Airlines..

International Holiday Business Fares Plummet
Some airlines have quietly cut their international business class fares over Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sample roundtrip Asian fares from Northwest: $1,658, Los Angeles -Seoul; $2,018 Chicago-Shanghai. Continental has cut its European fares--$1,550 roundtrip for Cleveland-London or Shannon, Ireland, or Houston-Paris. (Source: Airline web sites).

Air Travel Costs Keep Getting Lower
While the price of air travel can vary throughout the year, rising during the peak months of July and August and again over the Christmas and New Year's holidays, then dropping in the winter, the overall trend for the past 25 years has been downward. Global airline real yields, measured in U.S. cents per revenue passenger kilometer, declined from more than 13 cents in 1978 to about 7 cents by last year, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization. Recent U.K. inflation figures for September, issued yesterday, show the price of air travel dropping by 21.3 percent from the month of August and 6.9 percent from the same month a year ago. In July, the price of air travel jumped by 22 percent from the previous month, but was also down by 2 percent from July 2003. Pricing pressure has become particularly acute in the last couple of years. (Source: Financial Times).

United Launches p.s. Service
United has introduced p.s., Premium Service on flights between JFK and Los Angeles or San Francisco. It is reconfiguring 13 planes with three-class service with more space in all classes. All passengers have access to phone, e-mail and power outlets, food service is the same as on international flights and the entire coach cabin is Economy Plus. (Source: United Airlines Public Relations).

JetBlue Joins American Express Membership Rewards
JetBlue Airways has joined the American Express Membership Rewards program. Beginning December 8, 2004, American Express Cardmembers enrolled in the Membership Rewards program will be able to transfer points directly into TrueBlue, JetBlue's Flight Gratitude program, for travel with the airline. American Express is JetBlue's first TrueBlue program partner. (Source: Travel Commerce Report).

Hotels

San Francisco Lockout Continues
Hotels in a protracted labor dispute have ignored an ultimatum from San Francisco's mayor threatening a boycott if the hotels didn't agree to a cooling-off period to allow locked-out workers to return to their jobs while talks continue. Mayor Gavin Newsom said the dispute was tarnishing the city's image and said he would join hotel employees on picket lines and encourage mayors in other cities to play hardball with the hotel owners. Contract talks affect room cleaners, bellmen, cooks and other hourly wage earners.

Cars

Hertz Enhances #1 Club
Hertz has revamped its #1 Club. One major innovation: customers can select and reserve brands and models of specific cars and SUVs at 23 major airports across the nation. The "brand and model" program will initially launch in 12 vacation destinations in Florida and California, with 11 additional airports coast to coast to be added in 2005. (Source: Hertz press release)

Technology

Verizon Wireless Expands Broadband Access
Verizon Wireless has expanded its broadband access network to 14 major metropolitan areas and more than 20 major airports. The difference between this and WiFi hotspots is that the broadband service covers a wide area-no need to find a hotspot, the entire metropolitan area is covered. Originally designed for enterprise customers for their mobile employees, it has become popular with business travelers as well. Users' laptops must be equipped with Broadband Access PC 5220 cards. More cities will be added throughout 2005. The service is powered an Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) third generation (3G) wide area network. A good independent Web site about EVDO is http://evdo-coverage.com. (Source: Verizon Wireless press release, EVDO-Coverage.com).

Wireless Cabins
The airline industry continues to explore bringing wireless high-speed Internet access to its passengers. (See Business Travel Footnotes, June 2004). Airbus has conducted test flights allowing passengers to use GSM mobile phones in flight. It's also completed trials testing in-flight Web browsing, e-mail and virtual private networks (VPN). Airbus expects to have personal mobile phones capabilities in its aircraft by 2006, complementing the e-mail and text messaging services already available on its aircraft. (Source: Airbus press release)

American Express Global Business Travel Forecast 2005

The Rebound Continues
The American Express Global Business Travel Forecast for 2005 indicates a continued steady revival of the global business travel industry. Although the pace varies significantly by region and country, published air and hotel prices are expected to rise incrementally next year as business travel demand recovers, outpacing the growth of supply in several markets. At the same time, increased competition - particularly in the airline sector in several regional markets - is likely to dampen any significant increases in business travel costs. The car rental industry is experiencing a turnaround and American Express expects the domestic average daily car rental costs to increase 0-2%.

Williamsburg Travel- American Express is committed to providing you with useful information on the latest developments in the travel industry. The following information has been compiled from a variety of sources and is updated monthly.