Business Travel

Airbus’s jumbo A380 finally launched its maiden voyage, from Bangkok, Thailand, to Toulouse, France. The 555-passenger plane has received 166 orders from 15 airlines, so it is likely you may find yourself on one in the near future.

Currently, when I need to buy some plane tickets, I go to Expedia.com or Travelocity.com, and run several searches. This usually takes about a half an hour and usually finds a decent fare. Then my dad calls me the next day to tell me he found a lower fare, because he checks regularly for updated ticket prices, and most travel sites wait four or five hours before updating new fares. And my when I say my dad checks regularly for update ticket prices, I mean once every four or five hours, every day.

Now, I don’t know about you, but what I had in mind when I first started buying tickets online is that I would type in a destination and date, and I would be continually emailed with the latest fares from all major airlines to and from that place. No hassle, just sit back and let the magical internet do all the work.

Fortunately, FareCompare.com now does all the stuff I described above, receiving information about updated fares immediately, guaranteeing you the lowest fare and sending it to your Inbox. All you have to do is give a destination, date, and email address, and lean back. Finally.

In the article Lean Cuisine: European Airlines Cut Perks, the Wall Street Journal describes how European airlines are adopting many of the infuriating cost-cutting moves that American carriers have imposed on customers.

Last month, Scandinavian Airlines System started giving passengers in intercontinental economy just one free alcoholic drink, compared with the previous policy of unlimited booze. SAS began charging for food and drink in its intra-Europe economy class last year. Earlier this year, British Airways PLC stopped serving full meals on flights that occur during midmorning or midafternoon. (There are snacks and drinks instead.) Austrian Airlines AG began charging last year for meals on economy flights under 2½ hours (coffee, tea, water and a chocolate remain complimentary). Iberia SA, Spain’s airline, has taken free meals out of the economy cabin on all short- and medium-haul flights. Aer Lingus Group PLC of Ireland now charges for food and drink on flights within Europe — water, for instance, costs about $1.90. On the airline’s trans-Atlantic flights, all alcoholic beverages now cost money.

Airlines are increasingly charging for other services, too. Taking a page from Ryanair, SAS this year started charging for large baggage checked by passengers flying within Sweden; skis are 100 Swedish krona, or about $14, for example. British Airways this year raised its surcharge for travelers within the U.K. who pay with credit cards (it’s now £3, up from £2). Aer Lingus charges for newspapers on flights around Europe.

The major news today was a US judge OKing a $336 million dollar settlement in a class-action lawsuit against Visa and MasterCard for conspiring to overcharge customers on foreign transactions. Bank of America, Citigroup Inc., Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Washington Mutual Inc., and several of their affiliates were also implicated.

While this is very good news for overseas travelers, it also serves as a warning and reminder to be very careful when traveling to other countries, and pay close attention to costs, fines, and fees.

Oh, and also, the Democrats took the House and probably the Senate.

US Airways announced today that it will be voiding frequent flier miles for members of its Dividend Miles frequent-flier program if they do not fly on US Airways for eighteen months. The plan will go into effect January 31 and could represent a negative trend in the airline business of cutting down frequent flier programs. My advice to you: use up frequent flier miles as soon as you can. My father could have lost thousands of dollars in free flights in Delta had they gone bankrupt a few months ago.

On another note, today is election day. So I thought it would be a good idea to offer some links on how to find information about the candidates and how to avoid trouble at the polls. Have a nice day at the ballot box, and let’s all pray for a good, clean, honest, uncontested, election.

For those of you who want to hedge bets when traveling next year, forget about the old paper policies for travel insurance. E-air travel insurance is here.

This is not really surprising since I currently get my auto-insurance at esurance.com and haven’t spoken to an actual person and have no paper policies for that. For those of you who are attached to the old way of getting insurance, let me just say that it took me two hours to get insurance when I had to get a paper policy, and six minutes online.

Delta announced today that it is going to begin using Boeing’s 777-200LR aircraft as early as 2008. This is significant because Boeing’s 777-200LR aircraft has the abiility to go farther than any commercial planes currently in use. How far? From anywhere in the world to anywhere else in the world.

Delta plans on using the new Boeing’s to offer non-stop flights to destinations halfway across the world. The new planes also include six-foot three inch long seats that recline into twin-size beds, privacy screens, and aisle access to all seats. The new planes should be about as easy and comfortable to sleep in as most trains, and should make flying from the US to Europe and Asia much less stressful.

The luggage club recently relaunched its popular website, www.luggageclub.com, to make itself easier and more relaxing for business travelers to use. The luggage club’s main purpose is to help those who can afford to travel in style do away with the frustrations of lugging luggage, but it also has other helpful service you can check out at their website.

For those of you coming into to town for the Blog Business Summit this week, it might make flying in a little more relaxing. And for those of you who aren’t coming to the Blog Business Summit this week, I strongly recommend checking it out.

Apparently, Americans aren’t using up their vacation days, despite evidence that vacations increase job satisfaction. So, in order to encourage Americans to take some time off, Congressman Jon Porter (R-NV) has announced a House Resolution declaring October 23rd “National Plan Your Vacation” Day.

The new holiday falls on Expedia.com’s tenth anniversary. Roger Dow, president of the Travel Industry Association, applauded Expedia for leading the charge against vacation deprivation, as many travelers don’t take a vacation due to a lack of time for planning. The idea behind the holiday is to get people to take some time to plan a nice relaxing week of travel.

While I’m not a fan of companies getting to make their anniversaries into national holidays, I am in favor of taking more vacations.

AirTrans announced a two-day Business Class sale for all its destinations. The sales extends to all its flights until November 9, and ends tomorrow.

The world’s first permanent airport fear-of-flight help center was opened recently at the Buenos Aires airport in Argentina. The center offers scheduled meetings of one or two hours, or emergency walk-in sessions for those whose nerves are running high before flights.

Given the recent headlines involving terrorism and a major crash in South America, it is nice to have a place nearby that reminds you that riding in a plane is safer than riding in car. Something to remember when the plane jerks around.

Construction is set to begin in January in the Tom Bradley International Terminal as LAX begins its 576 million dollar overhaul, the largest contract ever awarded in the history of the city of Los Angeles.

The renovation, which is expected to be completed by March 2010, is expected to increase passenger flow in boarding and check-in areas, and increase comfort and safety. The renovation comes after LAX was ranked 13th out of 16th major airports.

The World Travel Awards were announced today, with American, Delta, and Visa all cashing in:

American Airlines was recognized for its top-notch First Class service as North America’s Leading Airline award.

Delta won honors as “North America’s Leading Business Class Airline”, thanks to its “exceptional service and distinctive amenities both in business class.”

Visa was honored as the “World’s Leading Credit Card” for the ninth consecutive year.

The US Department of Transportation announced this week that it is considering plans submitted recently by four major airlines to offer a new flight path from the US to China. There are currently only four direct flights offered from the United States to China: in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. The fifth route would likely be in the Central or Southwest part of the US, where China has become the top foreign trading partner to many states.

American Airlines gave its first public demonstration yesterday of its new and improved business-class seating in the lobby of Radio City Music Hall. The new seats recline to 77-inches, and come with removable 10.5 inch screens with headphone earpieces by Bose. American Airlines also plans to eventually offer lie-flat seating and swivel seats so you take a nap or can have a nice conservation with the person next to you.

JetBlue and American Express recently announced a new JetBlue Business Card, which, among other features, offers small business owners a 5% discount on all JetBlue flights. New card users will also be eligible for awards travel, and a 3% discount on JetBlue flights purchased with American Express purchases.

That’s right, Teresa can finally takel her hair gel, facial scrubs, and other various liquids and gels with her the next time she flies. As can you. Airports announced today that you can bring toiletries, lip gloss, and lotions in a clear plastic bag as long as they are 3-ounces or less and fit in a 1-quart plastic bag.

Additionally, you can take anything you buy at the airport shops with you on the plane. While this is only a partial lift on the liquids and gels ban, it nonetheless comes as good news to frequent fliers who want nice-looking hair, skin, and teeth.

Got some great coverage today in the NY Times article Blogs About Business Travel Begin to Feel the Power. Reporter Christopher Elliott did a nice job of describing how travel bloggers are starting to influence how businesses treat their customers. I tried hard to plug the Blog Business Summit (Oct. 25-27,) and stressed how the the experience Elliott described in the article inspired the creation of a conference (and book) to help businesses deal with bloggers, but those tidbits didn’t make the cut.

So I’m shamelessly doing it here.

In the face of new restrictions, increasing hassles, and potential terrorist threats, some people are now predicting a fundamental and permanent decrease in the number of business travelers.

Some also argue that the flattening of our world by digital media and fiber-optic cable makes it more likely that travel for business will grow increasingly irrelevant in the coming years.

What do you road warriors think? Is getting on a plane and talking to a client or coworker face to face worth the greater effort? Are there better alternatives?

The AirBus A380 took off yesterday with a full load of 474 passengers for the first time. The flight comes in the wake of management changes, costly delays, and a temporary hiring freeze.

The new superjumbo is designed to make traveling more efficient and decrease airport congestion. However, the tremendous wind currents given off by A380, called its wake, have caused the International Civil Aviation Organization to require a very large space allotted between itself and another planes, called a minimum exclusion zone. If the superjumbo flies to close to another plane, its turbulence may disrupt that plane. The ICIA has set larger minimum exclusion zone for the AirBus than Boeing’s 747 jumbos, and as a result the efficiency of the plane, one of its major selling points, may be jeopardized.