Airfare Watcher

Once you get past the neon, ambient, mood lighting, Virgin America is basically JetBlue with less legroom…but with a far superior in-flight entertainment (IFE) system! Actually, VX has several additional amenities, including a 1st class section, sans the drastic price difference, and two 110v plugs for every three coach seats, perfect for your laptop.

On the IFE screen, in addition to the basic cable channels, you can order and pay for food and drinks. The stewardesses then deliver it within 1-3 minutes! Very easy…why don’t non-flight restaurants have this?

The IFE system also has On-Demand TV shows, movies, music and games. Some are free, some are for a fee. I watched an interview with Richard Branson for free and then paid $1.00 for an episode of The Office. You swipe your credit card at your seat, no fumbling for change with the stewardess. The kid sitting beside me didn’t have a credit card yet, so I swiped my card and he paid me in crumbled-up cash.

The IFE has an in-flight chat. You can chat with any passenger on the plane. You must first send an invitation that they must accept. My girlfriend accidentally sent 25E an invite, but I was in 24E. We laughed after he declined it. I then sent her one. She declined it and laughed. So, I ordered her a can of Budweiser and “Letterheads” and laughed. Before you knew it we were in NYC.

Virgin America is offering $182 round trip flights to Seattle (SEA) from Los Angels (LAX). This deal is valid on departures from March 25 through May 21. Non-stop service from SEA to LAX begins on April 8. This deal expires on March 14. I ran a test itinerary and found that this deal is, indeed, legitimate. Final round-trip cost (w/ taxes): $182.08. And, flying from San Francisco will run you about $30 less!

Air France is offering $131 round trip flights to London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) from Los Angels (LAX). This deal is valid on departures from March 30 through May 24. A minimum Sunday stay is required. Maximum stay is one month. It expires on February 28. I ran a test itinerary and found that this deal is, indeed, legitimate. Final round-trip cost (w/ taxes): $431.66. That is a non-stop flight, too! I realize the British Pound is currently killing the US Dollar and most other currencies except the Euro, but this is still an amazing opportunity to fly to the UK for super cheap, on a great airline during a great time of year! Mad deal!

Six major US airlines - American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, United, and US Airways - have announced they’ll be reducing their number of domestic flights in 2008. The three main reasons are rising fuel prices, too much competition on domestic routes from Southwest, JetBlue and Virgin America, and a desire to add more international routes, which tend to be more profitable.

A weakening US economy, (i.e. higher gas prices, rising mortgage payments, unstable home values, unsteady stock market and potential upcoming recession), is an additional reason.

Will more competition in the international arena result in lower fares? With United potentially shifting 15% of its current fleet to international routes over the next several years, it has too! I can’t hurt! If the other five airlines allot similar percentages, then we might see the likes of Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and Air France, decreasing fares. Get your passports ready!

I stumbled across Yapta the other day. It’s the site that’s causing “a bit of chit chat” in the travel forums and threads as of late. First off, it reminds me of the early days of SideStep, in that, you’re required to download something. What I found strange was that after downloading the “Yapta Tagger”, I wasn’t given an installation confirmation. I was left feeling, ‘what happens next, what now?’ I e-mailed twice about my download and the e-mails left me still scratching my head. I finally found that I could tag flights on certain websites, but not some of my favorites such as Kayak. And, I can’t tag any international travel sites.

Yapta claims to keep you alerted when flights go lower than what you purchased them for, but I found just the opposite. I tagged two round trips to Fort Lauderdale at $234 and then received an e-mail alert two days later saying, “we have found you a lower deal at $368?” I found this a bit odd and frustrating. It seems Yapta is more of a bookmarking site like del.icio.us, where you can apply tags. Also, it’s not hooked up to any reservations systems like Expedia and Orbitz are, therefore, it cannot give you real time information. However, if they find a lower fare after you’ve booked the flight, they’ll alert when you qualify for a travel credit or refund!

Yapta is an acronym for “Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant”. But, some are calling it, ‘Yet another Personal Travel Agent”. We’ll see, but at this point, I would place Yapta some where in between.

I’ve finally had a chance to fly on JetBlue, and I definitely noticed and appreciated the extra legroom.

The first 11 rows on their Airbus 320 jets boast at least 36 inches of legroom, while the rear 14 rows have 34 inches. This is up from the standard 32 inches that most coach seats allow. Seating in the 8th row on my flight from Los Angeles to Chicago, those extra 4 inches allowed me to move and stretch my legs in positions I had only dreamed off on my previous Southwest Airlines flight. On Southwest, my knee caps are literally 1/2 inch from touching the seat in front of me. And I’m only 6′2″, I couldn’t imagine being 6′4″ or taller and trying to fly coach.

Hopefully, the competition will catch on and increase their legroom in coach. All it takes is one row of seats to be removed to allow an extra 2 to 4 inches for the remaining rows. It’s amazing the difference an extra couple inches of legroom makes on a cross country flight.

With the knowledge that the big and tall will start gravitating toward JetBlue, please heed these words or warning; if you’re flying solo on JetBlue, make sure to book and reserve your seat well in advance, so you don’t get stuck sitting in a middle seat between two behemoths!

Ryanair just turned 21, so it’s a good time to recognize their importance to discount travel. If you’re not already familiar with them, they’re the airline that frequently offers flight deals for £1.00 (taxes not included). They’re so crucial to travel that whenever they set up service for a new destination, the property values actually rise their because of the increased accessibility!

Based in Dublin, they carried over 35 million passengers to 100+ European destinations last year, many of which saved some good coin with this no frills carrier. Ryanair isn’t the most elegant, romantic flying experience, but the company boasts that they have the lowest ticket prices, least likelihood to lose luggage, least amount of tardy arrivals/departures and youngest fleet of jets. As of August 2006, they had 107 Boeing 737-800’s with an additional 142 on order to partially replace the current lot and add to it.

Ryanair is sometimes referred to as the Southwest Airlines of Europe - and this is no coincidence. Their CEO, Michael O’ Leary, actually visited the Southwest Airlines Headquarters in the early days to study their business model.

The main component to Ryanair’s profit model is revenue from ancillary activities. They just disclosed that they made £50 million in ancillary revenue in a recent three month period. Services they charge for include, booking with a credit card (£1.75), checking in your suitcase (£7.00), onboard ham sandwich (£4.00) and onboard bottled water (£1.80).

Operating solely in Europe for the last 21 years, they will be venturing outside to the continent of Africa soon, with flights to Morocco.

Who said airfares are getting more expensive? As of right now (9/6/06), you can fly round trip to Europe, Asia or South America, from Los Angeles, New York or Chicago for $438 to $869 (after taxes)!

Madrid, Spain
from LAX / Oct 29 – Nov 9 / $718 / American Airlines
from JFK / Oct 6 – Oct 16 / $438 / Air Comet S.A.
from ORD / Nov 2 - Nov 16 / $598 / Continental Airlines

Tokyo, Japan
from LAX / Oct 12 - Nov 2 / $763 / American Airlines
from JFK / Sep 27 - Oct 4 / $869 / American Airlines
from ORD / Sep 13 – Sep 18 / $820 / Japan Airlines

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
from LAX /Nov 18 – Nov 26 / $724 / COPA Panama
from JFK / Oct 11 – Oct 18 / $794 / Delta Airlines
from ORD / Oct 27 - Nov 4 / $792 / Delta Airlines

Very reasonable fares in my opinion.

I recently needed to book a R/T ticket from Budapest to Phoenix. The best deals I found were with KLM/NWA for $850, but that still seemed a little high. Some more thought needed to be put into this. So I decided to dissect and run a search for each leg of the itinerary and see what it turned up. It showed that Budapest to Los Angeles was only $650 - meaning that the Los Angeles to Phoenix leg was responsible for $200 of the $850 fare!

Knowing that Southwest Airlines typically charges $100 R/T from Los Angeles to Phoenix, I just went ahead and booked the KLM/NWA BUD-LAX fare for $650. I then booked LAX-BUD for $100 on Southwest. All told, this saved me about $100 and the need to fly domestically on NWA, which has a tendency to mix stop in Memphis or Minneapolis in many of their itineraries.

When flying separate airlines just remember to leave plenty of time between flights, and if you’re checking in baggage, confirm that the airlines will transfer them to the other airline for you.

Unfortunately, for me, much of my savings went to the taxi toll to get to Ferihegy Airport.

With gas prices being driven so high, there’s never been a better time to fly. To prove this, I decided to fly the 400-mile distance from Los Angeles to Phoenix and then drive back.

The one-way flight, on Southwest Airlines, cost $43. The drive back in my mid-sized sedan, which gets 27 miles per gallon on the highway, cost me $48 (15 gallons x $3.20). Had I driven a full-size SUV (they average 16 mpg on highways), it would’ve cost me $80. This is almost twice the cost of the plane ticket. It would’ve only made financial sense had two or more people been in the car.

On longer flights, the savings increases more. For example, had I driven from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, a distance of 1,400 miles, I would’ve paid about $150 in fuel. In a full-size SUV, it would’ve cost about $250. However, round trips flights for that route are commonly found in the $200 to $225 range.

Why is it cheaper? One reason is that some airlines have long-term, fuel-hedging contracts. For example, a percentage of Southwest Airlines fuel prices are based on levels under $45 per barrel. And, this contract runs through 2009. Also, airlines have more ability to take a financial hit then gas stations. They have additional ways to drive revenue besides raising their airfares.

With gas prices at historic highs and airline tickets still pretty low based on past levels, leave your car at home, and book a flight. It’s faster too!