Tango expands
 

http://makeashorterlink.com/?P53011895


" The Tango fare expansion will take place in two phases:

August 15: More Tango fares on more domestic flights with more non-stop
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
service
-------
Effective August 15, Tango's low, one way fares at flytango.com for
travel effective October 1 will be available for 87 daily domestic flights - a
140 per cent increase - including new nonstop service between Vancouver-
Montreal, Vancouver-Ottawa, Calgary-Montreal, Calgary- Ottawa, Edmonton-
Montreal and Edmonton-Ottawa.

October 1: Low Tango fares available at aircanada.com to most Air Canada
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Canadian destinations
---------------------
Effective October 1, Tango fares will be further expanded to most Air
Canada domestic destinations online both at flytango.com and as a new
permanent fare category at aircanada.com . Customers with tickets booked at a
Tango fare will travel on Air Canada aircraft while Tango's distinctive livery
will continue to be deployed within Air Canada's regular operations. Later
this fall, Tango's high value, low fares will become available for travel to
Air Canada's U.S. and international destinations at flytango.com and
aircanada.com ."

Great news for vacation travel but I'll still be taking AC mainline for Status miles!

Excuse me Sir Robert but if "Customers with tickets booked at a Tango fare will travel on Air Canada aircraft while Tango's distinctive livery will continue to be deployed within Air Canada's regular operations" should we not conclude that Tango is effectively dead?

Tango's livery will mean no more than the Aboriginal or TCA livery, and Tango fares within AC will simply add another layer to an already incomprehensible fare structure.

Does this mean what I think it does?
... you will be able to buy tango priced fares for mainline service.

Will more planes be converted to all economy configurations, meaning that executive class will be less common?

According to flytango.com

HERE's 12 New Tango flight begining 01-OCT-03

YYC-YOW
AC 6160 EQ:320 DEP:8:30 am ARR:2:13 pm
TRAVEL TIME:3 hr 43 mn (replacing or "codeshared" with AC 1184 ??)

AC 6161 EQ:320 DEP:8:15 am ARR:10:33 am
TRAVEL TIME:4 hr 18 mn (replacing or "codeshared" with AC 1187 ??)

YYC-YUL
AC 6162 EQ:320 DEP:4:00 pm ARR:9:53 pm
TRAVEL TIME:3 hr 53 mn (replacing or "codeshared" with AC 1150 ??)

YUL-YYC
AC 6163 EQ:320 DEP:8:50 am ARR:11:20 am
TRAVEL TIME:4 hr 30 mn (replacing or "codeshared with AC 177 ??)

YVR-YUL
AC 6180 EQ:320 DEP:1:55 pm ARR:9:28 pm
TRAEL TIME:4 hr 33 mn (replacing or "codeshared with AC 1118 ??)

YUL-YVR
AC 6181 EQ:320 DEP:7:30 pm ARR:9:55 pm
TRAVEL TIME:5 hr 25 mn (replacing or "codeshared with AC 129 ??)

YVR-YOW
AC 6182 EQ:320 DEP:3:10 pm ARR:10:35 pm
TRAVEL TIME:4 hr 25 mn (replacing or "codeshared with AC 138 ??)

YOW-YVR
AC 6183 EQ:320 DEP:7:45 am ARR:9:53 am
TRAVEL TIME:5 hr 08 mn (replacing or "codeshared with AC 163 ??)

YEG-YOW
AC 6196 EQ:320 DEP:8:20 am ARR:1:59 pm
TRAVEL TIME:3 hr 39 mn (replacing or "codeshared" with AC 104 ??)

YOW-YEG
AC 6197 EQ:320 DEP:6:55 pm ARR:9:07 pm
TRAVEL TIME:4 hr 12 mn (replacing or "codeshared" with AC 143 ??)

YEG-YUL
AC 6198 EQ:320 DEP:12:15 pm ARR:5:56 pm
TRAVEL TIME:3 hr 41 mn (replacing or "codeshared" with AC 176 ??)

YUL-YEG
AC 6199 EQ:320 DEP:9:00 am ARR:11:23 am
TRAVEL TIME:4 hr 23 mn (replacing or "codeshared" with AC 169 ??)

I got a Flash stating:

So to me it seems that the Tango brand is effectively dead, but well be seeing a new fare class called "Tango" throughout AC's worldwide network. Can't explain the flights above.

Please tell me that this is just a nightmare. What the hell is going on? Is YOW turning into Tangoland? That's one nice way to piss off us YOW customers. I mean, the morning YOW/YUL-YVR and afternoon YVR-YOW/YUL are filled with CNX PAX to Asia! And telling those PAX that they cannot fly / upgrade to J/C on the Canadian portion?!? Are they trying to route everyone who wants to do that through YYZ? They must be in bed with GTAA in trying to up the numbers of PAX flying through so that they can collect more AIFs.

http://www.flytango.com/en/tango/press/14aug2003_2.html

"“Simply put, Tango is here to stay as part of our new fare structure and will offer customers even more of what they want: low, simple fares easily accessible online for travel wherever they want to fly on Air Canada,” he concluded."

I am somewhat confused by this initiative.

We will soon be able to fly Tango on any domestic route but no status miles. The brand Tango remains as a fare class but the separate Tango network is gradually absorbed
by mainline.

So Tango customers are put into the mainline stream with AC mainline customers and sometimes the aircraft will be in Tango livery with no J class.

Is this the game plan?

This has to be the most bizarre form of marketing I've ever encountered. I know that AC has often left us confused by not saying anything about what they were doing, but I've never heard of an airline being converted into a fare class. Disregarding the obvious problem of annoying those who pay mainline, upgradeable, fares and end up on a Tango configured plane, how could anyone think of setting up such an utterly confusing and complicated system? According to their website:

What is the point of separate branding when all you have is a fare class and all the aircraft are going to be mixed togther? Perhaps the plan is to make all the Tango pax sit in a special no-frills section of the mainline flights. But then how could they tell the difference between Tango no-frills and AC no-frills? When a mainline flight uses Tango metal, maybe they'll have a special frills section for those pax who've paid for a full J ticket!! The mind boggles.


[This message has been edited by Academic (edited 08-15-2003).]

Methinks there's a corporate ego involved here. CEO's of widely-held public companies never make mistakes. Change CEO's and the Tango brand will probably disappear as fast as those A320's can be hustled to the paint shop.

Brands like Tango are created to give a certain perception of the market for certain products. Tango/Zip can take WS on head to head at some point if that's what they decide to do and continue to sell mainline as a higher level of service.

But what happens if Tango and mainline passengers are on the same AC metal? Three classes of services?

Parnel's suggestion would require a coherent and consistent marketing strategy like Westjet or Southwest. I don't see that in AC; it's chaotic, incomprehensible to the customer and constantly changing.

What this whole thing means is - there will be no more dedicated Tango service. There will be a new fare category on selected mainline flights which you could purchase a fare for on Tango's website. (It will be a new fare category just like FUN fares)

There will be no such thing as Tango metal. Those aircrafts will be mainly used on routes to Florida from Eastern Canada sold as mainline flights. In such cases, the entire aircraft will be sold as Economy class but mainline service [complimentary beverage & meals (if there is one)].

Word going around is that Milton does not want to admit that Tango was a failure.

Note that no more planes will be converted to all Economy class configuration.

For domestic flights, there will only be Air Canada and ZIP operated flights within the AC family effective October 1, 2003.

Hope this clears it up.