I regularly hate on fuel surcharges. They’re bogus fees that have nothing to do with the cost of fuel. A full transatlantic flight – or even one 3/4ths full – will generally cover more than the full cost of gas at current prices with the surcharges alone. And surcharges are ostensibly just meant to cover the increasing cost of fuel, not the total cost and certainly not to generate a profit. Who Should Care About Fuel Surcharges — and Who Shouldn’t The only people who should worry about fuel surcharges are corporate travel buyers and award passengers. The median passenger pays a price for their ticket that’s based on supply of available seats and demand for those seats, not based on cost. Fuel surcharges are being used as a mechanism to raise and lower prices…
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One Woman Who Deserves a Place in Aviation History and Another Who Attacked a Flight Attendant, Plus the Most Important Meal of the Day and Where I Really Want to Go
News and notes from around the interweb: I’ve always wanted to go here. I’m genuinely not sure why I haven’t (including when there was a $61 mistake fare..). How An Ohio Housewife Flew Around The World, Made History, And Was Then Forgotten Breakfast is the most important meal of the day… for hotels. (HT: Alan H.) For business destinations, access to quick breakfast, ideally that you can take back to your room so you can work while you get ready is ideal. For resorts, one GM that I much respect told me the first thing she does at a new property is work with the chef to plot out breakfast because it’s an indulgence people don’t get to enjoy in their daily lives. A passenger onboard a Delta flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles apparently…
US Airlines Should Shut Up About Having to Compete Against Gulf Carriers. Here’s Why.
US airlines have been making loud noises over how unfair it is that they have to compete with some Gulf airlines. They want the administration to take steps against Qatar, Emirates, and Etihad. For foreign policy reasons this is highly unlikely. But the noise – and the overheated rhetoric – have been loud enough that the argument has gotten attention. One Mile at a Time runs a piece titled, “Other Carriers Can’t Compete With Gulf Airlines Under The Current System” and concludes, Open Skies is intended to eliminate government intervention and “free” markets. And there’s no arguing that the Middle Eastern airlines aren’t operating within the spirit of the agreement. …But when every aspect of an operation is being run in order to generate a loss and increase market share for the purposes of developing…
Last Chance to Pay Bills With Gift Cards via Evolve Money
Evolve Money has been a site where you could pay bills online, at times using credit cards with no fee but certainly to liquidate gift cards with PIN numbers (purchased with a credit card, having earned you miles) and also with mileage-earning debit cards. Unfortunately the usefulness of the site seems as though it’s about to come to an end. They sent out the following message tonight: It’s unclear which debit cards are from ‘smaller’ banks. I don’t think my Suntrust Delta debit card counts as coming from a smaller bank. We’ll see if I still have the opportunity to earn 1 Delta mile per dollar paying bills through the site without a significant fee. But the usefulness of Evolve Money to liquidate gift cards will end. And of course you can no longer apply…
A New Business Class for Awards to Europe, 500 Free Miles, and Free Rental Car Insurance
News and notes from around the interweb: The first trip report for the new SAS business class. Always good to see real improvements, better uses for Star Alliance miles. Scott Mayerowitz reported on the CEO of Starwood’s resignation. He apparently wasn’t happy with his success rate using Suite Night Awards. 500 free airberlin miles Tricks to get free or discounted insurance for your next car rental (My short piece over at USA Today‘s travel site.) I didn’t even realize Delta still flew to Cincinnati. Ukraine International Airlines will offer a full refund for ticket purchases if you’re denied a visa.
When Your Airline CEO Adversary Commits Political Suicide, Just Stand Back and Let Him
Delta CEO Richard Anderson overplayed his hand attacking (a limited number of) Gulf airlines (that aren’t also their partners) in his quest to get the federal government to limit their flying to the US by trying to link them to 9/11. It’s on its face absurd to attack Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar in this way, while remaining silent about Skyteam partner Saudia. And surreal to attack the subsidies received by Middle Eastern carriers while at the same time seeking its own subsidies. So while the airline might have gotten some sympathy with the misleading claims about its shrinking market share to India and vicinity (a smaller piece of a larger pie, when they don’t themselves fly to the destinations they complain about), their own statements begin to turn that sympathy towards Middle Eastern carriers. That’s…
It’s Good to Be the King: the Special Travel Perks Enjoyed By the Political Class
When one story comes out, reporters go looking for more similar stories. So post-Bridgegate when there’s word of a federal investigation into United running a flight for the Chairman of the authority that oversees Newark airport to shuttle him to his vacation place for the weekend, and after United ran Atlantic City service as a quid pro quo for support of tax dollars for Newark airport transit projects, it should come as a surprise that there’s more to come out of the New York area airports. Port Authority commissioners got perks at New York area airports. This is perhaps as obvious and to be expected as Mel Brooks’ rejoinder, “it’s good to be the king.” Newly released records show four commissioners at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey were allowed to bypass…
US Airlines Want to Ban the Big Middle East Carriers, Because 9/11
US airlines have been out swinging against the major Middle Eastern airlines Emirates, Qatar, and Etihad — arguing that they are state subsidized and competing unfairly against US carriers, and asking the US to terminate Open Skies agreements that permit unfettered access to US markets. The end of open skies with the region wouldn’t much hurt US airlines, since they offer only limited service to the region. But it would hurt US travelers — precisely because US airlines offer only limited service to the region. And US airlines also don’t serve the secondary and smaller cities India and Pakistan these carriers serve, or for that matter Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. It’s true that the Middle Eastern carriers have grown. And they’ve thrown capacity in several US markets which pushed down fares, and to my…
American Changing How Elite Upgrade Priority Will Work
American will be eliminating ‘through passenger’ priority for upgrades. The date this change will take place is speculated to be March 11. American’s upgrade priority for domestic flights (which 18 months ago also became priority for international flights) has been: Elite status level Whether the passenger is connecting off another American flight Whether the passenger is full (Y or B) fare [and they haven’t already received a complimentary confirmed upgrade] Time of request There are several things unique about this process. Unlike United and Delta, elites on full fare ticket don’t have a pass to trump the status of other customers. So a full fare American Gold doesn’t receive higher upgrade priority than an Executive Platinum the way they would if flying Delta or United. (It prioritizes loyalty over the course of a year above…
Which Airlines Are the Worst to Deal With By Phone?
When American Express runs a transfer bonus for moving points to Aeromexico, and folks start paying attention to their award charts (which can be generous even without the bonus) I shrug. The last thing I want is Aeromexico points, since that means I’m going to have to deal with the fine folks at Aeromexico Club Premier. You can’t book partner awards online. That means talking to their call center. Thinking about what call centers are the worst, it’s actually tough because each airline with frustrating call centers is frustrating in different ways. They’re just tough to compare. Delta agents tend not to know who their partners are, and I’ve had them try to book awards into the wrong class. (I’ve also been told “Vietnam Airlines isn’t a member of Skyteam. Only Air France is a…
