I went to DFW Airport this afternoon to see a family member off on their flight home.  Since I was there, I decided to visit the Founder’s Plaza viewing center and take some photos with my new (to me) Olympus SP-550UZ camera.  It has a 18X optical zoom (equivalent to 28mm to 504mm 35mm lens) and a great reputation for its dual image stabilization.

Before anything else, let me comment on these photos.  First, this was my first practice run and there are some not so good ones.  Second, there are some worth pointing out as well. 

• It still excites me to catch a photo of tire smoke as an airplane lands.
• American Airline’s Susan G. Komen EMB-145 is one that I caught but, sadly, slightly out of frame.  When I shot it, I didn’t notice the pink ribbon or I would have shot another photo. 
• United Airlines has some of the dirtiest aircraft out there now and it is likely it isn’t noticed too much because they have that truly awful paint scheme to distract you from it.
• I got an AA B777 accidentally.  I literally just pointed and shot the photos without knowing what it was at first.
• The Alaska Airlines B737-900 is my family member departing.
• ATR-72 aircraft are very frequent visitors into DFW now.
• That Anubis Statue is still a very strange thing to have at Founder’s Plaza particularly since it was placed there to advertise the Dallas Museum of Art’s King Tut exhibit and it would do a far better job placed at the north or south entrance of the airport.
• DFW is still one of the more boring locations for airplane spotting simply because of the ubiquitous AA MD-80s.

So, without further ado, here are the PHOTOS.

Filed under: Airplane Spotting, Airports by ajax
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The Dallas Morning News Airline Biz Blog is reporting that they have placed a 25 foot tall statue of the Egyptian god Anubis at their new Founders Plaza airplane watching area.  Anubis is the god of the dead with a body of a human and the head of a jackal. 

There is no doubt in mind that whoever at the DFW airport board decided that this was a good idea will shortly be looking for new careers on Monster.Com.  I’m pretty sure you don’t want to put the god of the dead from any culture anywhere near where people are about to take off on an aircraft.

Filed under: Airports by ajax
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I have a family member who will be flying to the DFW area on December 24th.  She lives in the PDX (Portland, OR) area and it has been snowing for several days now.  A weather forecast check reveals that it might still be snowing there on December 24th, her departure date.

Now, I first inquired as to whether or not the PDX airport ever closes for snow.  It turns out that they do not do so very often.  You see, PDX is nearly at sea level (next to the Columbia River) and it remains pretty warm down there so it’s quite easy to keep the flights moving.  However, this family member lives in the Southwest hills of Portland where the altitude is much higher.  In Portland, it is quite possible for the street conditions to be much worse in the hills than it is down by the river.  In fact, this family member has seen more than enough snow at her altitude that she hasn’t been able to drive her car both because of the snow as well as the icy conditions on steep roads.   PDX Airport has had little or no delays during that same time.

So, she might need a backup plan.  That might be simply taking a cab (most cabs will have chains or traction devices or at least be of sufficient size to navigate the roads safely) or an airport shuttle.   Another backup plan might include having someone drive her to an airport hotel the day before when it is possible to navigate the roads.  The real dilemma, however, is that it may be quite possible for her to be snowed in but for airplanes to continue to take off.  How do you think an airline might treat her non-arrival for the flight? 

Most likely, they may let her change her travel date but with a substantial charge.   She is flying a legacy airline (Continental) and they do charge for changing travel dates and that change is subject to availability *and* the difference in the cost on that leg.  Such a change could quite literally run to several hundred dollars more.

Not many people are faced with such a situation around the country.  At least few do in most major cities.  Yet, watching the weather and having a backup plan can save you hundreds of dollars too.  Airlines don’t have a lot of sympathy for the reason of your delays.   Their outlook is most likely to be determined on whether or not they could take off, not how the weather might be affecting your ability to get to the airport.  Plan ahead and save money.

Filed under: Travel Hints by ajax
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USA Today’s Today in the Sky Blog is reporting that Australian news outlets are now writing about an imminent announcement that Delta will begin flying from Los Angeles to destinations in Australia.  Such destinations likely begin with Sydney and add Melbourne and/or Brisbane. 

If true, this will mean that Delta will be the first airline to fly regular scheduled routes to all 6 inhabited continents in the world since Pan American Airlines.  More important, it means competition for QANTAS, V Australia and United Airlines.  

Currently, QANTAS is by far the main leader in that market flying Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A-380 aircraft.  It has been said that about 1/5 of their net profit comes from such routes.  V Australia, an international arm of Australia’s Virgin Blue, was originally scheduled to begin flying Boeing 777-300ER’s in December but had to slip the start to February 2009 due to Boeing’s labor strike this past fall.  United Airlines flies the same routes regularly with 747-400 aircraft that by many accounts are worn and tired and certainly not offering the service options the other two do.

It seems that Delta, if it does fly the route, is planning to use 777-200LR aircraft that are very capable of flying the distances as well as carrying a full load of cargo while doing it.  Ironically, the 777 was originally designed with QANTAS in mind although they never ordered any of the aircraft.  Indeed, with optional fuel tanks and a light cargo load, it is said that the 777-200LR might be capable of flying from Atlanta to Sydney regularly although it is highly unlikely that this will happen.  A more likely choice might be a late build 787-800 which Delta will be receiving as a function of purchasing Northwest Airlines.

This kind of competition is not want any legacy carriers on this route want.  Delta is operating with relatively low labor costs, new aircraft that are the most efficient available for long haul routes and they have a new network (from their merger with Northwest Airlines) that will feed the aircraft to capacity loads.    If Delta does launch this service, look for United Airlines to withdraw from the market.  They are the airline that lacks both the service product and fresh aircraft to compete.  

Filed under: Airline News, Airline Service by ajax
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The Today in the Sky Blog is reporting that Frontier has rolled out a new pricing model on their website today.   The airline is an all coach service but now they are differentiating that service with the designations “Economy” (primarily a Southwest Airlines emulation but you pay for your luggage), Classic ( a reserved seat and DirecTV and no luggage fees) and Classic Plus (Classic with a snack).  There are other benefits and restrictions with each class.

While I do believe that product differentiation is the way to go for airlines in the future, I’m not sure this is differentiated enough to offer a customer a choice.  Yes, service and amenities grow as you pay more and that’s good but look at the Today in the Sky’s story and examine the pricing.  I’m not sure you are getting enough differentiation for the price differences charged. 

A coach passenger is buying on price, primarily and to make the product differentiated enough to entice the passenger into a higher price requires something substantive.  Is it DirecTV and a snack?  I suspect not.  I suspect that DirecTV is worth about $10 to the passenger and a snack is worth maybe $8.00.   Free checked baggage?  Well, for Frontier that might be a mistake since Southwest, their major competitor, already offers free checked baggage.  They don’t offer more legroom but their other major competitor, United Airlines, does and for a price differentiation that really might be a better deal.

Filed under: Airline News, Airline Seating, Airline Service by ajax
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USA Today’s Roger Yu is reporting that Los Angeles Airport, LAX, has now opened a new pay per use lounge for passengers. For $25, a passenger can use these facilities for 3 hours and enjoy free snacks, drinks, Wi-Fi and business services. The new lounge is located in the Tom Bradley International Terminal.

This is, without a doubt, an excellent idea and a feature many airports could use.  It combines great value with great convenience and service.

Filed under: Airports by ajax
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This was written earlier today by my friend, Dave “Rigger” Vick, who is currently touring with the musical, A Chorus Line.  He reads this blog and since he has been experiencing a variety of travel scenarios for the past several months, we talk often about the challenges in aircraft, airports and airlines. 

So here’s some wacky fun…

 

When you fly out of Lester Pearson International Airport in Toronto to a destination in the USA, once you’ve checked in and collected your
boarding pass you have to go through US Customs & Immigration
Pre-Screening, inside the airport, which you might think is still
inside the City of Toronto in the Province of Ontario in the nation of
Canada…

 

But you’d be wrong.  Very wrong…

 

The line to get up to the pre-screening agents is in fact Canada, and
you can enter and leave the line as much as you wish – and they tell
you that, too – *until* you have passed through the pre-screening and
been cleared by the USCI agent there.  Now you are *technically* no
longer in Canada, and if you need to return to the terminal for any
reason, you are required to go through Canadian Customs &
Immigration…

 

However, the next stop after the pre-screen, on the way to your gate,
is the Canadian equivalent of the TSA security screening checkpoint,
which is *not* run by US-TSA agents, but by their Canadian
counterparts, and since the USA does not permit foreign nationals to
run its securty apparatus, ergo, you are *technically* not on US
territory, either.

 

You’re not in Canada… You’re not in the US…  You’re in No-Man’s Land.

 

So what happens when you happen to be, say for the sake of discussion,
the assistant carpenter-slash-rigger of a touring Broadway show,
leaving Canada after 35 days to return to the US for your next
itinerary stop, with your knapsack full of necessary tools; say for
instance two Motorola walkie-talkies, a PLS laser, a Leica Disto laser
rangefinder, a roll of 3″ wide gaffer’s tape, a roll of 2″ wide clear
Jalar tape, an assortment of measuring tapes, a soapstone marker in
its holder, a Pentel paint marker, a laptop computer, and a 9v-powered
Screamin’ Meanie, and consequently the security agent manning the
X-ray machine sends up all sorts of red flags and bells and whistles?

 

You sweat, my friend… You sweat, is what you do.

 

That was about the most nerve-wracking thirty minutes of my life,
trying to explain to a very flint-eyed Canadian woman exactly why I
was carrying all of that drek through from YYZ to BWI at 6:30am this
past Monday. She wasn’t having it, but there was apparently nothing
she point to that was blatantly enough evidence to get me into
rubber-glove-up-the-butt screening, so she had to settle for making me
squirm.

 

Filed under: Airports, Trivia by ajax
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Also on The Onion is this report about John Madden and his fear of airplanes.

I quote:

“Airliners have a not unreasonable fear that, were John Madden to board them, it would increase their chances of crashing,” said FAA administrator Robert A. Sturgell, reading from the report.

Filed under: Airline News, Trivia by ajax
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The Onion, a humour and satire website and newspaper, is reporting on American Airlines and new charges this morning.  Enjoy.

Filed under: Airline News, Trivia by ajax
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Runway Girl is reporting today on Embraer’s new slimline seat they are planning to install in the E-170/190 jets.   The new seat will either allow airlines to increase knee to seatback distance for more comfort or maintain the existing configuration and add more seats. 

In short haul markets such as Europe, it will likely mean increased seating density with some E-jets likely having as much as 118 seats.  However, in the United States, it probably will mean increased seat comfort as most airlines are using these aircraft for long stages rather than high density short haul routes.  The longer these planes fly, the less weight they can carry.

Filed under: Airline News, Airline Seating by ajax
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