Spanair is shutting down
#16



Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NCL
Programs: UA 1MM/*G. DL Gold for one more year.
Posts: 5,356
The www.staralliance.com homepage has been replaced with a page with a statement about Spanair. It links to www.staralliance.com for further contact information, which, if you click it, immediately takes you back to the same Spanair announcement page. Genius!
#17
FlyerTalk Evangelist


Join Date: Aug 2008
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Even though my flights would never post to my CO FF account (thankfully I just got my last flight back-credited in December) they were a decent carrier to fly on. And they had really great one-way fares in/out of Barcelona, unlike Iberia. Sad to see them go.
#18
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Delhi
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Posts: 1,818
Zero. Add south America to the garlic belt. Still zero. But try going to the Alitalia corner and see if they agree, the think they have a world beating airline going....
#19




Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: MAD
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Posts: 18
Good news! Now I have to change my two tickets MAD-PMI-MAD for February and March. I do not expect to be such an easy task to get this sorted so I will have to see how this unfolds.
Truly, this does not surprise me. The service was foul and so was their communication campaign about Spanair being "La de todos" ("Everyone's airline"). Their campaign was about asking consumers/clients about ideas on how to offer a good frequent flyer programme - not a very difficult thing to achieve, in my opinion. The lack of consistency on the transparency they were transmitting and the real service that was being offered, was preposterous to say the least.
Spanair represents the average Spanish company whose incapability towards being business oriented had always been insultingly palpable. No special offers for Silver status or for their Spanair Plus AmEx Gold card holders, poor service, special fees were applied on phone bills when calling Spanair's CS, 90% of their flights suffered delays etc...
Truly, this does not surprise me. The service was foul and so was their communication campaign about Spanair being "La de todos" ("Everyone's airline"). Their campaign was about asking consumers/clients about ideas on how to offer a good frequent flyer programme - not a very difficult thing to achieve, in my opinion. The lack of consistency on the transparency they were transmitting and the real service that was being offered, was preposterous to say the least.
Spanair represents the average Spanish company whose incapability towards being business oriented had always been insultingly palpable. No special offers for Silver status or for their Spanair Plus AmEx Gold card holders, poor service, special fees were applied on phone bills when calling Spanair's CS, 90% of their flights suffered delays etc...
#20
FlyerTalk Evangelist




Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 18,236
I'll miss them, too. I didn't know they were having severe financial problems. It was a bit of an odd airline. I only flew them a couple times intra-Spain. They had a very pleasant lounge at BCN. It was then weird to get on their planes and have to pay for a soda.
#21
FlyerTalk Evangelist




Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Country is in a recession and disposable income limited. Not a complete surprise for an airline with limited overseas exposure. If CEO was so bad why is Manchester hiring him?
#22
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: BCN-BUE-PSA-GRU
Programs: BA Gold - A3 Gold - FB Gold - IHG Plat - SPG Gold -Hyatt Platinum
Posts: 1,581
#23
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Columbia, SC
Programs: UAL 1KMM,Hilton Diamond
Posts: 759
I travel to Spain 1-3 times a year for holiday. When I was in the UK a couple of weeks ago the news reported the unemployment rate in Spain is 22%; among the under 25, the unemployment rate is close to 50%. Each time I go (three times in 2011), more stores in Torremolinos and Malaga are closed. When the Spanish tourists come to Torremolinos they are tending to come for less days and spend less money.
So, a leisure airline like Spanair without the capital of say, Iberia, poorly run or not would have a rough time. I was shocked on one trip that the middle seats in business class were also sold and occupied. Other than a bit better meal, I could not figure why anyone would buy for business class on the short flights. The BOB product was unexciting and expensive. I brought drinks from the lounge and bought a sandwich in the airport.
Many of their non-stop flights were only one or two per day so clearly not aimed at the business traveler.
But still, they had great one-way prices and their service were several steps above Ryanair. I hope maybe one of *A carriers will expand within Spain. I know LH depended on on Spanair for a number of connections.
Doubtful that LH would waste money on a LH Espana. The economy in Spain is very poor. Looking at the Spanair site, some of their former routes IIRC included Philadelphia, New York, and London.
USAir also code-shared with Spanair althought UA and CO did not. I wonder how the demise will affect US seasonal BCN service.
So, a leisure airline like Spanair without the capital of say, Iberia, poorly run or not would have a rough time. I was shocked on one trip that the middle seats in business class were also sold and occupied. Other than a bit better meal, I could not figure why anyone would buy for business class on the short flights. The BOB product was unexciting and expensive. I brought drinks from the lounge and bought a sandwich in the airport.
Many of their non-stop flights were only one or two per day so clearly not aimed at the business traveler.
But still, they had great one-way prices and their service were several steps above Ryanair. I hope maybe one of *A carriers will expand within Spain. I know LH depended on on Spanair for a number of connections.
Doubtful that LH would waste money on a LH Espana. The economy in Spain is very poor. Looking at the Spanair site, some of their former routes IIRC included Philadelphia, New York, and London.
USAir also code-shared with Spanair althought UA and CO did not. I wonder how the demise will affect US seasonal BCN service.
#24


Join Date: Oct 2010
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I don't think they ever flew to Philly - I'm pretty sure that was just a codeshare.
#25
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: 10 months VLC, 2 months everywhere else
Programs: *A
Posts: 3,770
Ugh. Zero *A options through SVQ now. Looks like we'll be taking the AVE up to MAD and zip out that way. Previously used the SVQ-BCN route in the am and then pick up another carrier in the pm.
Kind of expecting it--this airline was on life support for a couple of years.
Kind of expecting it--this airline was on life support for a couple of years.
Last edited by GuyverII; Jan 28, 2012 at 1:29 am
#26
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 3
Finns and charter travel with JK
Somehow this was expected with the Spain's unemployment rate and financial situation. This news won't be very good for hundreds of Finns who are heading to Spain and the Canary islands when the schools' winter holidays start after couple of weeks. At least one leisure travel agency has JK's charter flights so lots of rebooking and organizing ahead.
Sympathy for the staff, they were fun to work with.
Sympathy for the staff, they were fun to work with.
#27


Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: BCN
Programs: BA Silver VY apologist IB up and coming
Posts: 8,706
I was scheduled to fly them BCN-LPA on Friday. Luckily as soon as we saw the news we bought new tickets on VY and are good to go. So far it seems that there isn't a lot of chaos at the airports, though JK's web site includes an onerous-sounding statement that they will try to keep ticket offices open if safety and security permit.
This is coming as a surprise because everyone assumed QR were going to buy them. When talks fell through on Thursday JK were left with no options for more operating capital and the Catalan government is broke so couldn't "help them out" again.
13 hours ago they posted what was, for me, a very sad last tweet, saying goodbye and thanks for everyone's confidence during the years.
There are one million families in Spain that have all members unemployed. This is going to add another two thousand people looking for work.
This is coming as a surprise because everyone assumed QR were going to buy them. When talks fell through on Thursday JK were left with no options for more operating capital and the Catalan government is broke so couldn't "help them out" again.
13 hours ago they posted what was, for me, a very sad last tweet, saying goodbye and thanks for everyone's confidence during the years.
There are one million families in Spain that have all members unemployed. This is going to add another two thousand people looking for work.
#28
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SAT / MAA / BOM
Programs: CO Plat; UA 1K; EK Gold
Posts: 5,110
Star Alliance still has this page (as of 6AM Central Time USA Jan-28)
http://www.staralliance.com/en/about...-air_airlines/
Wonder they will edit their website.....obviously not as fast as Spanair shut down.
http://www.staralliance.com/en/about...-air_airlines/
Wonder they will edit their website.....obviously not as fast as Spanair shut down.
#29




Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: TAS
Programs: A3*G, UA 1K
Posts: 9,252
Star Alliance still has this page (as of 6AM Central Time USA Jan-28)
http://www.staralliance.com/en/about...-air_airlines/
Wonder they will edit their website.....obviously not as fast as Spanair shut down.
http://www.staralliance.com/en/about...-air_airlines/
Wonder they will edit their website.....obviously not as fast as Spanair shut down.
#30
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: UA 1K/ 1MM, SPG Plat
Posts: 365
Spanair-Ceased Operations
Don't think I saw this posted yet...
Spanair operations ceased
We have received notice that our Star Alliance partner Spanair (airline code: JK) has ceased operations. We are working on the reaccomodation policy and procedure and will communicate more information as soon as we have details.
Spanair operations ceased
We have received notice that our Star Alliance partner Spanair (airline code: JK) has ceased operations. We are working on the reaccomodation policy and procedure and will communicate more information as soon as we have details.


