Triangle Trip

Pet Airways, a pet-only airline dedicated to pet-friendly travel.

You now have the ability to send your pet to a number of national locations via “first class” from $199+. This is for the ultra pet-enthusiast who can’t bear the thought of sending their pet in cargo and would rather skip a mortgage payment.

Sending a pet one way is more expensive than sending a human to Chicago if you look at their rates on the site ($199 for NY to Chicago one way). You could probably get a round trip ticket for a human for under $199 from LGA to ORD (although you would probably take a lot of  abuse from American Airlines, Delta or United).

So this pets only airline… Is there any hope for this business model?

Pet Airways is probably on the same track as Fly Clear (see Captain G’s post).

I was extremely shocked to see the attached email from Delta on Monday morning, offering me 10,000 MQM (Medallion Qualifying Miles) toward my 2010 status.

I checked my online account statement and noticed it was there!

This is right after the Triple/Double MQM offer ended — which wasn’t really an offer (see previous post). I am guessing Delta is feeling guilty that it actually did not offer or gave anyone real MQM with their previous offer, and this is a way to proactively quiet the future complaints.

After speaking with a few of my associates, I found out this MQM offer was only given to a selected few and not everyone. Some folks only got 5,000 MQM while others got as much as 15,000. I guess it’s dependent on how much you have flown in 2009 — I racked up about 30,000 miles on Delta in 2009.

It is a good consolation prize for the bad MQM offer Delta had from March to June 2009. Kudos to them on this one.

Clear was a good concept. Pay $199 for membership to quickly get through airport security. So what went wrong? (aside from not fixing issues highlighted by yours truly from a previous post). Below are the reasons:

1.  Clear was trying to be something they are not. Clear wanted to participate in TSA-related activities but didn’t have the authority to do the job. Clear couldn’t get you pass security any faster than a traveler with airline status because Clear personnel couldn’t perform screening like a TSA agent. Clear only allowed you to skip the first TSA checkpoint – the TSA person matching  your boarding pass against your driver license/ID. You still had to go through the same TSA scanners, take off your shoes, remove your belt, show liquids, etc. And you’d have to wait for the leisure travelers to get their acts together after the screening process to repack. So Clear probably saved you 2 minutes tops – not to mention you may lose a few minutes because the fingerprint authentication machine didn’t work properly.

2.  Too much talk (marketing) and no execution. I have been getting spammed by Clear since its inception. I was also  spammed as a Clear member to get other members to join Clear. I also see tons of Clear marketing people handing out flyers at airports where Clear operates (mostly JFK). What’s the point of handing out flyers at airports when most of the people there are either Clear customers already or will never pay $200 a year because they are vacationers. Spending all the money on ineffective marketing campaings as opposed to focusing on launching airports led to Clear’s failure (see my previous post regarding issues). All that money in the bank should have gone to launch LAX and other important airport hubs which can ultimately drive membership (aka: revenue). I had a Clear membership but couldn’t use it half the time because I am a frequent traveler out of one of the busiest airports in the world (LAX and ORD). What’s the benefit of being a Clear member when I can quickly get through Indianapolis airport security when there are no lines?

3.  Poor leadership and management. What’s the point of gathering all my personal data when it is not necessary? Why do I see 4 to 8 people at Clear kiosks when the registration process and check-in process should be easy and straight forward? I found the registration process to be extremely cumbersome and unnecessary. Clear did not need my fingerprints to validate my identity. I believe two government issued IDs is sufficient proof. Investment in the fingerprint and eye scanning machines were a waste of shareholder funds. Furthermore, it took two people to register me at SFO.

Instead of wasting all the money and closing up shop now, Clear had a perfect chance to save itself. All Clear management had to do was read Triangle Trip and my open letter to the US Homeland Security Chief and TSA (see post). We sincerely hope the airlines are reading our posts as they are important feedback to the industry. I am sure Clear will also be a business case study at some B-school down the road… here’s a free research paper for the kiddies!