Airline Fanatic

In Scott McCartney’s The Middle Seat section today in the Wall Street Journal he takes a look at the ever increasing differences among low cost carriers (LCCs).  While at one time he claims everyone just tried to copy Southwest, differentiation is now the name of the game as low prices become common across all carriers.

Of course he hits on Virgin America, the supposedly-US-owned-but-everyone-knows-is-controlled-by-Richard-Branson upscale low cost airline, and how they offer premium services once you get on board.  I’ve tried to fly VA several times, but every time I’ve priced the trip (mostly between LA and New York) they’ve been several hundred dollars more expensive than legacy carrier Delta.  Between LA and San Francisco however they remain extremely competitive.

What boggles the mind however is why Scott spends so much time profiling Spirit Airlines.  Never have I seen such dishonest advertising as that spewed by Spirit.  They tout their $9 fares, which of course there is no chance of you actually being able to get because there is so little availability, but then neglect to tell you about how you are going to have to pay to check your bag, be able to fit in your seat, or even go for a glass of water!  They make their living bringing first time naive customers on board, but never have I heard of repeat business with their airline. 

Spirit’s CEO’s quote in the article shows us a lot about his attitudes towards customers: “We realize we’re either trendsetters or jerks, depending on your view of the world.”  Well from his perspective I’m sure he’s a trendsetter, he saves his company lots of money and shows the public really low fares, while making his real revenue selling them add-ons that should be included in the fare once they are already committed.  Anyone who has flown on Spirit knows them as jerks who falsely advertise rock bottom fares, but end up actually paying the same amount they would pay to any other carrier. 

I have to say I didn’t see this one coming.  According to the South Florida Sun Sentinal, JetBlue has filed for approval to provide service between Bogota, Colombia and Orlando, FL beginning April 1st, 2008.  This service would be followed by seven weekly flights between Bogota and Ft. Lauderdale, FL beginning October 1st, 2008.  The new service isn’t a sure thing however, as American Airlines currently holds the authority for the 14 slots JetBlue would like to use.

American has of course not used these 14 slots for more than five years, and why would they?  They hold the monopoly on flights between Florida and Colombia, and so it’s in their interests to keep seat inventory low, and prices high.  Now that doesn’t seem very fair to me, plus who actually likes flying American anyway?  I hope regulators give JetBlue the chance to compete on this route and drive down costs while increasing frequency.  International travel, particularly in the less competitive Latin American market, has lagged far behind domestic competition for a while.  Its about time it caught up, even just a little bit.

This filing is also an interesting departure in strategy for JetBlue.  Their international exposure to date has been restricted to Caribbean islands and holiday destinations.  Now I’ve never been to Bogota, but I’m pretty sure its no Aruba.  I guess they see a consistent flow of business traffic, which makes sense as Miami is very Latin America focused.

Lastly and certainly least, Spirit Airlinesis also in the running for these flights, and they have a greater preexisting exposure to Central America.  I’m not bullish on their chances at all though, what with their internet inept CEO and poor customer experiences.  In my opinion having no flights at all would be better than letting Spirit start new service.

I’ll keep an eye on this and see how it plays out.