The President Speaks Up About Airline Delays

"We've got a problem," Bush said. "We understand there's a problem. And we're going to address the problem." - Great!

A story on MSNBC.com & SignOnSanDiego.com today reported that The Man has asked his transportation secretary (Mary Peters) to make sure that travelers delayed at airports are 'treated fairly'. The article goes on to quote:

“Endless hours sitting in an airplane on a runway with no communication between a pilot and the airport is just not right.'

Well yes, we tend to agree. But, that is just a start - and not the only issue that needs addressing when it comes to delays during travel. Though that communication is key and helps with the frustration as you can put a label on the problem - but it is not the fix we need. Better yet was his assertion that Congress look into legislation to modernize the FAA so travelers won't be inconvenienced. In the end, the goal would be to make sure we are fairly treated when delays do arise, with communication being one part of the puzzle.

As we have reported here time and time again, and stated again in the story, "the airline industry's on-time performance in the first seven months of 2007 was its worst since comparable data began being collected in 1995, according to government data. In July, the most recent month for which data are available, 20 carriers reported an on-time arrival rate of 69.8 percent, down from 73.7 percent a year earlier."

One specific idea to address delays the President gave, in addition to the concept of 'congestion pricing' at busy airports once used in the 60's, was to force airlines to pay more to fly during 'peak travel periods'. (It would be interesting to see how the lobbying turns out to define that set of terms.) But, we tend to agree with Zane Rowe, senior vice president of network strategy at Continental Airlines Inc., that that would do little to mitigate the delay issue. But. we do not agree with the assertion that they claim one of the biggest culprits, as they see it, in delays is "the growing use of tiny jets among corporations and wealthy individuals." ..... HUH?

Personally, I like this idea "improving the department’s complaint system" and "acting to increase compensation for passengers involuntarily bumped from flights from $200 to more than $600." - cha ching!!!

No matter what, we say.. "just fix it"

Let's Go Paperless... It's Coming.. And It's About Tme!

Anymore, unless you are like my electronically challenged (or just plain stubborn) father, there is no reason to need a paper ticket. Period. The fact that it is reported by the IATA that less than 14 percent of the 400 million tickets processed by them each year are still paper, proves that to be true. With such world wide usage and adoption of the Internet, and computers & their peripherals in general, the need to receive a paper ticket has lived long past it's usefulness. With the ability to search, compare, buy and print an electronic plane ticket right from your computer, it is only the old school users not adopting the new school trends, or just slow to die antiquated methods, that continue to 'believe' in and 'need' a paper ticket. Anymore, travel agents, airlines and online brokers all provide electronic tickets for your air travel purchases. Heck, in the last 5 or so years of traveling around the world for pleasure and racing, I cannot remember having anything other than my 1 page printed (on recycled paper) confirmation itinerary. And there has never been an issue with that. (And I have been is some countries that are not exactly up to our speed.)

That being said, it still did surprise me that when I rolled up to check-in (assuming I had luggage to check like a bike case and could not go right to the gate or electronic kiosk check-in), I got that bulky little folder full of tickets, receipts, disclaimers, propaganda and blah blah. My method has always been to promptly toss it ALL in the trash, but the tickets & baggage check of course.

So, it is much to my personal happiness that a report on MSNBC talks about the fact that many holdout airlines - and the institutes that handle actual paper ticket processing for them behind the scenes (IATA and ARC) will move to an all electronic ticket setup in 2008.

Technically, this will save money (for us or them?), allow users the ability to better manage their travel details online, cut out the trash and waste and added bulky documents, and plain add convenience - and speed of processing - for customers. Great.. so we save them money AND do all the work for our travel.

They state that "On June 1, the industry association that handles ticketing for most major airlines (IATA) will stop issuing paper tickets. Some small regional or foreign airlines will continue issuing paper tickets, but they'll be few and far between."

MSNBC reports that "Paper tickets cost airlines $10 to $17, on average, compared with $1 or less for electronic tickets" to prepare. They state that this is an estimated savings of $3 billion a year to the airline industry.

SO, will we get a piece of that action for essentially doing all of the work - booking, managing, checking in electronically, tagging our baggage? Or maybe a kick back simply due to the associated cost saved? Ha.... I doubt it personally. I suspect this will not come at a cost decrease for the traveler. As a matter of fact, they will likely raise prices and come up with some kooky fee to cover the cost of electronic tickets. That's how the airlines roll.

All Hail Rule 240!!!

MSNBC reported today on a little know rule - Rule 240 - that some airlines adhere to concerning "'irregularities' such as canceled flights" and situations within the airline's control, such as mechanical problems. They report that the rule "specified that if an airline couldn't get you to your destination on time, it was required to put you on a competitor's flight if it would get you there faster than your original airline's next flight. Airlines were even required to put you in first class if that's all that was available."

WOW... how did that rule get lost in the shuffle? Personally, I could gave benefitted from that rule more times than I can remember. As a matter of fact, this is one of the very reasons airportgyms.com was started.

Though the article states that some airlines formed after deregulation (i.e., JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit) were never required to follow said rule, others such as Delta, Continental, United, Northwest have quietly weakened their Rule 240, but still practice it to some extent.

So, next time this happens to you, just say the magic words... no, not the ones your mom taught you to use as a kid.. though those are helpful as well... use the ones that will make the airlines cringe and maybe get you what you want, "240 me".

New Canada Listing + updates..

We just added a new listing for Canada. A traveler provided us with a listing for Toronto's YYZ airport - The Sheraton Gateway Hotel. Please see the full details here.

We also updated a few listings based on traveler feedback.

Thanks! If you have any other Canadian listings, please let us know.

Flight delays, mishandled bags up in July...

A real shocker of a story from MSNBC reports that "The airline industry's on-time performance in the first seven months of 2007 was its worst since comparable data began being collected in 1995. July's on-time performance was the 11th worst on record." They go on to report this is an on-time arrival rate of 69.8% - down from 73.7% at the same time the previous year. "Through July, more than 25 percent of flights have arrived late."

Wow, and this comes on the heals of announced rate increases by Southwest.. which will be followed by the other big players to be sure... as well as proposed pay-per-baggage options being considered by select airlines (see elsewhere in our blog for that full story). The latter is even more of an insult when you consider that "the rates of mishandled baggage and customer complaints also rose in July, according to the government data."

Yet another example of how more airport gym listings could help those delayed travelers spend their time more enjoyably then sitting in the terminal watch the clock tick by. So, if you have an airport gym or airport fitness center listing we do not have let us know