Malaysia Airlines has announced no kids in first class, will Ryanair ban all kids from some of their flights too?
Recently Malaysia Airlines announced they would no longer allow babies to fly in their first class cabins on Boeing 747-400s and Airbus A380s when they go into service. This comes after complaints by first class passengers, who pay a pretty penny, not wanting to hear screaming kids during their flight. The airline has stated they have tried noise cancelling headphones, but passengers wanted the baby-ban. The airline still plans to allow babies in business and economy class seats.
On the other side of the spectrum, I just got an email in my inbox this morning from Qatar Airways stating that two kids can fly for free (plus taxes and surcharges) with one adult. It doesn’t appear to be directly related to Malaysia Airlines not allowing babies to fly, but it is pretty good timing.
Reading many of the comments on the internet after Ryanair’s announcement and even more recently after Malaysia Airlines’ baby-ban statement, there seems to be a lot of popularity behind not allowing or restricting children from flying. Personally I do not have my own kids, nor am I a big fan of screaming kids on an airline, but it almost seems that is just part of living in a society — being around kids.
I am curious to get your thoughts and figured it is about time for another poll (Note: if you are reading this on the Seattle PI or Reuters synidcation, you will have to go to https://www.airlinereporter.com to vote):
[poll id=”5″]
If an airline outright banned all kids, there would probably be a huge backlash , even though it seems most people do not want kids on their flight. An airline like Ryanair might be able to get away with it, but look at all the attention Malaysia Airlines received just from banning kids from first class on only two aircraft type. We will have to wait until October to see if Ryanair’s promises of child-free flights was true or just another marketing ploy and I would suspect many other airlines around the world are watching how the Malaysian ban will work out.
Over the holiday weekend, All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Boeing started readiness validation tests for the 787 Dreamliner in Japan to prepare the aircraft for its delivery to ANA sometime in August to September. The second Dreamliner made (ZA002 — which will not be the first delivered) flew over to Japan from Seattle to start the week-long testing while flying throughout Japan.
“ANA is proud to be the first airline in the world that will operate the 787,” said Shinichiro Ito, ANA president and CEO. “Validating all of our training and preparations for the Dreamliner is critical to help ensure a smoother entry into service for our passengers and crews later this year.”
Before ground crews in Japan had the opportunity to experience the 787 Dreamliner, many have previosly been flown to Everett, WA to get practice working on the all new aircraft. On July 2nd, ZA002 left Boeing Field early in the morning heading for the first time to Japan. Although the 787 has flown many times previously, this flight was different — it was meant to simulate normal operations.
Even though the 787 Dreamliner will be operating as it is carrying passengers, the interior is very different than what you will find after it is prepared for for delivery. There are a few standard passenger seats, but also many work stations and none of the creature comforts you can expect when the first Dreamliner is delivered.
After an uneventful flight, the 787 landed at Tokyo’s Haneda airport at 6:21am on July 3rd, local time, to a cheering crowd of over 1000 people. The 787 Dreamliner will continue to fly and conduct tests for maintenance, servicing and flight crew at five airports in Tokyo: Osaka (Itami and Kansai), Okayama and Hiroshima. ANA’s first scheduled service with the 787 will be either the Haneda-Okayama or Haneda-Hiroshima route when deliveries begin later this year.
You can follow the Boeing 787 Dreamliner while in Japan on Boeing’s social media: Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. A tip-of-the-hat to Boeing for following this historical event. They could just send out interesting, but bland press releases about the progress, but it is awesome they continue to share so much of the 787 Dreamliner’s experience via social media.
For some this might not seem like a prize for a contest, but for many who love the airline business, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is holding a contest, where the winner will live in YVR for 80 days.
Do not worry, you won’t have to sleep there – a nice free room awaits you in a hotel, but during the day time hours, you are on. There will be no “average day” during your 80-day stint. “Each day, he/she will be shooting a story, editing it and posting it to the Live@YVR site,” Rebecca Catley, Director of Communications for the airport explained via email. “They will be meeting people, researching stories, socializing with YVR employees, and checking out all the airport has to offer. They will be using Twitter and Facebook, writing a daily blog, and some days, turning the camera on themselves as part of their video diary. There will be lots they will want and need to do and lots for them to explore.”
The idea is to show how YVR is a city with-in a city. Many passengers just see the airport as one unwelcome step to the travel experience, but they can be part of the experience. There are over 23,000 employees and 400 businesses at the YVR to explore, which is similar to many other airports.
Now, the biggest restriction for the contest is you must be a British Columbia resident, but you do not need to be a Canadian citizen. Probably one of the strictist requirements, according to their site, is you must be “generally awesome,” a very important quality. If you meet the requirements and have a great idea, post your video to their contest page and good luck!
Cayman Airways was founded in 1968 and has its headquarters in George Town on the Cayman Islands. The airline’s mascot is a turtle with ascot called Sir Turtle. You can find sir Turtle on the front of the aircraft’s livery.
The airline operates non-stop service between Grand Cayman and Miami, Tampa, Washington DC, New York, and Chicago using four Boeing 737-300s. Cayman Airways also uses two Twin Otters for local regional services.
There is no question that Delta Air Lines made a lot of money off bag fees last year — $952 million to be exact. While many other airlines made a load of money with bag fees as well, Delta gets the majority of the attention since they made the most. Some attention has been in late night routines (okay, Conan’s bit is hilarious, if not fully accurate) and others have been negative news articles. It seems odd that so many companies are getting pats on the back for making profit out of the bad economy, but airlines end up being punished, like they are somehow earning their money illegally.
Dan Webb, on his blog Things in the Sky, shows that although Delta made more in bag fees than other airlines, that doesn’t mean it is a large percentage of their revenue. His post has a very handy chart that shows that Delta’s bag fees are only 3% of their overall operating revenue. When looking at all major US airlines, Delta is actually 9th in the percentage of bag fees to total operational revenue with ultra low cost carriers Spirit and Allegiant at the top the list with 10.5% and 8.7% respectfully.
There are a lot stories out there hating on the bag fees, but one of my favorites is from Boston’s NCEN.com titled Fuming over Bag Fees. It is a classic story talking to passengers who are up in arms for the airlines not being “honest” with them and hiding these bag fees. Even for people that do not travel often, it is pretty difficult not to know about bag fees. For those that do not, every airline I have ever flown makes it quite clear when booking your ticket, if there will be additional fees for luggage so one can plan accordingly. Passengers in NCEN’s story act like airlines are literally opening their wallets and stealing their money. The author, Peter Howe, states that airlines are “addicted” to fees like they are some nasty habit that should be kicked. Since when does a business not like a new idea that makes them money and allows them to survive? Without bag fees, you can be certain that not as many airlines would be able to survive, there would be less competition and airfares would be higher overall.
Airlines are not charities — they are businesses looking to make profit. Airlines had this idea to charge passengers for bag fees, obviously many passengers pay this fee and airlines are able to make a profit. Why would an airline get rid of these fees? Customers have the ability to vote on these fees with their pocket book. Southwest Airlines and JetBlue both don’t charge you for checking a bag (on Southwest, you can check two for free), but of course, they are not always the cheapest option, even when checking a bag.
All that being said, yes I know that they are annoying when you are checking in and you have to drop another $50.00 for two bags. I do whatever I can to avoid paying bag fees myself and cringe when I end up having to pay them.I wish airlines would do a better job explaining why they are charging the fees. It seems like most airlines are like “we are charging them, take it or leave it approach.” I do not think most customers realize that weight costs money and instead of selling it as, “if you have a checked bag, you will owe more,” sell it as, “if you do not have a checked bag, we now let you save money.”
I believe that ala cart pricing will be the future of airlines. Many other businesses operate this way and why should I have to pay for something that I don’t want to use. When I book a hotel room, I might cringe when I have to pay $25 for parking and $20 for Wi-Fi and $5 for a bottle of water, but it is understandable. Why should parking be built into my hotel price if I do not have a car?
