I saw this advertisement on four different websites today. So, Mexicana and OneWorld are doing a great job with banner advertising. But I’m not really sure whether it gets any points across the viewer. Why do I say that? Because an airline brand is no longer what you [the airline] say it is, it’s what they [the customers] say it is.

First impressions matter
When I first saw this advertisement, these questions would come to the travelers’ minds:

Why is Oneworld the “most important” alliance in the world?
And whose claim is that? The alliance itself? Or an independent third party?
Who is Mexicana? A new airline from Mexico? Or an old one?
Are they any good?
Do they fly anywhere other than Mexico?
Oh..and which of those logos is Mexicana? The first or the last… they both look similar!

None of those questions were answered. And from a marketing standpoint, what’s the “call to action”? Being the curious type, I clicked on the advertisement anyway, and I came to a “Promotions” landing page, which didn’t quite make sense.
Repetition doesn’t work anymore
The page I was led to repeated …

Star Alliance, the largest airline alliance is set to grow even bigger. Star Alliance CEO announced that they may double their size in the recent future – to up to 50 members (a quarter of whom might be Lufthansa’s babies :p).

Among its members are some of the world’s largest and most admired airlines, including Singapore, ANA, Lufthansa, and Thai. But of late, a number of airlines with varying (and questionable) reputations have joined the alliance, including Air India, Egyptair and a couple of Chinese carriers. In the future, Star Alliance looks to get more member airlines from Latin America and Africa – further widening the quality spectrum among its carriers. And this may be detrimental for not just the Star Alliance as a whole, but for individual carriers’ reputation as well.
Bigger isn’t always better
The bigger it becomes, the more diluted the brand becomes. Gone will be the days when to fly from Sydney to Stuttgart, you could fly the pampering Singapore Airlines to Frankfurt, and connect to a super-efficient Lufthansa for the last leg of the flight. Just imagine the disparity in the quality of …

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Image by pchavali via Flickrllkl
There’s been ton of chatter that Qantas is looking for a bedmate even since the new CEO Alan Joyce took over. Finally, British Airways CEO announced that the airline is in talks with Qantas regarding a potential merger. On the surface, it may look like a good deal, since there are so many synergies to tap on the famed Kangaroo route. But dig a little deeper and you will realize that Qantas may just become a concubine for BA, rather than a trusted mate, and it might just make sense to keep the options open towards airlines like Cathay Pacific.

But before I get into that, let me share my thoughts on why a Qantas and British Airways is still good for both the airlines.
Why QF and BA make a good couple
The goal of mergers is to generally extract value by streamlining operations. But Qantas and British Airways (BA) can probably hope for much …

Although American Airlines posted a $45 million profit in the last quarter, it was only the sale of a financial advisory unit that kept them in black. Otherwise, they’d have lost over $300 million in one quarter. But why? Shouldn’t all those charges for anything that’s not attached to the plane helping boost profits? Apparently not. Since the fares themselves are not just low, but utterly unrealistic and unsustainable.
Shocking prices!
Here’s an shocking discovery I made while searching for fares on Vayama.com. The fare for a JFK-Singapore flight is $800.20 (on Cathay Pacific), and from Boston – JFK – Singapore is $807.20 (on AA + Cathay Pacific). That means the flight from Boston to JFK is merely $7! That is less than the price for a person to get from Manhattan to JFK by subway! Even a regular bus ticket from Boston to New York City is $15. See the screenshots below for yourself.

How is this possible?
Even though both American Airlines and Cathay Pacific are part of the OneWorld alliance, and cooperate …