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Subscribe to RSS FeedSomething to celebrate. One year flying.
It’s been a while since my last update, but I’m back in the swing of it. And the good news is I’ve got some great news to share. We’re marking our one-year anniversary!
As those of you who’ve been following the blog know, a lot of hard work went into making our first year such a success. We launched OpenSkies in record time, partnered with L’Avion to strengthen our offerings, and added the first all-business class Amsterdam-NYC route. When other airlines increased their costs and reduced their capacity, we increased our capacity and reduced costs. Over the year, our market share has grown and there are few empty seats. That means a healthy airline.
In the past twelve months, we’ve welcomed 92,000 passengers aboard our flights. That’s a solid feat for a new airline, even in the best of times. We’ve not only endured during a tough economy, we’ve continue to show improvements every month. Why? Because we truly are a unique airline whose time has come. All business class, all the time—and at an exceptional value.
It feels pretty good to look back on all we’ve accomplished this past year, but we’re not just sitting around the offices congratulating ourselves and slapping each other on the back. There’s an American baseball player who said it best. He said, “It’s okay to look back, just don’t stare.” We’re not staring at the past. We focused on the future, making OpenSkies the best flying experience out there.
And what we’re focused on right now is bringing you some great deals to celebrate our anniversary. You’ll see that topnotch service and complete comfort don’t have to come at a lavish price.
If you’ve flown with us over the past year, drop me a note and let me know about your experience. If we’ve yet to welcome you aboard, I look forward to seeing you in year two.
Dale
June 28th, 2009 at 5:53 am
Dale…glad you’re back blogging. I had my flight back in May and it was fantastic! I blogged about it here: http://bit.ly/4yBuxU
June 29th, 2009 at 12:03 am
Dale,
The experience was excellent, we I am still waiting for my credited miles from BA (since Feb 10th now). This has been extremely frustrating as they are absolutely not helpful — and I’m a BA executive member! I hate to think how they treat “normal” people. It’s very scary to think they now run you guys
June 29th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Dear Dale:
I’m going to try leaving my reply here. It’s been waiting moderation since June 17 on another thread. Today is June 29 and I am returning to NY on July 3, and I still haven’t had a reply from customer relations…
I was eagerly anticipating my flight on Open Skies on June 2, 2009 (#7002 from Kennedy to Paris). I am stunned at my disappointment.
The plane was nothing like the description on the website. The purple seats were uncomfortable and claustrophibic. When the person in front of me reclined his seat, I thought he was going to land in my lap. The woman sitting next to me said that the plane had been changed at the last minute and that we were in an older model that wasn’t quite up to snuff.
I am sorry to say that the crew seemed overwhelmed and quite put out when asked questions (such as “how do the seats work?” “where do you plug in the personal videos that they gave out?” “can I get a second cup of coffee?” “you forgot to bring me sugar,” etc.). Then there is the question of food safety: while the food was quite good, there was a real problem with the temperature. Anything that was supposed to be cold, needed to be cold–not lukewarm. This is not safe for foods like mousses and the like.
All in all a most disappointing experience, especially given the lead-up on the website. The final irony was the magazine at my seat that talked about the idea of Open Skies and the fact that it was conceived as something for those who might be “nostalgic” for the days of the Concorde. If my recent experience was supposed to be something like the Concorde, perhaps its going out of business was understandable.
I am keeping my fingers crossed for my return trip on July 3, but from what I understand, the trips from Paris to NY are less pleasant than the ones
from NY to Paris.
I am certain that the people who work in your offices have the best of intentions and really are trying to do a good job of providing a different sort of
experience. That was certainly the case when I called to request some information. From the things I’ve read on your blog, I do get the feeling that you all are committed to making sure that the customers are satisfied, and this is why I felt compelled to send you this letter. I really did want to be satisfied and I don’t consider myself a “difficult” person, but I was truly surprised by the third-rate flight I took to Paris the other day.
I sent this message to customer relations @ open skies on June 4 and still haven’t had a response. I’m wondering if I’m in another universe…
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:29 pm
I just would love to know why my recent comment on here was not posted?
July 12th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Hi Dale,
As a long “user” of L’avion and a real strong supporter of your concept, I am compelled to write about my latest experience.
Just as a background, myself and few of my colleagues are flying few times a year from the NYC area to France to teach short term courses. I am most likely one of the first users of L’avion. Based on the great experience I recommended it to my colleagues, who became regular users too.
So, when my last teaching assignment was fixed I booked my flights from JFK to Orly. Outbound on 6/12 (002) inbound on 7/5 (005). Both flight were not what I expected or got used too with L’avion. While, I am quiet understanding to possibility of glitches in service the fact that in 2 different flights the same problems repeated, made me think that this is a trend and not a glitch.
First to the good side: The process of checking in and than getting your luggage out is still superb. Very quick and efficient. Keep up the good work there.
The “bad” side: This has to do with the in flight experience. This was far from a ” business class” experience:
- In both flights the Biz seat didn’t operate fully.
- In both flights myself and many of the passenger had major problem with the entertainment system. To the extent that in the total of 14 hours of flight I was not able to watch one full movie. In the outbound flight we didn’t even get chargers for the system as we told there is a problem with the power source. In the inbound flight we got chargers, just to later learn that there is a failure in the power source and they will not charge the system.
- The food was really not edible. In the inbound flight it was so bad (main hot dish) that it was not even to the level of a coach flight. As a result, I don’t think that anyone ate it in the flight.
- One positive comment here the flight attendants were great, they tried their best, but there was no much they could do.
In short, overall a very bad experience and what concerns me more that it repeated itself on 2 different flights. It made me think if I really want to try openskies again on my next flight (around mid October)!!!
I took the time to write these comments because I am a big fan of the all business class flight, and I really hope you can take care on the repeating problem and elevate the experience to what it used to be with L’avion.
Good luck from still a very loyal( but very disappointed) customer.
David