Downgraded: Presidential candidate air travel
It’s not just you. Sometimes, even presidential hopefuls are diverted and grounded by mechanical delays. Barack Obama got diverted to St. Louis, instead of flying on to Charlotte, because of inflight mechanical problems with his campaign’s MD-80 — a plane that was formerly Hillary Clinton’s campaign plane. (His Boeing 757 is in the shop. Seriously.)

Downgraded: Delta’s SkyMiles
Delta has followed on US Airways’ steps in the continuing race to the bottom by slapping fees on frequent flyer tickets. They couch it as a fuel surcharge, which, as I have argued before, should just be considered a cost of business and included in the base fare.

Downgraded: Supply. Soon: Demand
All those reductions in airline schedules are working their way into the system, reducing the available seats. A lot. In Chicago alone, reductions amount to 322,084 fewer seats for sale in the month of November. Expect fares to go up even more as supply shrinks, to the point that demand will peter out, too. Supply, meet demand. Nice to meet you. (At least you might get a cheaper hotel room…)

Downgraded: Vouchers
Vouchers suck. They always have, much like mail-in rebates suck. But this primer on how much vouchers really suck is a good reminder of why this quasi-currency, often doled out by airlines when they screw up, is a royal pain in the butt to redeem.

Upgraded: TSA uniforms
Downgraded: Real law enforcement officers’ happiness
Over the past few months, TSA officers have been getting new uniforms, with blue shirts and (most controversially) a badge. The problem is the badge: In the opinion of many law enforcement officers, the badge confers an authority — symbolic, implied, and assumed by most people — on TSOs which they haven’t earned, weren’t trained for, and could be tempted to abuse. Judging by the defensive vitriol expressed by TSA officers in the comments thread on my original post from August 2007 announcing the new uniforms, this really is a sore spot for both real cops and TSA. I can understand the TSA’s desire for a more professional appearance (“Psychologists who have researched the effects of official-looking uniforms and badges find that they do indeed tend to make people more compliant”) but I fear that the badge — even if it carries as much arrest authority as an “official bikini inspector” badge — is only going to go their heads and lead to more arbitrary selective enforcement. Yay.

Upgraded: Southwest and WestJet
Southwest will be codesharing with Canada’s chief discount carrier WestJet. Much like the old codesharing deal with now-bankrupt ATA, this means Southwest customers will be able to buy tickets to a broader range of destinations, now including international locales. And WestJet has seatback televisions, so that’s an upgrade from the Southwest experience. Sounds like a good deal. But don’t hold your breath: The partnership requires government approval, and is slated for rollout in late 2009.

I’ve been encountering US Airways a bit lately, and it hasn’t always been fun. A function of my recent move to North Carolina, perhaps. Hard to avoid US Airways in these parts. But having previously observed that United-US Airways codesharing and cooperation aren’t living up to their hype, I’m still convinced that these two Star Alliance partners aren’t working well together, and need to shape up their cooperation.

The breakdown of cooperation starts with the little things, right at the time of purchase: Why can’t the US Airways website allow me to enter my United frequent flyer number in the reservation? They’re both in Star Alliance, and other Star Alliance carriers let you choose from a range of different frequent flyer options.

Update: The option to add other airlines’ frequent flyer numbers is back on the US Airways site. Not sure what was missing when I booked, but it’s there now. Yay!

Admittedly, other sites have similar issues, especially third party booking sites — Orbitz, I’m looking at you. I bought a ticket on Orbitz recently when no one else would sell me that particular itinerary at a lower price. Again, no option to enter a partner airline’s frequent flyer account. I could enter a US Airways account number, or nothing at all. This limitation isn’t isolated to Star Alliance, either. If you, say, book a British Airways ticket, you can only enter a British Airways frequent flyer number, and not an American Airlines number. (Expedia is much more flexible with frequent flyer accounts.) Alliances and partnerships aren’t new, people! Give us the option!

The cooperation breakdown continues at check-in: My wife bought a United-coded ticket for an all-US Airways flight on United.com (the UA-coded ticket was cheaper) but when she got to the airport to check in, she was told that the ticket wasn’t paid for. Apparently, United hadn’t transmitted the funds to US Airways, and the ticket was still listed as reserved, not issued. Her United receipt (and credit card statement) showed that it was indeed paid, but until the ticket number was manually entered into the computer record, she wasn’t getting a boarding pass.

This is stupid. I know there are incredible complexities that arise when large organizations attempt to integrate or link their data systems, but if the increasing frequency of these kinks is any indication, the problems are getting worse with time, not better.

Related:
- Star Alliance out of alignment: Are United and US Airways fighting codeshare wars?
- Update: US Airways and United codeshare conundrums
- Confused by codeshares? Sue!

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After posting about the difficulties in reserving a mixed US Airways-United itinerary on either airline’s website last week, I contacted the two airlines about their codesharing policies, looking for some clarification. I’m pleased to report that US Airways has replied with a detailed response.

I asked Valerie Wunder, Associate Manager of Media Relations, to clarify why United-operated flights that had a US-codeshare weren’t coming up on usairways.com. (I asked similar questions of United Airlines, but have not yet received a reply.) She responded with a great, detailed e-mail, the bulk of which is quoted below the jump.

Four things stand out for me:

1) My observation that codeshared flights were restricted from sale (and not simply sold out) is largely validated, though my suspicions for the cause of the restriction are in dispute. Two reasons for the failure to list all codeshares are cited: “System migration issues” and “minimum connect timetable issues.” The former reason makes some sense, considering the integration of America West with US Airways systems has been incremental and problematic. Why should codeshare sales be any different?

But the minimum connect times? Over an hour’s connect time at CLT shouldn’t be an issue, so either the computers are being overly aggressive in blocking out partner flights with “short” connects, or this is a red herring.

2) United isn’t codesharing on the US Airways flights that are technically still operated by America West. United also isn’t codesharing US Airways Express flights when the plane has a capacity greater than 69 people. In both cases, “commercial reasons” are cited. Hmm…

3) US can’t sell UA nonstops if they operate the same exact nonstop route. ORD-CLT and ORD-DCA might be such routes. But they can sell these flights if they’re part of a connection.

4) More codeshares might be hard to come by, because they’re running out of numbers to use.

The bottom line from the airline’s corporate HQ is that US Airways’ website and reservation center still have a few more kinks to iron out of their system. They admit as much. And they admit that other booking sites may come up with more options (which is somewhat like throwing in the towel…)

Read the complete official explanation after the jump…
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While airline alliances were created for the primary benefit of the member airlines, they also promise benefits to the flying public, such as the ability to buy a wider range of codeshared flights. So why are US Airways and United Airlines refusing to sell each others’ flights?

Last night, I tried to reserve an itinerary, sold by US Airways, that involved a change of planes in Charlotte. Ideally, I wanted the final leg of my trip, from Charlotte to Chicago, to be the US-codeshared flight operated by United. The United flight’s time was more convenient, and I could sit in Economy Plus or even try my luck at burning an upgrade or two.

I knew from the timetables that the flight existed, that it carried a US Airways number (US Airways Flight US5909, operated by United Airlines as Flight UA569), and that it was available for sale on sites like Orbitz, at the same exact price as other itineraries that were wholly operated by US Airways.

But US Airways wouldn’t reserve the flight for me.

Here’s how it worked: I started by going online and searching for flights. US Airways’ website did not include a single flight that was operated by United in its search results. Not one. Neither as a US-labeled codeshare, nor as a UA-numbered flight.

So I tried United’s website. Their search engine lets you tick a box to “include Star Alliance flights” in the search results. But it only included some Star Alliance flights, and only ones that carried a United codeshare number. The list wasn’t exhaustive, either — not all codeshared flights were listed. And it didn’t include any flights that were sold under the US flight number.

In the past, I have been able to use United’s site to book flights on other Star Alliance carriers, usually as part of a mixed itinerary. That doesn’t appear to be consistently possible any more. The site’s help page for booking codeshares implies that it should still be possible to book Star Alliance and codeshare flights using their tool. But the options are severely restricted.

None of this would have been an issue if I had been ready to pull the trigger and purchase the ticket right then and there. I could have just gone to Orbitz and bought the flight, albeit with a $6 surcharge. But I wanted to put the flight on a 24-hour hold, and Orbitz doesn’t allow that. US Airways’ website doesn’t allow putting flights on hold, either (that’s a post for another day), so I picked up the phone and called them.

The phone agent couldn’t — or wouldn’t — reserve the flight I wanted. I gave them the flight number — US5909 — but the answer was no. “That flight is not available for purchase.” So I settled for a later flight, which leaves me more time to partake in the Charlotte Airport’s rocking chairs, barbeque stands, and North Carolina wine bar.

My experience doesn’t appear to be a complete fluke. I’ve seen this sort of thing before, but I’ve always assumed it was just a temporary glitch. After seeing this again and again, it seems deliberate. To give them one last benefit of the doubt, I just tried searching different itineraries (some domestic, some international) on both the United and the US Airways websites. US Airways excluded every United-operated option, every time. United’s website included some US Airways flights, but only if they carried a UA number. Other Star Alliance carriers, like Lufthansa, didn’t face the same discrimination.

My only conclusion: US Airways and United are no longer fully cooperating within the Star Alliance. It’s stupid, it’s annoying, and it irritates the consumer. Fix it.

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When free drinks aren’t welcome
Why would there be an uproar over an airline giving a customer a free bottle of wine? When that customer is a celebrity who just left rehab for alcoholism. A well-meaning Qantas flight attendant gave a bottle of red to singer Keith Urban, who apparently declined. But come on: give the flight attendant a break! Unless the airline is giving CIA-style background briefings about the passengers in the cabin, you can’t be expected to know the ins and outs of every celebrity’s (or every passenger’s) personal life. In fact, I was quite content to be blissfully unaware of Mr. Urban’s specific addiction before this imbroglio. (Thanks Dr. Vino!)

Group hug: Mergers and partnerships
JetBlue merging with Delta? Rumored, but unlikely. Brazil’s TAM and Germany’s Lufthansa? Not a merger, but a codesharing partnership. United is getting in on the hot codesharing action with TAM, too. Lufthansa also joined up with El Salvador’s TACA, already a United partner. Are the Star Alliance invitations far off? And keepin’ it Star, is Singapore Airlines buying China Eastern? They’re buying a piece, but how big will that piece be?…

Can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em?
British Airways, apparently in a response to the all-business class service from startups like Eos, Silverjet, and Maxjet, is considering rolling out all-premium service between unnamed European and American cities. Premium economy in the back, business in the front. No straight-up economy, and no first. (Thanks, Benet!)

Countdown to 7/8/07
Boeing has started assembling its first 787 Dreamliner, a plane manufactured in prefab pieces around the world and bolted together at the Everett factory. The debut is scheduled for July 8. 7/8/07… 787… har har har.

American updates website, makes it more like Southwest
American Airlines revamped their website, giving you an overview of the different fares you can book. The layout will be familiar, if you’ve ever booked on Southwest. Or Air Canada. Or Qantas. Or Ted. (Does anyone ever actually book tickets at the Ted site?)

Yapta comes alive!
Yapta, the service that tracks fares after you’ve bought, mentioned here last week, is now live.

Alaska Airlines downgrades their upgrades
If you used miles to upgrade flights on Alaska Airlines, you’ll have to buy far more expensive tickets in order to do so. Thumbs down. Gary Leff has the full scoop.

Looks like Germans are following in the great American tradition of suing everyone.

According to an article in Aertzezeitung, a German medical daily (!?), an unnamed airline (cough, Lufthansa, cough…) was found liable for confusing its passengers by codesharing.

The plaintiff’s ticket was issued by one airline, with its own flight number, but operated by another under a codeshare agreement. The passenger lined up to check in with the airline who ISSUED the ticket, not the airline actually operating the flight. He missed his flight and sued. The airline’s argument was simple: He should have read the ticket and checked the airport monitors. But the Oberlandesgericht (~state supreme court) in Frankfurt found in favor of the plaintiff and awarded him 10,000 euros.

Some codeshares can indeed be confusing, but come on… Suing?? Knowing where you’re going is a minimum basic skill for travel.

Codeshares indeed have their pluses and minuses. On the one hand, you open up a range of additional flight options, with mileage-earning opportunities. Perhaps most attractively, the price for the same flight may vary, depending on which airline is selling it. Same schedule — same plane! — but different price.

But there are real downsides, too, though. You don’t always earn miles on a codeshare as you would on the issuing airline’s operated flight, even if the airlines are in the same alliance; rather, you earn according to the rules accorded to the partner airline. (I believe American Airlines is an exception: If you buy a codeshare with an AA number, you get miles as if it’s AA.) Upgrades may be a problem. Changing a ticket may involve an additional layer of bureaucracy.

Seat assignments can be a pain in the butt, too. A family member recently reserved a flight operated by Lufthansa, but sold with a United flight number. Her seat assignments were missing by the time she checked in with Lufthansa. The check-in agent scoffed, “Oh, it’s a United-issued seat assignment? No wonder.” Nice to see the Star Alliance working so seamlessly. (The lesson: call the operating airline for seat assignments.)

She got a seat, but not the one she reserved weeks earlier. Maybe she should have sued for compensation.

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