Site Search
Social

Advertisement

Low Cost Carriers

Pluna Airlines and the Flighty Flight Attendants

January 5, 2011

As I mentioned in my “Out of Office” message, my year-end vacation this year is a combination of Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Punta del Este and Buenos Aires. The quickest way to get from Rio to Montevideo was flying Pluna Airlines, the Uruguayan national carrier. I did some research before purchasing on Pluna and every report [...]

2 comments Read the full article →

Delta Announces GOL Partnership and Triple Miles Promotion

December 6, 2010

This is a great enhancement and one I wish I knew about a couple weeks ago before I bought expensive intra-Brazil flights. Per this press release, Delta is now partners with GOL, which is basically the Southwest Airlines of South America. They operate a fleet of 737s and operate coach-only flights.  They move over 40% of domestic [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

Program Score Card: Porter VIPorter

August 16, 2010

Feisty Canadian low-cost carrier Porter is known for being the only carrier that flies to Toronto Island airport, which is within the city limits and much more convenient for many people than Toronto Pearson  Porter only operates one-class Q-400 Turbo props and prides itself on simple fares and in-flight service. They target the business flyer [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Program Score Card: WestJet Frequent Guest

August 16, 2010

When it comes to Canadian low-cost carriers, WestJet leads the pack. As the second largest airline in Canada (behind Air Canada), they service 71 destinations in Canada, US, Mexico and the Caribbean. Their operational model is similar to Southwest’s in that they only operate coach-only 737 aircraft.  WestJet is not in any of the alliances, [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Program Score Card: Frontier EarlyReturns

August 12, 2010

Denver based Frontier Airlines recently acquired (through parent holding company Republic) Midwest airlines, so the two regional low cost carriers will merge to provide a formidable, though much smaller,  competitors  Southwest and United. Unlike Southwest however, they operate on a hub system, meaning almost all flights will run through Denver and Milkwaukee. Currency=  EarlyReturns Miles [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Program Score Card: Midwest Miles

August 11, 2010

Midwest was purchased by Frontier, so by this fall, their frequent flyer programs will have merged. It may be a bit pointless for me to do this analysis, but I’m a sucker for history, so I might as well document the Midwest Miles program for the frequent flyer time capsule Milwaukee based Midwest is known [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Program Score Card: Spirit FreeSpirit

August 10, 2010

Fort Lauderdale based Spirit Airlines has prided itself on becoming the first “ultra-low cost” airline. Spirit led the pack with fees: starting with baggage and also evolving into beverages and even middle seats. Spirit was in the news this year mostly for beginning a fee on carry-on baggage- a first of any US airline. Fees [...]

2 comments Read the full article →

Program Score Card: Sun Country UFly Rewards

August 9, 2010

If you live in Minneapolis, you are probably familiar with Sun Country airlines. This unique MSP-based low-cost carrier flies to 35 destinations in the US, Caribbean, Mexico and as of June 2010, seasonal service to London Stansted. Sun Country has a similar operating model to Southwest in that it only has a fleet of Boeing [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Coming this Week: Spotlight on Non-Legacy Frequent Flyer Programs

August 8, 2010

A lot of my content is geared towards the 5 major US airline frequent flyer programs (American, Continental, Delta, United, US Airways). Collectively, they have millions of members and constitute a majority of domestic flights. However, many frequent flyers have been switching to low cost carriers (like Southwest and AirTran) and boutique carriers (like Virgin [...]

0 comments Read the full article →