I’m sure the PR marketing masters over at Spirit Airlines aren’t paid nearly enough – after all, they’re forever waging uphill battles, what with spinning disasters like the discount carrier’s new carryon bag fees (“Everybody wins!”) and their new airplane seats (“They’re pre-reclined!”).
Plus, they get bloggers like me to write about them, thus, spreading the name of Spirit (“There’s no such thing as bad publicity!”).
Haven’t heard about the new, pre-reclined seats that Spirit is installing? Well, Spirit has two new Airbus 320’s with these seats, which the Palm Beach Post says are “seats that don’t recline”. That’s a bit different from “pre-reclined” wouldn’t you say? But maybe Spirit fliers don’t care – two cited in the article noted that the carrier’s seats that do recline are already pretty uncomfortable.
But Spirit says these seats have advantages in that they weigh less so they provide the airline with better fuel economy (here’s where the Spirit PR whizzes should be proclaiming, “They’re greener!”).
Okay, that aside – Spirit Airlines is what it is – a low cost carrier with rock bottom prices, little in the way of perks, and a whole lot of fans who love those cheap flights. Oh, and one heck of a marketing team.
What are some of the crazy and (maybe) crazy-like-a-fox ways airlines try to stay alive? Or at least, they’re thinking of trying?
That’s the subject of my latest, weekly column for ABCNews.com. Some examples:
It’s the last one that interests me most, since it would affect the most passengers – mostly negatively, in the wallet – as well as airline employees who may have to head to the unemployment line.
But one thing mergers can do: they can keep airlines alive. And that’s good for most everyone, as fans of now defunct airlines like Aloha, ATA, Skybus and more can attest to.
See the entire column – it has much, much more.
My editor recently flew roundtrip from Los Angeles to Indianapolis on Southwest and used the EarlyBird Check-in system for the first time. Here’s her account:
Southwest is a fine airline, but normally it just doesn’t do it for me – in the same way that “going out to brunch” doesn’t do it for me. With the latter, I don’t like buffets – I want to order my food, not hunt for it. Same with airlines – let me order my seat, not hunt for one.
Clearly I am not a “do-it-yourselfer”.
But I found myself on Southwest recently – it had the schedule I wanted – and I thought, I’ll give this EarlyBird check-in a whirl. And am I glad I did.
It’s pretty cheap – $10 each way. Not a budget-buster.
Here’s how it worked for me on the four flights of my trip: I got an “A” boarding card in the 20’s (the lowest was 20, the highest was 24), and I could have sat in the front row bulk-head seats every time if I wanted to (I did in one instance, but usually I like having my “kitchen sink” purse by my feet, in case I need a pen or an emery board or my printout of the “Best of Rick” ABC columns – you know, useful stuff).
Anyway, it was great and I highly recommend it, and no, Southwest isn’t paying me a dime for this testimonial, more’s the pity.
Oh, wait. Now that I have shot off my mouth, what if everyone takes advantage of this from now on? Could that mean there will be so many of us EarlyBirder’s that we’ll be relegated to the dreaded C-list for boarding? Hmm. What I said above? Never mind.
You’re heading for a well-deserved vacation – or you’re already basking on the beach, when…
Disaster strikes!
Or maybe, just a mini-disaster. You know, a stolen wallet, or a botched name on your airline tickets, or your suitcase arrives on the carousel with its only handle snapped off. What do you do?
I tackle those problems and more in my latest weekly column for ABCNews.com, called “Six Travel Mini-Disasters and How to Fix Them”.
For instance, if your wallet – or more to the point, your driver’s license or passport has been lost or stolen, get yourself to the nearest police station immediately. Making a report and leaving a paper trail can be vital to getting your goods back, or at least, proving that what you say happened, actually did. Then you have to get yourself to the airport on departure day extra early – in case the TSA decides extra screening is needed for poor ID-less you.
Check out the column – it’s a fun read, and might save you some hassles down the road.
I was thinking about the importance of “reading the fine print” as I read a sad story in the always-lively Consumerist.
It seems a fellow and his wife were going to travel to Japan on United, and to be sure they’d be extra-comfortable, he sprang for premium seating – in this case, Economy Plus – for an extra $400. He managed to reserve two bulkhead seats right next to each other, far in advance, and thought all was well.
It wasn’t, and what he wound up with was two middle-seats, apart from each other (it sounds as if they were still Economy Plus seating, but it’s not clear – in any event, his biggest beef, it seems, is he didn’t get the side-by-side bulkhead seats).
So I went to the United website and – guess what I found? Keep reading…
Want Premium Airline Seats on Your Flight? Read the Fine Print
As I see it, the whole problem with this “too fat to fly” controversy is that it’s so subjective: sometimes an airline will allow a “passenger of size” fly without having to buy a second seat, and, sometimes that same airline will tell that same passenger that that he must buy two seats.
So a large passenger is left with two not-so-hot choices:
A.) You can gamble that your airline will allow you to fly in a single seat
- Drawback: Possible public humiliation, added expense, and getting home late. Director Kevin Smith was allowed to board, but once seated was ordered off the flight in front of a planeload of people– and had to spend the money for an additional seat on a later flight
B.) You can proactively purchase two seats
- Drawback: You’re spending extra money that might not be necessary, since who knows if the airline would flag you as “too fat to fly”
There is simply no way to be sure what will happen. But here’s an idea – and I can’t take credit for it, it comes from a reader of Slate: demo seats.
I am not being facetious, this really could work – after all, it’s the same principle behind sizing carryon bags, so keep reading…
A Solution to “Too Fat to Fly” Controversy: “Demo” Seats
No, they’re not the first to do this (as Continental is quick to point out), but it’s just one more fee – or “option” if you like – but it is a way to get a minimum of 7-extra inches of leg room on your next Continental flight.
Here’s how it works: Beginning March 17, during the regular check-in time (24 hours before departure), you can go online or stop at an airport kiosk and pay up to spread out. We don’t know how much this will cost yet – all we know is, “it will vary” depending on the length of the flight and the type of the aircraft.
Elite miles members can still do this, at no charge.
What do you think?
A true story from one of my employees, who wishes to remain anonymous – Rick
I had to fly from Burbank to Dallas, and made my reservations on US Airways just a week before departure. This flight involved a tight connection in Phoenix.
So I go to seat selection, and it was all too horrible for words – only middle seats were available on three of the four legs of the trip. Yikes. I checked out the “Choice Seats” and I can’t recall the exact price, but it was something like $50 to snag one of those, and my mother didn’t raise any idiots, so I didn’t go for them.
Just so you know, while I am a US Airways “miles member”, my status is pathetic – light years away from anything remotely resembling “elite”. So…what then?
I approached seat selection like a chess game: move by move, I managed to get a better and better seat. And I didn’t waste much time doing it, either.
Read how she did it, step by step – coming right up…
How to Get a Better Seat on a Plane Without Paying a Bundle
