Editorial

When the boot is on the other foot

At Germany’s cost

Jubilant Mexico fans triggered an earhtquake in Mexico City when Mexico scored the winning goal against Germany during a World Cup Game in Russia. Seismic monitoring reported that at 11.32 local time, an “artificial trigger caused an earthquake in Mexico City which was probably caused by “massive jumps””.

We wonder if there was such in Seoul also!

Window less planes coming

Have you ever considered flying on a plane that has no windows? Probably not but that time might not be so far away. Gulf mega carrier Emirates is adopting a three across first class seat configuration which thus will leave First Class passengers sat in the middle with no window access, but to circumvent this, they plan is to add ‘” virtual windows’” which will project the view from outside.

Not stopping there, Emirates believes that if this concept is accepted by its First Class passengers then the idea of a window less plane can be rolled out further using virtual windows as de facto the norm.

From a safety aspect such a move would not create any issue with European safety bodies and additionally (and perhaps more importantly) this would make the planes lighter and more fuel efficient! This last aspect is perhaps the real motive behind the concept.

Yet another

Yet another new hotel brand is being launched by one of the big boys, keen to fill a perceived gap in their portfolio; this time its IHC (Intercontinental Hotels Group) who are launching the upmarket brand Voco. The group plan to open 200 such Voco Hotels in the next ten years, but don’t hold your breath for Bulgaria.

More HBO’s

Hardly a week goes by these days without yet another airline announcing that they are to introduce “HBO’s.”. No, that’s not a new in flight film agreement but rather a ‘Hand bags only’” fare. The concept derived from the Low Cost Carriers and such was the uptake that people readily accepted the move. This was not least because the cost conscious didn’t want to pay a Leva or Euro more for a suitcase to be checked in. The result initially was people trying to squeeze everything including the kitchen sink into the overhead luggage bins, a sight that became particularly common on flights from this neck of the woods. As time went by some sense of normality arrived with stricter controls on the size of bags passengers could carry aboard.

Back to the point though, HBO fares are, whether we like it or no are here to stay for the foreseeable future and there is a very good reason for this. Airlines might like the travelling public to think they are doing their passengers a favour with such low fares! The reality is that if they don’t have lower fares they don’t appear at the top of peoples searches for cheap flights! Airlines have a dislike of transparency, so whatever fare can find its way to the top of the cheap list is fine with them; regardless of what it does and doesn’t include.  The real price a passenger pays will become clearer much further down the booking process but part one of the battle for attention is to get to the top (or close to it) of the visible list by fair means or foul.

With the above in mind, its therefore interesting to note that Emirates are the latest considering HBO fares, no doubt because they are seeing their low fares being out maneuvered by rivals, despite the fact they may be cheaper in the long run. Emirates reasoning is that the stereotype of a typical passenger has changed and these days he/she is much more likely to just travel with a back pack or hand luggage only than was the case several years ago. Analysts suggest something different: they suggest that in real terms Gulf Carriers are essentially Low Cost Airlines anyway and they too need to bring in extra revenue as they mature just like more ‘” typical” LCC carriers have done.

So the next time you are asked if you are flying with a Low Cost Airline, you might be able to answer ‘” yes, Emirates”. The airline execs might differ on this comparison however!

No suitcase on Ryanair?

At HRG Bulgaria we operate an out of Hours Emergency Contact Set up and by far the most popular call is not for an urgent flight or hotel booking but rather to suggest that their Ryanair flight booking wasn’t booked with a suitcase! Looking at a Ryanair boarding pass we would defy any normal sighted person to actually see where it says they have a suitcase booked! If you look closely, indeed very closely, under the box on the top right which shows the routing, seat number and date et al, just underneath where the time is shown when the boarding gate closes is a size two font that says “” 20KG BAG”’ in capitals…… but capital letters at size two font really don’t help.

We have often wondered why such a vital element as the fact that a suitcase has been booked appears to be very much an afterthought on the part of the airline and why they don’t make this clearer or larger or bolder? We are sure there is an obvious reason why not but we just can’t seem to think of it.

Handling charge

If your business had a market share of around 44% you might feel smug with yourself. If your 44% market share was made up of one mega client and a couple of smaller ones you might feel less content; especially if the mega client made up 40% or the 44% share! What happens if this client leaves you? This very same scenario is just being played out at Sofia Airport where the airports own Ground Handling Company serves Wizz Air who now carry close to 40% of the passengers arriving and departing from Sofia Airport. Wizz have just tendered for a Ground Handling agent and awarded their contract to Goldair: rivals of the airports own ground handling company.

What that means to the 400 or so workforce of the incumbent Ground Handler remains to be seen though one assumes they may be offered new positions in the new provider. Meanwhile, as the tender for the concession to operate Sofia Airport hots up, one assumes that this may also slightly devalue the worth of the airport concession for any potential bidder.

Horsing around

The last couple of Newsletters have contained tongue in cheek articles surrounding US airline policies on ‘”emotional support animals”’, or put into plain English, which animals the airlines will be allowed on the plane with you (to share a drink and chat with you mid-flight). The latest PR release we need to keep a straight face on comes from Jet Blue who have announced that from July 1^st, they will only allow dogs, cats and miniature horses in the cabin!

We suppose thus that the cabin crew will sell carrots along with the pretzels!

Beware of the internet

As we all know the internet is the be all and end all of human life as we know it today. Here we find the truth about everything and anything that exists in our world. Except that is that suddenly the penny has dropped to many that indeed, the internet will only tell us what someone wants us to see or hear – partially. This being the case, a couple of interesting points arose at a recent high profile Travel Event in the USA where it was pointed out that only 52% of all travel inventory appears on the internet therefore anyone who relies on it to book travel is excluding 48% of the options available.  Aspects such as whether a hotel has free parking or not or whether the kids eat free are often buried deep or not even existent in many cases. The event also suggested that despite the rise of the shared economy, customers don’t really want to rely on it nor on any sort of travel information flow that is not subjected to verification. The example – rightly or wrongly – was used of TripAdvisor which had morphed from being a great idea to a booking engine like everyone else.

April 1st again

Boeing has unveiled designs for a new hypersonic plane that will be capable of travelling between Europe and Australia in five hours and between London and New York in 2 hours.

The jet will travel at around 6500 kmph and size wise is slightly smaller than a current Boeing 737 aircraft. Don’t expect to see the plane anytime soon though as work won’t start on it until 2020 and the earliest the plane could be seen in the skies is around twenty years after that.

Almost April 1^st again perhaps?

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