Pro-X-Travel

Twitter is handy tool for airline passengers - CNN.com

(CNN) -- When you're traveling and something goes wrong, all you want is for someone to help you get back on track. That used to mean lengthy lines in the airport or long hold times on the phone, but that's been changing, thanks to social media. Airlines are quickly learning that social media tools, particularly Twitter, can act as an excellent customer service channel.

Though Twitter and Facebook have been around for several years, many airlines, like other companies, were hesitant to really embrace them. These outlets have given people a great deal of power, and companies are generally afraid of things they can't control. Forward-thinking airlines like Southwest and JetBlue have long participated, but others have only recently realized that it's a smart move.

The power of social media is undeniable. Just ask Delta Air Lines. A video posted on YouTube of military personnel upset over fees for their fourth checked bags recently earned the carrier a tidal wave of negative attention. The airline already provided three checked bags for free to active-duty military, and the government reimbursed fees for any additional bags, but the reaction via social media channels was overwhelming anger. The uproar actually caused Delta to change its policy and increase its allowance, and other airlines followed suit.

In the past, many airlines have tried to ignore things that bubbled up via social media, and that hasn't worked well. Remember "United Breaks Guitars," where a frustrated United passenger took to the Web with a music video to get satisfaction? United finally responded once the story got legs, but now airlines are quicker to react.

But those instances are few and far between. More important than how an airline reacts to viral stories is how an airline responds to regular people with travel problems.

via www.cnn.com

TSA and thefts from luggage at LAX: How common is this? - latimes.com

In the last two months, two U.S. Transportation Security Administration officers have been arrested on suspicion of stealing from passenger luggage at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) -- incidents that leave me worrying about how often such theft happens. Judging from official statistics, it seems rare -- or maybe the culprits just don't get caught very often.

On Thursday, TSA officer Paul Yashou, 37, was arrested on suspicion of taking $30,000 worth of items from suitcases at the airport, according to this Daily Breeze story, which also said that a police search of Yashou's home turned up "numerous items belonging to LAX passengers."

via www.latimes.com

Hotel housekeeping: Do you tip? - CNN.com

(CNN) -- Business traveler Bob Logan always tips hotel housekeepers, but he still has questions about the best way to do it.

"Let's say I'm going into a hotel for three nights, do I leave something every night, do I do it only at the end? Does the housekeeper at the end -- is it the same one that did it the other night?" wonders Logan, a New Jersey business development director who spends about 50 nights a year in hotels.

Housekeeping is a realm of hotel tipping that even frequent travelers find confusing. Tipping the bellman is obvious; he's standing right there. But many guests skip tips for the hidden housekeepers or forget gratuities in the scramble to get out of the room.

Survey data shows that about 30% of U.S. hotel guests leave tips for hotel housekeepers, according to Michael Lynn, a professor at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.

Since housekeeping positions fall into the out-of-sight ("back of the house") category of hotel work, the jobs aren't considered tips-based positions. Still, that doesn't mean tips aren't warranted, and in terms of tipping etiquette the rule of thumb is, "When in doubt, do," said Lizzie Post, an etiquette expert with the Emily Post Institute.

"This is a person who really does try to make your stay in your room nice every single day, and that is why we tip her," Post said.

So when and how much? Post offered these guidelines:

• Tip every day to ensure your tip gets to the person who actually cleaned your room.
• Leave a note in your room with the money indicating it is for housekeeping.
• Tip $1 or $2 per person, per night in most hotels. In higher end hotels, $3 to $5 per person per night is typical.
• In a motel, tips are generally not necessary for a one-night stay. The $1 or $2 standard is appropriate for multiday stays.

Tipping housekeepers is "a really lovely thing," said Reneta McCarthy, a Cornell lecturer who started out in the industry as a housekeeping manager with Marriott.

"But generally speaking I would say the majority of people don't do it. And when you look at it, you know, I hate to say it, but this is not considered a tips position. The housekeepers, unlike the bellmen, are not filling out tip reporting forms," she said.

The national average hourly wage for bellhops was $11.40 in May 2010, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics wage estimates. The average for housekeepers was $10.17, according to survey data. Survey forms issued by the bureau ask for information on tips, but it's unclear how reporting varies between housekeepers and bellhops.

While those who study the lodging business are on the fence about tipping rules, many who give travel advice are fully in favor of tips for housekeepers.

"You really should, especially if you're a very messy guest and if you use all the towels ... and request extra pillows and blankets," said HotelChatter.com managing editor Juliana Shallcross.

"Housekeepers have so much more work to do these days as hotels roll out superplush bedding with six pillows at least and heavier sheets and duvets and everything needs to be washed and cleaned."

The most typical tip is $2 a day, according to Bjorn Hanson, a professor at NYU's Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management.

In some hotels, envelopes marked with the housekeeper's name remind guests of the service they're receiving.

Post isn't a big fan of being told she's supposed to tip, but said sometimes it is nice to know the name of the person who is taking care of the room. And she admitted that occasionally she forgets to tip on hectic business trips.

Business traveler Logan said he feels uncertain when he waits until the end of his stay to tip his standard $2 per night, so he's a fan of the envelopes as a reminder to take care of it daily.

"I kind of like that because it just makes me think that it's a little b

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U.S. issues terror-related travel warning for Philippines - CNN.com

(CNN) -- U.S. citizens should "exercise extreme caution" when traveling to the Philippines, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday in a statement.

"Targeted sites may be public gathering places including, but not limited to, airports, shopping malls, conference centers, and other public venues," said the statement.

The warning, which is an update from November, specifies the island of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago as particularly dangerous and at great risk of harboring terrorist activity. Manila might also be included, the statement said.

Because of election-related violence, the Philippine government declared a state of emergency in November 2009 for the Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat provinces, as well as Cotabato City in Mindanao. This state of emergency is still in effect, according to the State Department.

Travelers should be aware of heightened police and military presence in these areas and of kidnap-for-ransom gangs that are active in the Philippines and target foreigners, the department said.

Mindanao is a predominantly Muslim autonomous region, set up in the 1990s to quell armed uprisings by people seeking an independent Muslim homeland in the Philippines, a predominantly Christian country.

Read U.S. State Department's full warning

In November 2009 at least 57 people were killed when their convoy was ambushed in Maguindanao. The former mayor of the province was accused of plotting the deaths to thwart a political rival.

The State Department issued a worldwide caution to warn U.S. citizens that terrorism can happen anywhere and urges those visiting the Philippines to register with the U.S. Embassy to be notified of emergencies, the statement said.

via www.cnn.com

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/06/14/philippines.travel.warning/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

No stripping, no pat-downs: Could this be the airport checkpoint of the future? - latimes.com

"Passengers should be able to get from curb to boarding gate with dignity. That means without stopping, stripping or unpacking, and certainly not groping."

With that declaration, Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Assn., unveiled a mock-up of an airport "Checkpoint of the Future" Tuesday at the annual meeting of the worldwide airline organization in Singapore.

The sleek, high-tech mock-up, in the works for more than a year, builds on the concept of airport screening that focuses on higher-risk passengers -- a vision recently endorsed also by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration and the U.S. Travel Assn.

via www.latimes.com

Airlines, Flush Now With Revenue and Passengers, Fear a Downturn - NYTimes.com

So far this year, the airlines have been able to repeatedly raise ticket prices while still filling their planes. It has been a lucrative formula.

But with the economy slowing down again, the stock market sputtering and high oil prices cutting into household budgets, the airlines may be harder pressed to keep their fares up and planes packed, at least without resorting to significant cuts in capacity when the summer vacation season is over.

Some warning signs are already there. The airlines have failed to raise fares in six of their seven efforts since March, suggesting that some passengers may be balking at the higher ticket prices. “Airlines have overreached,” said George Hobica, the founder of AirFareWatchdog.com.

Still, the airlines’ aggressive pricing strategy has worked well for them. Every major airline has managed to squeeze more revenue out of its passengers this year, thanks not just to higher fares but also to a growing multitude of fees. In May, for instance, United Continental Holdings reported that its estimated revenue per passenger was 14 to 15 percent higher than a year ago, while Southwest Airlines said that measure had risen 11 to 12 percent.

It has not hurt that mergers have left fewer airlines and that they have taken a more disciplined approach to controlling capacity.

For the summer, traditionally the busiest air travel season of the year, demand for airline seats remains strong. The Air Transport Association, the airline trade group, expects 206 million people will fly in June through August, an increase of 1.5 percent over last year. The association even expects the number of passengers on international flights this summer to break last year’s record.

Fares, meanwhile, are at the highest seen since their peak in the third quarter of 2008, when the financial crisis hit, according to statistics compiled by the Department of Transportation.

While fares change daily, the cheapest nonstop round-trip flight from New York to Las Vegas for the July 4 weekend was selling on Friday for $597. The cheapest flight from San Francisco to Boston and back, operated by United Airlines, was selling for $664, but that included one stop. Southwest Airlines was charging $703.80 for the trip, and that was with a stop in both directions. A week in Paris is also expensive — with round-trip fares for nonstop flights starting at $1,442 on American Airlines out of New York.

And these figures do not count the extra fees the airlines now charge, for everything from checked bags to priority boarding to reservation changes or fuel surcharges in international flights.

“It’s getting ridiculously expensive,” said Kevin Currie, a representative with the Teamsters union, who said he might soon curtail visits to relatives in Florida if ticket prices kept rising. “There are more people flying right now, so shouldn’t their prices go down?”

via www.nytimes.com

Study: Alaska, JetBlue tops with fliers - CNN.com

(CNN) -- Airline satisfaction might seem like an oxymoron these days, with fees and cramped cabins making flying miserable for many people, but fliers are giving the industry better marks, a new survey finds.

Passenger satisfaction with carriers has improved for the second year in a row, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 North America Airline Satisfaction Study released Wednesday.

Low-cost carriers scored particularly well, reaching a five-year high in customer satisfaction.

Also getting high marks: The check-in and reservation process for all airlines.

Despite initially balking at the automation of those tasks, passengers "now appear more satisfied with the convenience and speed that technology has enabled," said Stuart Greif, a vice president at J.D. Power and Associates.

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Rule brings dramatic drop in tarmac delays - CNN.com

(CNN) -- Only 20 tarmac delays of more than three hours were reported in the year after the Department of Transportation's tarmac delay rule was implemented, according to DOT figures released Tuesday.

In the year leading up to the rule, from May 2009 to April 2010, 693 delays of more than three hours were reported. After the rule was instituted on April 29, 2010, the number of delays exceeding three hours plummeted to 20 between May 2010 and April 2011.

"It's clear that we've accomplished our goal of virtually eliminating the number of aircraft leaving travelers stranded without access to food, water or working lavatories for hours on end," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a statement.

The tarmac delay rule carries the possibility of stiff fines for airlines if passengers are stuck on the tarmac for more than three hours on domestic flights. No fines have been levied since the rule was implemented, according to the DOT.

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Airline mergers push art of numbering flights the way of the Concorde – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Most airlines assign flight numbers randomly, but every so often, a bit of whimsy makes its way into the schedule.

Southwest Airlines Flight 711 goes from San Antonio to Las Vegas in a wink to the craps tables, an airline spokeswoman said. Some flights to and from Philadelphia fly under 1776, the year the Declaration of Independence was signed in the City of Brotherly Love. And some flights to Columbus, Ohio, go by 1492, the year Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

“At Southwest, we try to have fun with everything we do,” the spokeswoman said. “We have a system built in-house that allows us to include or exclude flight numbers as we see fit, but we do assign certain numbers to certain flights for fun.”

Most airlines operate under a similar system, said Brett Snyder, who runs “Cranky Concierge” travel service and the “Cranky Flier” blog.

The occasional “legacy number” remains, such as American Airlines' Flight 1 from New York’s JFK airport to LAX, but “most of the stuff is pretty random,” he said.

“They used to have more fun with these things in the past,” Snyder said. “They try to keep with legacy systems when they can, but the airline mergers have thrown them into disarray. Every airline used to have a flight 1, but when you have a merger, which one do you keep?”

United Airlines pulled the merger card Wednesday when flight numbers 93 and 175 resurfaced briefly, despite having been retired after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

A technical glitch occurred Monday, when a computer assigned those numbers to existing Continental Airlines flights, United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said. United and Continental are the process of merging, and flights carry both United and Continental numbers, he said.

"It should not have happened, and we should have caught the mistake sooner than we did," Johnson said. The numbers will remain off the books, he said.

Like United, many airlines have a list of flight numbers they don’t use, usually because of their association with disasters, Snyder said.

Southwest probably has the most latitude, he said, because it doesn’t code share its flights with other airlines.

Even so, he said, the art of numbering flights appears to be going the way of the Concorde (which, by the way, was British Airways Flight 1, from London's Heathrow airport to JFK).

“It adds a nice little human touch when you get some of those flight numbers. Certain frequent fliers get nostalgic if they fly a lot on the same flight number. There’s something about it people tend to identify with,” he said.

“It’s a goofy nostalgia thing that doesn’t matter, but it’s an intangible.”

via news.blogs.cnn.com

Disputing rental-car damage charges: The Los Angeles Times' More for Your Money travel column - latimes.com

"Hundreds of vehicles may be returned within a couple of hours," said Neil Abrams, president of Abrams Consulting Group in New York, a consulting and market research firm for auto rental and allied industries. "It could happen that a vehicle is not examined carefully on check-in, and damage is discovered later. Or a customer may not have noticed the damage." Days later, the renter may get a repair bill in the mail.

Fraud can happen too.

Two years ago, the Arizona attorney general's office obtained a $139,000 consent judgment against a car-rental outlet at the Phoenix airport that it said falsified repair notices and improperly billed at least 80 customers for windshield damage.

"In some cases, two people were charged for the same chip damage" and billed about $200 each, said Nancy Anger, the assistant attorney general who handled the case.

Abrams, who called the Phoenix case "highly extraordinary," said rental companies are not in the business of making money on damage — or alienating customers. But they may be less inclined to overlook dents, scratches and scrapes these days.

"There is greater diligence in pursuing damage claims," he said.

One reason: With rental stations keeping about 25% fewer vehicles on hand than in the boom years of 2006-07, taking a car out of service for repairs becomes a bigger issue, he said.

Whether a damage dispute stems from carelessness or something more sinister, documentation can win the day.

If you leave the parking lot without it, "it's just your word against the rental company's word," Anger said.

Here's how to protect yourself, based on suggestions from Abrams, Anger, Bay Area travel attorney Al Anolik and Philip Reed, senior consumer advice editor for Edmunds.com, an automotive information website.

Deal with a human: When picking up and returning your car, ask a staff member from the rental office to examine it, circle any dings and dents on a form and give you a copy. Avoid using a program that allows you to choose your own car from the lot or bypass the counter when returning it, which makes it tougher to dispute damage on the spot. "It's not worth it," Anolik said.

Take photos: Use your smartphone or camera to take snaps of your rental car, inside and out, before and after renting it. Include the license plate and the immediate area. Make sure the photos are time-stamped; many digital cameras and smartphones can be programmed to do this.

Decline unkempt vehicles: A car that clearly hasn't been cleaned since the last customer may not have been inspected for damage, leaving you open to blame when you return it. And dirt can conceal surface blemishes.

Check your insurance: You're probably covered for damage to a rental under your policy for your personal vehicle. Some credit cards also cover rentals. But if you aren't covered or your policy carries a hefty deductible, consider buying the collision damage waiver from the rental company. Although it can be costly, it may get you off the hook.

Complain effectively: Try first to resolve the issue with the rental car company. Ask for a manager.

"If there is a real dispute and the rental customer has a valid argument, mostly they'll work with the customer," Abrams said.

If that doesn't work, enlist the help of your credit-card issuer. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, you are entitled to dispute charges. As a last resort, try complaining to the district attorney or the state attorney general.

Expect them to ask for proof. Arranging to rent a car can take long enough without taking time to document the car's condition. But in this case, time really may be money.

via www.latimes.com

United Airlines Apologizes for Reuse of 9/11 Flight Numbers - AOL Travel News

United Airlines briefly reinstated flight numbers from two of the planes that were hijacked on September 11, 2001 and is apologizing for the move.

Numbers 93 and 175 went back into use likely within the past few days, apparently due to a technical error, the Associated Press reports.

United Flight 93 crashed into Shanksville, Pa. while flight 175 was flown into one of the World Trade Center towers.

United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson told the AP: "The airline regrets the recent use of flight numbers 93 and 175, and has taken steps to remove the numbers from the airline's computer system."

Time magazine's blog writes that one possible reason for the glitch might be due to flight number updates because of the United/Continental merger that was finalized in 2010.

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How to Beat High Airfares - NYTimes.com

Air travel remains a necessity, even as it gets ever more expensive. First, the cost of flights, which fell throughout most of the 2000s relative to inflation, is climbing once again thanks to higher fuel prices. And then there are the added fees for everything from checked baggage to those vile croissanwiches.

Well, there’s a way to save some of that money. It’s called “hidden-city ticketing,” but before I explain how to execute the maneuver, you’re going to need some background. Passengers flying to or from airports that are dominated by a single carrier — like Memphis, Newark or Dallas/Fort Worth — pay fares 20 or 30 percent higher than at non-hub airports. The prices are even more inflated when you’re flying from a smaller city with a limited number of flights. A nonstop one-way ticket from Des Moines to Dallas/Fort Worth is $375 on American Airlines, for example — more than the $335 Delta will charge you to fly from Miami to Anchorage.

But what happens when you’re interested in flying American from Des Moines to Los Angeles, which hosts a more competitive airport? That flight is only about half the price ($186), despite its being more than double the distance. Now, here’s the trick: American flights from Des Moines to L.A. have a layover in Dallas...

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Martha Elena Flores Cura: Continental Lost My Husband's Body! - AOL Travel News

Every now and then news comes about that airlines have lost a traveler's pet or Miranda Kerr's wedding gown, but this is one extreme we were not expecting: a Monterrey, Mexico woman is suing Continental Airlines for misplacing her dead husband's body, the Monitor reports.

In a lawsuit filed earlier this month, Martha Elena Flores Cura and her niece, Ludivina Rivera, claim Continental Airlines lost the remains of her common-law husband, Humberto Rivera, while transporting his casket from Atlanta to McAllen airport in Texas in August 2009.

The family's lawyer, Javier Villareal, told the paper: "The family was obviously very upset. Not only do they have to deal with the loss of their (relative), but these guys were looking for the body to see what happened to it after it was delivered."

Rivera claims she hired a man to pick up her uncle's body at McAllen airport and drive it to Monterrey for the funeral. His body was meant to be flown on August 21, 2009. But the hired driver was told by the Atlanta funeral home where Rivera's body was held that the flight had been postponed three days.

When the driver met with a Continental representative the day before Rivera's remains were due to be flown, he was told that someone else had already picked up the body. The lawsuit claims that "Continental advised (the driver) that the body was missing and that it was not Continental's problem."

The hired driver filed a report with local police on August 24th, three days after the original flight. Less than twelve hours later, Rivera's remains were located at a Brownsville funeral home and were returned to Continental.

The family's lawyer, who refused to provide the dollar amount being sought in the suit, told the paper:"You can imagine the toll that would be on a family where a loved one was supposed to be delivered. It's very disturbing."

A hearing is set for June 8th.

Continental Airlines did not return calls by AOL Travel for comment.

via news.travel.aol.com

JetBlue to unveil fast-track security product | Tnooz

JetBlue says it will be debuting a fast-track security product at select airports “in a couple of months.”

So says Robin Hayes, chief commercial officer, who provided scant detail about the forthcoming program.

Hayes was speaking during a question and answer session at the airline’s first quarter of 2011 earnings call yesterday and mentioned the upcoming program in the context of products which provide a “value proposition for the customer.”

Hayes says JetBlue won’t be “nickel and diming [passengers] and stripping and unbundling the product.”

In that regard, officials said they have no plans to increase the seating density on JetBlue flights or to introduce first-checked bag fees in select markets, such as the Caribbean, as American Airlines has done.

On the tech front, David Barger, the JetBlue CEO, said the airline is “very pleased” more than a year after the cutover to the Sabre SabreSonic CSS system with gains in the corporate market, particularly in Boston.

Hayes said 15% to 20% of JetBlue customers “are flying business” and that percentage is greater than 20% in Boston, where JetBlue offers some 100 trips per day.

For the first quarter of 2011, JetBlue posted a $3 million profit, compared with a $1 million loss a year earlier. Revenue in the first quarter rose 16.3% to more than $1 billion.

via www.tnooz.com

Getting bumped gets more lucrative - CNN.com

(CNN) -- Last week, the Department of Transportation released a slew of new rules that will affect the air travel experience. One of the more interesting changes? Getting bumped is now going to get you a lot more money than before.

Unfortunately, this also means fares may end up rising.

Nearly every airline sells more seats on each flight than it actually has on the airplane. Why? Because people just don't show up.

The airlines have a ton of data that show how many people fail to take their scheduled flights, and they use that to determine how many seats to sell over the actual capacity of the airplane. More often than not, they do well here, but it's not an exact science.

Sometimes, too many people show up, and some can't fly. The first thing an airline does when that happens is try to get volunteers. There are plenty of people out there who would be more than happy to volunteer in exchange for a voucher to use on a future flight, and they do just that.

During all of 2010, the largest US airlines carried more than 595 million passengers. Of those, about 680,000 people volunteered to give up their seats. Those are happy people.

But then there's the other side. Sometimes, airlines simply can't get enough people to volunteer to get off the airplane.

For example, a flight from Wisconsin to Los Angeles the day before the Rose Bowl last year would not have been an easy flight for finding volunteers. In those cases, people have to get bumped involuntarily. That's not good.

For all of 2010, there were 65,000 people who got bumped that way, and they weren't happy at all. But, they did get some excellent compensation.

The rule is that if you get bumped and the airline can get you to your destination within two hours of your original scheduled arrival time, you're entitled to cash equal to the value of your one-way ticket, with a max of $400. If you get there more two hours late, you get double the value, up to $800. Not bad, huh?

But now, the Department of Transportation is changing the rule so that this will go up substantially. Now, if you arrive within two hours, you'll get double the value of your ticket, up to $650. If it's more than two hours, you'll get four times the value, up to a whopping $1,300.

That's big money, and it's bound to ease the pain of getting bumped for at least some of these people. There's no doubt, however, that anyone who is bumped involuntarily is not a happy camper.

Many wonder why the Department of Transportation simply doesn't prevent bumping at all, but there's a downside to that. Having the ability to overbook means that the airlines can keep fares lower.

Think about it. If you have a 150-seat airplane and sell 150 seats, you need a certain amount of money to cover your costs. But if you can sell, say, 155 seats, then that means prices per seat can be lower, and the airline can still cover its costs because it sells more tickets.

Since a number of people don't take the flight they book anyway, this makes sense. If overbooking was stopped, then one of two things would happen at most airlines: Either fares would rise, or flights would start to disappear because they were no longer profitable.

We'll probably see this to some extent, even with the increased level of compensation that is going to be law by the end of the summer. The higher cost of overbooking means airlines will be more conservative.

None, however, will be as conservative as JetBlue. That airline continues to avoid overbooking, as it has since it started. But when it started, all its fares were non-refundable, and it was mostly a leisure airline.

With refundable fares and business travelers, there are probably enough people

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