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Friday, November 20, 2009

One of the better air fare prognosicators, Rick Seaney of FareCompare.com, has a provocative post today on US Airways and its 5 percent surcharge for travel next summer in case fuel prices go up. No other airlines have matched it yet, indicating they're not so sure it's a good idea. Here's Seaney's view ... 

Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 4:49 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
Friday, November 20, 2009
Delta has answered a lawsuit filed by flyersrights.org, the group leading the charge for a passengers' bill-of-rights for those stranded on airline flights. This story from the trade paper Travel Weekly reports on why Delta believes the suit is without merit, and eventually gets to the heart of the lawsuit. Read more here. 
Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 1:59 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
Friday, November 20, 2009

Slowly and steadily, wireless Internet service is coming to the airlines, with American, Continental, Delta, AirTran, Virgin America and maybe others I can't recall equipping some of their planes. Southwest has said it's making plans to add the service in the next year or two.

Yesterday, American said it was making a widget available that would enable customers to determine if WiFi is going to be available on a particular flight. Read a little more about that here. And Air Canada said it would begin experimenting with a system, which, like the others will cost about $10 per flight unless a carrier is running a special promotion. More on that ...

 

Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 10:13 AM  Permalink | 1 comment
Thursday, November 19, 2009
A glitch in FAA computers in Atlanta and Salt Lake City caused air traffic delays throughout the East,today although PHL wasn't as badly disuprted as some places. Here's the AP wrapup on what happened ....
Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 10:08 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
Thursday, November 19, 2009

The flight attendants at American Airlines may be a long way from actually going on strike but they're serious about pressing their case for a new and better contract. The FAs conducted informational picketing at major airports yesterday, Read more about it ....

Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 9:54 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The largest U.S. airlines, Delta and American, are battling for influence with Japan Airlines, a deeply trroubled company that could be forced into bankruptcy because of its operating losses and debt. Delta today offered $1 billion for a stake in JAL; AMR also has a deal on the table. Read more .....

Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 2:53 PM  Permalink | 1 comment
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The AP has a very good story from Washington today about why it's taken the Transportation Security Administration eight years since 9/11 to issue rules for security at aircraft repair stations where airlines outsource the majority of their maintenance today. This topic is the subject of a House Homeland Security Committee hearing today that we will try to report more on later. Read the AP story here.
Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 11:04 AM  Permalink | 1 comment
Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The major network airlines have been busy in recent weeks devising ways to increase revenue from fares without calling what they're doing a fare increase. OK, technically it's not be an increase in base fares. Let's just call it by a more accurate name: It's a COST increase (forgive me for shouting), and for a growing number of air travelers it could be a substantial one.

First, the surcharges applied only to peak travel days around the upcoming holidays. Well, heck, it's always been more expensive to travel on those days, with the lowest-priced tickets selling out months in advance, so you have to expect higher costs. But a $50 surcharge on Feb. 8 on Delta, Northwest and United (and with others likely to join the party) ? The only thing one expert, Tom Parsons of bestfares.com, can fathom is that it's the day after the Super Bowl. Huhhh? You mean airplane seats are really precious that day, no matter what teams are playing and fans traveling?

For a full list of when the surcharges apply look at Parsons' Web site here.  US Airways took a simple path to increasing customers' costs by saying it would surcharge every ticket all the time by 5 percent starting in May. See the post below for a little more on that.   

Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 10:28 AM  Permalink | 1 comment
Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Is it any wonder that many travelers have a sort of low-grade anger all the time about airlines? US Airways says it's adding a 5 percent surcharge to all tickets after May 8. Also, other carriers increased their surcharges for certain days this spriung.

Remember, these are not a fare increase, they're a surcharge, but can you tell the difference? We know that with the big capacity cuts, it's going to cost more to fly next spring and summer. I guess we should be grateful that now we know that in addition to higher fares that come with fewer available seats, we have a predictable "surcharge" to add to the cost. Read more here.

Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 5:00 PM  Permalink | 7 comments
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The United States, the European Union and six other countries have agreed on an "agenda for freedom" that could open the way for more airline mergers and consolidation across borders. Read more about it here. 
Posted by Tom BELDEN @ 11:18 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
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About Tom Belden
Tom Belden has been reporting and writing about Philadelphia International Airport and other air travel subjects for nearly 25 years. He has written business travel columns for The Inquirer's Travel and Business sections. His ground-breaking reporting (with colleague Craig McCoy) on baggage handling problems in Philadelphia have been credited with helping improve the system. His previous blog was called Road Warrior. He can reached at tbelden@phillynews.com.