Southwest Airlines gets a lot of credit for its low-fee service, but Continental has been bucking one trend for years in order to give passengers something extra. The Houston-based carrier still provides in-flight meals for free, even in coach and on domestic flights.
The Houston Chronicle has an interesting story on the airline's decision to keep cooking.
In a filing with the SEC this afternoon, Houston-based Continental Airlines said Hurricane Ike cost the carrier about $50 million in the third quarter.
"This is a preliminary estimate and the actual adverse impact of the hurricane may differ from this estimate based on a number of factors, including insurance recoveries and how quickly traffic returns at the carrier's Houston hub," the filing states.
Continue reading "Ike's price tag for Continental: $50 million" »
Southwest Airlines has canceled flights to and from Corpus Cristi Airport and Harlingen Valley Airport for Friday and Saturday in anticipation of Hurricane Ike making landfall. Travelers planning to fly on those days should contact the carrier to reschedule.
And if you're flying at all from Austin, Corpus Cristi, Harlingen, Houston Hobby or San Antonio through Sept. 15, you can rebook your fare for a later date (within 14 days) at no extra charge. And if you do decide to fly, make sure to check the status of your flight before heading to the airport.
The airline's travel advisory page can be found here.
American, Continental and most other airlines are also waiving change fees for passengers traveling through affected areas during the hurricane. American's hurricane travel updates can be found here, and Continental's are available here. If you're flying AirTran, you can find information here.
Continental said this morning that it will drop year-round service to Gatwick Airport in London, while adding a third daily flight from New York to the city's Heathrow Airport. American made a similar move earlier this year, switching its D/FW-London flight to Heathrow from Gatwick.
"Our customers have shown a clear preference for Heathrow, and our main competitors have focused their operations there," said Jim Compton, Continental's executive vice president marketing, in a news release. "We regret the need to end year-round operations at Gatwick, but it is imperative that we remain competitive and continue to meet the needs of our customers."
Regular readers probably know that availability of service to Heathrow is one of the sticking points that has prevented American and British Airways from winning anti-trust immunity on service across the Atlantic in the past. I have no doubt that the folks at both airlines will point to Continental's move today as an example to bolster their case that Heathrow has indeed become a competitive airport.
Continental, which had been one of the holdouts on charging to check a first bag, announced this morning that it will implement a $15 fee on the first piece of luggage checked by coach passengers. Like most other carriers, the fee will be waived for passengers flying first or business class, elite members of its frequent flier plan, travelers who bought full fare tickets and a few others.
As expected, Continental Airlines and eight other Star Alliance airlines filed an application with the DOT today asking for Continental to receive the same anti-trust immunity held by the other carriers.
Continental is leaving the SkyTeam alliance to join United Airlines in Star. It also rejected a proposal to join American Airlines and British Airways in the Oneworld alliance.
Continue reading "Continental petitions for immunity with Star Alliance" »
US Airways and Northwest Airlines, seeking to pare capacity because of rising fuel costs, won U.S. permission to suspend some China flights without losing rights to fly there later, Bloomberg News reports.
U.S. airlines are collectively cutting 20,000 jobs and parking 430 planes to shrink operations after jet-fuel prices doubled in the past year. Carriers need U.S. approval to cut limited-entry international routes or they risk losing those flights to rivals when the economy improves.
US Airways, which last year won permission for its first China flight, requested the one-year delay in May.
The Tempe, Arizona-based carrier said fuel costs made the flight “uneconomic” during 2009. Northwest, which said in April it would suspend Guangzhou all-cargo flights this month, had sought permission to resume the service “as warranted by fuel and economic conditions” any time through March 25, 2011.
The seven carriers sought waiver authority last month without saying how many international routes they may trim or for how long. The agency said it rejected the blanket waiver because each limited-entry market is different.
-- Scott Nishimura
American and Continental have joined in the latest round of fare increases, according to FareCompare.com, both adding $20 to $40 round-trip. U.S. Airways and Northwest are still on the fence.
As it announced its own steep cuts today, Continental Airlines also said that CEO Larry Kellner and president Jeff Smisek will forego their salaries for the remainder of the year, and give up any bonuses they would have received under the company's annual incentive plan.
The move surely caused some heads to explode at union offices around American Airlines. We quickly received an email from Karl Schricker, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, making the comparison to the stock bonuses accepted in April by American's executive team:
Continental and Southwest have leaders, AMR has bean counters. Continental announces cuts and their leaders decline pay and bonuses. AMR announces cuts and the next day quietly file 250% increases in bonuses with lower triggers.
Major carriers dropped fares by as much as $30 roundtrip largely on routes where they compete against Southwest Airlines.
But the up-to-$60 roundtrip airfare hike initiated by United Airlines Thursday, and matched by American, Delta, Northwest, Continental and US Airways over the weekend, "is still holding steady," Rick Seaney of farecompare.com reports Monday.
None of the fare cuts Sunday night "drastically changed" the matching on United's fare hike, Seaney said.
"Typically, of most airfare hikes this year, the legacy airlines have been very cautious about increasing on those routes with heavy competition," Seaney said. "Additionally, airlines continue to discount -- most for travel on off-peak travel days (Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday), firing out short duration sales which are almost always matched by competitors."
Here's Seaney's summary of Sunday's fare activity:
United's fare hike was the 16th attempted by airlines this year. Twelve have been successful.
-- Scott Nishimura
