New Improved Body Scanners on Way

The TSA is in the process of replacing the much hated body scanners currently in use at most major airport with less intrusive and "user friendly" machines that will not project the body images and will produce faster processing and more accurate scanning.www.premieretravel.com

Some Airlines' Deep Hostility to Travel Companies

Frontier Airlines have joined the ranks of Southwest, Spirit and others in implementing policies that are particularly hostile to online travel agencies and third party providers. Many airlines have implemented amenities only valid if travelers book direct on the airlines' websites and will charge higher fees, inhibit seat assignments if third parties are used to book. Some, such as Virgin America and Jet Blue will give discounts or extra miles for enticing travelers to book direct. Why this hostility? These airlines want to control travel from A to Z. They see the agent as the enemy because the agent actually works for the benefit of the traveler. Agents will advocate for their travelers and charge a small fee to provide personalized services that these airlines are incapable of doing. They penalize agents for holding reservations that are ultimately not ticketed by charging up to $300 fee for a booking. Agents do not make any commissions off of these airlines and the cost of distributing these seats through agents are very minimal. What the agents do offer is the impartial display of all airlines and flights and shop comparison tools for best pricing, something these particular airlines absolutely resent. www.premieretravel.com

Phishing Scams Target Frequent Flyers

Scammers are attempting to send fraudulent emails to frequent flyers of many airlines claiming to be from the airlines and stating that the traveler had purchased a ticket and his/her credit card had been charged. The email contains a purported "invoice/receipt" attachment that has a dangerous virus. Airlines do not send this type of correspondence and recipients are advised to delete the email and never open the attachments. www.premieretravel.com

Potential Shakeup Looms for Airline Alliances

The Star Alliance, Sky Team and One World are dealing with the ripples of side alliances taking shape this week between members within these alliances that will bring into question what members expect these partnerships to achieve and the new conflicts that they bring in. At the center of it all are 3 Middle East carriers, wielding lots of cash, new facilities and equipment that are jockying to outdo each other by finding the right partners to leverage their ability to sell more seats. Qatar Airways struck a deal with One World (led by British Airways and American Airlines). This may conflict with efforts by American to also link up with Emirates, a rival of Qatar Airways. Etihad of the UAE, a rival of both carriers is now in alliance with the Air France/KLM Group a key partner of the Sky Team, and noticeably missing is the name of Delta, the American partner of the Sky Team. Meanwhile Emirates has done a codeshare deal with Qantas. Confused? The dust is yet to settle and the shakeup might just be the beginning of the redefinition of what these alliances, joint ventures and partnerships will become going forward. The biggest losers are likely to be the junior partners within these alliances that will come to find out there is no room for them at the big dance. www.premieretravel.com

Update: American Now Blames Passengers For Loose Seats

Just as we thought we heard it all, American Airlines spokeperson pointed the finger at the sloppy passengers whose spilled sodas, coffee and beer caused seats to come undone. A Public Relations Firm representing the carrier in an amended statement to CNN went on further to say: ""people spilling sodas, popcorn, coffee or whatever"... The airline has announced that it is taking "additional preventative steps". So based on the statement, it appears passengers on American must be particularly sloppy as no other carrier seems to encounter that type of problem which was originally attributed to labor tensions. What we do know is that those 757's are pretty old and the average age of American Airlines aircraft is 15 years plus.

New MileagePlus Conversion Made Easy

Here's an easy tip for MileagePlus members to convert from the old numeric to the new alpha-numeric number without calling United: Simply go to the address below, enter your old number, and click on "submit query" https://secure.unitedmileageplus.com/MergerSites/getUA8.jsp

Woes Continue for American Airlines

"Fasten Your Seatbelts" takes on a whole new meaning. The FAA is investigating this morning's incident on American flight 6885 in which a whole row of seats came loose and started moving around the cabin. There were passengers in those seats who had to be moved and the plane had to make an emergency landing at JFK. While American Airlines operates the oldest fleet of aircraft, such maintenance issues have come to fore coincidentally as the airline has been experiencing very tense labor problems while attempting to work its way out of bankruptcy.www.premieretravel.com