Hubbub & Change for Three LCCs

Three interesting developments over the past few weeks caught my attention.

First, Ryanair announced on Wednesday that it is raising its baggage and checking-in fees. In the airline's words, this decision is part of their "continued drive to encourage passengers to travel without checked in bags and avail of Ryanair’s free of charge online check in." In practical terms, this means that checking in a single bag will cost £6 (up from £5) and that checking in at the airport (as opposed to online) will now run £3 (up from £2). These are modest increases, though they do have the effect of making it even more difficult to navigate an actually low fare on Ryanair. For the time being, bargain hunters—who aren't checking any luggage and who are checking in online—will continue to book Ryanair flights. But it is beginning to seem conceivable that with the steadily growing litany of charges Ryanair's most natural customers will soon be discouraged from flying with the airline.

Next up: SkyEurope's partnership with Czech Railways, from the Prague Daily Monitor via AirScoop. Dubbed the "CD Sky alliance," this partnership will allow people to purchase combination train-air tickets from train stations around the Czech Republic. The airfare component of the combination tickets are lower than those offered on SkyEurope's site, with advance fares cheaper than last-minute fares. Yesterday, the program kicked off in Brno. Pardubice, Ostrava, and Prague Liben train stations will begin offering combination tickets in February. What's most interesting about the partnership is its legacy. Until last year, Czech Airlines operated a similar arrangement with Czech Railways, abandoning it because it was judged to be less than seriously profitable. It will be interesting to see if and how the new partnership works out for SkyEurope.

And lastly, yowza, the Air Berlin rebranding! Until recently, Air Berlin's brand carried the aesthetic promise of a 1990 supermarket sale in some chain-drenched corner of the world. No longer. Earlier this month, the airline launched a new font (sexy), a new Web site (beautiful, and, um, is that a Finnish-language option?), and a new tagline (in German: "Genau deine Airline"; in English, the rather less precise "Your airline".)

Air Berlin's rebranding is especially sweet because it follows the creation of a good product that previously suffered from a ho-hum brand identity. Air Berlin has distinguished itself from other low-cost carriers in Europe by offering free newspapers, snacks, drinks, and seat assignments, maintaining a significant base of business customers, checking luggage without a charge, and guaranteeing some connecting flights. The rebranding itself comes at a good time for the airline. After acquiring dba in 2006 and LTU and Condor in 2007, Air Berlin is in the process of becoming an entirely new beast, one that straddles the low-cost and median-cost airline worlds, and that offers long-haul journeys (Beijing! Phuket! Windhoek!) as well as the more typical Germany-to-the-Med routes.