• 
  

• Recent Posts

  • Airlines Travel Update American and Delta
  • Hotels and Car Rental Updates for Oct 2008
  • Airlines Business Travel for Oct 2008
  • Hotel Car & Record Airfare Updates for Sept 2008
  • Airline laptop & wifi updates Sept 2008

• Categories

  • Airlines
  • American Express
  • Car Rentals
  • Frequent Flyer
  • Hotels
  • Other
  • Presidents Corner
  • Uncategorized

• Stay Connected

• 
• 
• 
•  Subscribe in your reader
• Receive Email Updates

Hotels

Sheraton Opens at JFK
The Sheraton JFK Hotel, a new build, has opened at New York´s John F. Kennedy International Airport. The 150-room hotel is a full-service hotel with meeting facilities, complimentary shuttle service to and from the airport, a restaurant, indoor pool, business center, fitness center and Club floor. (Source: Starwood Hotels   Resorts press release).

Marriott Raleigh City Center Opens The 400-room Raleigh Marriott City Center has opened next to the new 500,000-square-foot Raleigh Convention Center. The 16-story hotel is attached to the convention center and has more than 15,000 square feet of meeting space, a business center, swimming pool and fitness center. It has two Italian restaurants and a 1,400 square foot Starbucks. (Source: Marriott press release).

Cars

Avis and Budget Offer Flicks to Go
Avis Rent A Car and Budget Rent A Car are introducing Flicks-To-Go, portable DVD players that attach
to the back of a car’s headrest. They include a choice of speakers for multiple viewers or two high-quality headphones which customers can keep. (Source: Avis press release).

Record Airfares

If it feels as though you’re paying more for airfare, there´s a reason. The latest American Express Business Travel Monitor reports that domestic and international airfares hit record levels in the second quarter of 2008. The good new is that companies can save money by emphasizing travel policy compliance.

Among the study’s findings:

• The average one-way domestic fare was $260, up $24 from the same period last year, a 10 percent increase, and up $27 from the first quarter, a 12 percent increase.
• The average one-way international fare hit its highest level since the inception of the Business Travel Monitor in 1999. These fares increased 11 percent over the same period last year, averaging $1,080.
• The percentage of international business class tickets dropped to their lowest level since 2004. Increases in the percentage of tickets purchased for the back of the plane indicate that travelers are trading down.

(Source: American Express press release).

American, BA, Iberia Form Transatlantic Alliance

Airlines continue to seek scale by working ever more closely together. The latest example of this is the business agreement between American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia. The airlines say the deal will give their customers more destinations to choose from while helping the airlines to save money and attract new customers, which in turn would ease the upward pressure on airfares due to rising fuel costs.

Fuel prices are dropping but continue to take their toll, as evidenced by the shutdown of the discount transatlantic carrier Zoom Airlines (Source: American, BA, Iberia press releases and Zoom website).

American, Delta Offer WiFi
In-flight Delta Air Lines made its´ announcement first but American Airlines was first out of the gate with in-flight WiFi. American now has inflight WiFi on its Boeing 767-200s flying between New York and San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The service costs $12.95 on flights of more than three hours; travelers simply turn on their WiFi enabled devices, including laptops, smart phones and PDAs, once they hit 10,00 feet and are connected to Aircell’s Gogo portal, the WiFi provider, where they sign up for the service. Delta, meanwhile, will offer WiFi on its domestic fleet of 330 mainline aircraft, also with Gogo, introducing it on its MD 88/99 aircraft this fall and rolling it out fleet wide in the first half of 2009. The service will cost $9.95 on flights or three hours or less and $12.95 on flights of three hours or more. (Source: American, Delta press releases).

TSA Lets You Leave Your Laptop in Some Bags
The Transportation Security Administration will now let you leave your laptop in its bag when you go through security as long as it meets new checkpoint friendly standards.

These bags should have a designated laptop-only section; they must completely unfold to lie flat on the X-ray belt; no metal snaps, zippers or buckles inside, underneath or on top of the laptop-only section; no pockets on the inside or outside of the laptop-only section and packed in the laptop-only section other than the computer itself.

The TSA worked with laptop bag manufacturers to come up with the new standards. (Source: TSA press release).

Airline Eliminates Life Jackets
Air Canada Jazz is eliminating life-jackets, calling them redundant since seats act as flotation devices. Transport Canada permits flotation devices, like the seats, instead of life jackets if the planes fly within 90 kilometers of shore.

The seat cushions lift off and have restraints on the bottom through which passengers can slip their arms through. There will be life jackets available for infants. The idea is to save on weight
and fuel. (Source: Travel Pulse Daily).

United Furloughs Flight Attendants, Tests Charging for Meals Over Atlantic
United Airlines is furloughing 1,500 flight attendants as a result of flight reductions it announced this summer. That is about 10 percent of its cabin workers and part of its efforts to cut 7,000 jobs by the end of 2009. It also began testing charging for in-flight meals over the Atlantic.

On transatlantic flights out of Dulles, it is testing selling Buy on Board options, including sandwiches, salads and snack boxes. It will evaluate results at year’s end. (Source: press reports, United press release).

Americans Divided on Inflight Cell Phone Use
In-flight wireless services could presage in-flight cell phone use. Americans are divided on whether or not passengers should be able to use their cell phones in-flight, according to a study by the Department of Transportation.

The younger you are, the more likely you are to favor it-almost half (47.7 percent) of 18- to 34-year-olds approved of the idea. Only a quarter of those over 65 favored the move; those between 35 and 64 almost evenly divided-40 percent say they should allowed, 46 percent said they should not and the rest aren’t sure. Source: DOT press release).

Security

TSA, Delta Offer Mobile Check-in at La Guardia
Delta Air Lines and the Transportation Security Administration are launching paperless mobile check-in on Delta and Delta Connection flights at LaGuardia Airport.

Customers can download their boarding pass to their mobile devices via delta.com and drop their bags at the baggage drop counter.

The TSA will scan the electronic boarding pass, check the customer’s ID and process the customer through security; customers then present their electronic boarding passes to the gate agent at boarding time.
(Source: Delta press release) .

Car Rental

Hertz Cuts Refueling Prices, Introduces New Express Check-in
Hertz is now basing its refueling pricing for both its the Hertz Fuel & Service Charge (FSC) and the Fuel Purchase Option (FPO) on the average price per gallon as set by the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) in the geographical area where the car is rented.

The FSC-for those who don’t fill the tank–will be based upon local market fuel prices, plus a one-time refueling fee of $6.99.

The FPO–for those who do refill the tank–will reflect local market fuel prices minus a small discount of approximately $0.15 per gallon.

In addition, Hertz is starting a new self-service check in program that guarantees that you get your car in ten minutes or less.
(Source: Hertz press releases) .

Airport Traffic and Customer Satisfaction

Prices might be rising and airlines might be cutting costs, but if you’re still flying, don’t expect to see fewer people at the airport. Total airport traffic continues to grow according to Airports Council International, which just released its May 2008 figures.

1. The Africa and Middle East regions grew the most– 20 and 15 percent respectively
2. Europe, the largest international market, grew by six percent.
3. North America grew four percent, Asia Pacific three percent.
4. Domestic traffic was flat in North America and Europe
5. Latin America-Caribbean region grew four percent; Asia Pacific grew by 3 percent.

Customer satisfaction with airports is down due to airline delays and cancellations caused by weather, air traffic issues and staff and service cutbacks, according to latest J.D. Power and Associates North America Satisfaction Study.

1. Satisfaction is down 14 points from 2007 after increasing steadily for the previous four years
2. Airport customer satisfaction is much lower than hotels, rental cars and even airlines
3. Philadelphia is tops among biggest airports, Chicago Midway among medium airports and Dallas Love among the smallest
4. What bothers customers most are service inconsistencies in the security process

(Source: Airports Council International Release & J.D. Power and Associates)