Downgraded: Airtran
Airtran has been slapped with a $500,000 fine for failing to assist disabled passengers and further failing to respond adequately to complaints between 2007 and 2009.

Upgraded: Ubiquity of inflight wifi
Aircell, which markets inflight wifi under the Gogo brand name, has installed hotspots in its 1000th plane. Delta is closest to the finish line, with 527 out of 549 planes installed.

Upgraded: Bling
For those who’ve wondered what it’s like in the absolute highest-end (widebody) luxury jets, consider this slideshow of photographs by Nick Gleis, “who photographs the pimped up private jets that belong African dictators and other heads of state.” Enjoy the ultra-tacky comfort!

Business class fare sales are like clockwork, at least in the northern hemisphere: You’ll see one fare sale for mid-summer travel, and one for December. In both cases, business travel slows significantly as people take time off and spend it with family. In both cases, airlines respond (often proactively) by slashing business class fares.

Take Continental’s latest fare sale to Europe, for example. It’s notable for being early. Summer isn’t over yet, and we’re seeing late summer and early winter biz sales.

The fares are solid, such as $1272 from Newark to London roundtrip, $1370 to Paris, or $1420 to Frankfurt.

Dates?

1. Depart November 21 through 27, 2010, returning November 25 through December 1, 2010.
2. Depart December 20, 2010 through January 7, 2011, returning December 24, 2010 through January 13, 2011.

The fine print has both good news and bad news. Bad news: fuel surcharges. Good news: You can fly airlines other than Continental, such as Lufthansa. (Continental is rolling out upgraded flat seats in their “BusinessFirst” class, but the rollout is far from complete as of this writing.)

Fares listed do not include fuel surcharge. Round-trip travel required. Advance purchase of at least 21 days required and must be ticketed within 72 hours of booking. A minimum three-night stay is required. Fares are nonrefundable and require a $400 change fee. Not combinable with any other fares. Other restrictions apply. Offers are only valid for flights on Continental, Air Canada, Lufthansa and United. December travel period excludes flights to Bristol, Delhi, Mumbai and Tel Aviv.

Continental may be early on this, but other airlines are bound to follow suit. And there’s always the all-premium class OpenSkies connection from Newark or DC to Paris, which is currently running $1530 roundtrip fares, but that’s likely to go lower as we enter fall…

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What a whirlwind for Mexicana, and their passengers: The airline entered bankruptcy, got bought by an alliance of investors and pilots, and shut down completely, all in the space of a month. And while the subsidiaries Mexicana Click (a discount airline) and Mexicana Link (a regional airline affiliate) were spared at first, they’re down for the count too.

Mexicana was once the largest airline in the country, so this is a major fall from grace. But regardless of the grandeur of it all, this affects a lot of people.

So how are their competitors responding? What are other airlines doing for stranded Mexicana passengers? Here’s a rundown for travel within Mexico and North America.

Mexico-based airlines:

Aeromexico
Passengers holding a Mexicana ticket issued on August 27 or earlier can fly standby on Aeromexico, if they are at the airport four hours in advance and pay a ticketing fee that varies according to destination. For example, a one-way flight to/from the US will run you $269-289. Intra-Mexican routes vary according to scheduled flight time, from 1599 to 2299 MXN. See their complete “passenger protection program.”

Volaris
Mexico’s main discount airline is offering “discounted” replacement fares for affected customers, but their website is mum about details.

Interjet
Intra-Mexican routes vary according to route, from 1399 to 1899 MXN. The published rules are vague.

U.S. based airlines:

American Airlines
Fellow oneWorld alliance member American is offering 20% discounts on replacement fares:

American and American Eagle are offering a special 20 percent discount off any published fare for customers holding tickets for confirmed bookings on cancelled Mexicana flights. Under this offer, effective today, American and American Eagle will replace a customer’s current travel itinerary with a new confirmed ticket to their original destination. Changes to the closest airport served by American or American Eagle are permitted only if American or American Eagle does not fly into the original destination. This offer is only valid for travel on American and American Eagle between the U.S. and Mexico within seven days of the original travel dates. Travel must be completed by Oct. 28, 2010. Tickets must be issued by Sept. 5, 2010.

Continental
$100 standby tickets — this is the best offer out there right now — but only through September 4:

Continental is offering Mexicana Airlines customers affected by the service suspension the ability to purchase a non-refundable standby ticket for $100 each way (plus applicable taxes) as long as their tickets were purchased on or before August 28, 2010 with travel scheduled through September 4, 2010. To purchase a standby ticket, present your Mexicana Airlines ticket to a Continental Airlines Ticket Counter representative at your departure airport.

Delta
Delta seems to be offering very little in the way of options:

Delta has terminated its ticketing and baggage agreement with Mexicana Airlines due to suspension of their operations. All reservations made and ticketed prior to August 28, 2010 will be honored as issued. Refunds are permitted if booked on Mexicana operated flight but ticketed under a Delta flight number. Please contact Reservations at 1-800-221-1212 for any questions.

United
… crickets chirping … I guess they’re letting future merger partner Continental carry the weight.

US Airways
US Airways isn’t giving much, but will accept electronic tickets issued by Mexicana if they included a US Airways flight. But paper tickets? “Customers without electronic tickets can purchase a new ticket on US Airways at the lowest available fare.” This is a first for me: that an electronic ticket is more easily transferable than an e-ticket. (Weird!) Other US Airways possibilities: “If a customer was originally ticketed on US Airways for travel on Mexicana Airlines and Mexicana Click, US Airways will offer a refund on any unused portion of the ticket or assist in obtaining a reservation on a US Airways flight to the final destination.” This is not much help.

Bottom line:
It looks like Continental is the way to go if flying from/to the US. If you’re within Mexico, Aeromexico has the network and breadth, but Interjet has the best replacement fares

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Southwest has agreed to lease 18 take-off/landing slot pairs at Newark Airport from United and Continental. The deal is a function of the CO-UA merger, which, if it were approved without conditions, would solidify Continental’s grip on Newark.

Bringing Southwest into Newark is a big deal. Southwest hasn’t flown to a New York airport yet (correction: they have had flights from LGA to Chicago and Baltimore since June 2009… sorry about that!) — and no, their flights to Islip, NY are not New York City. It’s a major move into a huge market, and it’s to Newark, which is arguably the easiest and most convenient airport to access from Manhattan, despite being in New Jersey.

Especially if it goes above and beyond these initial slots, Southwest’s presence will mean lower fares at all the NYC airports, so New Yorkers can look forward to the greater competition.

No word yet on the specific routes Southwest will fly out of Newark, once it starts up.

Update: Just hours after the announcement related to Newark slots, United and Continental received clearance from the US Dept of Justice, paving the way for the finalization of their merger. Stockholder approval is still required, but the two airlines are expected to be merged into one company by October 1, 2010. Ta-daaaa.

Airfare forecasting has never been an exact science, but at least economists are trying to make it more precise. From the Observer:

An economist, Makoto Watanabe, has calculated that the optimum time to buy an airline ticket is eight weeks in advance of flying.

His yet-to-be-published findings also suggests that airline tickets are cheaper when purchased in the afternoons, rather than the mornings, prompting him to speculate that airlines are assuming business travellers will book their tickets at work in the morning on the company account, whereas leisure travellers are more likely to book from home in the afternoon.

The eight-week result stems from work published in the latest edition of the Economic Journal in which Watanabe and his colleague, Marc Möller, offer intimidating equations such as ?A = gUG + min(k – g, (1 – g)(1 – r)) as part of the complex formula, where ? equals profit, that determines advance ticket purchases.

The eight-weeks-in-advance rule is plausible, though even then it’s more likely a rule of thumb than a rule as such.

It’s also potentially geographically limited in its validity: If the study was based on flights originating in London, then eight weeks may be the sweet spot for London travelers. But not necessarily for every market.

The buy-later-in-the-day guidance may be more problematic. Recall the myth that buying Wednesday at midnight is the best time to buy airline tickets? This is a variation on that theme.

Finding the cheapest fare is much like picking the precise bottom for a stock. You’re better off trying to buy cheap (I like the email alerts from FareCompare.com for finding fares that are below the norm), not trying to pick the bottom.

(hat tip to Budget Travel)

Reader Leslie writes in:

Did you see the news about Google adding free phone calls to Gmail chat? Will this mean we’ll be listening to more conversations on flights with wifi?

Google is indeed expanding its Google Voice product to the instant messenger built into Gmail.

But will the rollout of voice chat mean that you’ll find dozens of passengers screaming into their laptops? I doubt it.

Fears — including my own — that passengers are going to use the internet connection to use voice and video chat ad nauseam have not panned out.

True, Skype is blocked on most airlines, but there have been plenty of workarounds and alternate methods of making calls. And frankly, it hasn’t seemed like much of a problem. The cabin hasn’t turned into a big chatfest in my experience.

In part, that’s because of a low acceptance rate of inflight wifi — maxing out between 5 and 10% per enabled flight in one estimate. Blame the cost of the service — which isn’t necessarily crazy-high, but high enough to dissuade buyers — plus the lack of sufficient power supply and tight space constraints.

If the ubiquity of wi-fi hasn’t created an inflight cacophony of chatter, then I don’t think Gmail with voice chat will, either.