Airline Congressional Lobby Effort Backfires

The effort of Airlines For America, the powerful airline lobby group that has succeeded in circumventing DOT rules for fare disclosure appears to have backfired.
The intense lobby of this group with the congressional Transportation Committee, led by Chairman Bill Shuster aimed to reverse the progress made by DOT for fare transparency by allowing airlines to advertise base fares without taxes, surcharges, and an assortment of bewildering fees.

The DOT shot back at the airlines' effort by proposing to go beyond the current required transparency, proposing that airlines must also disclose clearly all the charges such as additional fees for baggage and seat assignments and what the actual name of the regional carrier that is operating a flight.  Passengers, travel management companies and online booking agencies will finally be able to tell what the final cost of the ticket will be, something that has been purposely kept scattered and can only be accessed through airline websites.

Consumer groups and advocates applauded the DOT efforts in bringing badly needed transparency to airline pricing, allowing travelers and travel management companies to have access to accurate price comparisons.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Fox stated: ""The proposal we're offering today will strengthen the consumer protections we have previously enacted and raise the bar for airlines and ticket agents when it comes to treating travelers fairly". www.premieretravel.com

Using Social Media to Select Seatmates

Many airlines want to know more about you!  One way to find out is to tempt you to have a say in who you sit next to on your next flight.  By asking travelers to "share" their facebook and Linkedin information, participants can view each others' profiles and "connect" passengers to become seatmates.  There are now many apps that will enable passengers to connect using several criteria.  Passengers who consider this "enhancement" should be aware that privacy will be further diminished by sharing personal information  with airlines and total strangers.  www.premieretravel.com

Fare Transparency Act Is Anything But Transparent

You know where the powers in the nation's capital are when big time lobby descends on Capitol Hill and muscles it's way with Congress to enact the cynically named "Transparent Airfares Act of 2014".  The purpose of this act is to supplant and void the accomplishments of the Department of Transportation (DOT) that mandated that airlines and travel companies must advertise airfares inclusive of all taxes and fees.

Now the powerful Airlines for America (A4A), the patriotically named lobby group, wants to undo the transparency of an all-in fare by unbundling the components of the total fare to base fare (that's what airlines prefer to advertise) in order to "educate" the consumer how much taxes they are paying, and then letting the traveler know the final cost at the very end of the transaction.  A4A convinced Congress that advertising the base fare is a form of travel stimulus! While we agree that taxes on air travel are very high and about to get even higher, consumers are savvy and smart enough to see the breakdown of the full fare which includes all taxes.  This development is certainly a setback for the traveler.  

Geo-Political Travel Risks Weigh on Many Destinations

Geo-political problems and internal strife abound.  Ukraine, Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, Kenya,  etc...the list goes on.  These are countries that have been in the headlines lately for the wrong reasons.  Instability in these countries may send ripples and spread quickly to regions around them.  For instance, Turkey, Venezuela and Thailand are dealing with many internal issues that are certain to impact travel and tourism to these countries.  While travelers can always look for guidance of travel warnings and advisories from the U.S. State Department, events happen so fast that makes such information out of date.  It takes time for the State Department to assess situations worldwide and issue updates on regular basis.  What is safe today may not be tomorrow.  Because each situation and destination are different, companies, organizations and travelers must assess individual situations carefully and plan for the unexpected.  For example, companies may want to book hotels closer to airports, inform U.S. Embassies/Consulates of their whereabouts and how they can be reached by registering their travelers and allow flexible travel scheduling to allow last minute changes.  Travelers would be advised to be in continuous contact with their headquarters and be prepared to move on quick notice.  The duty of care while corporate travelers are on the road is the responsibility of the sponsoring organization.  Incorporating security steps should be included in corporate travel policies.

Moving the Goalposts: Mileage Games

Recent headlines continue streaming every week that airlines are "fine-tuning", "modifying", and "tweaking" their mileage programs.  All are euphemisms that basically says that your airline miles are being devalued and you need to spend more dollars flying to attain status and get mileage credits.

While occasional "adjustments" may be needed from time to time, airlines are outright cutting the benefits.  Non-travelers are squeezing out travelers without having to fly one mile.  Credit cards have been using the frequent flyer carrot for years trying to entice consumers to put everything they purchase on credit cards to earn miles. Airlines have participated in the act by co-branding and giving those who do actually travel additional benefits such as lounge passes, free baggage and priority boarding.  Has success of these programs come in the way?  Yes absolutely! So many travelers now qualify for priority boarding, free baggage and other benefits that it has become so diluted forcing airlines to raise redemption levels to do anything.  The "free" tickets will cost you real money to issue, change or even cancel tickets.  Frequent flyer programs have turned into marketing monsters with millions of miles hungry and addicted consumers altering their purchase habits and flying for the elusive awards.

Lower Airline Complaints Due to Lower Consumer Expectations

Virgin America landed in Consumer Reports' ratings top category for customer satisfaction.  Spirit Airlines, with their crass attitude, tacky commercials and service landed in the last spot.  The takeaway from this survey is that consumers' expectations of airlines' service continue to trend lower.  Because travelers are now resigned to deal with it, less complaints were registered.

Airline majors continue to "tweak" their mileage awards and status by devaluing the miles earned and pegging the status to dollars spent rather than miles flown. www.premieretravel.com

10 Things Airlines will not tell you...

This is a revised 2014 version of the "10 things...", so before April fools day, here they are:

1) We want to put your travel agent out of business.  They work for you not for us.
2) We get to keep a good chunk of taxes/airport fees on unused non-refundable tickets.
3) We will nickel you and dime you any way we can.
4) We know so much about you, you may think it's creepy.
5) Your "loyalty" means nothing to us.  Your dollars is all we care about.
6) Your miles will continue to depreciate, expire and will be worth less and less. We make the rules.
7)  Our regional pilots and crew make close to minimum wage.
8) We are the judge and the jury.  Your complaints don't matter that much.
9) We are in cahoots and we raise prices in tandem without any regard to price fixing.
10) With so few domestic airlines, you really don't have much in terms of choices.
11) Our baggage handlers may treat your luggage like garbage bags and may pilfer them too.

Okay, so that's 11...