07-02-2018, 02:29 PM
Tempest the airline that makes no sense and yet it works.
By: Marcel Karim
The Aviation industry is one of those things that is always in flux and seemingly struggling and being hugely profitable at the same time. A mix of old legacy carriers, new upstarts and budget carries that seem to be able to fly you around for less than a train ticket. One thing is quite common though and that is that no matter what airline you look at they compete on price from the middle east giants to the most basic of budget carriers price is everything. Yet one airline fresh to the game had decided not to bother with that aspect, in fact they have decided not to bother with many things. This is the short, but already interesting tale of Tempest.
It all starts in Silicon valley, Tempest is founded as an IT services company which quickly focused on Cyber security. Little known to the outside world they manage however to carve a strong name in the business world. Little is really known about them except that they seem to be very good at what they do and charge matching prices. The few people which we could get to talk all where roughly on the same line regarding to Tempest:
'They are amazing at what they do, though nobody really understands how they do it as they keep everything under wrap and the few people who get the know how are under NDA clauses that makes most national security clearances seem light. They are also unconventional, that the silicon valley generation is a bit odd is well known, but these people will show up in T-shirts and jeans to multi million dollar contacts regardless of local custom.'
Perhaps this is our first insight in the Airline part of Tempest, they clearly have the money and they have a certain attitude which is not always liked to much. I think it does fit them quite well as by their own official statement Tempest was born out of frustration over poor and complicated service in the modern aviation industry. Personally I cannot agree more it is next to impossible to understand when it is the best time to book your tickets or what fees will be added and what services are or are not included. That is before you even set foot inside the airport let alone the planes themselves. Clearly they believe in doing things differently, a lot differently.
A simple look at the Tempest website shows you enough cause it is well simple, you select any of their rapidly growing destinations from their Amsterdam and San Fransisco hubs, select your seating class you desire and seating location and you get a price which simple states: "All services, charges and taxes included.". In fact if you look deeper you learn that even if new taxes are added or any other costs between you booking the flight and it taking off they will cover those 100% cause they believe in a single price policy. Of course a single price is nice, but it goes beyond that cause that single price is the same no matter when you book your ticket, a very bold move as many vacation travelers tend to book early to come out cheaper, though if that is the case is debatable. Finally it must be noted they are far from cheap, the only times I could find them to be comparable in price is when you book shortly before departure. Again though instead of trying to hide this is marketing they openly admit they are not cheap.
It does not take a marketing genius to see that this whole pricing scheme and open nature about it makes no darn sense. It should not work at all, cause people want cheap or if it is not cheap at least be made to believe it is cheap, they want to believe they are scoring a deal by booking early or last minute. Yet Tempest flat out ignores these facts and by all the evidence we can see it is working amazingly. In order to see the Amsterdam side of things I booked a flight with them from Vegas to Amsterdam, premium economy all the way. Both flights where loaded I think I spotted maybe 3 open seats on my flight to San Fransisco and none on the flight to Amsterdam. Looking at the reviews online that seems to be really consistent with people remarking about fully loaded planes. Perhaps why there is no mention of getting upgrades anywhere, in fact they do not have a frequent flyer program, though that could simply be the result of their explosive growth.
To talk about that growth I reached out to a contact at Airbus the company that supplies the entirety of the Tempest fleet. He told me how Tempest made use of their previous relations to start a smallish lease contract to try things out, but now they are leasing nearly 50 planes with more than that still on order directly from Airbus. He also remarked about their unusual choice for seating material with it being mesh instead of traditional leather of fabric covered foam cushioning. Having experienced the mesh seating myself I had to get used to the idea at first, but once you adjusted it a little it offered a really comfortable flight with the heating or cooling for each seat offering a level of comfort that is unmatched. My contact told me the costs of those seats where staggering up front, but he remarked that it would be quite cheap to refurbish all the seats by just changing out the mesh which could mean that cost in long run evens out. Perhaps it is that long therm vision that has made Airbus comfortable enough in their current partner ship.
It is clear from just the basics I have seen so far that despite all the signs that should predict the imminent failure of Tempest it is in fact doing the complete opposite. Perhaps people are willing to pay a bit extra for convenience and I will amazing service and perhaps they are also getting tired of being lied to or misdirected by marketing. No matter what it is, I know personally if I have a choice I will fly with Tempest again it has been the most relaxing flying journey I have had in my life. It surely has been a lot more relaxing than this rave party I am at now here in Amsterdam to hopefully catch the lady in charge for an interview. Look forwards to my next post to see if I have succeeded in that. I will also upload the full video and trip report once I am home again so keep an eye out on my youtube channel and as always if you want to visit my patreon page your support keeps this going.