Airlines take shots at rivals competing for Cuba flights
The war of words has gotten nasty, with the candidates describing the ideas of their rivals as “disingenuous,” “extreme” and “capricious.”
These are not the comments of presidential candidates. This is the language used by airlines that are competing for a handful of routes to Cuba that the U.S. government will award this summer under the Obama administration’s effort to normalize relations with the island nation.
As part of the selection process, the U.S. Department of Transportation has asked that the competing carriers submit written requests for the routes they want as well as responses to the proposals of their rivals.
The federal agency plans to approve 20 daily round-trip flights to Havana, and 10 flights to nine smaller airports around the communist country.
The language in these responses has taken an ugly tone because airline executives know that the Cuban routes will be in high demand, particularly from Cuban-Americans living near Miami, New York and Los Angeles.
In its application, New York-based JetBlue Airways requested 12 daily flights to Havana and took shots at Delta Air Lines, saying “JetBlue, not Delta, is the leading domestic airline at JFK,” referring to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
Delta, which requested to fly daily to Havana from four U.S. airports, fired back in its application, saying, “JetBlue’s claim that it offered more seats and flights from JFK than any other airline in 2015 is demonstrably false.”
In Delta’s application, the Atlanta-based carrier took an additional shot at JetBlue by including photos of stranded JetBlue passengers sleeping in chairs at a JFK terminal.
Southwest Airlines, which requested nine of the 20 daily flights to Havana, said it can offer fares lower than American, Spirit and JetBlue on flights between South Florida and Havana.
United Airlines described a projection that Southwest made about demand for its service “capricious.”
American Airlines, which asked for 12 daily flights into Havana plus 10 daily or weekly flights to other Cuban airports, called Southwest’s request for six daily flights from Fort Lauderdale to Havana “absurd.”
American also slammed Alaska Airlines, saying its request for two daily flights from Los Angeles International Airport to Havana is “in the extreme and bears no rational relationship to historical, current or future demand.”
Alaska Airlines testing electronic bag tag
Alaska Airlines, the carrier that has tested solar-powered passenger ramps and fingerprint identification devices for passengers, is continuing to experiment.
The Seattle-based airline has begun testing an electronic, reusable luggage tag that is linked to a passenger’s Alaska Airlines mobile app.
Here’s how it works: Once you buy a ticket on Alaska and check in using the mobile app, the app asks if you want to activate your electronic bag tag. When you turn on your electronic tag, the Bluetooth technology in your phone synchs with the tag and displays your flight’s destination on the tag’s tiny screen.
The goal of the tag and previous Alaska experiments is to make air travel more expedient, said Loesje Degroen, Alaska’s customer research and development manager.
Alaska began testing the electronic tag with 60 employees last summer and is now trying the technology with about 50 passengers. Later this year, Degroen said, the carrier plans to expand the test to about 500 passengers.
Some of Alaska’s experiments don’t pan out. Alaska still lets passengers use their fingerprints to access the airline’s five airport lounges and the solar panels are still powering ramps at airports in San Jose, Calif.; Palm Springs, Calif.; Seattle; and Portland, Ore.
But a test last summer to let passengers board using only their fingerprints for identification at Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport ended without being expanded.
Alaska officials would not call the test a failure, saying only that they will think of other ways to use biometrics.
