Archive for April 16th, 2008
April 16th, 2008
My favorite part:
In addition to the added convenience, the shuttle buses offer improved dining and meal service, with passengers getting a choice between Arby’s, Roy Rogers and Dunkin’ Donuts, at more than 500 rest areas across the country. Complimentary snacks and beverages are also be distributed to all travelers, depending on when and where the shuttle bus stops for gas.
The buses are capable of making emergency breaks by the side of the highway if required—a feature Southwest officials say passengers will prefer to cramped airplane toilets. According to Miller, exciting new entertainment options—such as asking the shuttle’s captain to change the radio station—will replace in-flight films.
April 16th, 2008
I have nothing to add to all the talk about the Delta/Northwest merger other than:
- I’m glad my meager Northwest miles will still count.
- We’ll no longer have “Northwest” to come to RFD and leave suddenly. Maybe Delta will keep up the tradition in a few years.
- Airfare will probably go up as consolidation continues.
- Well at least neither closed down.
Here are three interesting takes on the news (warning: the first two have … colorful … language):
23/6 takes a humorous stab at “explaining” things
The Cranky Flier weighs in with typical insight
The AP takes a “nuts and bolts” look on the effect on travelers
April 16th, 2008
It’s been a few weeks of surprises in the airline industry, but chalk this up as a pleasant surprise. Allegiant Air announced today it’ll start offering seasonal flights from Bellingham, Wash., to both San Francisco and San Diego. It’s a rare announcement of growth from an airline. Then again, Allegiant is pretty rare in that it’s still turning a profit amid high fuel prices.
This doesn’t directly benefit Chicago Rockford International Airport and I wouldn’t expect us to gain that California service, at least not in the foreseeable future. Allegiant is trying to keep its routes shorter, and recently expanded its Bellingham operation to base aircraft there. Bellingham already is the only Allegiant city to fly to Reno, and used to be the only one to go to Lake Tahoe, Nev., so there’s precedent.
It’s good for us in that Allegiant continues to exhibit a solid business and growth model, which stabilizes its existing routes. Also, it shows a willingness to do special routes not involving “focus cities”, so perhaps there’s hope of future routes from RFD to cities that are less than 1,000 miles away…
April 16th, 2008
Well, despite a number of local gas stations reaching near $3.55 a gallon yesterday we didn’t reach a record for the entire metro area. But we’re real close (Data courtesy of AAA’s fuelgaugereport.com):
Gasoline: Rockford increased two cents to $3.45 a gallon today, only one cent from our record set back in May. Every single metro area in Illinois increased on news of record crude oil prices. East St. Louis is at a record of almost $3.59 a gallon, while a couple other metro areas set records in past days. The state average increased almost two cents to a record $3.52 today. Rockford has the fourth-highest prices in the state. The national average has set records for about all of the past week, and increased more than a cent to an unheard-of $3.40 a gallon today. Illinois has the sixth-highest gas prices in the nation.
Diesel: More records here. Rockford increased more than a cent to a record $4.17 a gallon today. Some other metro areas increased, some decreased and some stood pat. The state average increased half a cent to $4.21 a gallon, just shy of the record set Monday. We have the fourth-highest diesel prices in the state. The nation increased its record average a cent to $4.13 a gallon. Illinois is tied for the 14th-highest prices in the country.
