Airline Biz

Business Travel News is reporting that an inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation said that the federal goverment should require the airlines to let folks off the plane after a delays of "extended periods."

"All airlines need to specify in detail the efforts that will be made to get passengers off the aircraft when delayed for extended periods, either before departure or after arrival," Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel III said.

The travel magazine notes that the Air Transport Association, a trade group representing the major airlines, has opposed legislation that would do what Mr. Scovel is recommending.

In some cases, notably last winter when an American Airlines plane was diverted to, and got held for several hours in Austin, the carriers haven't had available gates to deplane passengers.

Airlines have also argued that by deplaning passengers, they may miss their place in line to take-off, disrupting the schedule even further.

Posted by Suzanne Marta at 03:50 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Ray Neidl of Calyon Securities points out many positives from September's traffic numbers.

But the airline analyst also notes the negatives:

These load factors are clearly taking their toll on the aviation infrastructure in the United States given the continued disappointing on-time performance as reported by the DOT in the last couple months. The effects of flight cancellations are multiplied due to the difficulty in reassigning passengers to different flights.

We continue to believe the best recourse will be to trim domestic capacity, which in turn will allow ticket prices to rise. Such a move would place less stress on the national civil aviation infrastructure as well as provide higher yields on domestic routes.

The LCCs have been avoiding the issue of cutting capacity but may be starting to realize that it is a necessary measure.

The LCCs refer to low-cost carriers like JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways, all of which are still growing. JetBlue and Southwest have reined in their growth a bit, however.

Posted by Terry Maxon at 01:03 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

FILE/AP

According to CreditSights, the core issue is that the Federal Aviation Authority has not increased domestic aviation infrastructure capacity, and will not be able to for years if not decades.

According to CreditSights:

“In the meantime, the feds are now planning to restrict volume at key airports, supersize bumped passenger fines, and make stranding flights prohibitively expensive. The airlines will react by cancelling flights at the drop of a hat, stranding passengers everywhere but the runway at no cost. “

Among the report's highlights:
--Congestion in the northeast will lead to slot restrictions at JFK and EWR in addition to LGA and DCA, resulting in fewer flights and higher fares.

--Restrictions at JFK could drive a Delta Airlines acquisition of Jetblue.

--Congestion will lead to more stranded passengers in airports and less on runways as flight cancellations will become more frequent to avoid proposed penalties.

--(This one we know from this last summer) Rebooking will become more difficult in the high load factor environment.

Posted by Suzanne Marta at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Start-up Virgin America said Friday that it has entered into an exclusive partnership with Boing Boing TV to provide "cheeky exploration of the world through Internet culture, DIY technology and geeky curiosities" through inflight daily video reports with the same irreverent and eclectic content that has struck a cord with pop culture junkies on BoingBoing.net.

The show, which starts next month, will be free and on-demand on Virgin's inflight entertainment system.

Virgin launched service from San Francisco International Airport on Aug. 7 and currently flies to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Washington D.C. and New York (JFK)

The carrier has said it will serve as many as 10 cities within its first year. D/FW Airport is among about 40 cities Virgin has said it is considering.

Posted by Suzanne Marta at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Southwest sure is apologizing a lot lately over its fashion sense, this time for asking a Florida passenger to change out of a sexually suggestive T-shirt or risk getting thrown off the plane.

A spokesman said the Dallas-based carrier plans to apologize to Joe Winiecki of Largo, Fla., who said in the AP story that he was sitting in the last row of a Columbus-to-Tampa flight when a Southwest employee told him he had to ditch his T-shirt, turn it inside out, or leave.

According to the story, the shirt, which was purchased in the Virgin Islands, uses sexual double entendre to promote a fictional fishing tackle shop.

Here's a link where you can see the shirt.

I have to admit I always cringe when I see these types of shirts along touristy boardwalks and places like Las Vegas and Bourbon Street, though I'm not sure this crosses the decency line to get on a plane.

Posted by Suzanne Marta at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Airplanes were a little bit fuller for most of the top 10 U.S. carriers in September.

JetBlue Airways and Alaska Air both reported load factors a little lower. Everyone else filled a greater percentage of their seats last month.

AirTran showed the biggest gain, up 6.7 points to 68.5 percent. Northwest had the highest load factor at 84.5 percent. Southwest had the lowest load factor at 67.7 percent.

What made AirTran's higher load factors remarkable is that it is growing the fastest of the top 10, with capacity (in available seat miles) up 19.3 percent. It can be hard to fill that many extra seats. But AirTran's traffic (revenue passenger miles) was also up, by an impressive 32.3 percent.

Here are the complete numbers for September:

Continue reading "Airplanes fuller in September" »

Posted by Terry Maxon at 08:27 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

A recent survey released by the Travel Industry Association and Ypartnership shows that more than half of all U.S. adults say they would be more likely to select an airline, rental car or hotel that uses more environmentally friendly products and processes.

Of course, few practice what they preach.

Only 14 percent of survey participants said their actual selection of a travel service supplier would be influenced by that supplier’s efforts to preserve and protect the environment.

And just 13 percent would be willing to pay higher rates or fares to use suppliers who demonstrate environmental responsibility (although fully 56 percent said they might).

How willing someone would pay to be "Green" depends on the premium.

76 percent would pay less than 10 percent more; the majority said they would pay less than 5 percent more.

Suzanne Cook, TIA's senior VP of research said a travel supplier's environmental efforts may attract customers, but "not at a significantly higher fare or rate.”

“The ‘value assessment’ consumers ascribe to any travel service transaction appears to remain the primary determinant of their actual purchase behavior,” she added

Click below to read more about green travel sentiments.

Continue reading "Traveling green, as long as it isn't too much green" »

Posted by Suzanne Marta at 06:30 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

2. If the price of oil keeps climbing past $80, it'll make moot any arguments about dividing up airline profits.

3. Speaking of OU-Texas, last weekend did not happen. OU and Texas both had open dates. It's like the time Bobby Ewing came out of the shower. It was all a dream, a bad dream.

Posted by Terry Maxon at 06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

D/FW International Airport announced Thursday that it has won the 2007 Airport Safety Award by the Flight Safety Foundation, for "leadership and achievements benefiting aviation safety, both at the Airport and in the wider aviation community."

The award, was a nod to DFW for leading the way in developing safety initiatives -- in particular perimeter taxiways.

Here's what airport CEO Jeff Fegan had to say:

"We are very proud of our safety record and the innovative programs we have put in place that are modeled around the world."blockquote>

The Flight Safety Foundation is composed of more than 1,140 individuals and organizations in 142 countries.

Posted by Suzanne Marta at 04:44 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

The US Airways pilots who used to fly for US Airways are asking the National Mediation Board to call an election.

This calls for some explanation. America West Airlines acquired US Airways out of bankruptcy but named the merged company "US Airways." Both America West and US Airways pilots were represented by the Air Line Pilots Association. The two groups needed to merge their seniority lists to form a single US Airways list.

The US Airways half of the equation didn't like the decision from an arbitrator picked to decide the issue. ALPA is backing the arbitration decision. Ergo, the US Airways half, or US Airways East, wants to form a new union, US Airline Pilots Association, to represent the US Airways and America West pilots.

This issue has really got pilots from both sides worked up. Stay tuned.

Posted by Terry Maxon at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Airline analyst Jamie Baker of JP Morgan was unpleasantly surprised by JetBlue's 2 percent growth in RASM, which was "meaningfully below our double-digit expectation, following robust July & August results."

Mr. Baker reduced his third quarter estimates Thursday from 15 cents to 5 cents, well below the concensus estimate of 9 cents.

"Most importantly, we believe September weakness is unique unto JetBlue, related to August’s arrival of Virgin America in key transcon markets," he wrote in a note to investors.

As we reported earlier, Virgin America launched service Aug. 8 from San Francisco International Airport. The carrier service Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Washington D.C. and New York (JFK)

Posted by Suzanne Marta at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Public relations guy Eric Starkman raises a number of questions about frequent-flier programs in his blog, not the least of which is why companies are thinking about selling off their frequent-flier programs.

He said he can understand why someone might want to buy a frequent-flier program spun off from some company like American Airlines or United Airlines.

"It’s the other side of the equation that makes no sense to me: Why would anyone want to invest in a company looking to untether the one thing that drove customers’ repeat business?" he asks. "Affinity programs are, after all, the value 'hook' that compels many travelers to book with one airline over another."

He also bemoans the unavailability of frequent-flier travel awards on many airlines. "I might not be Warren Buffet, but I know when someone is flipping me the bird. It is beyond me why people want to have an 'affinity' to companies whose attitude towards customers is 'Let them eat cake.'”

Posted by Terry Maxon at 04:09 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

The folks at CNN have posted Travel +Leisure magazine's top 25 travel sites for planning everything you need for a trip whether its checking the forecast (weather.com), figuring out the exchange rate (xe.com) or talking about international cuisine (chowhound.com).

Sites that let you know when to book a fare (farecompare.com) and where to stay (kayak.com) and where to sit on the plane (seatguru.com) are there too.

Posted by Suzanne Marta at 03:05 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

We had a little story Thursday about the Transport Workers Union and American Airlines breaking off their efforts to get a quick contract extension.

A little background and some paraphrasing:

TWU international representative Jim Little warned AA chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey in August that Mr. Little's members weren't happy that they weren't sharing in American's profits. The unstated part of his lettter is that the employees aren't happy that AA's executives were sharing in AA's recovery when employees weren't.

Mr. Arpey said okay, let's see if we can work out something that keeps our joint efforts going and rewards employees. So outside of TWU's usual negotiating committee, the TWU and AA put together a speeded-up discussion.

It didn't result in a deal, which would have been really positive for American, considering that its pilots are talking tough and its three major employee groups all have contract that become amendable on May 1.

Here's the message sent out by TWU leadership:

All AA Local Presidents & Members

On September 17, 2007 American Airlines and the Transport Workers Union began informal, facilitated discussions that may have led to a possible contract extension. Today, Wednesday, October 03, 2007 those informal talks have ended and no agreements have been reached. The TWU has continued preparing for formal talks that will begin in November and is looking forward to advancing the will of their membership.

Here's the full statement from an AA representative:

Over the past few weeks, American Airlines and the TWU held a series of informal, facilitated meetings to discuss a limited number of contract issues. These meetings have concluded and the parties have agreed to proceed into formal negotiations under Section 6 of the Railway Labor Act as originally planned, beginning November 7, 2007.

Posted by Terry Maxon at 02:56 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Continental Airlines Arena is becoming the Izod Center..

Continental Airlines has held the naming rights for the arena in the Meadowlands for 12 years, but wanted out of the deal because one of its primary tenants, the New Jersey Devils, (correction -- I originally had said it was the Nets. Thanks to Mike W.) is moving to Newark.

For details on the story, check out this Bloomberg story.

That leaves American Airlines as the leader in naming rights for National Basketball Association venues, with the American Airlines Center in Dallas and the American Airlines Arena in Miami.

But we also have the United Center in Chicago, the US Airways Center in Phoenix (formerly the America West Center until America West merged with US Airways and took the other's name) and the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

Posted by Terry Maxon at 02:23 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Whether it's safer to fly or drive may ultimately depend on who is doing the flying.

A review by the National Transportation Safety Board found that nearly 90 percent of last year's aviation deaths occurred in general aviation aircraft. Altogether, 779 people died.

Other federal agencies also compiled transportation deaths and found 42,642 people were killed on the highways in 2006, down from 43,510 in 2005. Meanwhile, deaths on the rails declined, boating deaths increased and pipeline deaths remained unchanged.

Posted by Katie Fairbank at 01:42 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

The results are in, and I'm sorry to say Terry, but UT has won Southwest's annual plane pull.

The folks at Southwest report that the UT team claimed their first victory in the annual showdown with a time of 44 seconds.

I'm an Oregon Ducks fan, so I couldn't care one way or the other.

Here's what Terry had to say on it:

"The contest was fixed, just like the cow."

Posted by Suzanne Marta at 01:23 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

The rising cost of fuel is prompting a bit more pessism for airlines by Raymond James analysts James D. Parker and Duane Pfennigwerth

In a report this morning, the firm cut its recommendation on AirTran Airways from "out-perform" to "market perform," even though the analysts increased their third-quarter earnings estimate two cents to 17 cents.

Raymond James also lowered the target stock prices for Ryanair, Allegiant Air and Southwest Airlines, and lowered earnings estimates for AirTran, Allegiant, Southwest, Frontier Airlines for the fourth quarter.

Continue reading "Analysts look at fuel, cut outlook for some airlines" »

Posted by Terry Maxon at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Not every big airline has reported, but I think we can give the Airline Sausage Award to Northwest Airlines for September.

Northwest filled 84.5 percent of its seats last month, up 2.3 points from September 2006 and a full 4.3 points better than its nearest contender, United Airlines.

It really packed those international routes -- 88.3 percent for its flights to Asia, 88.8 percent for flights to Europe. American by comparison had load factors of 83.5 percent to the Pacific and 82.3 percent to Europe.

Posted by Terry Maxon at 07:30 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

MSNBC columnist James Wysong, a flight attendant and author, raises the question about whether travelers really want to know why their flight is late.

Mr. Wysong, tongue in cheek, posts some possible announcements from the pilot if the airline was completely truthful. Two of my favorites:

"We are canceling this flight because we need this airplane to fly to a more lucrative destination with more booked passengers."

"The whatchamacallit won't fit into the doohickey, so we have to have a new doohickey flown in from Missoula, Mont., but the next flight doesn't leave from there until tomorrow night."

Read the full column here.

Posted by Terry Maxon at 06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating an engine fire that occurred last Friday on an American Airlines MD-80 as it took off from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

The plane returned to the airport, landed safely and no one was hurt.

NTSB investigators say they want to see if any mechanical factors played a role in the incident. They also want to look at evacuation procedures and response by the airport fire-fighting unit.

P.S. from Terry Maxon:

The Allied Pilots Association, which represents American’s pilots, took note of the incident, with a poke at management. Said the union in its hotline Tuesday:

After a single-engine go-around prompted by the failure of the nose gear to extend, ORD Captain Steve Garbe and STL First Officer Kevin May did an outstanding job in returning their crippled S80 to the runway and—with the able assistance of the flight attendants—safely deplaning the passengers. Well done!

Why our crew’s exemplary performance failed to merit even a brief mention in the most recent Flight Department hotline is frankly baffling. This airline should celebrate our pilots’ ability to get the job done, particularly under the kind of difficult and demanding circumstances that Captain Garbe and First Officer May faced last Friday.

Posted by Katie Fairbank at 03:41 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

The National Transportation Safety Board has posted more information on the Dec. 8, 2005, accident in which a Southwest Airlines jet slid off the end of a Chicago Midway runway.

Here's an animated recreation of the accident.

Here are the presentations made to the board.

Here is the board's press release that puts most of the blame on the pilots, a lack of information and inadequate training. We've abstracted part of the press release below.

Continue reading "More on Southwest's accident at Chicago Midway" »

Posted by Terry Maxon at 02:25 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

US Airways Inc. said it’s going to reduce its Pittsburgh schedule to 22 mainline flights in January, and its regional partners will go to 46 daily flights. It has been flying 31 mainline and 77 regional flights.

Pittsburgh used to be one of the apples of US Airways’ eye. It was one of US Airways’ two biggest hubs, with Charlotte, N.C., and the carrier opened an $800 million terminal there in 1992. It had an maintenance base, operations center and other facilities there.

Ted Reed from TheStreet.com advises me that US Airways had a peak of about 550 daily departures from Pittsburgh before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

But US Airways has had hard times since its heyday. It’s gone into bankruptcy a couple of times, and was acquired two years ago by America West Airlines, which then took the US Airways name.

Says US Airways chairman and chief executive officer Doug Parker:

Continue reading "US Airways pulls down in Pittsburgh" »

Posted by Terry Maxon at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

The best thing you can say about the U.S. airline industry's delays and cancellations in August is that the carriers did better than they did in July.

Other than that, it was pretty bad. Here's our story.

For the record, 71.1 percent of flights were on time, meaning within 15 minutes of schedule. In July, that number was 69.8 percent. A year earlier, the carriers posted a 75.8 percent mark.

Below, we've put the rankings for the month.

Continue reading "Another month, more delays for airline industry" »

Posted by Terry Maxon at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Southwest Airlines didn't set a record for load factors in September. But last month was its second best September ever. (Here's our story on Southwest's traffic results.)

Southwest filled 67.7 percent of its seats last month, up 0.5 points from September 2006. That 67.7 percent trails only September 1996, when Southwest had a 70.6 percent load factor.

Of course, the carrier set records for passenger traffic (revenue passenger miles) and capacity (available seat miles). Growing airlines like Southwest tend to set a monthly record every month in those categories.

Below, we've got a chart of Southwest's Septembers for a ways back.

Continue reading "No September record for Southwest Airlines" »

Posted by Terry Maxon at 09:46 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Longtime travel writer Joe Brancatelli says he's seen plenty of fancy amenities such as pillow menus and chocolate concierges as hotels work to bolster their appeal.

But many hotels still lack some basics frequent travelers really want, according to this story on Portfolio.com.

Among these "basics" outlined by Mr. Brancatelli are "at least one strong hook" to hang a garment bag, in-room coffee makers, easy access to power outlets and Internet jacks, and space in the mini-bar to put your own items.

So, fellow travelers, what else should be on this list?

Posted by Suzanne Marta at 06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

It was expected, but negotiators for the Allied Pilots Association informed American Airlines management Tuesday that the union will be changing its contract proposal.

The union's original pay proposal had been for the airline to raise pay rates by 30.5 percent, plus annual raises, plus signing bonuses, etc. Mr. Hill, a Miami-based pilot, had expressed concerns that that proposal would bring pilots back to where they were in 2003, without taking into account the effects of inflation in the years before 2003.

However, APA leaders have given no indication about how the proposal would look after the reworking.

Continue reading "American's pilots will make new proposals to airline" »

Posted by Terry Maxon at 05:57 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

The visitor information centers at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport may soon get an upgrade.

The new centers would have flashy touch-screen monitors, and a 70-inch screen TV that could play ads of area vendors.

The centers will also have a system that would use Bluetooth technology to send visitor guides to a PDA, smart phone or other Bluetooth enabled device.

Don't worry, it won't be like the sci-fi movie "Minority Report", where personalized ads are blasted at Tom Cruise as he walks past retail stores.

Continue reading "Your own personal visitor guide" »

Posted by Suzanne Marta at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

American Airlines has posted its September traffic numbers, and it looks like another record for load factors -- load factors meaning the percentage of seats filled by paying passengers.

American filled 78.4 percent of its seats last month, up 2.9 points from September 2006 and the highest September loads in its history.

Here are the September loads since 2000:

Posted by Terry Maxon at 02:55 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

But there was a number of things at play in the accident, and board members were trying to weigh all the factors.

Here's our story by staff writer Dave Michaels.

Posted by Terry Maxon at 02:52 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

GetThere, a reservations booking brand owned by Sabre Travel Network, has come up with the top ten travel excuses corporate travel managers have heard from business travelers.

The corporate travel people have to police the rules, or else the $298 round trip to New York turns into a $1,298 round trip, and the assistant deputy comptroller is staying in the Ritz Carlton rather than the LaQuinta Inn & Suites.

1. “I upgraded to First Class because I can’t afford the drinks in Coach.”

2. “Do you know who I am? If you did you would not ask me why I travel First Class.”

Continue reading "You want in First Class? Get behind these jokers" »

Posted by Terry Maxon at 02:41 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

One company thinks it has the answer.

Check it out on our Tech Blog.

Posted by Victor Godinez at 02:16 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Here’s a new service that’s going to save me $1.50 every time I go to the airport.

It’s 1-800-FLIGHTS. In return for listening to a short advertisement, the voice-activated number gives you free up-to-date flight status and gate information for flights on 141 domestic and international airlines.

I tested it out and it seems to work. It even lets you shout your answers with venomous rage at the computer voice, something I do regularly to relieve frustration. (Prediction: Eliminating robot abuse will be the civil rights issue of the 22nd century.)

But the best part of 1-800-FLIGHTS: The number is easy to remember.

So the next time I’m on the way to the airport, instead of calling 411 on my cell phone to get American Airlines' flight information number, and letting Verizon charge me $1.50, or whatever they’re gouging us for these days, I’ll just be dialing 1-800-FLIGHTS for my gate information.

Why, you might ask, do I have to get my gate information before I get to the airport? Well, you must not be from Texas!

Continue reading "It's easy to remember: 1-800-FLIGHTS" »

Posted by Paul Foutch at 01:17 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Retired Indian Airlines engineer Bahadur Chand Gupta has come up with a brilliant business plan: he bought a junky old Airbus A300, parked it, and charges a couple bucks for people to climb on board and get a fleeting taste of the visceral "thrill" of air travel.

Say what you will about the missing wing, non-functioning bathrooms, the naive quotes from poor people lining up (Jasmine, a young teacher, had been longing to go on a plane. “It is much more beautiful than I ever imagined,” she said.) to listen to Gupta narrate the details of a faux trip, complete with turbulence warnings.

But you can't deny this simple fact:

At least these folks get a meal service.

Posted by Victor Godinez at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Starting Oct. 15, travelers on Delta Air Lines will need to plan to get to the airport a bit earlier if they're checking bags.

The Atlanta-based carrier will increase its cut-off time for checking bags from 30 minutes to 45 minutes in several of its airports, according to a story in Travel Weekly.

The change is an effort to reduce the number of mishandled bags.

Delta's 45 minute rule will apply to its operations at JFK, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Orlando and Denver.

Since the liquids restrictions took effect last year, several airlines have reported increases in checked bag volumes.

American Airlines has already implemented 40 and 45 minute cut-off times at several of its airports.

Posted by Suzanne Marta at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Shares in Continental jumped as much as 4.5 percent in early trading, and were hovering around $35.10 around 10:40 a.m. CST.

So what does this say about business going forward?

Airline analyst Jamie Baker of JP Morgan said in a note to investors this morning that although Continental's strength bodes well, largely reflects tickets bought before the credit turmoil in August and growing fears of a recession.

"Put differently," Mr. Baker wrote, "it doesn't do much to answer the all-important question of what consumers and business travelers do next."

He added that JP Morgan Chase's 2008 forecasts are based on an industry RASM growth of 1-2 percent. That compares to growth of 10 percent in 2006 for the industry and growth of 3.8 percent for YTD 2007.

Posted by Suzanne Marta at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

When it comes to travel, monied travelers are most likely to make return visits to the same destinations, according to a story in the online publication Travel Mole .

The site reported that a survey by the U. S. Tour Operators Association showed that a third of affluent travelers -- those with a household income of more than $100,000 -- said they preferred to revisit favorite vacation destinations so they could explore it in depth.

That was slightly higher than 30 percent of households earning $50,000 to $99,000 who said they preferred to repeat vacation spots.

Less than 20 percent of households earning $35,000 or less said they liked to make return trips.

Practical factors played a big role among women and those reporting lower income, who said in the survey that inculding additional meals and sightseeing would motivate them to select packaged travel.

Free hotel room upgrades played a bigger role for travelers age 18-34 and for families with young children.

Posted by Suzanne Marta at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Continental Airlines says it filled 79.2 percent of its seats in September, up 0.6 points from a year earlier. That's a record September load factor.

Including regional carriers, Continental had a 79.0 percent load factor, also (you guessed it) a record. Last year, It was 78.2 percent.

What analysts will be looking at more is Continental's estimates on unit revenues for the month, and they look pretty good at first glance.

The Houston-based carrier said that September unit revenues should be up 5.5 to 6.5 percent for itself, 4.5 cents to 5.5 cents including regional partners.

It also revised its August estimates on unit revenues, and the new estimates come out of the high end of the preliminary projections it handed out a month ago. Continental said its August unit revenues were 8.8 cents (its earlier estimate was 8 to 9 cents) and 7.3 cents including regional partners (its earlier estimate was 6.5 to 7.5 cents).

We'll see what Wall Street thinks of the numbers.

Posted by Terry Maxon at 06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

The Transportation Security Administration says anyone bringing a remote-controlled toy through airport security checkpoints may become better acquainted with TSA screeners. Says the TSA:

In view of the period of strategic warning discussed in the National Intelligence Estimate on Homeland Security released in July, TSA is carefully monitoring information developed in the law enforcement and intelligence communities related to methods of possible attack.

While not associated with a specific threat at this time, TSA is aware that remote control toys can be used to initiate devices used in terrorist attacks.

Accordingly, Transportation Security Officers have trained on this possibility and travelers may encounter additional screening when bringing remote control devices in carry-on baggage.

So, it's not saying you can't bring one through security. It's saying such a device will attract attention.

The issue was more than hypothetical recently for Nancy Visser, an editor here at The News.

"My son was going to take his remote-controlled spider on our summer trip but I decided to leave it behind because I thought security might flag it if they x-rayed our luggage," she says.

"Something new to remember if you take Christmas presents with you during holiday travel: Don’t give any remote-control gifts."

Posted by Terry Maxon at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

The Allied Pilots Association now has running its own Web site to educate the public, www.apanegotiations.com, to counter management's Web site, www.aanegotiations.com.

It's hard to believe, but the pilots and management have different views on the same set of facts.

For example, here's what the management site says about "success sharing":

American’s variable compensation plans demonstrate the company’s commitment that employees will share in the company’s success. Through the 2003 restructuring process, employees elected to keep more of their compensation in the form of base pay.

However, American provided employees with a number of opportunities for additional compensation hinged on the airline’s recovery and overall performance.

And here's how the pilots' union looks at American's success sharing:

As AMR became profitable in 2006, the top 1000 managers began to receive bonuses that would total over 250 million dollars by April of 2007, with the majority going to the top 50 managers.

In 2006, the top 5 AMR managers received $33.9 million in compensation, 29% more than the next highest management team in the industry. At the same time, the pilots have not shared in the recovery of our airline as promised.

Check out the sites for fuller examinations of the two sides' points of view.

Posted by Terry Maxon at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Citigroup downgraded the shares of AMR and Southwest Airlines on Monday, according to Reuters.

In both cases, Citigroup moved the stocks from a "buy" recommendation to "hold."

In early trading on the New York Stock Exchange, AMR shares are up nearly 3 percent, and Southwest's are down 1 percent. The difference?

Southwest doesn't have a big investor in Iceland agitating for asset sales and doing drastic things to increase shareholder value. AMR does.

Posted by Terry Maxon at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

In case you missed it, we did an update Sunday on Love Field traffic in the year since Congress agreed to let people go farther from the Dallas airport.

To summarize: passenger traffic between October 1, 2006, and Aug. 31, 2007, was up 20 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Passenger traffic at the airport in August was up 27 percent from August 2006.

August passenger traffic for Southwest Airlines was up 33 percent from August 2006.

Meanwhile, D/FW Airport traffic is down slightly -- but there's been an increase in passengers starting and ending their trip in Dallas-Fort Worth. And the record at D/FW Airport is hard to assess because American Airlines has had such bad luck with weather in the first half of 2007.

Posted by Terry Maxon at 09:49 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

With KLM's new flights starting March 30 to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, more male travelers will be able to enjoy the houseflies in the men's rooms at Schiphol.

Here's this week's trivia question: What is the significance of those flies in the airport bathrooms?

Someone wanted a bonus question? Okay, we have this: What is the significance of the name "Schiphol"?

Answers below.

Continue reading "Monday morning trivia" »

Posted by Terry Maxon at 06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)

FL Group chief executive officer Hannes Smárason chatted with us on his cellphone as he strolled around Manhattan Friday afternoon, a day after his company made public its calls for AMR to do a better job disclosing its finances and consider selling off AAdvantage and other AMR assets.

Underlying his comments is a belief that if investors understood everything AMR was sitting on, the stock wouldn’t be trading in the low twenties. Here’s our interview:

Continue reading "Iceland investor explains his position on AMR" »

Posted by Terry Maxon at 06:05 PM | Permalink | Comments | TrackBacks (0)