The State of the Airline Industry

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It is sad to see the situation of the airline industry these days. Gas prices are on the rise and all the companies, besides Southwest, lost millions of dollars last quarter. Which makes you wonder if Southwest is doing something different or buying cheaper gas…

The airlines keep on finding creative ways to charge more money from travelers every day and in parallel reduce the quality of service and the weight that is carried by the planes (like removing the entertainment system…). The following parody movie, created by Parody & Son, is hilarious and shows where the industry is heading, or maybe it’s already there Thinking 

United Cuts on Service

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image United Airlines is looking for additional ways to save money. After raising prices and charging for checked bags the next cutback is on the offered meals. Most companies don’t offer complimentary meals in domestic flights already (I believe Continental is still the only one that does, and US Airways even went further last month and started charging $2 for soft drinks and $1 for coffee/tea. United is now taking the next step and completely eliminates any type of snacks on domestic flights and meals on international flights also!

Effective Sept 2nd:

  • 2-3 hour flights won’t offer the pretzels and biscuits anymore and instead it will offer to buy on board snacks.

Effective Oct 1st: 

  • Buy on board prices will increase:
    • Shelf-stable items increase from $5 to $6
    • Fresh items will increase from $7 to $9
  • Other changes:
    • No more free meals in coach on flights from Dulles to Europe. Instead will offer to buy meals on board
    • On three class planes, business class will get a free “buy-on-board” meal rather than the special meal you would get before
    • No more second meal service on P.S. flights (Premium Service). This will be replaced with a beverage service.
    • Reduce the flight attendant staffing to the minimum required by FAA.

FREE THEME: Vista for 81xx, 83xx & 88xx

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Here is a clean and sharp Vista theme. This free theme is available for BlackBerry devices 81xx, 83xx and 99xx for both 4.2 and 4.5 OS. The theme is available in 5 different styles

Blank Style:
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Bottom Style:
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Zen Style:
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Today Style:
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Today Plus Style:
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OTA Download From your BlackBerry Browser:

The Wall Street Journal for BlackBerry

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The Wall Street Journal released a wireless application for the BlackBerry. The WSJ mobile reader is basically a FreeRange reader that gives you free access for full articles from WSJ. This is a great application to have on your BlackBerry to read news on the road, especially since it allows you to customize the content you are interested in and read it offline even when you don’t have data coverage (like on the plane…)

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Download OTA from your BlackBerry browser: www.wsjmobilereader.com

FREE THEME: BeBold for 8100, 8300 & 8800

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This free theme uses the icons of the upcoming BlackBerry Bold and looks really nice on your current BlackBerry in case you can’t wait for the release of the Bold.

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Download OTA:

BlackBerry 8300 and 8800:

BlackBerry 8100:

FREE THEME: Apple Leopard Zen for 8300 & 8800

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This free bottom dock theme by amusic will give you a Leopard experience on your BlackBerry.

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Download OTA:

BlackBerry 8300:

BlackBerry 8800:

WorldMate Live 2.0 Released

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WorldMate Live 2.0.12 is available online. Just browse from your BlackBerry to http://get.wmlive.com/. There’s no official information on what’s new in this version on MobiMate’s web site yet, but so far the only difference I noticed is “Hotel Booking”.

You can now book hotels from the main screen in the BlackBerry application. The search screen allows you to quickly search for hotels in cities that show you in your itinerary or enter any other city. You can display the search results that are closest to a specific landmark, price, rating etc.

More Changes to Continental.com

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The Continental Airlines web site will introduce some new features next week that can already be seen in their preview site.

  • Shop for flights using a monthly calendar on the homepage or Advanced Flight Search page. Simply choose "My Dates are Flexible," choose a Begin Date and your length of stay and you will be presented with a month of fares for your city pair. Click on the fare to see a list of flights.
  • You can now search for an alternate airport up to 300 miles from your origin or destination. This option is available on the Advanced Search page.
  • When making a booking for a customer who requires oxygen, you can now make your booking at continental.com.
  • You may now print your OnePass Activity statement.

Here are some screenshots that show the calendar view that will help you book a cheaper flight on alternate dates:

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Less is More?

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Yesterday I got an email from Continental saying that as part of the changes they are making to reduce their operating costs they will start limiting the availability of EasyPass Rewards seats for non-elite members. This means (in theory) that there will be more seats available for Elite members Thinking. The problem with these EasyPass Rewards seats is that they cost double the miles of what a normal reward flight should be. Personally I’ve never purchased these seats and I was always able to play around with dates and book the SaverPass seats for half the miles (or the original amount of miles – depending how you look at it). No information in this email if they will limit even further the availability of the SaverPass seats but I’m sure that will be done also…

Dear Mr. Rochman,
We value your continued loyalty to Continental. As we consider changes to our business in light of unprecedented fuel prices, we will make every effort to minimize their impact on our Elite members, like you.
On Sep. 3, 2008, EasyPass Rewards for travel on Continental will be subject to capacity controls, making some seats on high demand flights unavailable for reward booking. This change will not affect OnePass Elite members, however, and you may continue to redeem OnePass miles for any seat on any Continental or Copa Airlines flight. Since only Elite members will be able to reserve the last seat available, your chances of finding seats on your most desired flight could actually improve.
Thank you for your continued business. Please go to
continental.com for the latest updates.
Sincerely,

Mark Bergsrud
Sr. Vice President, Marketing Programs and Distribution

Save Your CO Miles!

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 Continental announced during the NBTA 2008 (National Business Travel Association) that it is installing lie-flat seats in BusinessFirst. The 777s will get the new seats in fall of next year, then they’ll move on to the 757s and of course the 787s when they get them. The 767s won’t get the new seats due to “lack of space”. The 777s will have 50 seats and loose one row of coach while the 757s won’t lose any seats at all.

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