Air Travel Hit by Recession

Airports Blog has moved to QuickAid.com Airport Directory:http://quickaid.com/airports-blog/ |Airport Information | Airports Blog

The Herald Tribune of Sarasota has an LA Times report that Air Travel over the Thanksgiving holiday is expected to be 4% lower than last year as the recession continues to take a toll on the travel sector.

They note that travelers are tending to stay at home or travel by car more than before.

Airline Ticket Prices May Rise Even More

Over the past year the average price on several airline routes has gone up over 200% as Airlines struggle with higher fuel prices, reduced travel, and other challenges. My talk with a Sky West staffer suggested that fuel prices are the overwhelming challenge, so with Oil now down some 20% off highs hopefully we'll see some ticket price relief. Unfortunately thought there can be a spiral effect as people stop flying and drive instead, challenging the airlines to keep routes that don't have enough passengers to be profitable.

A solution I hope the airlines will consider would be flight consolidation. I recently travelled from Medford Oregon to Dulles IAD on the same day and similar times to my parents who travelled the same route, yet we were on different airlines and always on different planes. It would seem the computers might reschedule people in ways that flights could be cancelled - though I suppose the number of complications this would cause might overwhelm a system that is already balanced somewhat precariously given all the flight delays and such.

My pal was complaining that the Airlines seem to be failing more and more to make connections and create harmonious travel experiences, and I think he's right, but I also think the cost for improvements is not supportable by the system. It's another example where our great American system brought something that was a total luxury item (air travel) to the mainstream during our economic gravy days of the 50's-90's, and now we'll be unable to backtrack and make it a luxury item again. The huge fleets, high fuel cost, and expectations of both Airlines and travellers will take some time to readjust and in the meantime.... bankruptcies and trouble are on the horizon.

USA Today: Top Air Travel stories for the week

USA Today's online travel section is always a good place for some of the latest travel news. Today at the USA Today travel blog we learn that Wayne County Airport officials appear to have been living pretty high on the hog courting airlines and other stories:

USA Today Air Travel

New York Airport congestion may tangle holiday travel

AP reports , via Advanced Travel, that New York Airports will see 1.7 million travelers for this holiday, and that Airlines may have booked more traffic than those airports can reasonably handle without delays and problems.

The twin challenges of massive travel and security are straining the TSA's ability to safeguard the nation's traveling public. My view is that TSA has failed to implement technological as well as common sense solutions fast enough. This is partly just bureaucratic inefficiency but also comes from unreasonable demands from the public to create the impossibility of perfect safety and no inconvenience.

Passport Required !

Travel Passport Requirements tighten up on September 30 when you can no longer use your *application* in lieu of a Passport for travel in Western Hemisphere. This passport application exception was instituted earlier this year due to the huge passport application backlog that was created when the US decided to require passports for travel to Canada and Mexico. In the past US citizens could visit Mexico and Canada without any paperwork.

For all details check the USA Passport website

To avoid potential delays and problems it is advisable to have a current passport even if you are not currently planning any international trips but might possibly travel internationally over the next few years.

World Airport Awards

Here is Skytrax website for the World Airport Awards 2007.

Hong Kong International won this year. Singapore's Changi won last year. Conspicuously none of the top ten airports are in the USA though perhaps this should come as no surprise. Developing countries are eating the USA's lunch in terms of many business approaches, infrastructure developments, and and business dominance in general. It's fairly clear that China will emerge as the world's top economy - perhaps in as few as 3-5 years.

I don't see this as a bad thing - rather an inevitable consequence of a complex combination of US deficiencies that have grown to critical mass over the last decade. High on that list would be health care costs, unrealistic worker expectations, and high wages, taxes, and expensive regulations for most businesses. The USA remains a hotbed of innovation but even that trend is giving way as China and India's best and brightest continue to challenge the educational, cultural, and geographical pressures that have kept them out of the global spotlight until recently.

The world is changing fast, and these changes are visible at an award winning airport .... far from you!

Air Travel With Infants - Travel Tips

Arlene at About.com has some nice ideas for travelling on the airplane with infants. Now that my own kids are older I notice how easy flying has become compared to when they were small and had to be carried everywhere with all the gear and in the hopes nobody would "melt down" and start screaming on the airplane. There is less sympathy from other passengers than there should be for crying babies although I admit it's tough sitting anywhere near a kid who is having a tantrum or very upset. Earplugs are a good thing to have in your on-board travel kit.

Can't sleep on the flight? Try these $3,000+ "lie flat" aka "flat bed" airline seats.

At SES San Jose the inimitable Dave Naylor was telling me how the new flat seats are well worth the cost because he can now sleep on his frequent flights to the USA for search conferences.

Here's an article about how British Airways spent $300,000,000 upgrading some of their airline seats to sleepers and how other airlines are now racing to compete in this lucrative niche market for deluxe airline seating.

I certainly could have used one of these on my trip to Paris a few years ago. I got there so tired it took several days to adjust and start enjoying myself, though I also had a cold. However given the price I think on future international trips I'll just allows a few extra days to sleep in the hotel rather than pony up several $k for a good nights sleep.

For detailed flat seat information check out flatseats.com, a new site devoted to this intriguing luxury niche.

World's Busiest Airports

Ready for the weekend? Are you joining the 16 million Americans who will be flying for this holiday? Forbes reports on the busiest airports in the world, so to get prepared take this picture tour of busy airports and hope you miss these lines!

Forbes noted that Singapore's Changi Airport is "the best in the world" and conspicuously not one fo the top ten Airports in terms of overall quality is in the USA. As American airline companies continue to face huge financial challenges and as commerce moves boldly to China and the east I predict we'll see transportation in America continue to decline while portals in Asia continue to thrive and grow. We are at the beginning of an era that will see a dramatic shift in the prominence of China and other Eastern countries, ending with a global redistribution of power that will have many side effects of unpredictable significance. So, buckle your seatbelt and hang on - it could be a bumpy decade!

Online Travel Top Innovation according to USA Today

USA Today has a fun series on the top 25 things in various categories from business to science to...travel. For the Travel sector, USA Today notes online booking, TSA, and e-tickets as the top three "pivotal changes" in travel.

My feeling is that online travel still has a *lot* of innovative stuff left to take root in the online landscape. As with much of the internet - indeed with many business aspects of the world - the key challenge is *credibility*. We still count on marketing laden, advertisement driven information sources (e.g. the internet) to drive our exploration into products. As people become more comfortable and sophisticated in surfing and companies realize that marketing is no substitute for a quality product, it could usher in a new era of "consumer transparency" where business will compete on the basis of objective quality measures as determined by a well-informed social media audience ranking every aspect of the business.

Yikes - that's not gonna happen anytime soon?!

Indianapolis Airport Improvements underway

Major improvements are underway in Indianapolis where a new billion dollar passenger terminal is bringing new hotels and other development to the airport neighborhood of Indianapolis.

The IndyStar reports that Airport officials hope the new Indianapolis Airport will encourage more international travel to and from the region. Also, a new "Civic Plaza" in the Indy Airport will be outside of security and allow non-passengers to shop and dine in what officials hope will become a powerful Indianapolis gathering place for travelers and non-travelers alike.

4.4 Billion air trips in 2006 is a new record

Worldhum, via a Reuters report, notes that China travel is increasing the number of airplane trips per year dramatically. 4.4 billion air passengers flew in 2006, approaching an average of a trip per year per person on earch. Worldhum also notes that China is poised to become the world's top tourism destination by 2014.

I'm big on China, though I hope they see the light soon and work harder to resolve the evil conflicts in Darfur which continue to ravage thousands there every day. A recent movement to boycott the Beijing Olympics is gaining steam and may impact the Olympics very negatively if China does not act more assertively with the Sudanese Government to stop Sudan's attrocities against the people in Darfur.

July 4th Flyers should prepare for delays, waits

US Air Travel this coming Wednesday may bring delays and increased security in light of heightened concerns after UK Airport terrorism last week at GLA GlasgowAirport in Scotland.

CNN Reports that about 5 million flyers are expected to travel on July 4th and about 35 million will travel by car over the holiday.

Travel Tip - Priceline for Cars

Although I've had generally poor results with Priceline my car rental tonight went very well and saved me about $90. I've been looking for a few months for a good rate for our Philadelphia and Pennsylvania trip. We need to pickup and return at PHL and the best I've found so far was Hotwire at about $440. Kayak.com, my usual suspect for finding great rates, was about $600!

I started my priceline bid at $20 per day for 12 days and didn't get it, but the popup gave me another shot and my $22 bid (excluding taxes and fees) got accepted by Hertz.

Hmmm - in this case I knew the fees because I had them from the non-accepted 20 bid but not sure how Priceline informs you of fees if your initial bid is accepted.

As always you need to use *great caution* when booking cars because of these extra fees. Some services, like Kayak, include these in their "daily" quote but many car rental sites do NOT include the substantial fees until your final screens, and this can be confusing.

Your Offer Price:	$22.00
Total Rental Days:	12
Subtotal:	$264.00
Taxes & Fees:	$96.72
Total Charges:	$360.72

Here's the HOTWIRE Quote:
Rental days:

$29.95

Daily rate:

$359.40

Subtotal:

Tax recovery

$91.51

charges and fees:

$450.91