AirAmericaC46 From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 590 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (4 years 11 months 1 week 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 2626 times:
Anybody knows if this is a series of charter flights or only one?
Airbazar From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 6867 posts, RR: 7 Reply 3, posted (4 years 11 months 1 week 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 2585 times:
They are a regular scheduled carrier based in the Azores who fly year-round and seasonal service to the US under the brand name Azores Express: http://www.azores-express.com/
As of next month SATA and TAP will have fully reciprocal frequent flier programs.
Airbazar From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 6867 posts, RR: 7 Reply 5, posted (4 years 11 months 1 week 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 2540 times:
I don't know the details of the OAK service but the BOS service is not a charter flight. You can buy a ticket with them on Orbitz for example.
MAH4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31107 posts, RR: 74 Reply 7, posted (4 years 11 months 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 2409 times:
Just because you can buy tickets on Orbitz does not make it a scheduled flight. It is a public charter flight to all thier US destinations including Boston. Many charter flights including those on SATA are sold through public booking engines.
Wedgetail737 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 5524 posts, RR: 5 Reply 10, posted (4 years 11 months 1 week 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 2226 times:
These seasonal, scheduled charter flights have been going on for years...not always consistent on the airline, however. It usually runs from now to about mid-September, I believe.
Airbazar From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 6867 posts, RR: 7 Reply 11, posted (4 years 11 months 1 week 5 days 1 hour ago) and read 2074 times:
Quoting MAH4546 (Reply 7): Just because you can buy tickets on Orbitz does not make it a scheduled flight. It is a public charter flight to all thier US destinations including Boston. Many charter flights including those on SATA are sold through public booking engines.
OK, so what makes it a charter flight?
SATA is a regular network carrier with scheduled service, a frequent flier program, business class, and all the amenities of a full service airline. These flights are seasonal but scheduled. It is operated by SATA and for SATA. Is there some technicality like an operating license that makes it a charter?
The money for the flight is held in escrow and is not given to SATA until the charter flight actually occurs. So even though a passenger might pay for a ticket via Orbitz four months in advance, SATA does not see a dime until it takes off.
PVD757 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 3374 posts, RR: 18 Reply 14, posted (4 years 11 months 1 week 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1879 times:
Airbazar From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 6867 posts, RR: 7 Reply 15, posted (4 years 11 months 1 week 4 days 10 hours ago) and read 1794 times:
Cool, thanks.
I've also noticed in BOS that when there are 2 flight on the same day, typically one is operated by SATA (A310) and the other is usually a North American Airlines 752. I wonder if only of those is the charter or both of them are.
Burkhard From Germany, joined Nov 2006, 4248 posts, RR: 2 Reply 16, posted (4 years 11 months 1 week 4 days 9 hours ago) and read 1768 times:
If you want to go to a nice quiet place, Terceira is a great place.
I boarded an A310 that came from the US and continued to LIS there last year. More than half of the passengers from the US were young men, all in some green/brownish funny clothes, and the most funny each of them had a gun in his hand. I assume somebody called tax payer had paid for their tickets.
Airbazar From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 6867 posts, RR: 7 Reply 17, posted (4 years 11 months 1 week 4 days 4 hours ago) and read 1695 times:
Quoting Burkhard (Reply 16): I boarded an A310 that came from the US and continued to LIS there last year. More than half of the passengers from the US were young men, all in some green/brownish funny clothes, and the most funny each of them had a gun in his hand. I assume somebody called tax payer had paid for their tickets.
The money for the flight is held in escrow and is not given to SATA until the charter flight actually occurs. So even though a passenger might pay for a ticket via Orbitz four months in advance, SATA does not see a dime until it takes off.
SATA flights are in Amadeus and the OAG. Normally you won't find charter flights in those systems.
MAH4546 From Sweden, joined Jan 2001, 31107 posts, RR: 74 Reply 20, posted (4 years 11 months 1 week 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1553 times:
Quoting Viscount724 (Reply 18):
SATA flights are in Amadeus and the OAG. Normally you won't find charter flights in those systems.
Normally you don't, sometimes you do. Air Transat, SATA, and Skyservice are among charter airlines that sell seats via public reservation systems. In addition, schedules airlines like Finnair and TAM sell their scheduled charter routes (like TAM's Miami-Natal flights or Finnair's Helsinki-Toronto flights) on Amadeus.
Selling scheduled charter flights via public systems allows airlines to sell-out charter flights with much more ease and gives better exposure. Just because it's on GDS, however, doesn't make it a regularly scheduled flight. Public charter flights are often listed on Amadeus, OAG, etc.
Quoting Pyrex (Reply 19):
Boston might technically be a charter but it is quite regular - Tuesdays and Fridays year-round, I believe.
Correct. It is a scheduled charter. Charters don't all operate on inconsistent schedules or as one-offs. American Eagle, for example, has a daily charter flight from Miami to Havana that has operated on the same schedule and flight number for years.
SATA's flights are scheduled, public charters. To the traveling public, it really is all just a technicality and doesn't make much of a difference.
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21458 posts, RR: 24 Reply 21, posted (4 years 11 months 1 week 22 hours ago) and read 1370 times:
Quoting MAH4546 (Reply 20): Normally you don't, sometimes you do. Air Transat, SATA, and Skyservice are among charter airlines that sell seats via public reservation systems. In addition, schedules airlines like Finnair and TAM sell their scheduled charter routes (like TAM's Miami-Natal flights or Finnair's Helsinki-Toronto flights) on Amadeus.
The Canadian carriers you mention have scheduled traffic rights on the routes where they display and sell their schedules in GDS systems. While most of their seats are probably still contracted to wholesalers, they sell a certain percentage of seats like any other scheduled carrier and there is no difference in the financial arrangements. If they haven't been designated as a scheduled carrier for the countries in question, as far as I know they can't publish their schedules in the major reservations systems and have to handle them as pure charters. It may be different in the U.S.
The same is true of quite a few carriers in Europe that once were pure charter carriers (Martinair, Condor, LTU etc.) but now have scheduled traffic rights, although like the Canadian leisure carriers, they probably still sell the bulk of their seats through wholesalers.
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