MaxJet’s fatal flaw?
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Last week, I mentioned MaxJet and Eos, two new all-business class carriers on the New York to London route. Both fly to Stansted Airport, instead of Heathrow or Gatwick. MaxJet is also expanding to the Washington-Dulles to London-Stansted route starting March 15.
The lowest NYC-London fare (with restrictions) on MaxJet comes to $1492 with taxes. (Eos’ lowest fare is currently $3048, and requires a weekend stay and 30-day advance purchase.) According to a recent New York Times profile, both players are aggressively courting investment banks and other large premium-cabin customers.
But the MaxJet seat may be a deal-breaker for the business traveler. Sure, it’s more comfortable than coach, and this glowing (and detailed!) trip report of the inaugural flights describes a nice cabin service.
But the seat has one major weakness: No power. This means you’re at the mercy of your laptop battery if you plan to do any work on the flight. Eos, in contrast, offers regular AC power outlets at their seats. All the major airlines offer power at their seats, though they often require an adapter.
This is probably more important on the west-bound segment than the overnight east-bound trip, but even so, how many investment bankers do you know who AREN’T working inflight?
MaxJet seems to be trying to position itself at the upper end of coach and at the bottom end of business class. But it doesn’t sound like they really mean business.
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March 19th, 2006 at 3:01 pm |
Did you ask one of the Flight Attendants about recharging? There are outlets on their planes, and anyone of the cabin crew is more than willing to recharge a battery for you.
If this is your idea of the “fatal flaw” then in my opinion you’re very short sighted.
Your right MAXjet has taken the lo/hi approach between business and coach, and have done it with certain flare. You didn’t mention the customer focused attitude or the unwaivering service of their cabin crews.
There’s more to Maxjet than a plug in for a laptop. BTW..by simply asking a Flight Attendant, my laptop was taken for re-charge and bought back to my seat within 30 mins.
March 21st, 2006 at 7:47 pm |
As someone whose laptop battery mysteriously ran out on a commuter train the other evening, this would be a “fatal flaw” not to have it on biz class flight. A $7 train ticket for under an hour trip, no big deal. But a $750 ticket for a 6 hour trip–going to a business meeting presumably–that would be a big deal. Who wants to part with their computer for a half an hour anyway? They should advertise $750 one way to London +taxes + fees + backup battery.
March 30th, 2006 at 10:10 am |
Quite honestly, I think that “no power” is ridiculous on any service that is trying to position itself as Business Class.
May 10th, 2006 at 1:55 pm |
Maxjet fares are now published at @$1400. Remarkably EOS is offering the same deal. Yet the experience on EOS is markedly different and more upscale than Maxjet. Better food, seats and service.
Maxjet aircraft are twenty year-old planes. I would be very careful here. Saving a few dollars is no substitute for safety.
July 20th, 2006 at 10:55 am |
I don’t think the age of the planes is such a big deal. 20 years is perfectly fine for a plane. The interior is redone so it looks new, and the mechanical stuff is maintained. Planes have a lot of life in them — just look at Northwest and their DC-9s!
The bigger deal is that Maxjet is really aimed at tourists, not business. For the service you get, it still may be a good deal, if you need to get to London.
I like the first comment by the Maxjet employee (probably a flight attendant?). “unwaivering service”? Not too transparent! haha
October 2nd, 2006 at 10:47 am |
There are power ports on board each aircraft but not at each seat. The cabin crew has charged my laptop for me on board. Compare to British Airways which has an outlet at each seat but requires a Empower adapter to use (which they are happy to sell you on board).
As for the age of airplanes every US airline must meet the same safety standards which are stringent for transatlantic flights. The 767 is very common for transatlantic flying.
January 17th, 2007 at 8:10 am |
[…] For international premium class travel, be sure to also consider the startup airlines like Maxjet, Silverjet, Eos, MiMa, and L’Avion. These offer all-business class flights to London, Milan, or Paris. […]
February 26th, 2007 at 7:36 am |
[…] Flying from New York to London? MaxJet is selling their all-business class flights for less than competitors’ coach fares: $750 *including* all taxes. As I’ve posted before, it’s not a state of the art business class experience, it’s flying to Stansted instead of Heathrow or Gatwick, and you’re not earning miles toward status or those tickets to Tahiti. But it’s still a really good deal. […]
March 3rd, 2007 at 12:59 pm |
[…] I still stand by my earlier comments that Maxjet, while providing a great value for a reasonably posh flight, is still not a serious business airline. It’s luxury class for tourists — and that’s terrific! Nothing wrong with that, but it ain’t business. […]
March 9th, 2007 at 8:46 am |
Actually none of you are that important. Get over yourselves. Boo Hoo no laptop for 6.5 hours. Did you die ??
April 30th, 2007 at 12:54 pm |
Like someone else said, the crew will charge your laptop if you ask and the service is very friendly, the London lounge lovely with excellent food (one of the best) and it’s half the price of EoS. It is great for someone like me who likes luxuty but can’t justify full price business airlines. I don’t need to “lie flat” for a 6/7 hour flight. The air cabin crew are great; the ground crew are great and it was a pleasure flying Maxjet, which I did several times.
On the other hand, the CEO claims that he welcomes comments and yet totally ignored my carefully prepared and thoughtfully sent letter, so I stopped using Maxjet in a sulk
December 10th, 2007 at 2:17 pm |
[…] - Maxjet’s fatal flaw? - All-business class to China? - Silverjet IPO enables third London-New York all-business-class […]
December 11th, 2007 at 5:56 pm |
Re Los Angeles
We travelled out on 29 November 2007 on a direct flight from Stansted to Los Angeles.
There were only 28 passengers. The London lounge is very comfortable with excellent food. Yes the plane was old but it has been refurbished with about 105 big blue seats. The aircraft are maintained at Stansted and I think they are in excellent condition.
I was not too impressed with the food. I had thai curry which was tasteless and I had to send it back as there was a big ‘head hair’ in my dinner. They apologised and I had a beef rib as a relacement but it was very fatty. You get a big plate of mixed lettuce as a starter and again that is very poor.
You can have as much wine or champagne as you want and the crew are attentive.
I just had the feeling that the writing was on the wall as another passenger told me that they had cancelled Stansted to LA on 30 November 2007 and brought passengers forward a day. One of the days we were in LA the flight to Stansted stopped at Las Vegas to pick up Stansted passengers so presumably that flight was cancelled. I was a little worried about getting back and half expected them to cancel but in the end it was ok.
Our return flight on 6 December 2007 had less than 50 passengers.
Trouble is everyone you speak to in LA has never heard of Maxjet. They want to know about it so I give them the email address.
I have previously travelled to New York with them in August and it was fine.
I do hope they survive as the check in and fast track is fantastic and is many times better than Heathrow and no M25 to face.
What a pleasure to fly on this service from Stansted to LA.
But clearly you cannot survive on that run if you combine 2 flights and only have 28
passengers.
I think they should have a sale of the century and offer £500 returns for 3 months to inspire confidence. As everyone pays by card then it will be the card provider who suffers if they collapse.
December 12th, 2007 at 7:32 am |
[…] lies: high-rolling vacationers, and not business travelers at all. While the MaxJet model has its flaws, its sale fares are still a great deal for high quality inflight service. Perhaps they’ll […]
January 17th, 2008 at 1:42 am |
Guess Mark was right…