Delta Eliminates Fees for Redeeming Miles

Delta Air Lines says it's eliminating award ticket redemption fees for SkyMiles frequent flier members of up to $150 for award tickets redeemed within 20 days of departure.

Before this change, the fee to book an award ticket for travel within three days was $150 per ticket; for travel within four to seven days the fee was $100; and for travel within eight to 20 days the fee was $75. Award tickets booked 21 days or more before departure continue to have no redemption fee.

The move comes amid growing concern in the airline industry, and in the banking industry, about what I believe is a frequent-flier bubble that will inevitably burst as public faith in frequent-flier programs dissipates. The banking industry has paid literally billions to airlines to purchase miles that are then used as inducements for credit card marketing, creating a monster supply of miles as airlines cut back on the number of seats available for award travel. Way too many miles are chasing way too few seats.

Said Jeff Robertson, Delta's vice president for SkyMiles, "We are actively listening to customers' concerns about the SkyMiles program and are responding."

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DOT Proposes Cracking Down Even Harder on Airlines, Wants Curtailing of Some Ticket-Change Penalties and Other Consumer Protections

The Department of Transportation is proposing to crack down even harder on airlines, now that its policy providing fines of up to $27,500 per passenger for most tarmac strandings over three hours is in effect.

The biggest kicker in the proposal, it seems to me, would affect airlines' lucrative revenues in collecting penalty fees for making changes on so-called nonrefundable tickets. Holy (cash) cow! The agency wants to require airlines to allow you to change a nonrefundable ticket within 24 hours after purchase without penalty. Right now, most airlines charge you a fee of $100 to $150 for making any change -- and then you're also subject to whatever new fare prevails when you make that change.

Today’s proposed rule also would expand the requirement for having contingency plans to include foreign airlines’ operations at U.S. airports, and would require carriers to adopt contingency plans for small- and non-hub airports. That rule extension would impact about 300 additional airports, said the Airports Council International- North America, the domestic airport trade group, which supports the DOT proposals. (See below)


Here's the full DOT announcement:

***

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today proposed new consumer protections for air travelers, building on the Department of Transportation’s recent rule banning carriers from subjecting passengers to long tarmac delays and other deceptive practices.

Specifically, the new proposed rule would:

--Increase compensation for passengers involuntarily bumped from flights

--Allow passengers to make and cancel reservations within 24 hours without penalty

--Require full and prominently displayed disclosure of baggage fees as well as refunds and expense reimbursement when bags are not delivered on time

--Require fair price advertising

--Prohibit price increases after a ticket is purchased. [My note: That's the proposal for allowing ticket changes without penalty for 24 hours after purchase.]

--Mandate timely notice of flight status changes

"Airline passengers have rights and should be able to expect fair and reasonable treatment when they fly," LaHood said. "With this rulemaking, we’re proposing to strengthen the consumer protections enacted last month and raise the bar for airlines when it comes to treating passengers fairly."

The rule published last December, which adopted a three-hour limit for airline tarmac delays for domestic flights, also required U.S. carriers to adopt contingency plans for lengthy tarmac delays at large-hub and medium-hub airports and to publish those plans on their websites. Today’s proposed rule would expand the requirement for having contingency plans to include foreign airlines’ operations at U.S. airports and would require carriers to adopt contingency plans for small- and non-hub airports.

The rule also would require the reporting of additional tarmac delay data to DOT. The department would collect this data from all U.S. and foreign airlines operating aircraft of 30 or more seats on flights to and from the United States and charter flights. Currently, the department collects this data only for the domestic scheduled flights of the 18 largest U.S. airlines.

The proposed rule also would increase the potential compensation for being involuntarily bumped from oversold flights. Currently, airlines may limit compensation for involuntary bumping on flights to $400 if the carrier arranges substitute transportation scheduled to arrive at the passenger’s destination one to two hours after the passenger’s original scheduled arrival for domestic flights, or one to four hours for international flights, and to $800 if the substitute transportation is scheduled to arrive more than two hours later for domestic flights, or more than four hours later for international flights. The proposed rule would quickly increase these limits to $650 and $1,300, respectively, and thereafter adjust the amounts for inflation every two years.

The department also proposed a number of measures to make it easier for consumers to know how much they will have to pay for air transportation. Carriers would be required to provide special notice any time baggage fees are increased, and to notify passengers buying tickets whether they must pay to check up to two bags. It also asked for comment on several alternatives under consideration to provide greater access to air transportation to persons with severe peanut allergies.

To support President Obama’s open government initiative, the department has partnered with the Cornell eRulemaking Initiative in a pilot project, Regulation Room, designed to improve the public’s ability to understand and participate in this rulemaking through a web-based discussion format. Information on the Regulation Room can be found at www.regulationroom.org. ...

Comments on the proposal are due in 60 days. The text of the proposed rule and comments are available on the Internet at www.regulations.gov, docket DOT-OST-2010-0140.


***

Here's the DOT summary of the changes.

Here is the Airports Council International North America reaction in support of the new DOT proposal.

And here's a statement from James C. May, the head of the the airline trade group, the Air Transport Association, which says it is evaluating the new proposed rules:

The Air Transport Association of America (ATA), the trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, today issued the following statement regarding the passenger-protection notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) issued by the Department of Transportation:

"The ATA member airlines’ shared goal is to provide a safe, efficient, reliable and economically viable air transportation system consistent with the expectations of their customers, employees and shareholders. Today’s DOT notice of proposed rulemaking will be evaluated against that standard, with a focus on minimizing potential passenger inconvenience," said ATA President and CEO James C. May.



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Airlines Keep Cramming Us In As Summer Looms

Airline domestic load factors -- the percentage of seats filled with paying customers -- continue to rise as travel demand rebounds while the industry cuts supply.

Continental, always the first to report its monthly operational performance, says that domestic load factors were 85.4 percent in May, while the number of available domestic seats fell 2.2 percent compared with last May.

All year, airlines have been filling about 85 percent of available domestic seats, which means that on most flights, there isn't a single empty seat. The airlines are absolutely determined to enforce what they call "capacity discipline," which means cutting seats and routes in order to keep the planes full at higher fares.

As I have been reporting for months, summer travel is going to be tough. You can't really fit many more people into the system. Planes are already full, fares are up, schedules have been cut and, as I reported, airlines are planning to preemptively cancel flights if the weather looks bad. As I said, that's to avoid the draconian Transportation Department fines (up to $27,500 per passenger) that can be levied if a plane sits on a tarmac for three or more hours waiting for weather to clear.

Any business traveler following bad advice I've been seeing around lately to book flights far in advance is probably making a mistake, by the way. If you change your plans, you're going to get socked with a $150 penalty, and you making new arrangements won't be easy. My advice: Pick your shots among airlines, wait and angle for short-term fare deals (hey, it could happen here and there), and forget about elite-status miles. The mileage programs, including the elite-status components, are a house of cards teetering on the edge of collapse.

Or drive when you can. Or stay home, which is what I plan to do as much as possible this summer.

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Union at British Airways Threatens Further Disruptions

A dispute over travel perks -- that is, the traditional free airplane rides for employees -- could mean continuous disruption at British Airways this summer, the union for striking B.A. flight attendants said. Here's a link.

At many airlines, including B.A., the reduction in availability of free travel has created serious morale problems for staff. At some airlines, they call the desk where flight attendants and pilots apply for free travel "the wailing wall."

British Airways flight attendants started their second five-day strike yesterday. Others are planned.

Unaccountably, British Airways has failed to update its online customer-service information on the situation for five days. What, nobody working today?

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Another Strike Starts by Cabin Crews at British Airways

Two days after an earlier five-day strike ended, British Airways flight attendants began a second strike today. The union, Unite, said it would last for five days.

Here's a British Airways "update" on the situation which, unaccountably, is three days old.
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Weather Forecast, Tucson

[Above: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer takes a well-deserved rest to catch up on her rays. Oh, wait, that not Brewer, that's actually Magda from "There's Something About Mary."]

Today
Sunny. Highs 97 to 102. South wind 5 to 15 mph becoming west 15 to 20 mph this afternoon.

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Ed Murrow Speaks From the Grave...

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British Airways Flight Attendants Are On Strike

The on-again, off-again strike by British Airways flight attendants is on today, after the union action was upheld by a court ruling.

Here's an update by the Guardian newspaper.

Here's the British Airways customer-service announcement on the action.

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Jamaica Travel Heads-Up: Street Violence in Kingston

Anyone considering traveling to Jamaica really needs to listen up: There is trouble in the capital, Kingston. The violence is perpetrated by thugs supporting a popular gangster wanted by the police -- and by the Americans.

The Jamaican government today posted a state of emergency for some parts of Kingston.

And here's the New York Times update. The Times blog is reporting that the gangster. Christopher "Dudus" Coke, is barricaded in west Kingston.

There's gunfire in some streets, and several police stations in the capital have been attacked by roving bands of thugs.

There may be some element of anti-Americanism involved, since the gangster is wanted in the U.S., but that's just my speculation. The situation evidently has been deteriorating since the State Department issued an alert yesterday.

The wanted criminal in question is a charismatic Jamaican drug figure known locally as Christopher "Dudus" Coke. An article today in the Jamaica newspaper "the Gleaner" has some information on this foul character (once you get past the windy lead-in paragraphs).

The American media have not had this situation on the radar, so there's little context. My hunch: There are genuine anti-American aspects of this violence. The airlines, hotels and cruise companies have not yet caught on to the implications, and when they do, they'll be slow to react.

Americans should be very careful about travel to Jamaica.

The State Department alert says in part:

"The Department of State alerts U.S. citizens about developing security concerns in Jamaica, particularly the Kingston area. The possibility exists for violence and/or civil unrest in the greater Kingston metropolitan area. There are unconfirmed reports of criminal gang members amassing in the Kingston area, as well as mobilization of Jamaican defense forces. If the situation ignites, there is a possibility of severe disruptions of movement within Kingston, including blocking of access roads to the Norman Manley International Airport. The possibility exists that unrest could spread beyond the general Kingston area. U.S. Embassy Kingston is taking extra security precautions. This Travel Alert expires on June 21, 2010.

U.S citizens should consider the risks associated with travel to and within the greater Kingston metropolitan area. U.S. citizens are urged always to practice good security, maintain a heightened situational awareness and a low profile. U.S. citizens in Jamaica are advised to monitor local news reports and consider the level of security present when venturing outside their residence or hotel."

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American Airlines Flight Attendants Authorize Strike

American Airlines flight attendants have overwhelmingly authorized a strike. The strike vote count was announced to members today and, I am told by flight attendants, it was 96.8 percent yes.

More than 90 percent of American's over 18,000 flight attendants voted. The union is the Association of Professional Flight Attendants.

Stay tuned on this one.

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160 Dead in Crash of Air India Express 737

At least 160 people died when an Air India Express 737-800 overshot the runway in Mangalore in southern India. The plane was arriving from Dubai.

Air India Express is a budget airline that flies a fleet of 24 737-800s.

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TSA a Bloated 'Bureaucratic Nightmare,' Says GOP Congressman Mica, Calling for "Immediate Reorganization" of the Agency

In advance of a new federal report today on the failures of the Transportation Security Administration’s vaunted "behavior detection," U.S. Rep. John L. Mica (R-FL) called for a reorganization of the TSA, which he called a "bloated, ineffective bureaucracy."

Mica also says that the TSA is top-heavy with highly paid supervisors. AT TSA headquarters, he says, over 30 percent of employees are supervisors, with an average salary of over $105,000.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed the TSA’s behavior-detection program, known as SPOT ("Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques"), at Mica’s request. The public version of the report (GAO-10-763) is expected to be released later today.

[I'll post the link when it's available]


Says Mica, the ranking minority member on the House transportation committee, "GAO’s report confirms that TSA has bungled the development and deployment of a potentially important layer of aviation security. Other countries, such as Israel, successfully employ behavior-detection techniques at their airports, but the bloated, ineffective bureaucracy of TSA has produced another security failure for U.S. transportation systems.

"I have written to Secretary Napolitano to express the need for the immediate reevaluation and reorganization of the TSA, an agency teetering on the verge of disaster," he said, referring to a letter sent today to Napolitano.

The TSA, as I have noted repeatedly, has been without a permanent director for 16 months, and is still being run by the same Bush-era appointees and hires who have presided over its myriad operational and security failures and out-of-control budgets since the agency was started in 2003.

Mica's statement continues:

According to the GAO report, TSA spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually on the SPOT program. TSA began pilot tests of SPOT in 2003, and began to significantly increase deployment of Behavior Detection Officers (BDOs) in March 2007. Approximately 3,000 BDOs are now deployed to over 100 of 457 TSA-regulated U.S. airports.

However, according to the GAO, TSA never scientifically validated the list of behaviors underpinning the program, never determined whether the techniques could be applied for counter-terrorism or in an airport environment, and never conducted a cost-benefit analysis.

The program has also failed to identify known terrorists that have traveled through SPOT airports. Since the program’s inception, 17 known terrorists have traveled through eight SPOT airports on 23 different occasions. This includes Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square Bomber.

The GAO reports that between May 2004 and August 2008:

-- 2 billion passengers went through SPOT airports
-- 150,000 were selected for secondary screening
-- 14,000 were referred to law enforcement
-- 1,100 were arrested
-- 0 were arrested for terrorism.

Mica had urged the development of a behavior detection program, based on the highly successful Israeli model utilized by EL Al Airlines.

Unfortunately, the TSA’s SPOT Program is not like the Israeli behavior detection model. Unlike the Israeli program, SPOT is conducted from a distance, with no personal interaction between the passenger and the TSA employee performing the SPOT screening unless the passenger is identified for secondary screening,” Mica said. “El Al also trains all their staff in behavior detection techniques, not just the screening staff working the passenger checkpoints.

Earlier airport screening penetration tests have repeatedly demonstrated the TSA’s failure to detect threats. I sought a robust behavior detection program to address those failures. Unfortunately, penetration testing continues to show that even with new screening technology and the SPOT Program, the aviation screening system is not working.

TSA is a bureaucratic nightmare, with over 60,000 employees and top heavy with supervisory and administrative staff. At TSA headquarters, where 30 percent of employees are supervisors, the average salary is over $105,000. Thirteen percent of field employees are supervisors. This is a massive bureaucracy that cannot effectively ensure the safety of U.S. transportation systems, and something must be done to improve the agency’s performance." [End of Mica statement]


[MY COMMENT} And oh, while Mica is excoriating the TSA, maybe he might consider leaning on his own party, which blocked two of President Obama's nominees to head the agency on ideological grounds (one for not being sufficiently anti-union), to get out of the way and let the president appoint someone to get this "bloated bureaucracy" under control -- and start fixing the chronic security failures.

###
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TSA Screener Accused of Stealing Cash From Woman in Wheelchair

A TSA agent has been arrested and arraigned on a federal charge of stealing more than $400 from a wheelchair-using passenger as she passed through a security checkpoint at the Newark airport, according to this report by WNBC-TV in New York City.

According to the criminal charge, Leroy Ray lifted cash from the woman's carry-on bag after she had placed it on the X-ray machine belt at the checkpoint. Ray was caught on surveillance video, the complaint said. The incident occurred on Feb. 3.

Here's a much more detailed report on the incident, in a somewhat windy article in the Newark Star-Ledger newspaper. Warning: You have to wade through a baloney journalistic sermon about the "social compact," etc., before you get to the actual news.

This is the latest theft scandal for the TSA, which always points out that nearly 2 million people a day pass through TSA checkpoints, and only a very tiny percentage of them are actually robbed.

And so on.

But let me add one more concern to the growing number of concerns about a security agency that has been troubled for many years, and without a permanent director for 16 months.

Once those whole-body imagers are all in place, you know, the ones the TSA hates it when someone calls them "strip-search machines," passengers will need to put all of their personal possessions onto the belt. Wallets, which we now carry in our pockets through the old-tech magnetometers, are not be allowed on one's person in the whole-body image scanners. Everything goes onto the belt.

Where it's available to the teeny, tiny percentage of TSA agents who might be thieves.

On its Web site, the TSA has a Q&A section in which a TSA person who goes by the name "Blogger Bob" addresses the query of whether one must "divest" onself of a wallet before entering the whole-body imager (WBI) machine -- which the TSA has lately begun calling "advanced imaging technology." The reason for the new name, I am informed, is that consultants suggested that "whole-body imager" had a bad connotation with the public, which is wary of strip-searching of their whole bodies.

Once divested, the wallet then goes on the belt along with your carry-on and shoes and other stuff.

Says Blogger Bob:

"Your wallet must be divested prior to WBI screening so we can screen its contents via the X-ray.

We also need to be able to determine you have nothing on your person while being screened in the WBI.

If you choose to keep your wallet on your person, you will be referred for additional screening and your wallet will receive a physical inspection. The additional screening is not a threat or a punishment for not divesting, it's just security protocol.

It's always a good idea to place your wallet in one of your bags or a coat pocket. It reduces the chances of it being separated from your belongings. Also, you can request to have your property stay in your view."




###

Airlines to European Airspace Regulators: Get Your Ash in Gear

As noted here the other day, the volcanic ash problem from that volcano in Iceland that nobody can pronounce and whose indecipherable spelling I am tired of looking up, the problem is not going away any time soon. We may be looking at a year or more of on-again, off-again volcanic ash-cloud drifts disrupting air traffic.

Yesterday alone, another 1,000 flights were canceled. Dealing with volcanic ash may well be the "new normal" in travel to and from western Europe.

Well now. The airlines are finally speaking with a unified voice, following incremental complaints by airlines such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.

The International Air Transport Association issued a statement today calling for European regulators to get their act together on this matter.

"This problem is not going away any time soon," it says. "The current European-wide system to decide on airspace closures is not working. We welcome the operational refinements made by the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) in their theoretical model but we are still basically relying on one-dimensional information to make decisions on a four-dimensional problem."

The statement quotes the IATA director, Giovanni Bisignani: "The result is the unnecessary closure of airspace. Safety is always our number-one priority. But we must make decisions based on facts, not on uncorroborated theoretical models."

For those who want to see the full text, rather than some truncated paraphrase, here is the remainder of the statement from IATA:

***

Bisignani noted some successful exceptions which provide examples to follow. “France has been able to safely keep its airspace open by enhancing the VAAC data with operational expertise to more precisely determine safe fly zones. Today, the UK Civil Aviation, working with the UK NATS (the air navigation service provider), announced another step forward by working with airlines and manufacturers to more accurately define tolerance levels while taking into account special operational procedures. Both are examples for other European governments to follow,” said Bisignani.

Bisignani called for (1) more robust data collection and analysis (2) a change in the decision making process and (3) urgency in addressing the issues.

"Numbers show that the current system is flawed. Over 200,000 flights have operated in European airspace identified by the VAAC as having the potential presence of ash. Not one aircraft has reported significant ash presence and this is verified by post-flight aircraft and engine inspections. We must back the theory with facts gathered by aircraft to test ash concentration. France and the UK are showing that this is possible. If European civil aviation does not have the resources, it should look to borrow the test aircraft from other countries or military sources," said Bisignani [who added]:

"We have lost confidence in the ability of Europe’s governments to make effective and consistent decisions. Using the same data, different countries have come to different conclusions on opening or closing airspace.

“Ultimately the industry needs a decision-making process for ash clouds similar to the one used for all other operational disruptions. Every day airlines make decisions whether to fly or not to fly in various weather conditions. Airlines collate the information available and make informed decisions placing safety first and with full access to all the latest weather reporting. Why should volcanic ash be any different?

"In the U.S., which has a lot of experience with volcanic activity, the government identifies a no-fly zone where ash concentration is the highest. For all other areas, it is the responsibility of the airline to decide to fly or not based on the various data sources available. “The U.S. has well-established, safe and effective procedures for tracking the hazards of volcanic ash. In recent years, the industry had no recorded safety incidents from volcanic activity in US airspace. Europe has a lot to learn.

"Volcanic ash is a new challenge for European aviation. We can understand that systems need to be developed to cope. But what is absolutely inexcusable is the failure of Europe’s governments to act urgently and collectively to provide real leadership in a crisis. We have vast amounts of data from over 200,000 safe flights ready for analysis to support an urgent review of the current processes. The UK is finally moving in the right direction. But what about the other affected European governments? The next transport ministers meeting is scheduled for June 24. What kind of leadership waits more than a month to make crisis decisions? European businesses are dependent on air travel and passengers certainly cannot wait that long for initiatives like the UK’s to be implemented continent-wide."

Bisignani said he is traveling to Montreal for urgent meetings with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). "IATA and ICAO have been working intensely on this issue since the crisis first struck in April. IATA is strongly supporting the ICAO task force which is reviewing ash tolerance thresholds with operators and manufacturers. The responsibility of manufacturers is critical in providing performance information to back decisions," he said.

Tomorrow Bisignani will meet Roberto Kobeh-Gonzales, President of the ICAO Council and Raymond Benjamin, ICAO Secretary-General.

###

British Airways Strike Blocked by Court

A strike that was to have begun Tuesday at British Airways was blocked today by a British court, which ruled against the flight attendants union planning the action.

The court objected to technicalities in the strike vote, which set a series of four five-day strikes starting this week.

It is expected that the union will eventually take a new strike vote to overcome the court's objections, but there is no indication yet of when.

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Big Jump in Premium Air-Traffic As Business Travel Picks Up

The number of passengers flying in first-class or business-class seats rose 10.8 percent in March compared with March 2009, the International Air Transport Association reported today.

"In fact, the number of people traveling on premium seats was expanding at a very strong annualized rate of 25 percent in the first quarter," said IATA, the trade group for world airlines.

That's more than two times the growth rate for coach-class travel.

Of course, those comparisons are to a very poor year in 2009. Premium travel is still about 15 percent below pre-recession levels, IATA said.

Still, the acceleration in demand is exceeding forecasts.

Growth in all segments is being driven by a rebound in business travel. "As business confidence and world trade have turned up sharply, business travelers have returned," IATA said.

But they aren't paying the kinds of premium fares they used to pay. It's apparent to me that this "new normal" we keep hearing about includes a structural change in premium-class fares, which I think are going to settle in at about an average of 30 percent or more below levels of three years ago.

Airlines, like hotels, have simply lost pricing-power ground at the top levels.

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Heathrow, Other Big UK Airports Reopen

Heathrow, Gatwick and other airports in Britain reopened at 7 a.m. London time after being closed all night by volcanic ash in the skies.

Here's the current update from the British air traffic control system company NATS.

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Much of UK Airspace Closes Again, Including Heathrow and Gatwick; Another BA Strike Looms This Week

[UPDATE 4.25 pm PDT: Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports are closing at 1 a.m. local time on Monday, and will remain shut at least till 7 a.m. Stansted and Luton remained open. Manchester and Birmingham reopened. Schiphol Amsterdam is closed till at least 2 p.m. Monday.]

The latest no-fly zone created by volcanic ash from Iceland was extended from Northern Ireland to the west coast of England and into Scotland today. According to the London Times today, airports in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds Bradford, East Midlands and Glasgow-Prestwick "have all been forced to close." [UPDATE: As noted above, Manchester later reopened while Heathrow, Gatwick and London City closed].

These new developments come as British Airways faces a five-day strike this week by flight attendants, who have said they will be off the job starting Tuesday. The strike action plans for four separate increments of five-day-long strikes starting Tuesday.

Here's the British Airways customer notice on the expected strike disruptions.

As to the new airspace closings, Richard Branson, for one, is hopping mad at what he sees as another overreaction by the privatized companies that operate British airspace and national weather services. Branson, the Virgin Atlantic president and founder, said that closing Manchester was "beyond a joke," and that there was no evidence that aircraft could not continue to fly safely, according to British news reports.

Who knows? But have a look at the current NATS bulletin to see how private corporations can blithely obfuscate information that the public needs. I thought these people spoke English.

###

As Britain Weighs More Airspace Closings, Are Volcanic Ash Disruptions in Skies of Europe the 'New Normal'?

Heads-up for anyone bound to or from Britain in the next few days.

The British government says that UK airspace may be subject to more closings starting tomorrow, thanks to the ash cloud from continuing volcanic eruption in Iceland.

Flights at both Heathrow and Gatwick airports would be affected, possibly through Tuesday, says the Department of Transport.

However, according to this report in the London Times, the agency says that the situation is "fluid" and forecasts could change.

[UPDATE: Here's a better story in today's Telegraph, WHICH REPORTS:

"The prediction of closures from Sunday until Tuesday morning is based on continuing volcanic activity in Iceland and prevailing weather conditions.

The Department of Transport said: `Within this time frame, different parts of UK airspace – including airspace in the South East – are likely to be closed at different times.'"]

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Lonely Planet

The big story in travel is that it's picking up robustly. Finally.

The rebound follows some grim times -- as this photo of top travel editors gathered for a lunch at the Plaza Hotel in New York earlier this year inadvertently underscored.

The photo appears in Travel Weekly, the very lively weekly trade publication for travel agents. Travel Weekly had invited leading editors in the travel-media biz to a roundtable lunch to discuss the state of the industry, including "emerging trends, destinations and global travelers."

Thank God the emerging trends are looking better since that event -- and hopefully for the Plaza as well.

At the roundtable, according to this article in Travel Weekly last month, were "the chief editors of Afar, Budget Travel, Conde Nast Traveler, National Geographic Traveler and Travel + Leisure and the travel editor of USA Today," who all "convened in New York earlier this year for the fifth annual Travel Weekly Consumer Travel Editors Roundtable."

Added Travel Weekly, "The event was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Plaza Hotel, which recently completed a three-year, $450 million restoration. Lunch was provided by Plaza partner CPS Events' Liz Neumark."

OK then. Onward and upward!

###

Hotel Industry Recovery Continuing With Luxury Hotels Leading the Way

[Above: Revenue per available room for the week ended May 8, pct. increase over corresponding week in 2009. Chart by Smith Travel Research]

As business travel picks up, U.S. hotels are starting to recover from the worst slump in hotel industry history.

For the week ended May 8, the overall domestic hotel industry reported a 5.6 percent gain, compared with the corresponding week in 2009, in revenue per available room. RevPAR is the standard measurement of a hotel's operating performance.

The data are from Smith Travel Research.

As has been the case for over a month, the luxury hotel segment far outperformed the rest of the industry, as travelers are feeling a little less anxious about high-end spending.

Luxury hotels reported a 14.6 percent increase in RevPAR for the week and an 11.8 percent increase in occupancy. (Overall, the hotel industry reported a 5.6 percent increase in occupancy).

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Anchors Aweigh and the Goatf*** in the Gulf

Hey, no disrespect to the United States Coast Guard, which does a heckuva job patrolling for drunks in speedboats and rescuing those in peril on the ... um, still waters.

But somebody please tell me, as I am watching grandly uniformed Coast Guard officers testify about the Goatf*** in the Gulf: What are all those splendid ribbons on their chests for?

I mean, the Coast Guard is a branch of the Homeland Security Department, not a military outfit per se. So are these combat ribbons? Are they merit badges for rope-tying and seamanship? I really want to know.

It probably wouldn't have occurred to me to be so rude as to pose the question -- if these grandees didn't have so many ribbons festooned across their chests. I mean, the last time I saw the genuine war hero General Petraeus on the TV I counted eight rows of ribbons on his chest, many of them representing medals for valor in mortal combat.

Shown above: Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry, who was all over the TV in the initial stages of the Goatf*** in the Gulf, seems to have six rows of ribbons. Coast Guard Capt. Verne Gifford (above, left), who has been all over the TV lately, seems to be sporting seven.

Just askin' ... As I say, no disrespect to the Coast Guard, but maybe they should consider toning down the comic-opera regalia till this catastrophe settles down.

OK, I spent four years in the Navy, so I do get to repeat the joke:

Why do Coast Guard officers all have to be over six feet tall? So they can walk to shore if their boat sinks, of course.

I kid, I kid.

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Airline Crash in Libya Kills 103

An Afriqiyah Airways A330-200 crashed in Libya, killing 103 on board during landing at Tripoli. A 10 year old boy survived.

Here is the Wikipedia entry on Afriqiyah Airways, which is based in Libya.

Here is the Afriqiyah Airways notice on the crash.

This is the second fatal crash of an Airbus A330-200 within a year. Last June, an Air France A330 bound from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed in the Atlantic, killing 228.

It's great that a child survived today's crash -- but news accounts that focus on the "miracle" of the survivor (how I hate that word, having once survived an air crash that killed 154) and not on the central catastrophe represent the continuing trivialization of journalism that has been wrought by cable news, it seems to me.

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Report: Antitrust Issues Small in United-Continental Merger, But Potential Market Domination at 17 Airports, Many in California, Needs Attention

A report from Cambridge Aviation Research today has some interesting analysis on the consumer and antitrust effects on the proposed United-Continental merger. Here's a summary of the report.

"With relatively little overlap in their route structures, the proposed merger of United and Continental raises red flags at only 17 domestic airports," says Jeffrey Breen, president of Cambridge Aviation Research and primary author of the report.

Last month, Cambridge said, a study of a then-proposed merger of United and US Airways identified 26 red-flagged airports.

In the proposed United-Continental combination, the 17 airports red-flagged as at risk for increases in market concentration that exceed federal antitrust guidelines are (from most-affected to least): the hilariously named Newark Liberty International Airport; San Francisco; Vail; the preposterously named Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport; Los Angeles International; Yampa Valley Colorado; New Orleans; Cleveland; Denver; Chicago O'Hare; San Diego; Orange County; Honolulu; Ontario California; Las Vegas; Tampa; Sacramento.

More than a third of the red-flagged airports are in California, and management of the airlines should "address these markets proactively and publicly," Breen says.

###

Mishandled Bags By the Numbers

Some reporters make a big deal out of two airline operations metrics that really are not that big a deal, mishandled bags and, especially, overbookings. It's another symptom of innumeracy in journalism when anyone gets breathless about these numbers in general, though it is useful to compare individual airlines and note that the worst performers are always regional airlines.

For the record:

In March, according to Bureau of Transportation Statistics data released today:

--Airlines "mishandled" (that is, lost, damaged or temporarily misplaced) 3.7 checked bags per 1,000 bags checked. That's an improvement over the 4.23 rate in March of 2009.

--The five worst performers on bag-handling were Atlantic Southeast (8 per 1,000, versus 10.34 in March of 09); American Eagle (7.25), Pinnacle (6.21), Skywest (4.95) and Comair (4.62).

--In the first quarter of 2010, airlines overbooked, that is, bumped, at the rate of 1.73 per 10,000 passengers. Doing the math, that amounts to the sum of teenie-tiny. But watch some dope make a big deal out of it.

###

Thinking Airline Future? Think Alliances, Not Mergers

I'm a sucker for Mike Boyd's grouchy but always incisive weekly commentary at the Web site of his airline forecasting company, Boyd Group International.


Today, Boyd points out something that pilots and even travelers are seeing more of. Airlines branded by international alliance, rather than airline company. If you've looked out an airplane window and seen a widebody on the apron with livery that says oneworld, rather than an actual airline name, that's what I'm talking about.

From the Boyd commentary today:

"It seems every law firm and one-man consulting shop in America is now confidently pontificating on the outcomes of the Continental/United merger.

The combined entity will cut capacity by 5%. Or was it 8%? Or was it none? The merged carriers have too many hubs. Or, not enough. We only need three US airlines, is the new mantra. Low cost carriers will find a bonanza in the routes that the new merged airline will drop. Regional airlines - a term defined differently by various sources, sometimes dumping SkyWest and Southwest in the same category - will see a resurgence. Or, maybe a financial Waterloo. Or, they're all headed for the 'loo. Fares will go up. Or, was that down?

... For example, back in the day, [Boyd Group told Pittsburgh International Airport] that if US Airways pulled its hub, it would drop to under 40 nonstop destinations. Nonsense! was the response from the usual suspects. It'll never happen... other carriers will rush in to fill the gap. Today, it's about 36 nonstop destinations. And all those airlines that were supposed to rush in and replace the US Airways hub never arrived.

So in regard to mergers, here's a bit of heresy: tomorrow's airline context will not be anywhere near what we have today. Fact: in the long run (roughly five to seven years out) it may not mean diddly if carrier A gets merged into carrier B.

More Anathema Thinking: Ignore the Peanut Gallery mantras. US Airways, for example, isn't "left at the altar." American isn't the Ugly Betty of the industry, replete with corporate zits and unable to get a date. They don't need partners, because they may be filling a very different market role from that of today. As for the latest merger, it could ultimately be consumer-neutral - whether the combined new entity is named "United" or "Continental" or "Air Fred" may not make any difference.

One word, Benjamin: Alliances. Read the AA/BA/IB Joint Business Agreement (or at least skim it - it's lethally boring). What comes out are buzz-terms like "metal neutrality" and "brand indifference" - all of which indicates that individual airline brand will increasingly be subordinated to the global alliance system identity. It may well gravitate to the point where AA, UA, US, et al are lift providers to their respective global (note: not US) alliances.

This is part of a global airline trend - in ten years, it may not make much difference whether it's UA or AA flying the airplane - it will be competition between Star, oneworld, or SkyTeam. So, if UA and CO combine, all it ultimately may mean is that there is one less corporate lift provider to the Star Alliance. In today's context, it would be like a merger between Pinnacle and Mesaba. The corporation would change, but to the consumer, they'd still be booking on Delta. That's the future for independent international carriers - just on a global scale. Consumers book on Star, and the airplane might be operated by (depending on how the system develops) United, or US Airways, or for international travel, Lufthansa or China Eastern.

It's a global business world. And it's going to be connected by global alliance systems, not individual international airlines. So, for the long term, prognostications on how to deal with the UA/CO merger are the equivalent of planning arrival festivities for the Titanic. ..."

Thanks to Mike Boyd for looking beyond Wall Street baloney and the usual knee-jerking about mergers.

###

OAG Analysis of United-Continental Merger and Affect on Airports

OAG, in a report today on the proposed merger between United and Continental:

"The new United Airlines will be second to Delta in terms of worldwide seat departures, and third behind Delta and Southwest Airlines in domestic seats. American Airlines will move from second to third in U.S. and worldwide ASMs, and from third to fourth in total and domestic seats. 'Merger assessments usually focus on shares of the partners in a variety of differently-defined markets, ranging from a single airport pair, to dominance of one or more hubs to a set of traffic flows through hubs," said Sanford (Sandy) Rederer, Senior Consultant, OAG Aviation Consulting Services. "This information is of great interest to the communities whose air service will be impacted by the merger.'"

###

Trans-Atlantic Flights Canceled or Slowed by More Volcanic Ash

Here we go again?

Hundreds of trans-Atlantic flights are being delayed today for re-routing, and in many cases canceled, after a cloud of volcanic ash flowed into the North Atlantic skies between Iceland and northern Spain.

Here's the initial report from NPR. It says in part: "Until Eyjafjallajokul, the volcano in southern Iceland, stops its emissions, the key to the future course of Europe's ash crisis will be the prevailing winds. The eruption of the glacier-capped volcano has shown no signs of stopping since it began belching ash April 13."

There had been predictions during the 6-day shutdown of air traffic in Europe by volcanic ash last month that sporadic disruptions might occur in the future as more volcanic eruptions and aftershocks occurred in Iceland.

Here's the AP report.

By the way, the beast is spelled with either two "l's" or one at the end. AP style is one L.

Otherwise, to quote the "Volcano Song" per Mr. Jimmy Buffett:

Now I don't know
I don't know
I don't know where I'm a gonna go
When the volcano blow



###

TSA Objection to Strip-Search-Scanner Photo

The TSA objects to the photo in my previous post (see below) purporting to show a young woman's body as seen in a whole body imager.

It is, evidently, a photo-shopped image, a fake. Here's the link to the TSA "myth-buster" post debunking that particular image.

However, the image shown above left, of an older woman, is genuine. It shows a female TSA research official in a test of one of the backscatter versions of the whole body imaging machines. Backscatter machines are one of two technologies used in whole body images. The other is millimeter-wave technology. Here is the TSA's explanation of the differences between the two.

The TSA maintains that images as detailed as the one shown above won't be routinely used during airport security operations. The agency says the above image, from several years ago when the technology was first being tested, is out of date. Software was later developed to enable the screener viewing the body images to blur or pixelate private body areas.

In Miami, where a fight among TSA officers followed training on the machines, a supervisor allegedly ridiculed a screener's allegedly small penis as it appeared on the image. Evidently the blurring or pixelating was not sufficient to obscure the area in dispute, whatever its size.

Via Thesmokinggun.com, here is the police report on the Miami incident.

Hey, you in the back row: Cut out that laughing!

Meanwhile, as security critics have pointed out, any smart terrorist, reassured that private body parts will be blurred in the image, probably figures it's a good idea to tuck contraband where the sun don't shine. So the blurring, image-pixelating rationale needs some work.

Incidentally, the TSA has also said repeatedly that the whole-body imagers cannot store images. In fact the machines can store images, as the TSA told me 18 months ago. It's just that they will be configured not to store them. This is, however, in dispute.


As to the Three Stooges-like incident in Miami, TSA spokeswoman Kristin Lee sent the following via e-mail:

"TSA has a zero tolerance policy for workplace violence. Per our normal
procedures, TSA is moving quickly to act on the security officer charged
with assault. At the same time, we are investigating to determine
whether other officers may have violated procedures during a training
session with coworkers and committed professional misconduct. The
training was internal and at no time was anyone from the traveling
public involved."

Incidentally, Michael Chertoff, the former head of the Homeland Security department, of which the TSA is a part, now runs a security company that has done consulting work for companies vying to sell whole-body image machines to the TSA. When he ran Homeland Security, Chertoff was a prominent advocate of using the machines.

The TSA has been operating without a permanent director in charge for 16 months.

###

More Fun & Games at the TSA

[UPDATE: See correction in post above about the image of the woman.]


Hey, not to worry about those strip-search machines the TSA is busily awarding contracts for. They can't be abused, the TSA insists. Also, they don't show "detail," the agency says, sticking its fingers in its ears and singing "la-la-la" about that official image above from a TSA body scanner.

So pay no attention to this smirky local TV report about an incident at the Miami airport where a TSA supervisor ridiculed a co-worker's genitalia during a training session on body scanners. A Three Stooges style incident ensued. Your tax dollars at work!

The TSA, of course, has been without a permanent director for 16 months and is still being run by the same people who have run it through all of the past embarrassments,

###

That No-Fly List and the Times Square Bomber

There's a lot of baloney being peddled today again about the "no fly list," which manifestly did not work when the flea-brained Times Square would-be bomber managed to get onto an airplane for Dubai the other day with the cops hot on his tail.

Again, it appears to me that the TSA, which has been operating without a permanent director for 16 months, has failed another major security test.

It's being dutifully reported that the TSA was not responsible here. Technically true. My question: Why not?

Yes, for international flights, the responsibility for enforcing the terrorist watch lists still rests with airlines, rather than with the TSA. Late last year, the TSA began taking responsibility for domestic enforcement of the lists from the airlines, in a move to reduce the number of infuriating false-positives on the so-called "selectee" portion of the lists.

Incidentally, reporters keep confusing the selectee portion of the lists with the no-fly portion. This is an egregious error.

The selectee list, the one that drives innocent people nuts, consists of hundreds of thousands of "identities" that correspond to about 30,000 actual people who are considered by various law-enforcement agencies to be worth having a second look at before they fly. The trouble with the selectee list is that airline enforcement cast a very wide net, and upstanding citizens whose names are even similar to someone on the list were routinely hassled at airports.

The TSA's new so-called Secure Flight program is supposed to be addressing that problem by taking the enforcement from the airlines to the TSA itself, and by requiring fliers to provide additional personal information on booking, allowing the TSA to more accurately check them off the selectee list.

The no-fly list is a whole other kettle of fish. If you're on it, you do not fly. Period. It is a deadly serious list. The Times Square would-be bomber, Faisal Shahzad, was placed on the no-fly list hours before he bought his ticket and boarded that plane.

TSA responsibility for enforcing the lists on international flights is scheduled to commence later this year. That includes the no-fly portion.

How come? How come after seven years and tens of billions of dollars spent by the TSA on security theater, on patting down infants, people in wheelchairs and -- I can personally attest -- parrots, some would-be terrorist whose name is on the no-fly list manages to 1. Buy a one-way ticket, for cash, for Pakistan from New York and 2. Get onto the airplane. His escape was averted only when the cops and FBI rushed onto the plane and hauled him off.

The New York Police Department did spectacular work, as usual, finding this bozo. The FBI did great work, too, although unaccountably the suspect slipped from surveillance for a couple of hours before turning back up on the radar.

The half-assed bomb he constructed failed to go off in Times Square. The perpetrator -- and this Faisal Shahzad looks to be a malcontent Islamist U.S. citizen who went looking for terrorist cred in Pakistan only after his American Dream went sour during the mortgage crisis in Connecticut -- is behind bars and singing like Sinatra. Nancy Sinatra.

But it ended without catastrophe.

That was no thanks to the TSA, which again drops the ball in a crisis.

Yes, the responsibility for red-flagging this nitwit was technically the airline's. The question is: Why? Where was the TSA?

And again, I need to point this out: The TSA has been operating without a permanent director for 16 months. The agency is still being run by Bush political appointees and Civil Service hires who have been on duty through every single TSA screw-up in the history of the agency.

###

Arresting the Times Square Would-Be Bomber

Great police work by the NPYD and FBI in nabbing the flea-brained would-be terrorist who planted the car bomb in Times Square Saturday night. While Drudge, Fox News, Pete King and other hysterics were near fainting from the terror-vapors, the cops did their job calmly and deliberately.

There was an interesting situation just before the guy was arrested on that Emirates flight to Dubai at JFK. The plane almost took off. See this, via Politico, via ABC News reporting on the ATC transmission on the very useful Web site LiveATC.net, which monitors live air-traffic control chatter.

On the other hand, let's not make too much of this being a "close call." Had the plane taken off, it certainly still would have been called back to Kennedy, and the pilots without question would have complied.

###

Phoenix Paper: 'Arizona, Our Time for Excuses Is Over.'

Sometimes a newspaper makes you proud. Today, the Arizona Republic, a conservative newspaper that's part of the Gannett chain, is a moment of journalistic greatness -- not just for this terrific article rebutting conventional wisdom on Arizona border-town safety, but for this thundering editorial holding elected officials' feet to the fire over immigration clownishness.

The editorial is actually today's front page, a special sheet wrapped around the traditional front page, which is shown to the right.

###

Travel Warning for New Delhi

The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi is warning that "there are increased indications that terrorists are planning imminent attacks in New Delhi."

Here is the alert. And I have no idea what a "warden message" means.

Could someone please instruct the State Department in India, where English has been spoken and written for over a century, to communicate in standard English?

###

Arizona Boyott

Nah, just kidding. Nogales, Az., International Airport always looks like this.

###

European Airports Ending Liquids Ban in 2013

While the TSA in the U.S. still drifts along, a year and quarter without a permanent director in charge, the European Union has found a way to lift the widely hated and frequently ridiculed ban on carrying liquids. It will occur in 2013, however.

From Speednews.com, via an EU announcement:

The European Union this week announced new measures intended to streamline and simplify the EU framework for aviation security. The new measures will update those policies which were first put into place in 2002 following 9/11, the first time the EU had adopted common rules on aviation. Previously each Member State had its own rules for aviation security.

"The revision is about better regulation – simplifying and improving procedures to make it easier for industry on a daily basis to implement safety controls, without any reduction in security," EU said in a press release.

The framework sets a deadline of April 29, 2013 for the lifting of current restrictions on the carriage of liquids in cabin baggage. New screening equipment for liquids must be used in all airports across Europe by that deadline.

As a preliminary step in phasing out the restrictions on liquids, beginning April 19, 2011 at the latest, duty-free liquids purchased at third country airports or on board third country airlines and carried in tamper evident bags will be allowed as cabin baggage and will be screened, the EU said. Currently these liquids are only allowed in cabin baggage if they come from selected third countries (United States, Canada, Singapore and Croatia).

It says the package will also open the door for negotiating "one-stop shop" security agreements with third countries. Those agreements could potentially reduce re-screening for transfer passengers.

"A lot has been learnt since the first EU-wide rules putting in place common aviation security standards were put in place after September 11," Commission Vice-President in charge of transport Siim Kallas said. "This is about building on the experience of recent years and streamlining procedures, so that on a daily basis security controls are easier for industry to implement. For passengers, the aim is also to simplify wherever possible the necessary security controls. In that sense this package takes a significant step forwards in signaling the beginning of the end for the current restrictions on liquids in cabin baggage, with a clear and final deadline of April 2013."

The new rules put in place a series of measures to improve, streamline and simplify existing procedures, by:

* Eliminating duplication of security controls. For example, reducing costly duplication of checks in strictly controlled areas of EU airports, where there has already been strict screening for access. This is of significant operational benefit for airlines and airports.
* Simplifying procedures. For example, by establishing a single set of standards for the documents you need to get access at airports. The new rules clarify which kinds of identification and authorizations are necessary for access to different restricted areas. This clarifies the situation for authorities making it easier for them to operate the system.
* Harmonizing procedures. For example, introducing EU-wide procedures for the recognition of hauliers transporting air cargo consignments. These can be recognized and used by hauliers in all Member States – this reduces restrictions for hauliers and the need for costly re-screening of cargo.
* Introducing common minimum standards as regards security training for all staff that implement security controls.


"The implementation of these security measures at EU airports will continue to be closely monitored through unannounced Commission inspections," the EU said in its press release. "Where necessary, the Commission will perform follow-up inspections or start infringement procedures against Member States in order to ensure the overall level of aviation security in the EU."

###

Oil Slick Forecast for Lousiana Coast

If it's not one thing it's another ...

Arizona's Stupid New Immigration Law: Read It For Yourself

[Photo -- Clueless in Phoenix, Appointed Gov. Jan Brewer signs Arizona Laughingstock Law]

I'm impelled to publish the full text of the ridiculous bill that the appointed governor of Arizona, resembling some poor dear wandering a casino looking for the nickel slots, signed into law yesterday.

The actual text is useful because reporters can't seem to explain this nonsense coherently. For example, I just read in a news account that the bill makes it a crime "to not carry immigration papers."

What the hell are "immigration papers" and why must you or I have them on our persons in Arizona -- or be arrested? Even in a stone stupid law, that makes no sense.

That's another consequence of one of the more disturbing trends in journalism today, the trend toward paraphrasing rather than quoting specific language. As Bill Moyers said, "Reporters are paid to explain things they don't understand."

Anyway, here is the text of the bill as signed into law. As any second-year law school student can see, it's full of laughably imprecise language and spurious provisions that won't stand up to legal challenge.

And I hasten to add that this ridiculousness -- vaulting Arizona to the top of the national state-laughingstock list (South Carolina and Mississippi say thanks!)-- is the work of the nativist cabal that controls Arizona from within the invincibly resentful white right-wing population mass in Phoenix.

Phoenix is Orange County circa 1964, but without an ocean. Tucson, on the other hand, is relatively progressive (if politically weak) -- a citadel of good Old West sense and diversity.

Some people are calling for a tourism boycott of Arizona. But I'm launching a new campaign here: "Tucson, the Anti-Phoenix."

###

Ugly Racial-Bigotry Charges At Ritz-Carlton in Florida

[Please see my comment at the bottom about newspapers giving free rides to bigots in comments attached to legitimate news stories online]

Just as higher-end travel is coming back and five-star hotels are reporting a small rebound, the swanky Ritz-Carlton hotel in Naples, Fla. has a sticky situation on its hands.

Alas, there's a lot of rushing to judgment online about this, compounded by the predictable onslaught of people shooting mouths off in comments before the facts are clear.

This much is clear:

A 15-year employee at the hotel -- a Haitian-born U.S. citizen -- has sued for emotional distress. He says he was blocked by supervisors at the hotel restaurant from serving a British couple who had specified in their instructions before arrival that they not be served by "people of color" or people with "foreign accents," according to a report first published in the Naples, Fla. News.

According to the Naples newspaper, the complaint states that a guest-profile entry in the hotel computer system, which is consulted by staff, said: "As per Mr. Staros, this couple is very, very prejudice(d) and do like like (sic) ppl of color or foreign accents."

The reference, by the way, is to Edward V. Staros, the top executive at the hotel and, ulp, a co-founder of the Ritz-Carlton chain in the U.S. during the 1980s. (Ritz-Carlton was bought by Marriott International in the 1990s).

Staros is one of the lions of the hotel industry and, frankly, I'm not buying any assertion that a person of his stature would have been so crude, let alone so dumb, as to promulgate a bigoted directive at the behest of some racist slobs from the UK.

Hotel people are the smartest and most cosmopolitan people in the travel industry; they were practicing diversity before it became something that corporations had to do -- it just doesn't add up to me that a guy like Staros would given any such guidance to staff. I repeat: It doesn't add up.

More likely, the low-ranking staffer who made the vile profile entry -- if the lawsuit complaint's citation is accurate -- was merely invoking the boss's name. That's the general assumption among hotel people I talked to today, by the way.

Furthermore, Staros himself also spoke with the British guests after the initial commotion and instructed them, speaking for the company, that they are no longer welcome at any Ritz-Carlton in the world, said Vivian Deuschl, the Ritz's highly respected spokeswoman.

Ritz-Carlton is a well-managed company that is intensely focused on staff training and has a solid record of international diversity. But the company needs to move decisively to deal with this and keelhaul those responsible, because this story has legs.

Here's the official statement from Ritz-Carlton:

"Ritz-Carlton is in the process of investigating the facts underlying the lawsuit. While we do not comment on ongoing litigation, we believe it is important to convey several points. We absolutely deny that Ritz-Carlton in any way condones discrimination by its guests against its employees or discrimination in any form.

"We value our guests and employees and their diversity in all respects. The guests in question stayed at the hotel in March 2010 and were barred from the hotel and other Ritz-Carlton Hotels shortly after their stay ended, as information about their conduct and comments came to light. We are in the process of reminding all of our employees of Ritz-Carlton’s strong non-discrimination policies."

***
And by the way, the editors at the Naples Daily News need to use better judgment in the kinds of comments they're allowing to be posted with their story on this incident. People have the right to say whatever they want, within the legal bounds of libel and slander. Anyone can start a blog or buttonhole their neighbors. But newspapers shouldn't give bigots and ignoramuses a free ride on the tails of a legitimate news story.

###

US Air: We're No Longer Talking to United About a Merger

US Airways says it no longer is talking to United Airlines about a possible merger.

In a letter to employees this morning, Doug Parker, the US Air CEO, said, "our Board of Directors has decided to discontinue those discussions ... those talks have not progressed to a merger agreement, and for the foreseeable future we intend to remain a standalone carrier."

Not long after the talks between United and US Air began last month, United also began talking with Continental Airlines about a merger. Those talks are continuing.

Parker, like other airline executives, strongly believes that the domestic airline industry needs to contract and consolidate to achieve better control over pricing. "As I have said many times, it is not necessary for us to be direct participants in a merger because the entire industry benefits when consolidation occurs," he said in his letter to employees today.

He added, "I am sure some 'industry experts' will suggest that US Airways will be strategically harmed if United now chooses to merge with Continental. They will be wrong. Thanks to all that we have done together over the past two years – capacity rationalization, a la carte revenue programs, cost control and our commitment to operating efficiently and reliably – we have a strong and viable standalone airline that is producing industry-leading results. Should our competitors choose to merge and help create a more stable airline industry, our independent airline will only become stronger."

###

Narco Gunmen Storm Holiday Inn in Monterrey, Mexico, Abduct Guests

Gunmen stormed two hotels in downtown Monterrey, Mexico, in the middle of the night and abducted 7 guests and workers in one of the boldest attacks yet against the staggered tourist economy in the border region of Mexico.

The hotels were the Holiday Inn Centro and the Mision Hotel.

Here's the New York Times report on the attack.

Monterrey, a major business center for both Mexican and American companies, is about 150 miles south of the Texas border. Border towns from Tijuana to Matamoros have been stunned by drug violence in the last two years, and tourism has been devastated.

Nearly all of the violence, which has accounted for about 20,000 murders in Mexico in two years, has been between drug gangs or drug gangs and police and military, though innocent bystanders have often been killed. This year, violence escalated sharply in Monterrey, but an attack on a major tourism/business hotel is very unusual.

###

Airlines Ready to Jack Up Fares With 'Fuel Surcharges' Again?

If it's not one thing it's another.

According to Rick Seaney at Farecompare.com, airlines may be poised to slap fuel surcharges on domestic ticket prices, something they haven't done since November 2008, when legacy airlines folded these surcharges into the base airfare as the price of oil dropped dramatically from record summer highs that year.

[Delta has already added fuel surcharges to many peak summer fares, and other carriers could follow.]

With oil prices rising over $80 a barrel, surcharges are beginning to make a comeback, according to Seaney. On Monday, he said, "Delta Air Lines filed a $20 roundtrip ($10 one-way) fuel surcharge on top of their lengthy list of peak travel day surcharges, on tens of thousands of mostly smaller city-pairs with no departure date restrictions."

For example, a one-way connecting Delta flight from San Francisco to Denver or Dallas (via Salt Lake City) on May 27 has both a peak travel surcharge of $30 and a fuel surcharge of $10 tacked onto the base airfare.

"A closer inspection of the cities with this new fuel surcharge shows that airfares to/from Delta's hub cities along many non-stop routes were spared this fuel surcharge hike -- placing most of the hike on smaller markets and larger non-hub cities," Seaney said, adding:

"Airlines have been struggling to get even the smallest systemwide domestic airfare hike to stick this year. Several attempts have failed in the last few months. In lieu of significant base airfare hikes, airlines have resorted to fewer sales, peak travel day surcharges, a bevy of non-ticket fees, and the release of fewer of the cheapest seats, all in order to increase revenue.

"This new fuel surcharge filing is effectively an airfare hike as miscellaneous (peak) and fuel surcharges are added to the base airfare prices before the 7.5 percent U.S. sales tax is added on. Note that as of this afternoon no other airlines have matched the fuel surcharge increase."

###

Corporate Travel Managers Assess Impact of Europe Shutdown

[Correction: ACTE is based in Alexandria, Va., not in the UK.]

Stranded travelers and canceled meetings were the two top effects cited by corporate travel managers in a new survey of the impact on business travelers of the volcanic ash crisis that shut down air travel in Europe.

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), in a survey of its international membership, says that 31 percent of respondents claimed their greatest challenges resulted from stranded travelers and canceled meetings (as an equal priority). Nineteen percent cited stranded travelers as their primary concern, while canceled meetings were a major issue for 11 percent. Twenty-two percent checked "all of the above,' including stranded travelers, canceled meetings, reduced sales calls, and increased expenses. A remaining 11 percent said they were not affected at all.

ACTE is based in the UK. The ACTE president-elect, Chris Crowley says he is currently stranded in the United States.


Asked if air-travel disruptions in Europe were to continue for months or even a year, 29 percent of respondents said they would rely on a strategic response combining rail travel, ground transportation and electronic travel alternatives -- including video and Web conferencing. Thirteen percent reported they have a program for electronic travel and meeting alternatives in place now. Thirty-nine percent indicated they had both a strategic response and a plan in place now, while 19 percent felt confident they would need neither.

###

Never Mind II: Now the Brits Are Reopening Air Space -- Tonight

In an abrupt twist, Britain plans to phase in an opening of its air space tonight at 10 p.m. London time, which would be shortly from when I am posting this around 1.30 p.m. Pacific time.

Let me note, there is some remarkable stuff in this statement from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which has come front and center amid growing criticism of two for-profit companies that have been largely setting the agenda in British response to the crisis, the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) and the Met Office. Both NATS and the Met Office have been criticized for allegedly overreacting to the situation starting last week.

An example of some remarkable stuff in the announcement: The news that aircraft manufacturers (whose specifications are sunk into the bedrock of aviation safety standards) have "increased tolerance levels" for flying near low-ash areas.

Anyway, here is the statement from the CAA, the UK’s aviation safety regulator, issued in conjunction with the Irish Aviation Authority.

"New guidance allows a phased reintroduction from 2200 tonight of much of the airspace which is currently closed due to the volcanic ash plume over the UK. There will continue to be some 'no fly zones' where concentrations of ash are at levels unsafe for flights to take place, but very much smaller than the present restrictions. Furthermore, the Met Office advise that the 'no fly zones' do not currently cover the UK.

... The CAA has drawn together many of the world’s top aviation engineers and experts to find a way to tackle this immense challenge ... Current international procedures recommend avoiding volcano ash at all times. In this case, owing to the magnitude of the ash cloud, its position over Europe and the static weather conditions, most of the EU airspace had to close and aircraft could not be physically routed around the problem area as there was no space to do so.

We had to ensure, in a situation without precedent, that decisions made were based on a thorough gathering of data and analysis by experts. This evidence-based approach helped to validate a new standard that is now being adopted across Europe.

The major barrier to resuming flight has been understanding tolerance levels of aircraft to ash. Manufacturers have now agreed increased tolerance levels in low ash density areas. [Italics mine]

Our way forward is based on international data and evidence from previous volcanic ash incidents, new data collected from test flights and additional analysis from manufacturers over the past few days. It is a conservative model allowing a significant buffer on top of the level the experts feel may pose a risk.

In addition, the CAA’s Revised Airspace Guidance requires airlines to:

--Conduct their own risk assessment and develop operational procedures to address any remaining risks;

--Put in place an intensive maintenance ash damage inspection before and after each flight; and

--Report any ash related incidents to a reporting scheme run by the CAA."

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Never Mind: UK Scraps Plan to Resume Flights As New Ash Cloud Looms

[UPDATE: British Airways canceled all long-haul flights departing from the UK today and all long-haul flights scheduled to arrive in the UK before noon tomorrow.]


Britain postponed a plan to open its air space more generally to flights as the Iceland volcano pumped more ash into the skies.

According to this report today in the Times of London, "Airports in the south of the UK will remain closed until at least 7 p.m. and British Airways abandoned plans to operate some short-haul flights. Glasgow and Belfast, which briefly reopened this morning, both shut by the afternoon."

This, alas, is going to be the situation for weeks, if not months, for air travelers in Europe if that Iceland volcano, Eyjafijallajokull, keeps erupting on and off, as has been its habit in previous major eruptions.

Worse, there's a bigger and more dangerous volcano just to the east of Eyjagfijallakull that has had an unfortunate tendency to erupt soon after its smaller neighbor does. Its name is Katla, which at least has the virtue of being easier to spell. Let's hope we don't have to spell that one too often, though.

[Hey, remember the good old days when the toughest foreign spelling journalists had to learn was Chiang Kai-shek?]

See my column in today's New York Times for a hint on how many business travelers, corporations and others stuck in the air-travel shutdown are finding alternatives using teleconferencing.

By the way, there is continuing controversy surrounding two private companies that have been setting the response-agenda in Britain - NATS, the privatized national air travel service, and the Met Office, which is in effect Britain's weather bureau. It's also a private company.

Both are under fire for using computer models to project ash-cloud patterns without supplementing the computer projections with real flight tests in the skies. NATS, for one, has been criticized for overreacting. The computer models used for the evaluations of the ash cloud are based on incomplete science and limited data, according to Matthias Ruete, the European Union's director-general for mobility and transport, quoted in the Financial Times newspaper yesterday.

In Britain, the Met Office, which defends NATS in this situation, is largely a province of meteorologists, rather than hard-core academic scientists.

Some weeks ago, a fascinating story in the New York Times described the conflict over global warming between meteorologists and climate scientists.

That story mentions a new study by George Mason University and the University of Texas showing TV meteorologists', let us say casual, attitudes toward climate science. Two-thirds of the TV weather people surveyed don't believe that global warming/climate change is caused by human activities.

Of course, most "meteorologists" (and being one requires merely a bachelor's degree, if that), are local television-news performers whose main focus is enhancing their own celebrity, with hand-puppets if ratings demand.

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Vegas: A Bad 2009, But Luck Is Changing

I've always liked Las Vegas. But, critics sniff, it's so over-the-top! Yeah, I reply, but it's over-the-top to an epic degree; it's the dang apotheosis of over-the-top.

Living in Arizona, I always recommend a visit to Vegas to foreign friends who haven't been there. They never regret it. Unlike Atlantic City, which is a grubby, mean-spirited burg, Las Vegas is full of life and sun and, yes, small-town cheer, even though it's a big city.

Anyway, Vegas has had a couple of bad years, with the economy sour and with other factors like a sharp decline in air service (Vegas is a cheap-fare market and airlines have pulled about 20 percent of capacity out of the destination).

The emotional public backlash against spending on corporate meetings and conventions -- Las Vegas and Orlando are the top cities for big conventions -- has also hurt. (What? Your company spent dough on sending people to Vegas? Eeeeek!)

Anyway, the very efficient Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau sent me the numbers for 2009. They look bad, but they also show a steady improvement all year, from truly dismal numbers in the earlier part of '09. Of course, the numbers on hotel rates are good news for visitors.

Some excerpts:

--Total visitor volume, down 3 percent.

--Airline passengers, down 8.2 percent.

--Hotel occupancy, down 4.5 percent

--Average daily hotel room rate, down 22 percent (to $92.93)

--Convention and meetings attendance, down 23.9 percent (to 4.5 million)

--Number of conventions and meetings, down 13.6 percent (to 19,394)

--Strip gambling revenue, down 9.4 percent

--Downtown gambling revenue, down 10.1 percent.

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