and poor sales processes. It is time for this to get handled.
I believe that the poor process of rate distribution is one of the reasons companies such as Pegasus are seeing such dramatic rises in searches which are largely unnecessary and costly for all concerned.
Cheers
US DoT Launches Wide Ranging Consumer Facing Rules
In a series of announcements today the U.S. Department of Transportation’s passenger-rights rule-making announced today has a very broad impact and plugs a lot of holes in the current information process. Some might say that this has been a long time coming both in the need for consumer protection and also to recognize that the web really exists. Some might even say this is the other show falling after the de-regulation of the GDS market
The DOT is proposing a wide range of consumer protections ranging from increasing compensation (finally) for passengers involuntarily bumped from flights.
Just as Alaska airlines cancelled theirs - the DoT wants to allow passengers to make and cancel reservations within 24 hours without penalty. this will upset a few. One regulation I applaud (actually I am happy with all of them) requires full and prominently displayed disclosure of baggage fees as well as refunds and expense reimbursement when bags are not delivered on time. it is not clear if those arcane rules will be fixed - er like you wont get anything if we slash, damage or drop your bag - willfully or not. The fair weight of fairness in advertising will require fair price advertising, prohibiting price increases after a ticket is purchased and mandating timely notice of flight status changes.
The rules also require notification of the non-airline ticket charges.
While not as specific nor as strict as the European rules which the US could have copied - this is a step in the right direction.
Let's hope when Congress get their hands on it they don't screw it up too badly.
Cheers
The DOT is proposing a wide range of consumer protections ranging from increasing compensation (finally) for passengers involuntarily bumped from flights.
Just as Alaska airlines cancelled theirs - the DoT wants to allow passengers to make and cancel reservations within 24 hours without penalty. this will upset a few. One regulation I applaud (actually I am happy with all of them) requires full and prominently displayed disclosure of baggage fees as well as refunds and expense reimbursement when bags are not delivered on time. it is not clear if those arcane rules will be fixed - er like you wont get anything if we slash, damage or drop your bag - willfully or not. The fair weight of fairness in advertising will require fair price advertising, prohibiting price increases after a ticket is purchased and mandating timely notice of flight status changes.
The rules also require notification of the non-airline ticket charges.
While not as specific nor as strict as the European rules which the US could have copied - this is a step in the right direction.
Let's hope when Congress get their hands on it they don't screw it up too badly.
Cheers
The Real Reason for New United Merger- Too Big To Fail
Perry Flint who is the Editor for Air Transport World in his editorial this month used an expression I had seen before but have really rather ignored it until the stark reality of hit me. I admire Perry for his insight and I think he illustrated this with the following extract from the above mentioned editorial.
.... proposed merger between United Airlines and Continental Airlines, announced ... The latter (event) illustrates a natural, if perhaps unintentional, response .... Create an airline that is too big to fail, because the consequences of such a failure would be a massive and sustained dislocation of the transportation system that would rebound on the political leaders judged to be in charge at the time.
The amount of noise that is still being pushed in support of the merger such as this article in GLG News didn't leave me any option but to comment accordingly:
"I have to disagree with the analysis. My basic objections reach three points.
1. The economies of scale seem to be paramount to consumer freedom of choice
2. The discussion does not take into consideration that the airlines may act irrationally. As we have seen that the airlines do not optimize their operations even when they have the chance to. Thus to assume that they will act rationally and in the most economic efficient manner is not borne out by history or constraints within their own structures let alone within the market
3. This analysis does not take into consideration the disincentive of the remaining market for new entrant players.
I would also like to comment on one other subject.
It is not the US governments responsibility to help the US carriers compete on a global basis. That is highly inefficient economically. Rather the US government should be focused on the domestic market which benefits the majority of the US population (85:15) is the conventional model. To increase competition domestically it would be a good idea to both lift the investment cap - from 25% and 49% effective control - and allow non-US controlled airlines to operate "fairly" within the US market. Provided that reciprocity was fair and equal.
Thanks for reading"
However the objections now being raised in Congress show that there is a valid reason for fighting it now rather than waiting for the next downturn when the resulting carrier just might be "Too Big To Fail"
And what do you think?
Cheers
(With thanks to the Grauniad for the Jetstar Image)
Where Have All The Low Costs Gone?
I must be having a fit of deja vu or something even worse. I thought LCCs were supposed to be about low cost and eschewing the trappings of conventional airline services such as Big PSS systmes, Interline, FF marketing partners, Interline, Codeshare, Legacy GDS etc etc.
Here are the bigger news items:
WestJet, JeBlue and Volaris are all migrating (or have migrated) to Sabre from Navitaire.
jetBlue is doing a deal with AA and BA for codeshares and feeders.
Gol is joining IATA. It already participates in ARC.
So let's talk about interline...
Not content there:
Air France-KLM and Jetstar sign interline agreement. Agreement covers the 60-odd destinations served by Jetstar, Jetstar Asia/Valueair and Jetstar Pacific, as well as Air France and KLM gateways Paris and Amsterdam.
Jetstar has also announced deals with LH
Virgin Blue are sharing across the Tasman sea with ANZ
Even Air Asia and Jetstar are doing deals with Delta for FF use. Check this out!!!
Am I missing something or is there a quiet revolution going on....
What I find interesting here is that there is a downside to all of this - the use of the more expensive distribution tools such as these things are beginning to drag down the profitability of the LCCs. Yet this week LCC champ Ryanair once again showed us that the true LCC model is very much alive. And very profitable now thank you very much.
Perhaps now that everyone is flush with cash they will spend a little to assess the true cost of these programs.
iPads all round anyone?
Cheers
Here are the bigger news items:
WestJet, JeBlue and Volaris are all migrating (or have migrated) to Sabre from Navitaire.
jetBlue is doing a deal with AA and BA for codeshares and feeders.
Gol is joining IATA. It already participates in ARC.
So let's talk about interline...
Not content there:
Air France-KLM and Jetstar sign interline agreement. Agreement covers the 60-odd destinations served by Jetstar, Jetstar Asia/Valueair and Jetstar Pacific, as well as Air France and KLM gateways Paris and Amsterdam.
Jetstar has also announced deals with LH
Virgin Blue are sharing across the Tasman sea with ANZ
Even Air Asia and Jetstar are doing deals with Delta for FF use. Check this out!!!
Am I missing something or is there a quiet revolution going on....
What I find interesting here is that there is a downside to all of this - the use of the more expensive distribution tools such as these things are beginning to drag down the profitability of the LCCs. Yet this week LCC champ Ryanair once again showed us that the true LCC model is very much alive. And very profitable now thank you very much.
Perhaps now that everyone is flush with cash they will spend a little to assess the true cost of these programs.
iPads all round anyone?
Cheers
Beware - US Falls Behind In Use Of Chip Cards
Great piece yesterday in USA Today of all places.
The issue is that the US bank system has been VERY slow in adopting advanced forms of credit cards and the use of Chip and Pin based systems
Read the article especially if you are going to Europe.
In my experience the most notable of places where it impacts you is in those countries who have long deployed chip and pin. Notably France, NL and Germany. It is not good to think you can roam around at night and get Petrol from an all night station without a suitable card. So just remember that
Cheers
The issue is that the US bank system has been VERY slow in adopting advanced forms of credit cards and the use of Chip and Pin based systems
Read the article especially if you are going to Europe.
In my experience the most notable of places where it impacts you is in those countries who have long deployed chip and pin. Notably France, NL and Germany. It is not good to think you can roam around at night and get Petrol from an all night station without a suitable card. So just remember that
Cheers
01 June 2010
Good News For Facebook .. but Bad News For Work Life Mix
For those of you who missed my different perspectives on Social Media and last week's somewhat fizzled QUIT FACEBOOK day - here is some data that might make you want to think again about how you deal with Social Media.
Its bad enough that things are conflicted but that our time on Facebook continues to grow and from the anecdotal evidence the growth is occurring in the work population. It is also spreading into the home life more and more. It will be interesting to see how the US Labor Dept statistics show this.
But if its any consolation. 2nd Life is no longer a threat and Twitter is flattening out. Have a look at the Google Trends data. The first chart is master trends.
The second chart is the search list. I compared the following terms/sites:
2nd Life
MySpace
Facebook
Twitter
Interesting... if not a little scary....
Cheers
Its bad enough that things are conflicted but that our time on Facebook continues to grow and from the anecdotal evidence the growth is occurring in the work population. It is also spreading into the home life more and more. It will be interesting to see how the US Labor Dept statistics show this.
But if its any consolation. 2nd Life is no longer a threat and Twitter is flattening out. Have a look at the Google Trends data. The first chart is master trends.
The second chart is the search list. I compared the following terms/sites:
2nd Life
MySpace
Interesting... if not a little scary....
Cheers
31 May 2010
QUIT FACEBOOK DAY!
In case you missed it and as a special service to the whole of mankind - I am publicizing that today is International Quit Facebook Day. The Cringe had a bit to say about this.
And if you want to know HOW to do it go here.
While I don't actually advocate total withdrawal - let's face it what else do we have - MySpace, Friendster oh heck - how about human personal interaction... NAAAAA why would we do that!
So if you think that Facebook done you wrong - and actually I do agree that Facebook has been pretty loose with our privacy, (Here are Facebook's Privacy Terms) then perhaps you should consider curtailing how much data and how much usage of the site.
If you read the terms and conditions, there is one statement that basically is their catch all for their behavior. It reads like this:
"If we fail to enforce any of this Statement, it will not be considered a waiver."
Which basically means (if you are cynical like me) if they don't enforce it - its OK unless they get caught.... Remember it's just a statement so the waiver basically doesn't mean anything.
I was speaking to some University Graduates this weekend and they ALL know about the renaming dodge trick (rename your Facebook pages so that your past indiscretions such as Pole/Vomit dancing and various other nefarious activities are allegedly removed. Just so you know the ids on the photos still retain their original names and yes you can be found. Oh and one more thing - if your name appeared in a search result from Facebook - it is indexed somewhere and yes that Pole thingie picture of you will be out there.............F O R E V E R !!!
Cheers and have a nice happy day....
Apple! Time To Pay The Piper - Addendum
Sorry for the additional post.
I was researching something else and came across this article in the WSJ.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704133804575197723800822504.html
So Apple is going to pursue this type of growth and in fact be a more aggressive player.
Oh dear... what happened to the kinder gentler people in Cupertino?
I was researching something else and came across this article in the WSJ.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704133804575197723800822504.html
So Apple is going to pursue this type of growth and in fact be a more aggressive player.
Oh dear... what happened to the kinder gentler people in Cupertino?
Apple! Time To Pay The Piper
A milestone in our society and culture occurred earlier this month. Apple became worth more than Microsoft. So now Redmond which used to be castigated as the Evil Empire is now 3rd behind Google and Apple.
Apple has largely arrived in its much vaulted position by avoiding such issues as security and integration into the corporate world. Here is a great article from Infoworld. (How I miss the print edition!)
Well - now it has to step up to that challenge and it better start do it pretty fast. So since I have your attention this far let me have my say on the subject of the iPhone.
I think it is an amazing piece of technology. But I have a very hard time with its model. Unlike the traditional players in the mobile space - they blazed a new model and have been very successful at it. All at the expense of the consumer.
Normally the network operator guys keep their revenues and the handset guys get paid a fee or sell direct. Mostly the former. Thus the network operator has been in control of the market. This was not good enough for Apple. The asked for AND managed to get it - a share of the network revenues from the first customer AT&T. In exchange AT&T got exclusivity. But the price was high. But Apple wasn't content with that - they wanted additional revenue. So they simply applied the iTunes model and created the App Store thereby creating an additional revenue stream.
And just to make sure that they MADE enough money - they ensured that the design of the network usage required additional data access for even basic services such as email and texting. Thus when you are online with your mobile device - the amount of network traffic can be high. Pity the poor people on the Pay as You go model billing schemes. But it is FAR worse if you roam into a different network. Then you pay $$$$ for network traffic. I have seen some staggering bills from people who roamed for just a short time in a foreign country.
Sloppy design by Apple makes this the default state rather than an option. So those Apps might be free to download or low cost but they can COST YOU BIG TIME. King Gillette is probably laughing his head off in the great pantheon of business ideas.
If you hear me speak at conferences - I call the iPhone the devil incarnate for this reason. (In fairness to Apple - Google's Android does much the same thing). I don't just stick with my crackberry because the device is better - no - its because I can manage the cost of the device AND the network.
So Apply - time to start playing nice and being a good corporate citizen. No more cavalier behavior.
Do you think they will listen to me? Naaaaa..........
Cheers
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