Which Is The Meanest Airline…

At WIT today in Singapore – the theme today was LOVE. And you could feel it. A group of people who were really enjoying themselves. Travel is a very aspirational subject. But over the last few weeks I have experienced probably what to me is the world’s meanest airline. I don’t use this word lightly.

And no its not Ryanair… its not even a LCC, it is indeed a full service carrier. So I flew this airline several times over the past week. I would have flown them more but .. well they wouldn’t let me.

For many people when they have a dispute with an airline they bitch and moan and write letters but it’s a fruitless task. Chris Elliott writes about this a lot on his Blog and News letters. In my view there are emotional parts of this and then there are hard issues. Individually these things would be an annoyance. Collectively they are bad. However to discover that it is systematic – is actually scary.

I am an advocate of airlines ancillaries as a way to make money. Let me state categorically – I hate it – personally, when the fees are imposed on the user, but I understand it. Peter Harbison who is Executive Chairman and Founder of CAPA (a panelist at my session on airlines at WIT) quoted a recent statistic that showed the airlines make MORE money out of change fees than they do out of bags and seats.

It is not just about setting fees… many airlines have fees and most of them are pretty silly and its somewhat of a hidden rule that airlines will waive the fees in most cases if its reasonable. And airline staff – because they are indeed human – are actually a pretty nice lot.

However this airline in question forces behavior that takes away this ability to make a decision with that degree of flexibility. How do they do that?

Firstly they have the longest list of fees I have seen from a full service airline.

Secondly they make communicating with them almost impossible. You can only look at the reservation with your PNR RLOC. Every other airline on the planet allows you to do it with different information – Nope not these guys. So if you book an alliance ticket under a JV even you basically cannot speak to them. Oh yes and there is almost no way to speak to them without costing yourself some money.

Now if you have ANY ticket (other than Full fare First class) explicitly requires a change of the ticket. That is the rule. That means the airport staff can’t make optional changes only flight interruption type changes. Every ticketing change extracts a ticket exchange fee. Even if the fare allows changes. Most changes cannot be accommodated online so the automatic fee for speaking to a human automatically applies.

In my specific case I bought a round the world business class fare. It’s a regular fare and its been in the market for probably about 10 years or more. Its one of the best deals out there…

The fare allowed 2 stops in Australia and a limited number worldwide. So I changed a leg and saved myself some money by throwing away a coupon. The itinerary portion was: LHR-SEA (arnk) LAX-MEL-BNE-SYD-SIN-BOM-LHR. Arriving in MEL I asked to move to a different flight and get off in SYD. Sure said the guy $175 dollars. Well I tell you what I will waive that if you pay a $90 change fee. But I can waive it because its within the same day… So now I should be in BNE but actually I went to SYD. I bought a new ticket to BNE on a cheaper airline (Jetstar). Once in BNE I asked to change my flight and take a different one back to SYD.
“no sir your ticket does not allow a stop in Australia”
Huh? But I am in Australia.
“sorry sir you are not supposed to be here according to us”
OK so can I get back to SYD
“no sir you cannot do that because it is against the fare rules of the ticket. And it doesn’t matter that you are a mega flier”

So I contacted the agent and he confirmed that the rules require a change but he didn’t understand the “not allowed to stop in Australia” question since the ticket was written that way and it is actually the home of that airline. (oops that was a bit of a give away).

So I bought a new airline ticket from BNE to SYD (on Virgin Blue).

Once back in SYD I called the airline again.

Hello Qantas – yes I found my RLOC – can you just cancel the segment from BNE to SYD – but keep my already booked flight up to SIN?
“Sorry sir you are not allowed to stop in Australia on this ticket – I just checked (10 mins) with the fare desk and that is the ruling.”
Huh? Can you look at the history of my original ticket – it shows a legally issued ticket and it showed 2 stops – Ask them again?

“Sir the fare people have ruled there is no point in discussing this you are not allowed to stop in Australia on this fare”
At least look at the history of the reservation. Do you see that it originally had 2 stops in Australia in it?
“Oh yes sir – I see that – let me call the fare desk again – please hold…. (20 mins later) .. yes sir I can see that you did book this. Our fare desk now agrees (as do I by the way and I always thought they were being a bit harsh). So because we seem to have interpreted it badly so we will in this case waive the $175 fee and the $80 change fee and the $10 telephone fee”

Hello Qantas Club – can you print me a copy of the reservation with all the remarks? No sire we are not allowed to do that.

…

And there you have it… I have asked for a refund… but do I think I will get one?

So my nomination for meanest airline of the year – yes Mr Joyce’s Qantas. I do want to say that their customer service people are not necessarily a reflection of this attitude but it wont be long before it happens. Check out the fee list… find it here: http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/schedule-of-fees/au/en and its very complicated and QF clearly spent quite some time enhancing this set of pages.

This is not your father’s Qantas – not even John Travolta’s V-Jet Qantas. This is the “hard nose profit and let’s screw the customer so he doesn’t realize it” airline. I don’t think I will be finding excuses to fly them again. I admire their business acumen - its just sad to see the brand take this turn. I always have hope about people’s behavior changing but I really hope they don’t carry on doing this.

Cheers

Economic Warfare: Airlines vs Airports+Countries

Last week Air Asia X started mumbling about pulling out of UK and moving to Europe because of taxation. Also last week Monsieur O'Leary instructed his Marseilles base to close because of employee taxation. Today I saw a news item that one of the big traditional airlines has made a threat... KLM is talking about pulling out from the Philippines because of taxation.

The economic power of an airline and its impact on a community has been shown by Ryanair. The tight relationship of national interests no longer holds true. Indeed an unbundling of the nationalistic and economic self interests.

This is going to be a long game. Its here and its permanent.

Get used to it

Cheers

So What ARE You Doing All Day Long?

Firstly the young are not doing the same things we do. Also they consume less media in 2010 than in 2000.



I love Radio - but Radio is just not as connected to me as it used to be. I have an iPod nano with FM radio but the service is crappy. So my saviour is online radio. I listen to NPR from the USA (my local radio station) and I love Pandora. Because its embargoed outside of the USA or when I eat up my 40 hours a month on the free site, then I switch to Last FM.

I can really determine my mood and match the music by my choice of station. Just like Radio.

eMarketer has released a piece on the subject of radio.

What do the kids do first thing in the morning... I watch and I see them plugged in but its not radio.



Radio is dead - long live Web Radio.

Cheers

The Professor Apologizes For Being Busy - Check out WIT2010

Greetings students of life

I will be at WIT 2010 Version 6.0

I will be blogging and tweeting. So check out the #webintravel on Twitter.

Good brain food

Cheers

UK Retail Downsizing Continues

It has been more than 15 years since the effective start of the Online Travel era. Arguably that started in late 2005 with the launch of Preview Travel and Travelocity's businesses.

Today we see a significant move in the UK which cements the decline of the retail high street market. UK Adoption of the web for travel purchases already among the highest in Europe has been accelerating in recent years.

In the mid 1990s we (collectively) predicted that Europe would follow the US by about 5 years in online adoption. Two things have actually happened.

1. The profile of web usage in Europe is vastly different
2. The adoption curve has been slower and longer

Today the Coop Travelcare group and Thomas Cook's retail operations are being combined into a single entity. Coop has the largest independent travel group after the big two. Thomas Cook is the smaller of the big players that used to number 4 which is now two.

In the past 15 years we have seen some spectacular failures in travel at all levels of the distribution chain from the supply side (think XL Airways which went bust in September 2008) to Tour Operators (Think Goldtrail which went out of business this year) to retail (Think Harvey World UK which went into Administration in June of 2009).

The pace of the closing of retail stores is reflected somewhat in the UK ABTA numbers

30/9/10 Travel Agent members 986 with 3806 branches = 4792 outlets
30/9/05 Travel Agent members 1397 with 4727 branches = 6124 outlets
30/9/00 Travel Agent members 1826 with 5222 branches = 7048 outlets
30/9/95 Travel Agent members 2263 with 4705 branches = 6968 outlets
30/9/90 Travel Agent members 2940 with 4265 branches = 7205 outlets

However this is masked by a change in the rules a few years ago when the category of small agent was opened to allow more people to join. but as can be seen in 20 years a drop to one third of the number of members. The definition of outlet has also changed over time.

We can now expect another wave of consolidation and shutting of storefronts in the UK at the same level as the USA experienced about 10 years ago. This can only mean that the same will apply to other markets' retail location based businesses. So if you run a retail business - beware. The change is coming.

Its sad but its progress. Perhaps this will finally kill off Viewdata!

DoT Caves to Big Airline

Continuing its policy of serving the industry - the US DoT has approved a broad brush of alliance requests. In doing so it has set the standard for a world of an oligopoly of airlines.

I have long argued that while alliances are very positive from a business perspective for the airlines they are distinctly un-consumer friendly and will ultimately result in higher cost of travel to the customer.

The evidence of this can be found in viewing the average fare revenue cents per mile. Over the last year in 12 months the revenue has shot up for the US airlines by an average of 18%. By any measure that is astounding. And that was with the loss of only one player.

With now CO and UA merging we are going to see more. So the oligopoly is in effect here. What used to be the big 10 is now the fab five.

And if no one else is listening I hope the DoJ and the DoC are.

Cheers

Are Passengers Happy?

I travel a lot... regular readers know that about me. I therefore get to enjoy the best and the worst of travel. I have one rule for travel. The destination is the goal not the journey.

So its often interesting to overhear people who are griping about travel and its problems. I think Americans complain more than other nationalities. I have always attributed it to the time squeeze of the US passenger.

Just lately I have noticed an increase in unhappy people. More people griping more shouting at desks. I think this is in part due to the reduction in the number of customer service people and their replacement by machines. Its rather hard to shout at a machine. So what do you do? With the significant reduction in manpower over the last year the human has to go somewhere. Well since the US DOT who overseas the services of the US carriers made it a little easier to file a complaint - indeed they are up a lot.

However the Wall Street Journal could not quite fathom the answer. In my view its obvious. Less people to resolve, More machines and more avenues to complain results in more complaints.

Check out the WSJ article.

Cheers

Vote NOW. Best Road Warrior Selections

OK chaps time to get your votes out.

Vote for your fave airline and experience as a road warrior.

The Flyertalk awards can be accessed here.

http://vote.ftawards.com/ballot.php

Public Mea Culpas. How Not To Do It

I love baseball. For no other reason that going to a game and just hanging out. This season I didn't attend one single game. And with good reason. My local team - the Seattle Mariners sucked badly.

Yesterday they ended the season with a record breaking loss. 105 games. But don't worry folks there is always next year.

Except to rub the noses of the fans in it the organization pushed out a kind of apologia. I reprint it here so you can see what is probably not the right way to do that.

This is the point where the more noble of people would have fallen on their swords. Not these guys.

Oh yes and the final score yesterday in Seattle? Yup they lost again 4-3.

Cheers

The Professor



October 4, 2010
A Message from Mariners Chairman Howard Lincoln and Executive Vice President-General Manager Jack Zduriencik

I've been a naval officer, an attorney and a business executive in my life. But before any of these, I was a baseball fan.

I was born and raised in Oakland, California. As a kid, I sat in the bleachers and rooted for the Pacific Coast League Oakland Oaks. Casey Stengel was the manager and a young Billy Martin played second base. When the Giants came to the Bay Area, I spent a lot of sunny days and foggy nights at Seals Stadium and then Candlestick Park watching the Willies - Mays and McCovey.

I'm still a baseball fan and, like you, I was very disappointed with the performance of the 2010 Seattle Mariners. It was a frustrating season and, yes, we made some mistakes on and off the field. Good organizations learn from setbacks and make themselves better - that's the mindset we're taking into 2011.

I have asked GM Jack Zduriencik to give you an end-of-the-season report on our baseball operations. You'll see that despite our struggles at the Major League level, Jack's plan to build through scouting and player development is working well at the minor league level. I trust Jack. I believe in his plan and I see progress. He has the full support of our ownership group, Chuck Armstrong and me, along with the resources to be successful.

Will it take some time? Yes. Do you have the patience to see this through with us? I hope so. Our number one goal remains to bring championship baseball to Safeco Field. I'm sure we'll get there.

Before you hear from Jack, I want to say something straight from the heart, from one fan to another: Thanks for sticking with this team, thanks for caring as much as you do, thanks for wearing the Mariners "S."

Sincerely,

________________________________________
October 4, 2010
Jack's Report to the Fans

Some of you may remember an old-time player named Rocky Bridges, a colorful middle infielder who went on to manage in the minor leagues for many years. Rocky once said, "Well, there are three things that the average person thinks he can do better than anybody else. Build a fire, run a hotel and run a baseball team."

After the 2010 season, I'm sure a lot of you are ready to step up and tell me how to run our ballclub. And I'm always willing to listen.

But despite our poor performance at the Major League level in 2010, there are plenty of reasons to believe that our long-term plan is working. In fact, looking at the big picture, our organization actually took a step forward last year.

Before you click away from this e-mail, give me a chance to explain.

Let's start with the cornerstone strategy established when I came to Seattle in October, 2008: We will build a winning franchise through talent that we draft, acquire and develop in our farm system. This is the key to long-term, sustained success in baseball.

The good news is, you gotta like what you see down on the farm.

• Eight of our nine minor league teams made it to post-season play in 2010.
• The AAA Rainiers, Class A Lumber Kings and Northwest League AquaSox all played in their leagues' championship series.
Two won league titles.
• As a group, Mariners minor league hitters ranked #1 in home runs, runs, slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
• The cumulative won-loss record of our minor league teams was 489-410, a .544 winning percentage. Only one organization
did better - the Cardinals at .549.

Does this mean that we should start printing 2011 World Series tickets? Unfortunately, no, not yet. But it does mean that we've got talent at every level of the organization - talent that's developing, scoring runs and learning how to win.

Let's talk about some of these kids.

We've got a flock of top-rated prospects on their way to the big club. These include position players Dustin Ackley, Justin Smoak, Carlos Peguero, Nick Franklin, Kyle Seager, Johermyn Chavez, Greg Halman and Matt Mangini, along with hard-throwing pitchers like Michael Pineda, Blake Beavan, Dan Cortes, Mauricio Robles, Maikel Cleto and Anthony Varvaro. Many of our best prospects are headed for winter ball and the fall instructional league - they're driven to improve and play at the next level.

Some of these youngsters will develop faster than others, but we've got a rich pipeline of talent. Impressive, considering how thin our minor league system was just a couple of years ago. Plus there are more top prospects coming: We have the #2 pick in the 2011 June draft and we continue to scout and sign top international players.

At the big league level, Mariners pitchers tied for the third best ERA in the American League in 2010. Felix Hernandez has fulfilled his potential as a perennial Cy Young candidate. Jason Vargas, Doug Fister and Luke French made major strides in 2010. We like our pitching; our staff is young, developing and hungry.

Two young players, catcher Adam Moore and outfielder Michael Saunders, got valuable playing time and impressed scouts around the league. Meanwhile, our four core players - Ichiro, Felix, Guti and Chone Figgins - are signed to long-term deals.

I'm a baseball man. I'm not trying to sell you on the idea that we're at the top of the baseball world. We still have work to do, lots of it. My first job is to hire our field manager - and I'm already hard at work identifying and reviewing candidates. Obviously, we need to score more runs by adding to the middle of our lineup. And, for much of the past season, our team didn't play the fundamentally sound baseball that I want to see. I'm addressing all our team's needs and I'll keep you posted throughout the winter.

But there's one thing you need to know about the Seattle Mariners organization:

Everybody wants to win - from Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong to the clubhouse attendant in Everett. We have a plan in place and we're working days, nights and weekends to make it successful.

But as a fan, you want results, not promises. We know that. So we're doing everything we can to make it happen sooner rather than later.

I love the people of this city and this region. I love the energy you bring to the ballpark and the loyalty you've shown to the organization. We owe you a winner. It's coming. Stick with us, there's a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you.

Sincerely,

© 2010 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved. All Major League Baseball trademarks and service marks used herein are the property of the applicable MLB entity. All other marks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

You received this message because you registered to receive commercial e-mail messages from Mariners.com.
If you no longer wish to receive commercial e-mail messages from Mariners.com, please unsubscribe.

Postal Address: Mariners.com, c/o MLB Advanced Media, L.P., 75 Ninth Avenue, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011.

Blondes Are More Fun?

OK this is one of the few times when I can honestly say this story deserves much better coverage than I can ever hope to give it.

The Lithuanian company Olialia Group have come up with an idea to show how Blonds are better than other people.

As part of their brugeoning empire - they want to enter the travel space with a resort in the Indian Ocean Island Paradise of the Maldives.

I got this story from TTG. by Sofie Griffiths - herself a blond it would appear from another story in TTG - click here for her picture (she is the one in the middle).

I was very tempted to put in a few of the pictures from the company's website but I think this is a family oriented blog and the only potty mouth or potty brained ideas we really follow usually come from Michael O'Leary.

Anyway - enjoy this story... I did.

Cheers

is Blogging Important?

I have been pondering Blogging as a subject recently and even posted on the subject of late. Where I have some issues is the amount of junk out there. Last week I posed a question and thanks to all of you who gave me encouraging responses, privately.

It does seem that many people do not like to post comments on blogs. Given the ease with which this can be done I find that surprising. However then I looked at the amount of re-tweets.

Taking a sample of TNooz - and using Tweetdeck to follow a few stories, I found that Tweets and re-tweets amounted to an average of several hundred times the number of comments. I took stories by one poster on TNooz and then counted the number of Tweets appearing on the story vs the number of comments.

But this is just my little counting in an unscientific way.

Interestingly when we look at larger scale - our friends over at eMarketer did some more in depth study entitled: “The Blogosphere: Colliding with Social and Mainstream Media.”

It seems that on average about half the web users in the USA will read at least one blog each month. I suspect that the numbers are far greater.

Blogging has become a media form and an outlet for commentary - both quality and frankly crap.

But there is no qualitative measurement. The social blogsphere applies its own rules based largely on popularity rather than quality as there is little to provide a qualitative measurement in the Social Sphere.

That bother's me. There are clearly a lot of people who are upright citizens who blog and blog responsively. There are those who don't care. Journalists - particularly traditional players in a broad generalization turn up their noses at bloggers. In many cases that is understandable. Given the growth and the impact of blogging - particularly to the detriment of the traditional media outlets for journalism - perhaps we need to set standards for blogging.

I hope that we can do that and self regulate rather than have all blogging classified as junk by such esteemed bodies as the US Supreme Court.

With Special Thanks to the Phillipines Blogging Idol Contest for the image.

http://wordpressphilippines.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/blogging-idol.jpg

Would the Real Low Cost Carrier Please Stand Up

The model for LCC airlines has changed over the past few years. At last week's World Low Cost Airline Congress, that question kept popping up.

Ralf Anker of Anna.Aero does a good job of keeping things in perspective. I really like the website and recommend people who are interested in the model to read it on a regular basis.

He gave a spirited presentation last week on the subject comparing the top real LCCs. The interesting thing is that he has so far not taken into consideration the GCC carriers such as Fly Dubai. Nor does he rate Vueling as a LCC - which is understandable as they have become more like a full service airline.

The emergence also of long haul airlines is beginning to show. Feel Air CEO Kai Holmberg was on one of the panels.

Clearly across the board the adoption of some of the successful LCC characteristics are paying off. You see the unbundling of the product occurring in almost all instances. At the same time you also see the hybridization by the LCCs of things like - offering a frequent flyer program, participating in the GDS and moving to regular airports. But the core principles seem to stick. Focus on costs and simplicity of product.

As was said several times during the conference - the big boys are coming to the LCC model. Few are going the other way.

Cheers

Where Have All The Flowers Gone?

New data from the US TIA shows that those long wilting violets - the US traveller has finally woken up and started travelling outside of the USA again.

With good numbers showing 11% growth in June - we could think that there is a mini-boomlet going on.

Not so fast.

The market characteristics are showing a high degree of fragility.

The bright spots are Latam (Mexico exempted though in this report they are showing good numbers - but this was before Mexicana tanked). The astonishing growth is coming going to the Middle East.

Here are the hightlights:


• Overseas markets increased 11 percent in June and increased four percent year to date.
• Europe increased 11 percent for the month but decreased one percent for the year.
• Asia grew 14 percent for the month and was up ten percent year to date.
• Canada increased nine percent for the month and grew six percent for the year.
• The Caribbean increased six percent in June and increased four percent year to date.
• For the month, air traffic to Mexico increased 15 percent. For the year, air traffic to Mexico increased eight percent.
• South America was up five percent for the month and grew one percent year to date.
• Central America increased five percent for the month but was down three percent year to date.
• The Middle East was up 24 percent in June and up 30 percent for the year.
• Oceania increased 34 percent for the month and grew 18 percent year to date.
• Africa increased 20 percent for the month and increased 17 percent for the year.

For the latest stats go here:

http://www.tinet.ita.doc.gov/view/m-2010-O-001/index.html

Cheers

Rich Folk Don't Have Time To Shop....

I always thought the concept of a personal shopper was complete BS. But it seems that there are quite a few of these people out there. Real professional shoppers who use OPM to do the dirty deed.

I find that I spend less and less time in a store. About the only time I visit a real Retail Outlet is at airports. Especially as I seem to spend so much of my time there. Indeed I was trying to think when was the last time I actually was in a shopping mall. I can't honestly remember.

But I do shop online. I also when I have a moment do go to a particular store to look at some things. For example I am looking to acquire a new PC so will likely go to the real store and buy or examine there and then buy online.

I don't consider myself by any stretch of imagination to be an affluent person. I would describe myself as "comfortable" but like just about everyone else I am a working stiff. Probably more so than I should be at my advanced years. They say that teaching doesn't pay very well and I can attest to that fact.

One thing I find just abysmal in shopping both online and offline is customer service. The ultimate oxymoron in my view. In the retail stores - the amount of useless sales people who dont know their products is legendary. I am however very happily surprised when I come across an individual who does know his product and is prepared to help address my questions and interact with me accordingly. For that I have time and respect.

So what of the affluent. How are they handled and what is their value? eMarketer did a nice piece on this.

I once visited a well known travel attorney who had this poster on his office wall. I thought that a little tacky. I wonder if its still there.

One critical factor for anyone dealing with servicing these folks is the ability to be 100% comprehensive. In my view that is essential and so my advice is to offer live chat and/or telephone support right there. Otherwise these people will not wait and will go elsewhere.

Enjoy that glass of champers

Corporate Bloggers Off Point - Me Too?

As a blogger - I sometimes wonder if I am doing the right thing or bad thing for the world. Am I contributing for the benefit of the travel community or simply spouting a load of BS that no one is interested in?

Well wonder no more Professor has some answer.

Firstly I guess I have to answer my own charge. There are quite a few unique visitors to the blog every day. Counting the RSS and the email subscribers we are looking at more than 1000 per week. So that is a reasonable number in my view. The make up is interesting but also is how they come. Consistently over one third arrive from google searches. So I thank you for reading and am humbled by your attention to this little blog.

As I am not a corporate blogger and (well most of the time) do not use the blog to promote my company or my clients I find it interesting to read other people's blogs. In general Corporate Blogs fulfill a useful purpose of getting a story out. By definition they are self serving as one would expect. I think everyone is fine with that. Not if however a private blog is used to push a corporate agenda.

eMarketer just did a report on the subject. What is astonishing in my view is how off point people are on the subject of not being true to the corporate need.



In the report there is a great statement. "Distorted messages are not a new phenomenon; they have been a problem in mainstream media as well. Still, the message gap between companies and the traditional media is significantly smaller: Less than half of all messages in mainstream media failed to reflect company messages, and here the US performed above average."

So are blogs in corporates therefore mostly a personal vehicle for commentary by the blogger.

That is an interesting question

You Just GOTTA Go To This

Are you a left or a right brain person?

Most conferences are somewhat dry and focused on the functional set of industry issues.

For the past 5 years I have been going to the WIT - Web In Travel Conference in Singapore. By far it is the best conference going. What makes it different? apart from being the only real representative of what is going on in Asia, it is the context of the content that makes the difference.

If you want to stimulate your right side hemisphere and still satisfy your need for left hand side knowledge acquisition - then this is for you.

Check out their video. The talent assembled is pretty darn good.

Cheers

Farewell CO. No Longer Moving Its Tail

Today is the last day you can buy a Continental ticket.

The last day you will take a Continental Flight.

The end of a golden era of US Aviation history. The airline of Bob Six and (not so fondly remembered) Frank Lorenzo... it is now going to be a distant memory

I flew CO on so many occasions. International and US domestic. The Proud Bird was also my livelihood for a while too.

So let me just add my farewell

Cheers

Open Travel Has An Open Position

Here is a request that has come out from the Open Travel Alliance team.

Members and friends of OpenTravel,
OpenTravel is looking for a talented part-time technical resource for a Specification Coordinator position beginning ASAP as an open-ended contract. The job description is available by contacting below.

If you are interested in being considered for this position, submit a cover letter and CV/resume along with an hourly or monthly rate to positions@opentravel.org by Tuesday 12 October 2010.

Ping them if you want the job spec

Cheers

Mobile OS very like GDS

If you watch the world of technology - the battle for the Operating system has been a long and interesting one. Back in the early 1980s there were some significant players who really knew about how to talk to machines.

IBM had about 7 or more ranging from big mainframes (VM, MVW and TPF) to mid range (Sys36 and Sys 38)and then the PC - OS/2 and Dos. Plus some weird ones. Now there are really only a few - zTPF, VM iSeries and of course they are big Linux fans now.

In the mobile world Symbian used to be the Amadeus of the mobile market. Now we see them losing customers and now their only major customer is Nokia - itself a company not in great shape. So the image above looks a lot different now that Sony Ericsson has pulled out.

So who are the new kids on the Block?

As we move to smart phone we have several.

Mr Closed is RIM and his enemy Mr Apple iOS
Mr Open is Android and WebOS (now HP)

So its the big 4 vs all the others. Sound familiar?

Cheers

Why Can't We Create a Self Ironing Shirt?

....And other questions of the universe have been troubling me for some time. In my head there are questions that never get answered and ones that are almost always there to be slowly chipped away.

One of the key questions I ask myself is do we have good data to make decisions. Those who read the Professor on a regular basis know that I have this progression of data to power.

Data--> Information --> Knowledge --> Power.

One of the critical issues facing our society is the overload of data. How do we create ways for us to comprehend all the data available.
How much of it is useless?
How much of it can be inferred?
How much is qualitatively good?

As lately I have been looking at different ways to refine the process of getting at the relevant information this makes me think about search - I keep coming back to the data driven pure objective search all the way through to the highly subjective desirable results. Search remains a thoroughly unfulfilled experience today. Both in the B2B environment and of course the B2C web based environment. And I doubt highly that Google will make it - sufficiently - better when they acquire ITA as they surely will be able to.

I have no answer - I am thinking about search a lot. Fortunately the Shirt problem is not urgent. The search to the better result however is very urgent. And it is a critical matter.

Cheers

Lies, Damn Lies and then there are Fees...

I think we all know what it is like to be lied to. Politicians lie. Pressure groups lie. Advertisements lie.

So it is somewhat bad that respectable organizations such as ASTA align themselves with other organisms that are not telling the truth.

So here is the headline from BTC:


MORE THAN 50,000 TRAVELERS TELL THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION THEY ARE “MAD AS HELL!” ABOUT HIDDEN AIRLINE FEES

Consumer and Travel Groups Deliver Petition Signatures to DOT on “Mad As Hell Day!” in Support of Secretary LaHood’s Efforts to Require Airline Fee Transparency.

Er... excuse me that is actually a lie.

As I noted yesterday the issue of airline fees is but a small part of a far broader rule making input that the DoT is requesting. Further transparency of airline fees is no better - but definitely no worse than the issue of say special fee conditions that a travel agency has to live with.

While I don't personally like fees - they are here to stay. I am one of the 50,000 people who signed the petition but I was very clear that I was signing the petition for a reason to state that I supported the right of the airlines to charge the fees.

Further I also made it clear in both my submission to BTC and the coalition as well as the DoT itself that the mechanism of making the airline fees "transparent" as advocated by the Coalition was itself highly misguided. IE that making the fees transparent via the GDS channel would create a burden on everyone that was unnecessary. IE the airlines would have to do extra work and the agencies would have to do extra work and the consumer would not be any better off.

Forcing such a process would make every airline rule and regulation required in each GDS. Something that is a backward step - 15 years ago before the internet became so important to our society - yes. Today no.

So I do hope that some people will stop with the misrepresentation and the lies. Also the coalition should stop hiding its intentions and be very clear that it is against fees. Wait... isn't that what it says? Mad as hell about airline fees...

Read the fine print my friends and then decide if you want the government deep in regulating the distribution of airline products. Heck why not re-regulate the industry and re-award mail contracts.

.... BASTA as the retiring DG of IATA says. Let's not waste the government's time for something that is already more than adequately in place.

I really do wish the coalition would stop rubbishing the hard work that agents on the line do. But then I guess the real little people don't matter when you are trying to get media attention.

Cheers

Airport Delays? What Airport Delays?

So the great debate can finally be put to bed....

Yes the Tarmac rule was successful. Last month a total of 3 delays. Of course some people are cheating but still the performance during the busy August travel time was a marked improvement.So now airports will be wonderfully quiet places as people will be flying not waiting.

Further this topic of delays is also being beefed up with more regulation. And this leads me onto the other point... The issue of airline ancillary service fees.

This is likely to embolden the Anti-Fee brigade. But caution. The characterization that the Proposed NPRM is all about fee disclosure is out and out wrong.

Contrast the two statements:

This is from BTC:(Today's email blast from Radnor)

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is accepting industry comments until September 23 on a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM). DOT is asking for comments on whether airlines should be required to make ancillary fee information available in a timely manner to travel agencies and travel management companies.

This is from the Official DOT Proposed Rule Making

The areas specifically stated in the NPRM.....

mentioned as being under consideration were as follows:
(1) DOT review and approval of contingency plans for lengthy tarmac delays ;
(2) reporting of tarmac delay data;
(3) standards for customer service plans;
(4) notification to passengers of flight status changes;
(5) inflation adjustment for denied boarding compensation;
(6) alternative transportation for passengers on canceled flights;
(7) opt-out provisions where certain optional services are pre-selected for consumers at an additional cost (e.g., travel insurance, seat selection);
(8) contract of carriage venue designation provisions;
(9) baggage fees disclosure;
(10) full fare advertising; and
(11) responses to complaints about charter service.

So in fact the wording of the comment period almost excludes the generalized comment on fees. It only specifically allows the addressing of baggage fees (Article 9) disclosure.

For a full view of all the documentation and the right place to comment go here:

http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#docketDetail?R=DOT-OST-2010-0140

Cheers

Expedia Rating Cut on Google Fears

Today I almost feel like a regular journalist - the headline was pure Newspaper.

However the issue is that one of the leading Internet Stock Analysts Marianne Wolk at Susquehanna Financial cut her rating for Expedia on the fears of Google entering the Travel eCommerce arena. You can read about her here.

Adding the OTAs to the mix of people threatened by the Google ITA acquisition now makes clearly two. The Meta Search companies and the OTAs.

In my view - there are two more - the suppliers particularly US airlines and the GDSs who are faced with disintermediation.

As you travel around speaking to industry heads - I find this is not something that is well understood as yet but as more people think about the individual impact - no matter how Google spins it - this is a major shift in the balance of power in Travel Distribution.

In my view that represents a major threat to a large number of players. And this is now only becoming clear to them.

If you are further interested - please feel free to contact me ProfessorSabena@gmail.com - notice the irony of the use of Google's mail.

Cheers

Has America Turned Socialist?

Americans love conspiracy theories.

The emergence of the Tea Party as an anti-government movement is a trend that will worry some but delight others.

But in reality has America turned socialist and its organizations fallen to Socialism?

The answer of course is that insanity reigns and yes America has become far too Socialist for anyone's sanity. The Socialism I am speaking about of course is Social Media. The adoption thereof has become insane.

Consider now that everyone is on Twitter. Exactly how much time would we be on the darn thing to be productive. Twitter is the ultimate time waster. It has value in selective occasions and occasionally I tweet but only when I have something to say. for the Faithful who read this blog - it seems there are now quite a few of you - it has to worry you as to the volume of stuff you are reading all the time.

If you read the true definition - well at least the Social Media version - aka Wikipedia - then it can apply in a perverted way to the use of Social Media: Socialism is an economic and political theory advocating public or common ownership and cooperative management of the means of production and allocation of resources.

In my view we are reaching a point of diminishing returns on Social Media. But it is still growing. Recent articles have started to question things such as privacy and the one big bugbear I have which is VOLUME.

Infoworld's Columnist has a great one on this:

http://www.infoworld.com/d/adventures-in-it/have-we-hit-social-media-overload-802?source=IFWNLE_nlt_notes_2010-09-20

It poses the same question in a humorous way. But the volume is no laughing matter. STOP!!!

I for one am getting off some of the insanity.

And thanks to Cowbell A Rays Blog for the image.

The Quick & The Dead - Who Cares About Anything Else?

When it comes to websites - if you want to show how good you are don't dwell on the issue of delight. Give the ADD SOBs who visit what they want and fast.

Of late - I have been experimenting with websites. What happened to 3 clicks to booking. I am tracking an average of 20 clicks from opening site to a decision point.

Gerry McGovern picked on the recent study in HBR - which is to be highly recommended reading.

http://hbr.org/2010/07/stop-trying-to-delight-your-customers/ar/1

In my view we are now going to have to deal with speed as a major issue. Gosh it has been years since we had to worry about dogs (ie r e a l l y slow) such as AOL browsers. Now we going to be concerned with an expectation from the user community that travel results will be instant.

And this creates a problem for all of us... except Google. Consider this. If big bad G has cached avails on most airlines then he can serve that up as instant results to a user using free text entries. Everyone else will be at least a click away. Google therefore WILL have an unfair advantage over everyone else in air search.

Think about that....

And the reference to Quick and the Dead (in this case meaning everyone else but Google - check out the biblical reference).Does this give Google a god like quality. Perhaps that is why they chose G as the initial for their name.



The phrase is part of a passage in King James version of the First Epistle of Peter (a book in the Bible) which reads
For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.
1 Peter 4:3-5

Panasonic updates on their technology and philosophy

Panasonic's Neil James describes how the company focus has evolved regarding connectivity and its embrace of more open standards. For industry insiders, this change in approach is revolutionary. The new thinking was matched with real creativity in new products and future thinking demonstrated at the event.

The Googlesphere Is Already Googleopoly

I have written in the past about the nature of Google and how I believe Google is incapable of living up to its stated goal of "Do No Evil."

Much of this is based on my observation of behaviour of the juggernaut. Having worked at a company previously labelled a "monopoly" - aka Microsoft, I believe I can put my views in context that is meaningful.

I am particularly worried by the Google/Verizon view of the future two tier web. The issue of the proposed ITA acquisition allows us to examine Google's behaviour and motivation.

Professor HB sent me a link to a discussion which is one of the more scholarly assessments of Google's behaviour. There is a lot of data you can find at The Googleopoly Site. I encourage you to spend some time looking at it

In particular download this presentation.

What is perhaps the most worrisome is that in every sector where Google has staked a claim it is either the dominant force or the major influencer.

The accepted notion of what constitutes a monopoly in both US Law (The Sherman Act) and European Community Law (Article 102) is as follows:

"A monopoly power is defined as the ability of a business to control a price within its relevant product market or its geographic market or to exclude a competitor from doing business within its relevant product market or geographic market. It is only necessary to prove the business had the "power" to raise prices or exclude competitors. The plaintiff does not need to prove that prices were actually raised or that competitors were actually excluded from the market.

Today, a general definition of a monopoly is where nearly all of one product type or service is owned by one person or group of people within a community or area. Thereby, the sole control of this product or service is given to one party to the elimination of all others within the marketplace."



Note that I am NOT a Lawyer and if someone seeks to take the issue further then I strongly suggest that that you should contact a professional attorney or law firm.

Google's perspective on domination was interesting in looking at the way Google acted in withdrawing from a product area. When it canned Google Wave - it freely admitted that despite reaching more than one million users that was not enough.

Thus for Google only domination is good enough. That my friends is a far cry from "do No Evil" - indeed my view is that sadly Google has forgotten how to do good.

What can be done - or what can Google do about it?

I believe the company should be split up. A breakup is the only effective way of curbing their domination. Our universal dependence on the Internet and Google's domination of the web give them unprecedented power to destroy and do evil.

My previous views can be seen here is several key posts.

http://t2impact.blogspot.com/2010/08/wsj-gets-its-headline-wrong-google.html
http://t2impact.blogspot.com/2010/08/google-on-future-will-it-all-be-good-in.html

Illustrations are Slides 8 and 27 from the Googleopoly VI presentation noted above.

Governments And Commerce.... Never a Good Combination - Terrible in Some Cases

The whole idea of improved security it designed to make the world an easier place for all travellers. In recent times this has resulted in a backup at the airport security which makes travel a far less pleasant place. By forcing everyone through the same pipe - you mix frequent travellers with newbies.

While everyone accepts the need for additional security screening - there has to be a better way of processing people than treating everyone the same way. There are several programs that support biometric scanners to allow a person who has submitted themselves to an external screening check to use the process.

The US program - called Global Entry - is not bad. improves the flow into the USA.

However their first partnership outside the USA is with the Dutch Privium Service called FLUX - which probably stands for something very bad and smelly... the poor passenger has to pay again through the nose for the service. Now they want 264 Euros.

Not exactly a great deal for saving a few mins at the security gate.

If only they could make it free or of higher value.

Oh I forgot this is the government we are talking about...

You have been warned - its not worth it. And judging by the deserted Privium lounge at Schiphol - the careful Dutch don't rate it either.

Cheers

WN WiFi... yes there are some planes flying

Yup that bulge is the WiFi from Row 44

Cheers

Airline Fees - Real Or Perceived Problem

I love to say that one should be very careful about wishing and wanting something. Be careful what you actually wish for because when it comes true - it might not be what you thought is was.... it reminds me of the 2009 Movie, where a preposterous proposition made for great comedy.

So it would seem is the case of the the pressure groups are are demanding action on the issue of "hidden" fees.

Let's distill the problem.

No one is disputing the airlines' right to charge fees. (Actually that is not true - many would like the airlines not to charge fees. And indeed if you ask anyone the loaded question "do you like fees" you know exactly the answer you are going to get.)

However there is a considerable pressure on the disclosure process of fees. Luddites don't like change.

But in this case they want to have everything delivered in the same manner as the traditional fares and pricing, despite the standard way of notification.

If I may QUOTE from the latest missive from BTC:

"If DOT issues a rule requiring airlines to submit data to travel intermediaries, the vast majority of problems emanating from ancillary fees would be fixed straightaway. Without the rule, we are facing perhaps years of inefficiency and untold attendant damage to managed travel programs. The ATPCO OC fare filing and ARC/BSP EMD processes that would put these fees into the marketplace and facilitate payment have been successfully tested by some 26 airlines and 3 distribution systems and are ready to go."

Not so fast hot shot. The Airlines already provide this information. The issue is NOT one of information provided it is of the execution of the information that is the issue.

Actually there are a number of issues. How do you display in the standard methodology of an agent's workflow the fees? How are they calculated and managed. These are not trivial matters. Having sat and used a GDS screen for more than 30 years I can tell you the amount of complexity is mind blowing to the average consumer. This is why there are so few good travel agents around. Also the technology to easily integrate is not trivial.

If it was just a question of providing the information for the GDSs to implement then this whole issue would be a non-event because they would have done it by bow!

Ancillary services delivered down the standard GDS pipe are NOT easy and the GDSs are having a hard time with it - EVERYONE is. Indeed I don't want anyone to think I am against the GDSs displaying the data - far from it - we all WANT them to do it. But forcing the airlines to disclose in a singular and homogenized fashion is not the answer.

So I say this - let the airlines and the agents do their job. If the GDSs are having a hard time getting to display things in the manner that the airlines want - then let them fix that with the airlines.

Raising the spectre of hidden fees at the airport is politely a load of Bull. The information is highly transparent and available everywhere. In exactly the same manner that the Airlines communicate with their travel agents and the GDSs do the same. The Web and the GDSs are complimentary. This has been the case for years.

Forcing everyone to use a GDSs to get their data - which seems to be the driving force of the Coalition against fees and BTC in particular - would seem to be self serving. What about all the other people who don't choose to use a GDS or an airline website? Are we now saying that this is the only way?

That hardly sounds like the American way.

So if the coalition really wants to prove their point - let them sit down with a Travel Agent and look at all the current complexity of work that an agent does. And where the agent goes for information. And what she/he does to address the challenges of dynamic product changes that are a hallmark of our business.

THEN if they truly feel that the agent is hard done by - perhaps then the Coalition should consider if the forcing of maximum disclosure actually makes a process harder rather than easier for the poor agent on the line that has to implement and do the work.

I doubt that anyone in the coalition has actually bothered to check this with an agent on the line - so perhaps those that are objecting should look inwards rather than trying to find a scapegoat.

Or perhaps the Coalition likes to stare at goats in order to make them fall down.

Cheers

Sunday Humour - Caution Frivolity Zone

Professor Eric sends me occasionally some interesting plays on words. As a Brit by birth - I love puns and word plays.

So here is his latest missive. These are just funny. For Americans this is where Yogi Berra used to shine. One of his more famous quotes was "The future sure ain't what it used to be".

So read and enjoy... cheers

Subject: A Paraprosdokian
A paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax. Some examples:

I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.

If I agreed with you we'd both be wrong.

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese
Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening', and then proceed to tell you why it isn't.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

I thought I wanted a career; turns out I just wanted pay checks.

A bank is a place that will lend you money, if you can prove that you don't need it.

Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says, "If an emergency, notify:" I put "DOCTOR".

I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

I saw a woman wearing a sweat shirt with "Guess" on it...so I said “Implants?"

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Why do Americans choose from just two people to run for President and 50 for Miss America ?

Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!

Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won't expect it back.

A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you will look forward to the trip.

Hospitality: making your guests feel like they're at home, even if you wish they were.

Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure.

When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.

You're never too old to learn something stupid.

To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit, the target.

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

Some people hear voices. Some see invisible people. Others have no imagination whatsoever.

A bus is a vehicle that runs twice as fast when you are after it as when you are in it.

If you are supposed to learn from your mistakes, why do some people have more than one child?

Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

with a top of the hat to Chris Kavas for the really bad image pun

Discipline Discipline - Key To Profitability

For veteran watchers of the airline business - the latest round of statistics from the US market which makes up the largest source market of travel - must be encouraging and even surprising.

The Professor has been digging into some detailed statistics evaluating the first half financials of the airlines and looking carefully at core data.

Airlines are on a roll and look like they are able to smooth out if not break the cycle of boom to bust.

Let's start with the boom. Almost all airlines have been sounding restrained in their comments regarding the state of their businesses. The common threads are as follows:

1. No double dip in the recession but dont expect a miraculous rise in traffic - this recovery is still very fragile.
2. No big advance in sales - with a few exceptions and across the board the traffic boost in first half of 2010 has been very slight perhaps a 1-2% advance in traffic (ATW says ASMs were flat but RPMs were up 1.6%).
3. with the exception of Southwest all airlines reported significant increase in Ancillary Revenues particularly bags and seats. Southwest while protesting that it is not implementing that it is doing fine without ancillaries is also reporting a significant uptick in its Business product sales which of course is - er - a bundled ancillary package.
4. International flights are reporting a mixed bag. Transatlantic was flat - Asia Pac is up and of course the smaller but growing Latam markets are continuing their 4th year of growth.

Seperate from the airlines reports I have been trying to match how the advance purchase as represented by ARC sales and the airlines flown passengers match up. Here we see something interesting. The market has moved out to a less advance purchase model. People are buying later. And paying for it....

Air travel costs soared from April onwards which caused the growth to slow but eventually the airlines only discounted a few of their total capacity seats and those discounts were relatively minor.

This means we are in for a bumper crop of airline Q3 results. The GDSs can also feel happy because as they continue their unbundling of their product their yields will rise.

What of the future?

The pressure is off the airline vs GDS battle - but its going to heat up again towards the end of the year. All eyes should be on the New United. Currently tied up in their fast track merger, once the dust settles - they must start to evaluate their distribution. Delta too must be thinking along the same lines. with #3 AA already making its moves - the other two cannot sit on their hands on this one.

And here now sits the conundrum of where the market will go. With the big 3 airlines occupying the space where the big 5 used to be - (and dont forget that WN has far less dependency on GDSs leaving only US and AS as in truth needing the GDS service), someone one day is going to wake up and say - wait a minute why am I paying for distribution when I own so much of the market.... and my occupancy levels are approaching max practical levels? There is that Abilene Paradox again...Discipline must move beyond the current capacity constraint across the airline infrastructure. With the added muscle that New United and New Delta have in the market, not taking advantage of this would be tantamount to admitting that airlines are still - less smart than we are giving them credit for. In the past it used to be an either or - Cojones or Brains. Why not both? Only time will tell who wins the next face off.

Cheers

Is Your Brand Better or Worse Off in a Social World?

Project Wander had a very interesting piece on a Twitter driven attack on Flight Centre.

Flight Centre fends off social media attacks

What is interesting is that there was little substance to the attack except for the use of an image of a tourist on an elephant. In that case then the same folks are likely to go after Meghan McCain (yes John’s daughter) for her book Dirty Sexy Politics

As Graham points out the Flight Centre social media team were on the case very quickly to thwart the attack.

So how do companies in general feel about the value or threat to their brands in a Social World? A good piece in eMarketer this week covered the issue nicely.


So be careful out there. The emergence of non-brands and the social based brands can have a profound effect on traditional and product based brands.

Yes you have been warned – you both need to think AND act on this one.

Cheers

This week’s …. A Few Thoughts - Voyeurism

This week the professor has started a round of rather long and extensive road trips that is going to keep me busy from now till Turkey Day (That’s Thanksgiving to those who are not familiar with American Pagan customs.) My thoughts have been turning to the amount of distraction. I am not sure if its just me but I am having a hard time engaging after the summer. Even though I have been back at full time work since the end of July – my work schedule generally becomes gets pretty busy come September rolls around. This year is no exception.

What seems to catch my eye is that I am eye distracted. I am not sure if I what is going on but I find my eyes wandering to everywhere except where they need to be.

I call this problem - Voyeurism – staring at the screen and all its distractions. So I have been just examining screens and come to the conclusion the efforts to monetize every inch of screen real estate is causing me ADD. I can imagine that it could be worse for other regular folks…

What do you think?


Photo Courtesy of Mr Pant

Boeing Goes Safe, Airbus goes...? Let's Ask Pratt And Whitney

Pratt & Whitney (US) President David Hess says Airbus and Boeing could make different decisions on whether or not to re-engine A320 and B737 respectively. This comes today when news reports are surfacing that Boeing is mulling 737NG+ instead of a 737RE. And this cuts to the heart of the difference between the aircraft designs. The 737 struggled to get the wide fans onboard. The newer A320 design already came with the wider chord engines as a baseline. So now for Boeing to RE with say one of P&Ws Power products then we are looking at a significant investment for the Chicago based planemaker.

So it just looks like the A320 which has been outselling its rival in recent years has greater legs.

I really feel that there is a great opportunity that Boeing has to drive a next gen solution rather than an upgrade.

Will they do it?

Nahhhhhhhhh they don't listen to me. So we are condemned to a lesser solution for another 10 years.

cheers

Google Launches Instant To Combat Charge Of Being Anti Green

The whisper campagn against Google's green credentials started a few years ago when a researcher doing his thesis stumbled on the idea of trying to figure out how much carbon is used in a Google search.

The Times of London and many other journals picked up the story and it went "viral" round the web last year. So there were some great headlines such as this one:

"Physicist Alex Wissner-Gross says that performing two Google searches uses up as much energy as boiling the kettle for a cup of tea"

However the Times was forced to post a correction on the exact nature of this story.

However ever since I read the story - it has fascinated me as to perhaps asking this fundamental question.

Is the use of the web actually good for the planet?

So with today's launch of Google Instant - perhaps we now know that Google wants to provide more information faster and its really quite impressive. We now get our crap results and junk faster.

Too bad the crap is still crap.

If only they would do something about the quality... then it would be a much more interesting debate.

Cheers

Farewell DC9s (at least the series 30)

So off they go into that great boneyard in the sky.

Delta is retiring its last DC9-30 series. The same size as the famous Flying Bunny.

Personally I hated them as being small and cramped... of course that was till I started flying on RJs....

Cheers old timer

"Dr Walsh? - Some Sick Patients to See You"

"Dr Walsh you have a Mr Gil Phaire, a Ms Mexi Cana and a rather regal looking Indian gentleman called Mr isher.

Which one would you like to see first?"

.... "Oh sorry - I didnt realize you were still on the phone... I will have them stand in the corner and wait - but its getting crowded in here. There is a very tall Swedish gentleman also outside - he says he desperately needs to talk to you first. I have to say he looks very thin

Cherio.... "

Hello! BA Here: We Want to Buy You...

"We don't have any money but we think you look attractive so lower your drawers and let us take you because we want to be the world's biggest airline and you should be pleased to become part of BA.

Hello?

Hello??

Hello???"


(Dial tone - fade to black....)

A Plea Deal for Bad Hair Day FA Slater? - Hell No Throw The Book At Him

OK so I am not normally motivated to write such things. But I read today that Steve Chute/Shoot Slater the jetBlue Flight Attendant who decided to have a bad hair day and risk life and limb of his co-workers is discussing a plea deal.

Hell NO - He Needs to have the book thrown at him.

Quote, Daniel Horwitz, Slater's attorney said "Mr. Slater wants to get on with his life, and that's why he resigned from his job voluntarily."

Damn it he committed multiple crimes and endangered life and he gets a plea deal?

What does that say about anyone else who has the same urge.

Bad - VERY bad

Direct or Not?

A really nice editorial on Travel Weekly this week from contributing editor Richard Turen. Well worth a read.

Its good to remember why some people do things.In the direct and fees battle its always good to remember that there are some people who really do good - for good's sake.

And FYI the company he pointed out but didn't identify was Best Western - their contractor was Unicor.

Long may that be the case.

Cheers


Image courtesy of JELF.

Are You REALLY Mad About Airline Fees?

I like to think I am a balanced person. And here is a chance (on Labour Day when I am working) for me to show you how balanced I can be.

A new coalition of those who despise Airline Fees has a new website out. And they having a "Mad As Hell Day" September 23rd.

So far they are being less than subtle about it. Drafting dubious questionnaires in support of their position. However it is their right to do it and I am going to publicize their petition.

I would draw your attention to their privacy policy...

Privacy Policy

"Any information you provide on this page will be used to register your concerns regarding hidden airline fees with elected officials and government agencies. We will never use your e-mail address to send you advertisements or other marketing mails, nor will we sell your e-mail to any outside organizations. We may, at times, use your e-mail to deliver information to you on the issue of hidden fees or on other timely policy matters of interest to travelers. If you do not wish to receive those occasional e-mails, you may unsubscribe at any time via a link on the mail. If you submit a hidden fee story, we will not use your full name or contact information in connection with that story unless you authorize us to do so. We may, however, use any stories submitted on this site on an anonymous (first name and location only) basis to promote this issue in the media, on the web site, in advertisements or through governmental submissions."

Actually this is not correct and they are telling a rather large fib. Because there is no place to register my individual concerns about the issue. Further I am still not happy about the very biased questionnaire that the same team has put up. I wrote about this a few weeks ago. Have a look at my post on the subject.

While I support the right of the individual to protest - they should do it fairly.

I don't actually like airline fees. There I said it... however I firmly believe that Airline Ancillary Service Fees are the appropriate way to allow address the way an airline can offer me a personalized product. I feel empowered by the way its covered and I can now decide what I want and wish to pay for ... AND those I don't want.

So what do you think? If you want to go and register your opinion you can do so directly. The formal rule making proposal document can be downloaded from the DoT here.

For those of you from Georgia (the State not the Country) who farm peanuts - you might want to pay close attention to page 2 where the following statement is made:

In addition, the Department is considering several
measures, including banning the serving of peanuts on commercial airlines, to provide greater
access to air travel for the significant number of individuals with peanut allergies.

If you have a specific complaint then file it appropriately directly here.

Just tell them the Professor Sabena sent you.

Cheers




With acknowledgement to MGM for the image of the cast of one of the best movies ever made.

Amadeus Retreating From Competing With Its Customers - Bye Bye Opodo?

Hot on the heels of a story I did last month on Sabre pulling out of non-core businesses and ending the practice of competing with its customers now comes word that Amadeus is doing something akin.

So either Amadeus is finally giving up on its poor orphan child that it inherited from its some times owners (big EU airlines) or its decided that Opodo needs a new home. At the least Amadeus might start to look more attractive to the big OTAs. It has recently beefed up its search offerings (Masterpricer et al).

Reports have been circulating for a few weeks of a "major OTA" on the block. Actually Opodo doesn't quite fit those shoes. Since the story is now out - I can comment on it.

Opodo has never quite lived up to its hype. It's books were made to look pretty good (ie that they were not losing money) in recent years - but it is not a business that will set the world on fire. Rather like its counterpart in Asia - Zuji that is a little more successful comparatively speaking.

The US based similar business - Orbitz - burst on the scene and became a monster success initially. It was hived off by the airlines (who started it under the code name of T2 after a popular Consulting firm of a similar name - or a movie that came out around that time with a then future Governor as its lead actor). It landed in the Blackstone stable of businesses. It seems to be getting a little more healthy under new CEO (and ex-Expedia man) Barney Harford.

Now that Amadeus has to submit to the discipline of the markets - it is taking a hard look at its stable of disparate businesses and clearly deciding that some of them belong elsewhere.

So probably time to put this dog out the door. Will Travelport now be looking to do the same on their side and dump their holding in Orbitz and some other products/services.

Hey this new found religion might actually be good for the market.

Cheers

Death By Personalization and Bad Cookies

For some unknown reason - I am now trapped in Spokane.

I have not been to GEG in many years - it is hope to Gonzaga University and is probably a nice place (except in the peak of winter).

But now I have been trying to test some new websites and many of them think I am in Spokane.

So to everyone who thinks I am in Spokane... I am not.

Thanks - you are now free to go about your business

Chill Out Everyone on Ryanair's FA/Pilot Idea...

OK so read on...

There is a huge hue and cry over the proposal from Mr O'Leary on replacing the second pilot in a 737.

So let's analyze the issue and be sure we all understand it.

Let's deal with the current regulations. Cockpit distraction is a problem. So there is indeed a regulation that covers this. In 1981 the FAA enacted FAR 121.542 and FAR 135.100 to help curb the number of accidents related to cockpit distraction or interference. Commonly known as the "sterile cockpit rule," these regulations specifically prohibit crew member performance of non-essential duties or activities while the aircraft is involved in taxi, takeoff, landing, and all other flight operations conducted below 10,000 feet MSL, except cruise flight. NASA has some interesting details on this.

The issue of cockpit distraction achieved a lot of attention after the two Northwest Pilots overflew their destination which chatting about non-flying issues. In the past few years other examples of distraction of a different sort has emerged with a video of 2 pilots on board a French Airliner interacting with a Stewardess. If you want to find it - go look at the Sun UK news paper.

The Ryanair's CEO perspective is that on short flights the need for the second pilot is not great and during the critical moments when a second pilot is required a flight attendant can perform that function.

In all hoopla people have not dealt with the issue which is that there is nothing to prevent this. IF.... the Flight Attendant is a fully qualified person to engage in cockpit activity and then is able to fulfill other functions - why not?

Of course it is a little silly as which pilot qualified and current rated person would ever want to be hired as a FA? However stranger things have happened, Just this past June such an incident happened when a pilot on board an AA flight became incapacitated. Just by chance a pilot trained (but not current) Flight Attendant was among the crew. 61 year old Patti De Luna assisted in the process of landing an AA 767 in Chicago O'Hare - not one of the easiest airports in the world.

The simplest an easiest way to view it - is that as long as safety is not compromised then there should be no commercial reason as to why this could not be the case.

But since that is neither practical nor commercially viable - the idea is not going anywhere. So people - just chill out!

Cheers

A Few Moments....The Worst Way To Fly?

I am going to start an occasional series on the Professor's blog. It will be entitled a Few Moments....

I will write about a number of things - mostly in a moment of whimsy.

I hope you will enjoy them. Feel free to contribute ideas for me to write on. Today's first one is about airline safety. As regular readers note I fly a lot. So this is a matter very close and dear to me.

According to data presented the worst case is if you fly on Aeroflot in August between the USA and Russia on a DC9. Since there has never been such a flight this makes the chances pretty remote. But what about survivability.


I love information. Data is also up there. I love looking for themes and trends in data sets.

I have been reading through some of the work of David McCandless.

So here is an interesting view of where the safest place is to sit on a plane based on survivor statistics.

Personally I always chose somewhere near the wingbox and hopefully where the fuselage is strongest. But if your time is up - its up!

I love this stuff....

Cheers



Here is the license terms location for the display of this image.

JetBlue to Slater - Later Dude....

Jetblue has confirmed that "Chute/Shoot" Slater is no longer employed with the airline. The "seperation" was completed last week, he had been taken off flying duty immediately after the incident and placed on what the Brits call "Gardening Leave".

Slater has pleaded not guilty to charges the charges filed so far of reckless endangerment and criminal mischief -- both felonies -- and criminal trespass. If convicted, he could face a maximum of seven years in prison. Slater has a court appearance scheduled for Tuesday.

He could still be charged with various offences under the jurisdiction of Homeland Security.

Search: Garbage In = Garbage Out Squared.

Do you ever wonder if the results you get from a Google Search or good or bad? I am probably very frustrated as a user and no different from others in that the way I get my results makes me have to work very hard to get to that nugget of data I am searching.

Anti "Gaming" the system for some is considered sport and a natural human behaviour, except it becomes necessary to do it to avoid getting junk results - or at the very least reducing the junk results to a manageable number. I long ago gave up trying to get great results. All of which takes up some of the most precious commodity I have available to me - namely time.

Since Google (and indeed others) who are engaged in search result delivery don't hold themselves up to a standard of providing the best possible results, we get what we pay for. IE we don't pay for it so we get garbage.

Google's results as well as the others - appear to be "good enough". For the billions of users.

However I come from a background of market research where you had to go and do a LOT of researching to get the right nugget of information. IE I am classically trained in research. This helps me get better results. What concerns me is that the newer users on the web have no such background. Probably can't use a classical reference book. Have no idea how to use a library etc etc.

And this is my point. Garbage in Garbage Squared out. Lord Help us if we have to use such a tool base for complex stuff like lowest fares.

Yuk..................

So How Do You Feel About Google Verizon Proposal?

I posted the poll a few weeks ago and the results were as expected given my audience.

Most people 83% who responded to the poll said they were against the Google Verizon, only a small group said they had no clue…

People are clearly pretty upset about it. As no one voted for either "Benign" or "Haven't got a clue", as options.

Cheers