April 30, 2012

JetBlue blog post

Adding color to JFK.   JetBlue like to customize their airports to reflect their corporate identity/brand.  

 
Although we not formally change the name JetBlue.   Take a look at O'Hare everyone calls it Chicago O'Hare.    We do not need to change the name, but for marketing purposes we call it Worcester JetBlue Airport.

April 29, 2012

Ben Post

Ben I got your comment but I did not post. Going to look into that. Can put more information in comments or send me an e-mail at Bill@AdvantageBenefits.com

Congrats to Brad Wyatt

Click here

Bob Nemeth Story Carrier's death benefits

Always enjoy Robert Z Nemeth's stories on Worcester Airport.  Here are the hi-lights:
  1. The demise of Direct Air may be a blessing?   Tell that to the literally thousands of people who flights were cancelled, monies were  lost, vouchers were lost and membership fees were lost.   
  2. Direct Air gave no advance warning to MassPort.   You are right, but I did on this blog but what do silly bloggers know.  Do you think a company running a Ponzi scheme stealing people's monies give a warning when they about to close the doors and run with the money?  A better question may be why our Airport Director or Airport Liaison did not listen to any of my warnings?
  3. In the future MassPort will focus on trying to establish airlines that maintain routes to major hubs.  O'kay but that does not mean we will get these routes.  If we were to get JetBlue I don't see them coming with multiple daily flights to a hub.  I see them starting with some direct flights to leisure destinations in Florida.
  4. Allegiant has shown interest in returning to Worcester.  Of course they have and I pointed out on this blog several times that we need to get them back like Hagerstown recently did.   Allegiant is smart and we are the perfect airport. Bob this is not a question, however, of us making sure they have the right management, it is more a question of them checking out the new management of our airport.   
  5. While Direct Air failed everywhere else, its Worcester based services to Florida and South Carolina destinations flourished.   There is absolutely no basis to this claim whatsoever.   Planes were 80% full but they were 80% full from all the other locations.   This was a ponzi scheme and none of the locations were profitable.    Think about it, at 100% full at the prices they were charging, they were losing money every time a flight left Worcester or any other city.  Losing money is not flourishing.
What really amazes me about any story Bob writes about the airport he never has a disclaimer on the bottom that he was an Airport Board member and past Chairman.   Actually what amazes me even more is that there is not one mention of JetBlue in his story.

How can you not even mention JetBlue???  This indicates to me that the JetBlue discussions are as serious as we all think and hope since his mantra on this is that the masses should not be involved or know about highly complicated negotiations like this.  

Bottom line the negotiations with JetBlue must be on the right track because, if they were dead Bob would have said that and blamed someone. 


April 28, 2012

Will from Wonderland

10 Delivery failure messages in my In Box when I am not in the the office.  We all know what that means.  Dennis Irish neighbor sending out e-mails.   Wonder if he took Dennis off the list?

Scott Brown

Half court shot today

True Blue Membership

Did a little research on this.  They are not able to deposit monies directly into your True Blue Account.  You can only earn points and the only way you can get cash into the account is through a cancelled flight..

If you wanted to raise monies then it would have to be through a Travel Bank.   Still why can't we just have a drive to have people open True Blue Accounts.   It costs nothing and if enough people were to go on-line and simply open a TrueBlue Account would that not send some type of message?

April 27, 2012

Dennis Irish

He sent me an e-mail to take him off my e-mail list sending him links to read Will from Wonderland.  If anyone bumps into Dennis Irish, can you explain to him that he should go next door to make this request.

True Blue Membership

This is a huge deal with JetBlue.  According to this Wall Street Journal article, TrueBlue membership was up 50% in Boston in 2011 from 2010.

Worcester needs to have a TrueBlue Membership drive!   

April 26, 2012

No Announcement today

There is not going to be any announcement today.    The bottom line is that JetBlue is talking to MassPort about ORH and it looks promising.     

My hope is that on our end, the Central Mass area does something to show JetBlue how much we want them to close the deal and that we will support them,.. 

JetBlue Airport


thanks steve foley

April 25, 2012

JetBlue considering ORH

What do we do next?
  1. We sit back and do nothing
  2. Let our Airport Director, Chamber of Commerce and Bob Nemeth close the deal
  3. Do something
I say we do something.   First thing we do is we support a name change to JetBlue Airport not Worcester MetroWest-Boston Airport and now for my "offbeat idea":

  1. JetBlue has a program TrueBlue
  2. You earn points with each mile you fly but you also earn points other ways like when you buy things from partners they specify
  3. Earn points with your AmEx card
  4. It is a great program. Not vouchers or membership but kind of like your credit card where you earn points.
  5. You can also outright put cash into your TrueBlue Account
  6. My idea would be to pick a day or a week and urge people from Worcester to cash into their accounts that they would use to fly out of ORH. Personally I would put $2,000to $5,000.  That is what we spend annually out of Boston flying JetBlue to Florida.  Why set up escrow accoutns at banks???? 

We need to hold a press conference (the City Manager) with a bunch of us standing behind him with our checks to show JetBlue how much we need them and urger people all around Central Mass to do the same from their computers...

telegram story

golocalworcester story

Go Local Worcester

Story on Affordable Housing!!

Must read....      

April 24, 2012

Dave Barger Tweet to me

https://twitter.com/#!/DavidJBarger


Reply RetweetedRetweet

Delete

FavoritedFavorite · Close Open Details Thank you, @BillRandell on the 10 year IPO anniversary. As for ORH, had a very nice visit w/ Massport 10 days ago. More soon!



Linear Air

Nice blog by their CEO

Thursday Airport announcement

Any idea what the announcement is??  We know it is not an airline announcement but what is it?

Ten best business airports

click here

JetBlue CEO Interview

April 23, 2012

Metta World Peace

Amazing how some people never change

Ron Artest video

April 22, 2012

Scott Brown in Worcester

Great event yesterday sponsored by Activate WorcesterGoLocalWorcester story

April 21, 2012

Will from Wonderland

Just got a bunch of "delivery failed" messages when I have sent out no e-mails which means of course that Will from Wonderland has forwarded e-mails pretending to be me to read with links back to his blog.

Amazing this is the same guy who claims that he is the one being harassed???  Even sends a link to me that reads


Bill Randell has sent you a link to a blog:

April 20, 2012

Spirit Airlines Ad

In light of Secret Service scandal

April 18, 2012

GoLocal Great story

Today they broke story about how much Vision Airline cost Rockford Airport.  More importantly it looks like MassPort is talking with Spirit Airlines.

April 17, 2012

Bill Herp Linear Air

He has started a blog andI have added it to the right.

Must read material

April 16, 2012

Will from Wonderland does it again

Just got ten messages in my in box saying "delivery failure" when I have not been sending out e-mails, which means of course that Will from Wonderland has sent out requests to people pretending to be me to read his blog.  Please spread the word and don't follow the link.

In case you forgot how he does it, read this prior post

Thanks

Bill

Must read for Jahn

GoLocal on retiree health costs

April 13, 2012

Wall Street Journal Direct Air

link

When charter-air servicer Direct Air suddenly canceled service and filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, it left many customers stranded and frustrated. But there did seem to be some good news—customers would be able to get unused ticket refunds because the Department of Transportation required Direct Air to hold customer payments in escrow until it hands the money to the actual airplane operator. (Direct Air is a charter service that doesn’t actually own any airplanes).


But now, lawyers are testifying that the money isn’t in the escrow account, leaving both customers and credit-card companies exposed. The Worcester Telegram reported earlier week that a lawyer for Direct Air, Steven Fox, said during a hearing that millions of dollars are missing from the escrow account. And a lawyer for the bank where the escrow account is held confirmed that there’s only about $1 million in the account.

Fox told the judge that “irregularities” had been uncovered in the handling of the escrow account. “It is our belief that the escrow account was invaded. It may have been invaded in an unlawful manner,” he said, adding that customers are owed at least $10 million and maybe as much as $30 million according to the newspaper.     Fox didn’t return repeated requests for comment

The Department of Transportation couldn’t confirm Thursday that there was any money missing, but spokesman Bill Mosely said the department is investigating. 
 
Customers who’d purchased their tickets by credit card (99% of customers, according to court documents) were directed to seek reimbursements from their credit-card companies. But one credit-card processor said it’s obligated to refund the money and doesn’t have the cash to do so without the escrow account funds.

JetPay, Direct Air’s Visa/MasterCard processor, said its exposure could be as high as $20 million, and that “without reimbursement from the escrow account which JetPay funded, JetPay may run out of cash and be out of business in a matter of weeks.”   JetPay filed a motion last week stating that they haven’t been getting reimbursed from the escrow account and have had to pay the reimbursements out of pocket. The situation is causing a cash shortfall for JetPay, it said, and asked the judge to require it be reimbursed.

April 12, 2012

Direct Air Chapter 7

Again as predicted    --  Telegram link to your left

Now lets hope my Allegiant prediction comes true also

MassPort talking to Allegiant

As reported in the Telegram

April 11, 2012

Worc Common Ground Storefront

WCG has a storefront on Chandler Street big sign "20 affordable units coming soon to 6 buildings".  Happy to see these buildings being renovated but when are we ever going to ask is there a time when we have enough "affordable" units? 

April 10, 2012

Allegiant new route

Vegas to Hawaii

USA Today story

April 09, 2012

Blog Contest

Friend of mine at Masters on the right with past Champion on the left, can you guess the name of the ex-champ?

Allegiant new flight

Niagara Falls to Fort Lauderdale.  Maybe ORH next?
 

April 07, 2012

City Council Reports on low income housing

City Council meeting link

Great summaries by McGourthy.  Numbers are powerful and amazing!!


Check out 15G

Open first attachment and look at page 3 .  The number are unreal!!!!    Alot of numbers but the one to focus are "TDC per unit".     Lowest one is 200,000 per unit for apartments on LaGrange Street, while the Hadley comes in at a friggin 514,000 per rental unit!!!!!
WTF !!!!    This is insane

Check out 15E
first attachemnet Page 3.      2.,390,000 of tax monies for this project?  Here is the killer  2,040,000 of NSP monies which stands for Neighborhood Stabilization  and now it may be rented to SMOC??    We spend 2.4 million dollars on an apartment building under the auspices of "Neighborhood Stabilziation" and the end product may be SMOC>

Worcester's answer to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Parole Departement-- "affordable" housing.


These numbers are incredible and people should be outrages!!

April 06, 2012

Aware Coaltiion Blog

This has been added to blog roll on right

VERY GOOD!!! 

Fred Couples

My pick for the Masters this week end

Over TIme Tap

Have they run out of time??   Have not seen them open lately??  Anyone have an update... 

Worcester Square Neighborhood Association

In Boston


I never heard of this before?


Read about a huge project going into this area

154 Million dollar project

April 04, 2012

Setting the record straight with Will from Wonderland

I was able to meet Will from Wonderland at the courthouse a couple weeks back.  Upon running into him in the hallway, I said "Claude,  how are you doing?".    He, stared at me, walked by me and said nothing.  When he came back, I said "Can't you stop and talk to me?"  Kind  of wanted to know, what I ever did to this guy, who I had never met or seen in my life until that morning, to deserve his wrath.      Again he stared, walked by me and  said nothing. 

It was not threatening and I was not scared, this was not Claude Van Damme not to mention we are in a courthouse surrounded by hundreds of police officers .    In his closing arguements, however, Will from Wonderland turned, pointed at me and then proceeded to describe our brief encounters as one where he "was threatened by the guy in the blue shirt.".     This whole thing is absolutely ridiculous.    What a complete waste of court and police time. 

At the end of the trial, as we were walking out, Will from Wonderland's private investigator commented that this had gone too far.  I could not agree with her more.  I will not bring Will up here anymore on this blog and I truly  hope that he finds some sort of peace and happiness in his life.

April 03, 2012

Banker & Tradesman

Worcester has a big story in Banker & Tradesman ...   What is the subject??

The City of Worcester and how much money has been wasted on "affordable" housing!!!

Here is the link but you need to subscribe.     Here is one line

"Taxpayers have footed the bill for more then $21 million in low income housing tax credits over 10 projects in Worcester over the past few years."

Allegiant

There is no reason that they should not be flying out of ORH.  These guys are smart.  I say they will be back at ORH.     Wonder if Bob Nemeth sees that "handwriting on his wall" also.

Ed Warneck

This guys went to about 100 press conferences, radio and TV shows over the past year.     He even responded to a question on this blog.     I have e-mailed a couple times since the flights were halted and he has disappeared.  We need to put this guy's picture on milk cartons.     

Here is his old e-mail

ewarneck@myrtlebeachairdirect.com

April 02, 2012

Holly Robichaud

Credit card reimbursements

Steve this may be a answer to my question

Trouble for Direct Air advance ticket holders: MyFoxBOSTON.com

April 01, 2012

Robert Z Nemeth "Another airline snafu"

Telegram story link.   

"The handwritting was on the wall for some time, and it spelled doom."    Bob, I got to ask you.    If you saw this so clearly, why didn't your warn the people, who have bought tickets and have millions of dollars in limbo and ruined travel plans?     On other hand, I did come to this realization this past November and opted to warn people and posted on this blog that Direct Air would be out of business by February 2, 2012.  I felt that I owed it to my readers.   Guess that is why I am a silly blogger.

Another silly blogger idea was when you came to my office and I urged you to put the entire airport out to bid--"privatization".   Remember, I had to explain what this meant and gave you the example of how National Express had paid 35 Million to take out a 99 year lease of Stewart Airport from Newburgh New York in 2000.   They did such a good job and created competition for the Port Aurthority of New York that in 2007 , the Port Authority of New York bought out the remained of the 92 lease in 2007 for 78 million.    Story click here.
 
You then told me nothing gets done without going through you and for me to write  a letter to the Airport Commission, which you chaired, urging you to do an RFP for the entire airport not just parcels of land.   I did, it was read into the minutes of a board meeting (February of 2005) and the idea was dismissed (as fast as it was submitted).  Why?  I was told that nobody would bid for the entire airport.   On one hand you say "state of the art airfield, with an adjoining industrial park, remains a major asset", but when you are urged to put it out to bid , you say nobody would bid on it? 

Instead, parcels of land were in fact put out to RFP and nobody did bid.   Imagine if some big gaming operation had saw an entire "state of the art airfield" out to bid and took an educated bet that gambling may come to Worcester?    But again what do we "silly bloggers" know.

Bob, my favorite line of you story, however, is "Despite the failure of Direct Air's overall operations its Worcester-based service...... was profitable".      Say that again??   One of the reasons the "handwritting" was on the wall for me were the prices that they were charging.   Between the cost to lease a plane, the cost of the crew and the exploding cost of fuel, there was no way in hell the costs of the tickets that they were charging covered these expenses.    Bob, these flights were far from being profitable!!  Can you say Chapter 7 bankruptcy... 

Do you want proof?  No other airline has stepped in.    Believe me if these routes were profitable airlines would be here the day Direct Air stopped flying.   A prospective airline needs to calculate what they need to charge to make money (avoid going out of business) and how many people would buy tickets at that price, not base their projections on Direct Air sales.    Anyone can sell alot of tickets if the business plan is to pre-sell as many tickets/vouchers/memberships as possible, don't pay any bill and take off with the monies then file Chapter 7 bankruptcy?

Bob, under your guidance the airport commission made a big mistake not trying to market the airport to as large an audience as possible.  Instead you focused soley on one buyer--MassPort.         Maybe instead of reading the "handwritting on the wall" you should have paid attention to a letter urging you to put the entire airport out to bid 6 , or was it 7 years ago, and our "bright future" may have been getting realized today.