EXECUTIVE TRAVEL SKYGUIDE E-ALERT 07/11/05 Welcome to EXECUTIVE TRAVEL SKYGUIDE E-ALERT for the week of July 11, the weekly e-mail of essential business travel news! To sign up for the e-Alert, click here. Labor turmoil, bankruptcy warnings continue at Northwest American expands in-flight food sales program American Airlines prize-winner says, 'Thanks, but no thanks...' London bombings seen having little impact on travel Governments give a green light to Lufthansa's takeover of Swiss Alamo offers online check-in; Avis adds Hummers to its fleet Hotel Update: Recent and upcoming openings AIRLINES Labor turmoil, bankruptcy warnings continue at Northwest Last month, it was Northwest Airlines management that asked the National Mediation Board to declare that contract talks with its mechanics union were deadlocked, and that efforts to mediate a solution should end. The mechanics opposed that action, and the NMB turned down that request; but last week the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association asked the board to declare an end to mediation. If the NMB goes along, that could start the clock ticking on a 30-day cooling-off period, after which the union could strike - or management could lock out its members. Management is seeking $176 million in reduced pay and benefits from the mechanics. Last week, Northwest CEO Doug Steenland told a Minneapolis business group that if the company doesn't achieve a total labor savings of $1.1 billion by the end of this year, it will consider filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. American expands in-flight food sales program Effective August 1, American Airlines will expand its on-board food program, selling $3 snack boxes on select flights from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. The snack boxes are currently available from 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The change will make the boxes available on 38 more flights than they are now. American also sells morning sandwiches or wraps on some flights between 6-10 a.m., and afternoon sandwiches on others that leave between 10 a.m.-7:30 p.m. In other food news, US Airways last week joined Northwest Airlines in announcing plans to eliminate free pretzels from its flights. The change will take effect in September, US Airways said. Northwest replaced its free pretzels with $1 bags of trail mix. American Airlines prize-winner says, 'Thanks, but no thanks...' Would you like to win 12 pairs of roundtrip tickets to anywhere in the world? New Yorker Jack McCall won just that in an American Airlines essay contest for the company's "We Know Why You Fly" promotional campaign. But he turned down the prize. Why? Because he would have had to pay more than $13,000 in taxes on the winnings, according to wire reports last week. American said it was required by IRS rules to value the free tickets at their maximum - $2,200 each, or a total of $52,800 - for tax purposes. And McCall would have to pay the full tax on the winnings even if he never used all the tickets. So he just said no. McCall claimed American wouldn't give him a lesser prize; American reportedly did offer alternatives, but not the cash that it claimed McCall was seeking. INTERNATIONAL London bombings seen having little impact on travel When terrorist bombers struck London's transportation system last week, there were widespread fears that the attack would have an immediate chilling effect on travel to the British capital - and perhaps on all international travel. But subsequent reporting in most major media found that was not happening. Flight cancellations to London and on other international routes were minimal, and it appeared that very few people - business or leisure travelers - were curtailing their plans to visit the U.K. The conclusion of most observers was simply that travelers are becoming inured to the possibility of terrorist acts, and are more conscious of how slim the likelihood is that they might ever become victims. Governments give a green light to Lufthansa's takeover of Swiss Both the U.S. and the European Union last week gave approvals to Lufthansa's planned acquisition of Swiss International Airlines for $375 million. U.S. antitrust officials said they had no problems with the combination of the two carriers. The EU approval contained the condition that if a new entrant airline wanted to operate out of certain European airports and there were no slots available, Lufthansa/Swiss might have to give up some of its slots at Munich, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Vienna, Stockholm or Copenhagen. Lufthansa has said it will maintain Swiss as a separate brand, with its home base and main hub in Zurich. CAR RENTALS Alamo offers online check-in; Avis adds Hummers to its fleet If you can check in online for an airline flight, why not for a rental car? At Alamo, you can. The rental company last week launched the industry's first web-based check-in procedure, which enables users to skip the rental counter at the arrival airport and go directly to the lot, where their car will be waiting with the keys already in it. Alamo said the online check-in option is available to any customer, even if they did not book online. Users are asked to provide their driver's license information online, verify their rental options and provide a credit card number. Then they just print out a copy of the rental agreement and bring it with them. For all the details, go to www.alamo.com. Meanwhile, if you really want to let a client, co-worker or customer know who's in charge, you can now rent a Hummer H3 from Avis. The rental company is making them available at airport locations in Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City and Seattle. The big vehicles are equipped with XM Satellite Radio. HOTELS Hotel Update: Recent and upcoming openings A new Four Points by Sheraton hotel has opened in downtown Chicago, near the Magnificent Mile at 630 N. Rush St. ... Another Four Points is due to open its doors August 1 in Plainview, Long Island, near Exit 48 of the Long Island Expressway ... Overseas, an August opening is scheduled for the new Landmark Mandarin Oriental, a small (113 rooms) luxury property in the Landmark redevelopment project in Hong Kong Central ... Conrad Hotels just opened its first property in Japan; the Conrad Tokyo is in that city's Shiodome district ... In Europe, Le Meridien cut the ribbon on Le Meridien Turin Art + Tech in Turin, Italy; the building was once a Fiat factory ... Marriott opened a new Courtyard property in central Berlin, near the Gendarmenmarkt ... The Accor Group is slated to debut a Novotel in central St. Petersburg, Russia this month ... In Guatemala, a Crowne Plaza has opened in Guatemala City ... and in the Middle East, Starwood has opened the Sheraton Ma'aret Sednaya Hotel & Resort in Damascus. AIR ROUTES FORT LAUDERDALE (FLL). Starting July 15, Delta Connection/Chautauqua Airlines will initiate service between Fort Lauderdale and Tampa, with four flights a day; and between Fort Lauderdale and Jacksonville, also with four daily roundtrips. HOUSTON BUSH INTERCONTINENTAL (HOU). Continental Airlines on July 15 will add service to Cali, Colombia from Houston, with one daily 737-700 roundtrip. LAS VEGAS (LAS). On July 17, Southwest Airlines will increase its schedule between Las Vegas and San Diego from 12 flights a day to 14; and between Las Vegas and Oakland from 12 a day to 13. NEW YORK KENNEDY (JFK). American Airlines had cut its schedule between JFK and Port-au-Prince, Haiti from two daily roundtrips to one. PHILADELPHIA (PHL). Southwest Airlines will boost its operation at Philadelphia on July 17, adding a sixth daily non-stop to Orlando and a third to Fort Lauderdale. RICHMOND (RIC). Delta Connection on July 15 will start flying between Richmond and Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater twice a day, using 50-seat regional jets. TAMPA (TPA). Delta Connection/Chautauqua Airlines will start flying between Tampa and Key West on July 15, with two daily roundtrips. THIS WEEK'S DEALS AND SPECIALS FOR BUSINESS TRAVELERS Southwest Airlines has kicked off an online-only fare sale, with August 4 as the final purchase date. It's good for travel from August 18 through October, and a 14-day advance purchase rule applies. Sample one-way sale fares start at $39 between Buffalo-Chicago or Dallas-Houston; $59 between Nashville-New Orleans or Nashville-Cleveland; $79 between Burbank-Salt Lake City; $89 between Little Rock-Oklahoma City and $99 between Chicago-Portland, Baltimore/Washington-Houston or Phoenix-St. Louis. Fares may vary by day of the week. To book, go to www.southwest.com/hotfares/050705_systemwide.html. Budget Rent A Car has introduced a new program for small and mid-sized business that rent five or more times per year; it's called Budget Business. There's no enrollment fee, and benefits include discounted rates in all car categories; a $2 rebate on every rental day, paid monthly; and membership for all company travelers in Budget's Fastbreak and Rapid Return express processing services. For details, or to sign up, call 800-822-7379 or visit www.budget.com/bizprogram. WebFlyer (www.webflyer.com) has a new service for travelers who belong to a number of airline and hotel frequency programs, and are getting confused by all the new shopping tie-ins those programs are developing with major retailers nationwide. Called Mileage Mall, the new service lets users easily compare mileage-based deals available at 13 leading online shopping malls offered by airline and hotel programs. Users can search for the best deal at any given store, search by product category, or for the best offers in any single airline or hotel program's shopping mall. For links to other websites where you can search for bargains, click here: www.executivetravelonline.com/reference/deals.html For in-depth analysis, news, features and opinions about the current business travel scene, check out Joe Sent Me (www.joesentme.com), produced by veteran traveler advocate/journalist Joe Brancatelli and a team of contributors. By Jim Glab To sign up for the e-Alert, click here.