Low-cost airline tips

WOW Air, the Iceland-based no-frills carrier that raised eyebrows with its $99 fares from Boston and Baltimore to Iceland a year ago, now has something in common with Spirit Airlines, the U.S. carrier notorious for its nickel-and-diming and generally customer-unfriendly ways.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian has a bold idea: Perhaps the future of his airline’s success lies less in low fares and more in steadily improving service, amenities, and reliability. Delta has made inroads with high-paying business travelers through improved business-class service, but the AP’s Scott Mayerowitz reports that Bastian has no plans to hang the main cabin out to dry.

Could Spirit, the airline everybody loves to hate, become a bit less hateful? If the company’s new CEO has his way, it will do just that.

Southwest manages to succeed where most companies, and airlines in particular, fail, selling a mediocre product, at a price that is rarely the lowest, racking up an industry-leading record of profitability, all the while maintaining a firm hold on the hearts and minds of its customers. Very few companies make so many people so happy so consistently.

Shark Week is coming, and Southwest Airlines is all in.

If you’re looking for yet another reason to cross the Atlantic, WOW Air just gave you one: The Icelandic-based airline is expanding low transatlantic fares and “second city” air routes.

Spirit’s new “Free Flights for a Year” sweepstakes wears its promise on its sleeve: free flights for a year. That’s an attention-getter, to be sure. But this being Spirit Airlines, the promise is deflated by the reality.

UPDATE – Spirit apparently had second thoughts about the new size restrictions, and has elected to forego the changes reported in our article. According to a Spirit representative: “We had been preparing for a potential change in personal item sizes, however we decided a few weeks ago not to implement the change. While we always like to encourage passengers to carry less, we will continue to offer the largest personal size item of any ultra-low cost carrier.”

Spirit’s widely disparaged leader, Ben Baldanza, may be gone, but the airline’s cheeky, cheesy marketing flies on without him.

Norwegian Air, famous for offering ultra-low fares to Europe, has long had its legitimacy challenged here in the U.S. At question is the airline’s subsidiary headquartered in Ireland, which is seen as (possibly) a way of dodging local labor standards. Despite these concerns, the Department of Transportation (DOT) approved to fly to and from the U.S.

For the twelfth consecutive year, JetBlue tops the list of best airlines in North America. It ranks first among low-cost carriers in J.D. Power’s annual ranking of North American airline satisfaction. Alaska Airlines is ranked highest among traditional airlines for the ninth straight year. Southwest, which is grouped in the low-cost category, had the second-highest score overall.

American has announced that it will bring back a much-loved tradition from a bygone era of flying: plastic airline kids’ wings. The airline stopped handing these out sometime in the chaotic early 2000s, but ended the decade-plus absence last week.

How satisfied are travelers with the airlines?

If you live within driving distance of Boston Logan’s airport, you may be in luck the next time you search for a cheap flight out of town. A ton of new airlines and routes have landed here lately, meaning flyers will have more choices, more fare wars, and more direct flights.

Norwegian Air, the growing low-cost carrier known for low fares to Europe, is adding two new destinations: Chicago, Illinois, and Austin, Texas.

Southwest will stop serving peanuts on flights beginning in August, according to USA Today.