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Posted Feb 19, 2010
The rental car companies are in a big hurry to start charging you for no shows. The no show rate on rental cars is now approaching 25 percent. We have heard of travelers that make several car reservations with several different car companies and then rent from the company that has the first shuttle bus to appear.
While this practice saves time it makes the car companies crazy. Our guess is a no show fee will appear sometime this year and it looks like the opening no show charge will be between $5 and $15.
Posted Feb 10, 2010
Beginning May 1st American Airlines will charge coach passengers $8 for a blanket and inflatable pillow on domestic flights that last longer than two hours. You will have to bring your own warmth and headrest for flights less than two hours if you are in coach. But wait there is more. If you purchase American's pillow and blanket, American will throw in a coupon for $10 off your next purchase of $30 or more at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Goodness, Gracious!
Posted Jan 6, 2010
As we all know the travel industry in particular (and most all other industries for that matter) face some real challenges in 2010. Before we get started on my best guesses for what 2010 will bring the travel industry, we should first examine my best guesses from last year.
Posted Oct 22, 2009
In response to today's article in The Beat about year-over-year increases this month in business travel bookings, here is what we are seeing and thinking.
Posted Aug 6, 2009
Many customers have asked us what we think this means. We think it means that if Southwest is really serious about purchasing Frontier, they will beat out all other carriers and will indeed acquire Frontier. As you know, Republic has made an offer to purchase Frontier. Republic is a very capable carrier with a strong balance sheet for an airline. However, Southwest is much, much stronger and will prevail.
Posted Jul 1, 2009
It's hard to believe, but half of this year is gone. How on earth can that be? I can tell you first hand that the older you get the faster time goes by. With the passing of six months we now know the following about 2009:
Posted Jun 16, 2009
The merger of Delta and Northwest is sure confusing if you are flying on a Northwest flight. I just flew from Denver to Memphis. Because I am in the industry I knew this has always been a Northwest flight. (I know very little else about the airline industry, but I do know where hubs are and who flies where.) My ticket said Delta.
Posted Apr 15, 2009
We have talked about the new TSA Secure Flight program for several months now. The program was to begin in May and will require you to provide us with your full name as it appears on your government ID you use to board airplanes. In addition, you will also need to provide us with your date of birth and gender.
We now understand that this program will begin August 15, 2009.
Posted Mar 25, 2009
We find the news from Expedia this week to be very disturbing. Travel Weekly is reporting the following: "In their quest for more advertising revenue, Expedia and other travel Web sites have begun selling customer data on consumers' buying habits gathered through their Internet cookies, enabling advertisers to send highly targeted ads to online consumers when they visit popular Web sites. The practice is known as behavioral advertising. As practiced by Expedia, it involves the actual sale of data to the advertisers."
Just to let you know, we think this practice is completely unacceptable. I can promise you we will never sell your data, we will never allow any other source access to your data, and we take your privacy and security very seriously.
Posted Mar 10, 2009
I owe you all an apology. I have stayed in some very nice places recently and I did not tell you about it. I did not tell you because I did not want to fall into the AIG dark hole.
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