Us Airways Alliance/regulatory Updates

[ITRADE]

US applied on the 10th to place its code on Lufthansa flights to Kuwait City.

Oh yeah. I think.

 

[USFlyer]

Why is all of this done piecemeal? For example, why didn't they just apply for a comprehensive codeshare alliance? Ditto with UAL and its international routes. Why must US apply individually for each one over a period of time?

Also, FWIW, I'm loving the UA codeshare. Last Thursday every flight from SEA was booked solid in F and in the first week of January I've found that to be the case to SEA on certain days. So, with the former, I booked a short hop to SFO and then continued on to DCA on US to snag an upgrade on the transcon leg. With the latter, I booked US to PHL and then codeshare PHL to SEA, taking advantage of the F excursion fares. It's definitely driving all of my non US business to UA as well, especially intra west coast.

 

[ringmaruf]

Why is all of this done piecemeal? For example, why didn't they just apply for a comprehensive codeshare alliance? Ditto with UAL and its international routes. Why must US apply individually for each one over a period of time?

Also, FWIW, I'm loving the UA codeshare. Last Thursday every flight from SEA was booked solid in F and in the first week of January I've found that to be the case to SEA on certain days. So, with the former, I booked a short hop to SFO and then continued on to DCA on US to snag an upgrade on the transcon leg. With the latter, I booked US to PHL and then codeshare PHL to SEA, taking advantage of the F excursion fares. It's definitely driving all of my non US business to UA as well, especially intra west coast.

It's because US needs authority to serve each individual country.

In the cases where the US has open skies with the other country or where the bilateral is liberal regarding the number of codeshare opportunities, the application is merely a formality.

For other countries, where there are a limited number of carriers allowed in the market, US's application must be considered against other those of other carriers. For example, US has a pending application to codeshare to TLV with LH. The US-Israel bilateral only allows one more codeshare on that route. US applied with LH, CO applied with KL, AA applied with BA, and DL applied with AZ, all for that one available authority. The DOT now has to decide whose application is the strongest.

In markets where US already has the authority, the initial codeshare application was sufficient. For example, one of the first European UA codeshare destinations was AMS, because US already held broad U.S.-Netherlands authority.

 

[USFlyer]

Any word on when codeshare flights to Canada (UAL or AC) might be in the mix? YVR is a huge hole in US's network. I actually would like to see US do in YVR what it is doing in Vail.

 

[ITRADE]

Any word on when codeshare flights to Canada (UAL or AC) might be in the mix? YVR is a huge hole in US's network. I actually would like to see US do in YVR what it is doing in Vail.

No kidding. I can;t understand why US simply wont start its own service to a city with several million people.

 

[Light Years]

Because its East of the Mississippi. Nobody lives there or wants to go there. Only a couple hundred a day to a small handful of cities. The same goes for Asia, South America, and the midwest. The world revolves around Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and the Carribbean. Right?

 

[ringmaruf]

With regards to Canadian expansion, do real US agents work in Canada (YYZ/YUL), or are they outsourced like the other foreign countries? I believe that Piedmont operates the Express station at YOW. Not that it would really matter with respect to any Canadian expansion. YVR or YYC would not start with more than two flights a day, and any return to YHM or YXU would be on Express equipment. (Also, if they're indeed real US agents, YUL is down to one mainline flight a day, so they should be Mainline Expressed before long.)

 

[ITRADE]

US applied on the 10th to place its code on Lufthansa flights to Kuwait City.

Oh yeah. I think.

DOT granted US's Kuwait application yesterday.

 

[BoeingBoy]

ITRADE,

You reckon that will help our loads on flights to places like IAH?

Jim

 

[ITRADE]

Ya never know...

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

With regards to Canadian expansion, do real US agents work in Canada (YYZ/YUL), or are they outsourced like the other foreign countries? I believe that Piedmont operates the Express station at YOW. (Also, if they're indeed real US agents, YUL is down to one mainline flight a day, so they should be Mainline Expressed before long.)

YUL and YYZ are staffed by "real" UAIR agents. YUL was actually made all express sometime in 2002, but now has some jet serice. The agents, however, are still "real" US. This has something to do with Canadian or Quebec labor law.

 

[700UW]

And they are members of the Canadian Auto Workers union, and have their own contract also. (CAW).

 

[700UW]

Do you need a cold one?

 

[PoorPropDriver]

With regards to Canadian expansion, do real US agents work in Canada (YYZ/YUL), or are they outsourced like the other foreign countries? I believe that Piedmont operates the Express station at YOW. Not that it would really matter with respect to any Canadian expansion. YVR or YYC would not start with more than two flights a day, and any return to YHM or YXU would be on Express equipment. (Also, if they're indeed real US agents, YUL is down to one mainline flight a day, so they should be Mainline Expressed before long.)

YOW is a mainline station.

 

[Bluestreaking]

I'm pretty sure that YOW is either Piedmont or PSA.