American Airlines does the business with premium product
LOW-FRILLS and lower-priced Economy or lots of frills and much steeper fares in Business Class? American Airlines (AA) believes there’s a third way, and is targeting corporate travellers with its Premium Economy offering from Dublin to the US next year.
With Aer Lingus providing competition on the Dublin to Philadelphia route from March, the business-economy hybrid is a selling point for AA.
“From Dublin to Philly it’ll be available from January 15 and from May 4 it’ll be on the Dublin to Charlotte, both of them operated on our a330-200 aircraft,” Janine Brown, EMEA PR manager for the airline told the Sunday Independent.
The 21-seater cabin, just behind Business Class, will feature business-like facilities, including extra legroom, noise-reducing headphones, traytops that can accommodate laptop-working, complimentary amenity kit, bedding and priority security lines in US airports — the typical staples of a business product. The big difference? Price, with fares starting at around €700 return — putting it within the budget range of startups, smaller businesses and companies with less generous travel management policies for staff.
“It gives the corporate market another choice — on a lot of travel policies where they have economy travel policy some of them allow travel on premium economy,” said AA’s Ireland country sales manager Caitriona Toner. “Up until now they didn’t have that option on direct services out of Dublin. We’re the only airline on the market to have that USP. Maybe not for long but for now we’re the only one.”
It’s also one carrier that’s expanding its transatlantic offering at Shannon, starting its summer service a month early, on April 5, and running until October 1, meaning capacity for 7,000 more passengers on a route that carries around 38,000 a year. The service will use Boeing 757s, with a twoclass offering of Business and Economy.
Marriott International — a global chain favourite of the travelling executive — reckons that half of all corporate guests have their best ideas not in the boardroom, but in the shower.
So their innovation lab guys have come up with an interactive shower, where you doodle ideas on the steamed-up door and share it via a dedicated tablet in your room. For now, it’s only available in its Irvine hotel in California’s Orange County — and in just a single room — but will be rolled out further if it washes with guests.
It’s part of a wider push by hotel chains to introduce the Internet of Things — a concept growing in popularity in people’s own homes — to your room. The high-tech Hotel Jen by Shangri-La, where I stayed recently, has just introduced robot butlers to its Singapore properties, while Aloft Hotels introduced its own butler, called Botlr, in 2014 and is rolling out ChatBotlr, an automated text message service to handle guest requests.
Hilton and Marriott have also adopted keyless guest room entry that relies on smartphone apps. Apps like Priscilla, featured in this column, allow you to check in, check out and set TV and room temperature without talking to a living being.
Taking that a step further is LA’s H Hotel, whose robotic butler HANNAH — described as “a distant cousin of The Jetson’s Rosie the Robot Maid” — delivers services like snacks and extra towels to your room. Being American, she’ll probably expect a tip too...
Technology is great but it’s a case (literally) of buyer beware when it comes to smart luggage.
The trendy carry-on craze is now available in mainstream Irish stores and offers everything from built-in USB chargers in luggage to GPS transmitters (handy if your cases go missing). I even noticed pop singer Will-i-am in Los Angeles airport on a top-of-the-range smart case — one with a built-in motor and wheels so you can ride from the carousel to your cab at the airport.
But some US airlines aren’t so keen on smart suitcases, amid fire safety concerns over their built-in batteries. Both American Airlines and Delta will bring in new rules from mid-January which forbid the carriage of smart luggage unless the lithium batteries which are used to power them are removed before check-in. Even if the cases are brought into the cabin, not checked in, airline policies differ.
Non-US airlines haven’t made any announcements yet, but do watch this space. Manufacturers have been in talks with the airlines, and disagree with the hardline new policy. But to be on the safe side, if you are buying smart luggage, look out for models with removable batteries which don’t fall foul of the new regulations.