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US Airways, dead-set on reminding Americans why they should dislike air travel with a passion, and insistent on making the movement from point A to point B just a smidge tackier, adopts Northwest’s 2006 “innovation” of charging a fee for aisle or window seats.

They’re even borrowing the name. Northwest called it “Coach Choice.” US Airways is calling it “Choice Seats”… in coach.

Sure, it’s not every aisle and every window, just the front rows. Sure, elite frequent flyers in the US Airways program get to reserve the seats for free. And sure, if the plane is full and there aren’t suckers willing to pay the extra fee ahead of time, anyone and everyone will get those seats anyway.

But let’s be clear: These aren’t perks. There’s no extra legroom. And these sure aren’t business or first class seats. They’re just regular seats.

For those who are shocked — shocked! — at this new policy, don’t forget that this isn’t a new idea. Sure, when Northwest did this two years ago I expressed my disdain. But that was two years ago. We’re all more jaded now, so I’ll just sigh in resignation.

The value of this program will honestly be minimal for most travelers. Sure, it’s nice to sit in front so you can get off the plane faster, but the front of US Airways economy is not a different seat, as it is on United, so you’re not getting much for your money. So instead of sitting in row 7, you can sit in row 14. Big deal.

The real losers here are other Star Alliance airlines’ elites, who might have gotten these seats for free earlier. But again, it’s not a free upgrade. It’s not a meaningful perk.

So if it’s a perk not worth caring about, why would it be a perk worth paying for?…

Simple. It’s not.

Related:
- Finding decent seats without paying the extra fee
- Northwest to elite members: Drop dead
- Yes sir, I’d just love to pay extra for an aisle seat with no extra legroom!

Upgraded: Evidence that airlines are unwilling to break the status quo
The Air Transport Association, fresh off its successful lawsuit that overturned the Passenger Bill of Rights in New York, is threatening to sue the Department of Transportation over the proposed introduction of congestion pricing at the busiest U.S. airports. The airlines will do what they can to stop the proposal, they say. So what’s the airlines’ solution to overbooked airports? Cue the crickets…

Upgraded: Olympic condoms
With the summer games coming up, Chinese hotels are stocking up on condoms. Yes, really. “The condoms shall not be used as evidence of prostitution and whoring.” Well thank goodness! But will they be found in the minibar?

Downgraded: Commemorative British Airways newsletters
Upgraded: FedEx
Five years, and billions of capital spent, and the Terminal 5 fiasco at London Heathrow continues to be a headache for all involved. Last week’s grand opening of the posh new terminal was marred by the now well-publicized luggage handling failure. 20,000 checked bags still need to be reunited with their owners, and British Airways is calling in the cavalry: FedEx. Another reason that BA has decided to scrap a commemorative in-house newsletter celebrating the terminal opening.

Upgraded: Single travelers in Delta coach
Downgraded: Ghetto upgraders
Delta is buying Thompson Solutions’ “Cozy Suites” for its widebody jets, to be installed in 2010. The seats are a little odd, with a staggered configuration with no two people sitting precisely next to each other. More armrest space is one perk with this approach. Good for solo travelers, bad for couples and families. But even worse for anyone hoping to get a “ghetto upgrade” — an entire row of seats to oneself, allowing you to lift the armrests and stretch across. It’s also somewhat reminiscent of the alternating forward-backward-forward seating that was floated just about a year ago. But it’s thinking differently, and I like that. (via Cranky)

Leave it to folks at the Fermilab, whose research typically involves high-speed particle acceleration, to rethink the ways in which commercial airlines board their jets. High speed particles… high speed boarding! Sure, why not.

Jason Steffen went on NPR last week to discuss his latest research, which had nothing to do with protons or electrons, except as they’re contained within the body of a rollaboard-toting passenger. Steffen argues that “lining up passengers whose seat assignments are two rows apart and boarding them from the back of the plane to the front — then repeating for the other rows — is the most efficient way of getting passengers onto a plane.”

The key is creating space in the aisle to allow passengers to stow away luggage in overheard bins.

Steffen’s study also yielded another potentially surprising finding: that boarding passengers randomly is significantly faster than the traditional method of simply boarding them from back to front.

So, if speed is the goal, airlines should either try alternate-row boarding, or just give up and kick it Ryanair style.

Those seeking to geek out on the full article can find it here.

Faster boarding makes airlines happy. After all, faster turnaround means planes spend less time on the ground, thereby ensuring better capital utilization. And as long as it doesn’t feel like you’re being herded in like cattle, faster boarding makes customers happy, too.

The alternating-rows concept makes a lot of sense. Then again, so did front-and-rear boarding, windows-first boarding, back-to-front boarding, open seating, and the “reverse pyramid.” So which airline will be the first to try alternating rows?

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Upgraded: Frequent flyer legislation
Downgraded: The value of your miles
Frequent flyer programs can be a byzantine maze. Above all, nearly everyone is cranky about being able to cash in their frequent flyer miles. I just tried winnowing down the uncomfortably large kitty of points for some Caribbean travel in May and was given the Heisman. But I’m not cheering on Washington state legislator Chris Hurst, who’s proposing a bill that would allow consumers to cash in their miles at 0.2 cents apiece. “Cash in” literally — for cash. House Bill 2707 is probably not going to go anywhere, but it’s meant as a shot across the bow of airlines whose point redemptions are increasingly stingy. Representative Hurst, call me when you start demanding 2 cents per mile or better. (via Pointswizard)

Upgraded: Delta’s business class seats… on some of its planes
Delta is rolling out new fully-flat seats on its 767s that travel internationally. Excellent news. But only on the 767s for starters, which means that the Delta fleet will have a patchwork of seating at the front of the plane. Sure, every airline rolls new seats out one plane at a time, but it’s odd to limit the rollout explicitly to one aircraft type.

Upgraded: Delta’s flight attendants’ trepidations
With Delta and Northwest in confirmed talks regarding a possible merger, the as-yet non-unionized flight attendants at Delta are looking to organize. Delta’s attendants might be members of the AFA-CWA as of February 14. Consider it a Valentine to Delta management. The goal is to “have a seat at the table” when merger discussions take shape.

Upgraded: Competition for hourly car rentals
With the success of hourly “car-sharing” rentals like Zipcar, the big car rental players are getting in on the action. Reportedly, Enterprise is launching its own version, dubbed “WeCar,” which is being test near Washington University in St. Louis. Just be sure to walk around the car and take photos before and after the rental. If WeCar is anything like their regular operation, those Enterprise guys will try to nail you for any damages on the car, whether it happened on your watch or not.

Upgraded: Gitmo!?
Disturbing and bizarre: There actually exists scheduled service to Guantanamo Bay, ironically provided by the happy-go-lucky sounding Air Sunshine, using 9-seat Cessnas. For those wishing to plan their trip, service is only four days a week, at $250 each way. Not cheap, for such a short trip, and you’d better hope they honor the return portion of the ticket. But you may never want to leave. After all, as Dick Cheney described the conditions for detainees at the base’s prison facilities, when he spoke to CNN in 2005, “They’re living in the tropics. They’re well fed. They’ve got everything they could possibly want.”

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Flying in Canada? There’s a new rule that prohibits airlines from charging particularly large passengers an extra fee for taking up more than one seat.

The Canadian Transportation Agency ruling Thursday gives Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz and WestJet one year to bring in a “one-person, one-fare” policy.

The ruling applies to disabled people, including the severely obese, who require two seats to accommodate them. It also applies to disabled persons who need an attendant seated with them on flights.
[…]
The agency estimates the new policy will cost Air Canada about $6.93 million a year, and WestJet about $1.48 million a year. That amounts to about 77 Canadian cents a ticket for Air Canada and 44 Canadian cents for WestJet.

In the U.S., Southwest has been charging an extra fee for some time (but only when flights are booked solid). They’ve been sued at least once, but the practice persists. It’s not just a North American thing, either: Air France was also sued for charging a passenger for an extra seat.

Lawsuits have typically charged discrimination, and that’s how the Canadian rule is framed.

My own view: It’s fine to give an oversized person a seat for the price of one ticket, as long as the other passengers aren’t required to give up their space. 17 inches width is little enough, that should be a minimum we fight to uphold.

But what do YOU think? Is Canada’s new policy fair or not? Should other countries follow suit? Are airlines doing enough?

Vote in the poll, and hit the comments with your thoughts.

(Reading via the feed? Trouble reading the poll? Try here.)

Related:
- Travel by the pound
- Southwest’s “customer of size” Q&A
(Thanks again to reader J!)

Southwest’s new seating plan
The experiments are over, and the San Antonio model has won out. Starting in November, the new system will be nationwide. Each boarding pass will have a letter (A, B, or C) and a number within that boarding group. Board in the order you checked in. The airline’s promo video (Windows Media) is here. Their “boarding school” is in session here. Bottom line: You won’t need to save your place in line within the A-group by putting your carry-on luggage into the corral. I guess that’s an improvement. But you’ll need to be even quicker to check in if you want your pick of the litter. Remember, check-in opens 24 hours before the flight. Do it online. See here for a list of services that provide automated web check-in. (Their business models might be slightly in flux now.)

Virgin Atlantic adds more premium seats
Virgin Atlantic must be selling its business class and premium economy seats pretty briskly. The airline is tearing out a quarter of its coach seats on Heathrow-based 747s and replacing them with the more spacious (and higher-yielding) premium seats.

Why can’t you use a foreign credit card on US booking sites?
Chris Elliott tackles this common complaint: You might get a better fare on a particular itinerary by booking via a website or agency outside your home country, but you can’t buy it, because the seller won’t accept your home country’s credit card. Why not? The travel companies are trying to slice and dice the market, so they can have greater control of fares, while minimizing the chance of fraud. Not every country has this problem. (I’ve used a Singaporean website or two to book US travel with my US card.) If you’ve ever been flummoxed by this, go read the whole post.

US Airways increases the cost of upgrades, but makes more fares upgradeable
Mileage upgrades on US Airways are more expensive, with each Lower-48/Canada/Alaska upgrade costing 15,000 instead of 10,000 miles as of October 3. On the flip side, they’re opening up ALL their domestic fares for upgradeability, so it’s no longer just the most expensive tickets that are eligible. That’s a plus. Similarly, on international flights, you’ll be able to use miles to upgrade any flight that cost you $600 or more each way. By my reading of the new rules, that $600 number includes taxes and fees. (via WebFlyer)

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Not to be outdone by Lufthansa’s recently-floated but still very much tentative proposal to create a bunk-bed cabin in economy class, Air New Zealand is reportedly considering an alternative economy-class sleeper configuration. “Sleeping pods.”

Air New Zealand strategic development general manager Nathan Agnew said the airline wants to introduce an entirely new type of economy cabin when it takes delivery of its fleet of Boeing 787-9 and 777-300ER long-range jets from 2010.
[…]
Cabin crew already sleep in pods during long distance flights, usually hidden away at the rear plane or in the ceiling space above the passenger cabin.

“Given that a lot of our long-haul flying is overnight, it might actually be preferable for our customers simply to have something like that rather than have a seat,” Agnew said.

Because eating in a pod might be difficult, passengers may be served a meal at the airport before the flight, allowing them to immediately go to sleep once on the plane.
[…]
Agnew said airfares would be similar to current economy fares.
[…]
Agnew stressed that it was still a theoretical concept with no guarantees that Air New Zealand would ultimately provide them in its new planes.

Interesting that design for crew seating, which often is found in narrow areas above or below the passenger cabin, is filtering back into passenger seating concepts.

Here’s a Boeing promotional image that shows giddily-happy flight attendants cavorting in the crew pods, having their own slumber party… with room service! The captain has turned on the pillow-fight sign! (Would that it were so.)

The Air New Zealand pod idea has potential — maybe even more than the bunk-style hive-like Lufthansa seats. But pods could get claustrophobic, and challenges remain. You might get one meal out of the way at the airport, before the flight, but on long flights, you need a second meal, too. How will you eat it? And you need to find a way to balance the desires of those who want to do nothing but sleep or watch movies, not to mention work, with the desires of those who want to mill about the cabin periodically.

Regardless, it’s good to see another airline rethinking cabin layouts seriously.

Related:
- Lufthansa considering bunk-bed style sleeper seating in economy class
- Coffee, tea, or sleep?
- Dare to dream: First class designs we’ll probably never see
- Boeing.com: Flight Crews Get Comfy on Boeing 777 Long-Haul Routes

For the past two weeks, Southwest Airlines has been experimenting with family-section seating for its flights departing from San Antonio.

For those that haven’t flown Southwest: The airline uses an “open seating” model, which means that there are no seat assignments on boarding passes. You get assigned to boarding group A, B, or C, depending on how early your check in. The A’s get to board first and choose their seats from the pick of the litter. (If you want to ensure that you get that “A” boarding pass, see here.)

There have been a few different family-boarding variants: For example, one version has the gate attendants calling up boarding group A to board first, as usual. Thereafter, families are asked to board.

In another model, one section of rows on board is “reserved” for families to sit together. (Perhaps they should call this “Mullet Seating” — business in the front, party in the rear.)

Other experimental boarding models are still pending.

The concept isn’t just designed to appeal to families traveling together. That’s a side effect. The reality is that it’s in the airline’s economic self-interest, and helps them turn planes around faster:

“The goal here is to speed up the boarding process,” [spokeswoman Brandy King] said. […] Families that board with the last groups often are unable find adjacent seats. So flight attendants have to move some passengers around so that families can sit together. It’s a time-consuming process, King said, but it’s necessary.

But individual travelers who played by the rules to get an early-boarding pass might be ticked off that a family of six could trump their seat choice.

So the question is put to you: Is family seating a good idea or not? Should other airlines try something similar, or avoid this like the plague? Vote in the poll below, and hit the comments!

Related:
- Getting the best seats on Southwest just got harder
- Confirmed: Southwest Airlines to test assigned seating; Northwest abandons boarding by rows
- Southwest to maintain unassigned seating (for now)
- Seat selection, highbrow and low: Eos, Maxjet, Southwest
- EasyJet starts charging for early boarding

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It’s official: United Airlines has rolled out their next-generation business class seats, and they look good. (They rolled out a first class prototype a few months ago.) The new seats will be fully lie-flat, which is great news. They’ll also alternate forward and rear-facing seats, much like British Airways’ ClubWorld.

Some videos introducing the new seats, with some fanfare, can be found at United’s press release. See also their promotional site for the new business class: suitedreams.united.com. Better yet: An anonymous tipster forwarded this internal company “employee q&a” memo (MS Word doc) — it’s still a sales pitch, but it’s pretty detailed.

So what to make of the new UA business class? Four thoughts:

First, the seats themselves look very good. 180-degree lie-flat. Proper. Screw those angled flat seats — gravity always wins, people! Nice big screen. Wider (23.5″) than the current-generation first seats. On its own, it looks like other new-generation seats out there, with larger screens. But they’re the best looking seats offered by an American airline right now.

Second, the alternating forward- and rear-facing seats will be an adjustment for many people, but British Airways has been doing it for a while, and they’re still selling tickets. (Interestingly, the promo photos show two parallel seats…)

Third, the service is supposed to improve along with the seat. But “service” is really “features.” That is, new food from chef Charlie Trotter, and better in-flight entertainment. (Movies and games.) But what’s missing from the company’s PR pitch is the actual service in flight. A great restaurant is more than a tasty-sounding menu and a nicely decorated room. It’s how the customer is treated that makes a world of difference. The same is true of an airline, and United’s in-flight customer service has been hit-or-miss lately. It’s not clear that the company realizes this, either. The promotional materials focus on the hardware, and not the human “software” that really makes or breaks the experience.

Fourth, and from the customer’s point of view, the question remains: How much is this going to cost? And how much more difficult will it be to get an upgrade (or free frequent flyer ticket) into these swank new seats? The airline says it’s not raising prices, or changing upgrade policies, but it’s easy to limit award supply or to blame “market forces” for a price hike.

At any rate, the new seats are a step forward for the airline. The new seats will only be on internationally-configured three-class Boeing 747, 777, and 767 planes, and the rollout will take thirty months to complete. I’m hoping to try them on for size some day soon.

Lufthansa has been surveying some of its customers to gauge interest in all-sleeper seat economy class cabins. It’s in interesting idea, much like sleeper cars in trains can come with more economical couchettes vs. actual beds.

The image above (via FlightGlobal) is apparently one of several designs under consideration, and minimal information is available at this time. Given the dimensions of the pictured cabin, with the flat ceiling, it would appear to be on the lower deck of an Airbus A380.

In principle, a sleeper cabin sounds great, especially for ultra-long haul flights. Somewhat like a premium economy cabin, it offers an intermediate step between regular economy seats and business class. It’s perhaps a bit hard to envision staying flat for a long duration, so I would hope that there is a way to comfortably sit, and not just lie. And that top bunk might be a bit scary during turbulence. But the fact that this is even in discussion is a good sign: Lufthansa is thinking outside the box.

(Hat tip to the FlyerTalk newsletter)

Upgraded: Seat pitch regulation?
Chris Elliott notes that European regulators are considering rules to require minimum seat pitch, though it’s not clear what that minimum would be. Some of the ultra-cheapo carriers have legroom below 30″, which is horrendous. (Skybus-esque, for an American equivalent.) The reason for the regulation? Deep vein thrombosis, or DVT, a.k.a “economy class syndrome.” Maybe they should invest in this guy’s airline seat design while they’re at it.

Upgraded: Free wireless calling
Looking to cut down on the cellphone minutes? T-Mobile (aff) customers can sign up to make unlimited free calls with a compatible cellphone, if they’re in range of a T-Mobile wireless HotSpot or if you enable your home or office wireless router to link up with your phone. Brilliant. I’m a T-Mobile wireless customer myself, and I’ve been extremely satisfied with their service, both in terms of their network and their customer service. A few years ago, when wi-fi was less common in hotels, I sometimes traveled with a router and plugged it into the hotel jack, creating my own in-room hotspot. With T-Mobile’s new service, I’d strongly consider carrying a cellphone-linked router with me once again.

Upgraded: Paris Wi-Fi
Another city goes wi-fi. This time, it’s Paris. David Ourisman reports on the new arondissements electroniques.

Upgraded: American Airlines to London… Stansted?!
With open skies a reality between the US and Europe, airlines have been announcing new and expanded routes across the Atlantic. American Airlines announced a route from New York-JFK to London-Stansted, the airport that Ryanair made famous. This is interesting, since it’s the first (corrected below) a major network flight between the US and the more obscure Stansted Airport. (Maxjet and Eos fly there, yes, but American’s use of Stansted is big.)
Update: Joe Brancatelli writes in to point out that American Airlines has actually flown to Stansted in the past, with a Chicago-O’Hare to London-Stansted flight that launched in 1992. So now, with Maxjet and Eos eating American’s premium-cabin lunch on the London route, American makes its (triumphant?) return. Thanks, Joe!

Downgraded: Check-in? (or is that Upgraded?)
Jared Blank picks up on Spanish airline Clickair’s promise to eliminate the need for check-in. No real details, but it reminds me of train service, where you get on and have your ticket punched by the conductor. I’m too tired to figure out how it might work, but first come, first served seating is nothing new, and “shuttle” flights have existed for years, so there’s no reason this couldn’t work on heavily-traveled, high-frequency business routes.

Downgraded: Alitalia
Could Alitalia be downgraded any further? Already plagued by bankruptcy, strikes galore, and general incompetences for years, the Italian flag carrier is killing its frequent flyer program. And from its ashes will be reborn a new program, but you’ll only keep your miles if you fly the airline twice in the first half of 2008. Gary Leff has the story. I share his disdain.

Upgraded, in theory: Designer airlines that may never fly
From a Newsweek article on how the ultra-rich are finding ways to burn through their substantial cash: “Brands like Versace, under new leadership, are moving beyond red-carpet dresses into areas like interior jet and auto design. Last year Donna Karan went a step further, researching the launch of a branded airline.” Donna Karan Airlines?? Would the name of that airline perhaps be DKJFKSFO? DKDFWPHX? Yeah, sure. The ultra-rich don’t fly commercial. Good luck with that venture…

Upgraded: American Express’ Starwood card
I’ve long been a proponent of the Amex credit card that’s linked with the Starwood Hotels program. Several e-mails in my inbox have alerted me to the recently upgraded bonus offer: Get 10,000 bonus points with first purchase, and (here’s the upgrade) 15,000 bonus points for charging $15,000 in the first 6 months. Nice bonus, if you can get it. Click here for the latest bonus offer. (aff)

Upgraded: Boeing’s 787
With much fanfare, Boeing rolled out its first 787 Dreamliner yesterday (on 7/8/07, har har har). The plane has a lot of potential to revolutionize air travel, and I’m excited at the prospect of actually flying in one someday. Sure beats the regional jets I’ve sat in lately… MSNBC’s photo page of the 787 rollout is here.

Speed round of Upgrades and Downgrades
Upgraded: Zeppelins! (Beware if Christopher Walken is on board.)
Downgraded: Airport showers at LAX.
Upgraded, as much as possible: Regional jets.
Upgraded: Latin America; Downgraded: Easter Island.
Downgraded: Traveling bulldogs.
Downgraded: Business class meals at the hands of a NYT food critic. Shocking.

Reader Jeanette writes:

I am traveling to Europe this summer (June 2007) and I wish to travel in comfort without a great expense. I read that British Airways has a something between economy and business. How do I know which airlines have comfortably wide seats and room for long legs?

If you’re interested in wider seats, extra legroom, better recline, and potentially better food and drink on your trip to Europe, you might consider looking for so-called premium economy sections. They’re offered by British Airways (they call it “World Traveller Plus”), Virgin Atlantic, and SAS (”Economy Extra”).

Separately, bmi and United offer a section of the cabin with extra legroom, but no wider seats. Bmi offers improved catering in their version of premium economy, while United doesn’t. Zoom, a discount airline that recently started a New York-London route, also has an improved legroom offering to consider.

Premium economy is never as nice as the business class cabin — especially if a lie-flat sleeper seat is an option — but it’s nicer than regular coach. About an inch more width, 6 inches more legroom or so.

But don’t expect this to be a cheap ticket. I checked arbitrary dates in June for BA flights from Chicago to London, and found the lowest one-way base fare $466 in economy, $816 in premium economy. Still less than BA’s business class, but at that price, consider flying one of the all-business class airlines like Maxjet, Silverjet, or L’Avion.

The challenge is actually finding and booking these tickets. Since the major online travel agencies don’t sell premium economy (they sell only economy, business, and first) you’ll have to check fares at each airline’s own website. Even then, they don’t always make it easy. If you can’t find the premium economy option online, you may need to pick up the phone.

Alternatively, take your chances and ask for an upgrade from regular economy to premium economy at check-in. No guarantee, of course. You’ll likely pay for the privilege, but it could cost less than pre-reserving a seat. (See here for info on paid upgrades.)

Related:
- Virgin Atlantic (aff)