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Northwest Airlines is famous for flying around planes that haven’t been built in decades. Their DC-9s and DC-10s may be classic, old-school aircraft, but the age is really starting to show.

The hardcore aviation insiders at IAG ran some numbers on Northwest’s fleet, and find that some of the oldest planes are causing some of the worst delays.

One single plane was responsible for 2564 minutes of delays alone, year to date.

This isn’t really a surprise, considering that the DC-9 hasn’t been built since October 1982, but the airline should really start looking at replacing these tired old birds.

Unfortunately, there’s no way for Northwest’s travelers to know which individual aircraft will be operating on their route, so you can’t avoid the worst planes. But you might try avoiding the DC-9s as a general rule, unless you’re into vintage aircraft. Or you’re into delays.

tags: travel | Northwest Airlines | flight delays | DC-9 | DC-10

Still struggling in bankruptcy, still negotiating with long-striking mechanics, and still under threat of a strike by flight attendants, Northwest Airlines decided it was the time to offer some handy-dandy tips for their employees on how to make ends meet. Both in print and on an employee website, the pamphlet with the sadly realistic title “Preparing for a Financial Setback” included a section labeled “101 Ways to Save Money.”

The four-page booklet […] contained suggestions such as shopping in thrift stores, taking “a date for a walk along the beach or in the woods” and not being “shy about pulling something you like out of the trash.”
The booklet was part of a 150-page packet to ground workers, such as baggage handlers, whose jobs will likely be cut after their union agreed to allow the airline to outsource some of their work, Blahoski said.

Way to boost morale. Not only telling your employees that their jobs are at risk, but they’ll soon be relegated to sorting through garbage.

The tips raise etiquette questions, though: On those walks along the beach with your date, which you’re doing to avoid the high price of movies and dinner, is it gauche to bring a metal detector?

UPDATE: In comments, MN Headhunter points to the complete list of money-saving tips, including the infamous #46. “In fairness it looks as if the company, (NEAS Company, www.neas.com) who put this list together has the same list for all of their clients, not Northwest Airlines specifically. Still, you would think the airline would look at the material they are giving to their soon to be former employees.” Indeed.

UPDATE 2: The Consumerist got their hands on a PDF version of the booklet. Of course they did. Why wouldn’t they.

(image: Finster)
tags: travel | Northwest Airlines | how to save money | dumpster diving

Safety first!
Flying from the United States to Korea or Japan? If you’re traveling with Asiana or Korean Air Lines, you’ll take a different flight path nowadays, thanks to North Korea’s recent missile tests coming dangerously close to existing air routes. Today Japan’s largest airlines, Japan Air Lines and ANA, announced their own re-routings. No word on American carriers’ flight paths. Yay.

Safety second!
British tourists file more travel insurance claims on trips to Thailand than any other country. Runners up: “…the Czech republic, which came out top for incidents of pick-pocketing, South Africa, top for violent robberies, and Mexico, which is the place to go for over-exposure to the sun, it seems.” By this measure, Ireland was the “safest” destination.

Impressive, but…
China recently completed the train to Tibet and began passenger service. It’s an ambitious and impressive engineering project to be sure (the train cars are pressurized, like a plane, due to the enormous altitudes), but also a highly controversial exercise in internal colonialism. A good overview of the cultural and political ramifications (and fears) can be found here. It’s not all gee-whiz-isn’t-it-neat-what-they-built.

The Denny’s of the Sky?
A new promo: If you fly Aloha Airlines on their birthday (July 26), and you keep the boarding pass stub, you can fly free on your birthday (return within 7 days). Inter-island flights only. But what the heck.

Fare sale to Europe
Air France kicks off their Bastille Day fare sale today (purchase by July 28). Some good late summer/fall fares.

More luxe to Europe
All-biz airline Eos looks to expand from the New York-London route to also serve New York-Paris.

Healthier airborne meals
Northwest Airlines had better keep up. Just a few weeks ago they announced that their Stalinist experiment in inflight dining was over, and that they would reintroduce a choice (gasp!) to the menu in domestic first class. At the same time, other carriers are redesigning their first and business class menus, too, with an eye for lighter gourmet fare. But take away the ice cream, and flyers revolt. (The sarcastic chorus of “boo hoo” is coming from the economy seats.) The article also plugs Peter Greenberg’s book The Traveler’s Diet: Eating Right and Staying Fit on the Road.

Predicting the next protectionist outrage
Chicago Midway under foreign management? It could happen, since the city is soliciting bids for long-terms leases on the airport. We’ll see if a (likely) winning bid from a foreign entity yields as much furor as the Dubai ports affair. If an international firm wins the bidding, it won’t be the first foreign-managed US airport. Indianapolis and Stewart-Newburgh, NY airports are already under British firms’ control. International bids for US assets should be no surprise, given the current account deficit; all those dollars flowing overseas need to be put to work somewhere…

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Startup longhaul budget airline Oasis Hong Kong Airlines offers tickets from Hong Kong to London-Gatwick for £75 each way. Ludicrously cheap. The company plans to fly to other discount carriers’ hubs around the world, such as Oakland, CA, and Cologne, Germany. (via Jared Blank)

Spirit Airlines‘ “Ocho Libre” sale, featuring flights for $8 each way, ends tonight. Good luck finding any fares at that price.

“Cheat” your way to airline elite status… by following the airlines’ own rules! Fortune Magazine calls adherence to the rules cheating? Nonetheless, the article provides a decent overview of elite qualification “challenges” on American Airlines, and how you can get your status matched by other airlines. (See also this earlier rant and advice on status matching.)

Finally some good news for Northwest Airlines flyers: More food choices in first class. A new rotation of 16 meal options debuts in August.

United’s p.s. (”premium service”) flights between JFK and LAX or SFO just got a little less premium for passengers in coach. Free hot meals in economy are being cut, effective August 4, with food shifting to the buy-on-board model. At the same time, food at the front of the bus is supposedly improving, with a “new gourmet menu” being phased in. And, on United flights to Hawaii, prepare for nonstop tiki… The airline has rebranded their inflight catering with Trader Vic’s. Not a huge change on this last count: United already serves mai tais on Hawaii flights…

Finally: What do you do when your team is defeated in the World Cup? Go on vacation! Lastminute.com reported a surge in bookings following England’s departure from the tournament. Notably NOT a destination: Portugal, the team that ousted England. Vengeful tourism!

tags: travel

Northwest Airlines’ latest gimmick: “Supersize” your frequent flyer mileage. If you pay an extra $20 over the normal price for tickets purchased on nwa.com, you’ll get an additional 1000 frequent flyer miles. See here for full details, terms, etc.

$20/1000 = 2 cents per mile. That’s not a great deal, but it’s better than the $95 they’re charging for 2500 miles in the regular “buy miles” offer.

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Breaking news: The rumors are true. After years of open-seating, Southwest is rolling out assigned seating beginning July 10 for 200 flights originating in San Diego. The test period is unspecified, but will last “several weeks.”

Crucially, the test will determine if a 25-minute turnaround between flights is viable with assigned seats. No word on how they will be boarding the planes, i.e., whether they’ll keep boarding zones on the basis of check-in time, or if they’ll board by rows, back-to-front, “wilma,” “reverse pyramid,” etc.

This is a huge move by Southwest, and an admission that the open-seating model isn’t a customer favorite.

I’m betting they’ll still keep the A/B/C boarding groups. Just two weeks ago, Southwest sued third-party sites which checked passengers in early, to assure an A-group boarding pass.

In any case, we’ll be watching the test period with great interest. (Readers who fly Southwest from San Diego in coming weeks are invited to write in with reports.)

At the same time, Northwest Airlines just announced that they’ve quietly eliminated row-by-row or zone seating, though they kept seat assignments. They claim the move has shaved five to ten minutes off the boarding time. Why the speed improvement? My guess is that everyone is rushing on board to secure a space for their carry-on bags. Sure, you have a seat assignment, but you still have to fight the masses for the overhead bins. Sounds like fun.

tags: travel | air travel | Southwest Airlines | Northwest Airlines | airplane seating

First off, my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Vino for his excellent contributions during my absence the past week. It was nice to leave the laptop at home, knowing the blog was in capable hands. Be sure to check out his site for advice on maximizing your wine buying dollar, and see his blog for regular wine commentary.

The last week was a good one, though I think I need to take a few days off of chocolate and cheese. (I won’t do a trip report unless the masses demand it, but we spent a little over a week in the Netherlands, touring cities and the blooming bulb fields.)

I’m not quite back on Central Daylight Time yet, despite my best efforts. (Though it’s too late now, I checked the British Airways jet lag advisor site to see if I’m on track to overcome jet lag quickly. Not quite. It would have been nearly impossible to follow their “avoid light from 9:00 to 11:30am” suggestion, seeing as I have a job to go to…) Someday I really need to try melatonin or some other drug. It’s all the rage, after all.

Besides sleep, I’m also catching up on what’s happened in the past week, but clearly it was an eventful time for travel related news. Buckle up.

- Northwest reversed the $15 “choice” seating fee for its elites. Good for them!

- United raised the price in miles for *selected* routes and classes, plus added short-term ticketing fees. (boo!) I’ll post more on this soon, for sure, once I adequately digest the changes.

- The Wall Street Journal (via Tim Leffel) reported that 27% of Americans now have a passport, up from 22% last year. Quite a jump! (Leffel’s theory: since Canada and the Caribbean used to NOT require a passport for US citizens, but will soon require one, we’re seeing a surge of new applications for North American travel needs. It’s a theory. Got any other ideas?)

- Following Star Alliance’s addition of Swiss and South African Airways, the SkyTeam alliance added Russia’s Aeroflot to its roster. How does the European Union welcome them? With an anti-trust investigation of the alliance. (slap!) Well, it’s probably unrelated to Aeroflot’s entry, but still.

- Delta isn’t striking. Pilots agreed to a 14% pay cut.

- America West used to serve Pepsi. US Airways served Coke. Then they merged. The winner: Coke. (Serious question: Does Virgin Atlantic serve Virgin Cola?)

- The Maxjet news you know you crave: The discount all-business carrier reported in a press release that they’re actually filling planes — 50 to 70%. More impressive: their customer satisfaction percentages are in the 90s for those surveyed (how large was their survey sample size??…)

- Finally, pieces of defunct Independence Air went up for auction. The flight simulator went for $3750. Chairs went for $5 each. Both will look great in someone’s home, I’m sure. Maybe even this home.

tags: travel | air travel

Joel Widzer makes the contrarian case FOR Northwest’s new policy of charging for aisle seats.

Widzer’s apologia suggests that the best justification for CoachChoice is that it gives travelers more, well, more choice. (A proponent of a la carte ticketing, Widzer must love the Ryanair model…)

Sure, the airlines are against the ropes financially, and at the same time, we all want to fly as cheaply as possible.

To have our cake and eat it, too, we need to support airlines that seek alternative revenue streams.

Huh? How about supporting airlines that actually respect their customers, and who provide a better product for the price? Just today we heard about JetBlue and United making the inflight experience better. We’ll have to wait and see which model will win: a package of quality, or a patchwork of choices.

Nonetheless, I’d agree with Widzer on two counts on the benefits of CoachChoice: First, it IS an effort to differentiate Northwest from its competitors. But second, and more importantly, it encourages customers to exercise their choice to fly a different airline.

Airlines periodically reduce the cost in miles for certain awards. Until February 28 of this year, for example, American and United both charged only 15,000 miles for North American flights under 750 miles.

Alaska Airlines offers a similar award sale, with reduced mileage requirements for certain flights. Valid only on specific routes between April 18 and June 8, 2006. See here for complete details.

Northwest also has an award sale, but for cash-and-miles combination awards for travel through June 5. See here for details. This is not necessarily a great offer, since awards must be booked with two weeks’ notice, when cheaper cash fares may still be available. Nonetheless, if you’re traveling to smaller, out-of-the-way airports, this could come in handy.

tags: travel | air travel | Northwest Airlines | Alaska Airlines

USA Today’s Ben Mutzabaugh follows up the recent fracas over possible cellphone use in flight by contacting individual airlines and asking them what their policy on cellphones is.

The roundup:

AirTran: no to voice
Alaska: not sure yet
American: hedges, noncommittal
Continental: no comment
Delta: not sure yet
Frontier: hedges, noncommittal
JetBlue: yes to silent mode/texting, no to voice
Northwest: not sure yet
United: yes to wi-fi, no to voice
USAirways: not sure yet

Conspicuously absent from the list: Southwest. (The singing of “Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round” will remain permitted, encouraged, and complimentary, though.)

Consider writing to your air carrier of choice with your views on the matter, too. So many of these companies say they’re “listening to their customers,” so they need to hear from you.

tags: travel | air travel | cellphones | inflight wireless

I was thinking more about Northwest’s new policy of charging for exit row seats and “prime” aisle seats.

The positive spin on the change is that it allows last-minute business travelers to get the premium seats. For those flyers, the best seats are often already taken by those who were able to book earlier. The Northwest plan would work for those travelers, since it essentially leaves a few of these premium seats open until the last 36 hours.

But besides the exit row, the “premium” seats Northwest is selling aren’t particularly special.

Sure, they’re closer to the front of the plane, so you’ll be able to exit more quickly than the guy in the last row, but that’s really all you’re buying. The screenshot on Northwest’s own page (image above) explaining the policy shows the seatmap from one of their Airbus 319s. Compare that to the Northwest Airbus 319 seatmap that’s published on Seatguru.com. 6C and 6D, the premium aisle seats costing an extra $15 each, are just plain ol’ regular aisle seats. Except for the exit row, none of the aisle seats on this plane offer any more legroom.

Before you consider paying the premium, check all your options — premium and regular — against the Seatguru.com map. You might find a decent seat for free.

Beginning today, Northwest Airlines will start selling the exit row seats and “select” aisle seats for $15. This charge will apparently also apply to WorldPerks Elite members.

The fact that the airline, struggling in bankruptcy, is trying to monetize its better seats is hardly surprising. United has been selling upgrades to Economy Plus for some time, and other airlines around the world are charging fees for everything from cold beverages to pillows.

But the fact that Northwest is charging this fee to its elite members is a slap in the face to those flyers who have shown loyalty to the airline. Thanks for flying, now give us more money.