EXECUTIVE TRAVEL SKYGUIDE E-ALERT 05/08/06 Welcome to EXECUTIVE TRAVEL SKYGUIDE E-ALERT for the week of May 8, the weekly e-mail of essential business travel news! To sign up for the e-Alert, click here. Seats could be harder than ever to find this summer Northwest's pilots ratify new cost-cutting contract Frontier to enter California Corridor competition American will accept credit cards for in-flight purchases Delta adding live TV to more aircraft Hawaiian plans service expansion from the mainland American will drop out of competition at Chicago Midway Traffic booming at Philadelphia International AirTran moves at Minneapolis/St. Paul THIS WEEK'S QUESTION FOR READERS: Are you booking business trips farther out than usual as planes get more crowded (see story below)? Have you been unable to find a seat on your preferred flights? Send your comments to skyguide@aexp.com. Last week, we asked if readers had trouble using miles to book vacation flights this summer. They did, unless they anted up double miles to claim unrestricted award trips. "A reward of a short flight under 500 miles could not be attained for 25,000 miles - but could for 50,000," said FranT634. "For the seats I could get, I had to pay the higher amount of flight miles," said Vernon Ehlers. George Kowalski, a member of United's Mileage Plus, complained: "Now that I have built up an amount of miles, I find that I cannot use them when I want." AIRLINES Seats could be harder than ever to find this summer New traffic reports from individual airlines are raising the prospect that seats could be harder than ever to find this summer. In 2005, according to the Air Transport Association, the airlines' trade group, U.S. carriers filled 77 percent of their seats on domestic flights - the highest load factor (percentage of seats occupied) since 1946. And things are getting even tighter in 2006, according to airline traffic reports for April 2006. During that month, major airlines were reporting load factors near or over 80 percent - and this is before the beginning of the summer travel crunch. Not only are passenger bookings booming, but major airlines have also been cutting back on domestic capacity this year, a trend that is continuing. For example, American Airlines reportedly plans to ground 27 MD-80s by July 1, reducing its mainline fleet from 700 planes to 673. As demand continues to grow, air fares are soaring as well. According to the government's Air Travel Price Index, in spite of the continuing growth of low-cost carriers and the cost-cutting activities at legacy carriers, air fares nationwide have climbed to their highest levels since before the 2001 terror attacks. Along with a seat crunch and high fares this summer, travelers are also being warned that they may face longer security lines as the Transportation Security Agency is hiring more part-time screeners to counteract a growing problem of employee turnover; and that lost baggage problems may reach a crescendo during the peak summer months as well. Northwest's pilots ratify new cost-cutting contract Members of the Air Line Pilots Association who work for Northwest Airlines last week voted to approve a new contract with the airline that cuts their pay by about 23 percent. The new contract won't take effect until Northwest also secures new agreements with two other labor groups - flight attendants, who are currently voting on a new contract; and ground workers represented by the International Association of Machinists, who rejected a new contract. The latter group will go back to bankruptcy court, where Northwest is seeking approval to impose its own terms on them unilaterally if they don't come to terms on a new wage agreement. Analysts saw the pilots' acceptance vote as a major step toward approval of new deals by the other unions, and a big step towards Northwest's eventually emerging from bankruptcy. The deal with pilots also clears the way for Northwest to proceed with its plans to set up a separate subsidiary to fly 50- to 76-seat regional jets on short- to medium-haul routes. Mainline Northwest pilots would have to be used for any aircraft with 77 or more seats. Frontier to enter California Corridor competition A couple of years ago, Denver-based Frontier Airlines started service on a handful of routes to the Midwest out of Los Angeles, all bypassing its hub. But it pulled out after fierce competitive responses, especially from Northwest, whose Minneapolis/St. Paul route had been invaded. But now Frontier is going to try it again, this time in the busy California Corridor. Frontier said that on June 29, it will begin five daily roundtrips between LAX and San Francisco International, using its DirecTV-equipped Airbus planes. The LAX-SFO market has long been dominated by United and American, although in recent years low-cost competitors Southwest and JetBlue have been growing around the edges by operating between secondary airports including Oakland in the Bay Area and Long Beach, Burbank and Ontario in southern California. Frontier will enter the fray with introductory 21-day advance purchase fares of $59 each way. American will accept credit cards for in-flight purchases American Airlines has started rolling out a new policy by which its flight attendants will accept credit and debit cards for purchases of in-flight snack boxes, sandwiches, alcoholic drinks and headsets. By mid-June, the company said, the policy should be in place on all of the airline's domestic and international flights. American developed the program in partnership with American Express, but it will not be restricted to that company's cards. "American Express and most other major credit and debit cards will be accepted," a spokesman said. "Receipts are available upon request." American's flight attendants will rely on Windows Mobile technology to process the transactions. Delta adding live TV to more aircraft Aviation Daily last week reported that Delta Air Lines will expand its installations of live satellite TV - already on its Song 757s, which are being reconfigured to come back into the mainline fleet - to include a number of 737-800s and 767-300s. Delta had announced previously that it intends to incorporate some of the Song concepts into its long-haul mainline fleet. The industry newsletter reported that Delta will put the live TV this year on 25 737-800s and next year on 24 of the 767s that it uses for long-haul domestic routes. Meanwhile, Delta has already started to reconfigure the Song 757s to two-class service. Aviation Daily said the Song 757s, currently with 199 all-coach seats, will be reconfigured to a total of 184 seats in first class and coach. The publication said most of the TV-equipped planes will be used on flights longer than 1,750 miles, although some will go onto routes between New York and Florida to compete against JetBlue's TV-equipped Airbuses. Hawaiian will expand service from the mainland Hawaiian Airlines will add four more 767s to its fleet this fall and will add new service between the mainland and the islands. The airline said that in addition to boosting LAX-Honolulu service to three daily frequencies this summer, it will also convert its San Diego-Maui service from seasonal to year-round status on September 6; increase Seattle-Maui and Portland-Maui schedules to daily frequencies on October 13; boost its Sacramento-Honolulu schedule from seven flights a week to 11, and its Seattle-Honolulu schedule from seven to 10 flights a week, both effective November 19. The airline is recalling 22 furloughed pilots to handle the extra flying. Among the beneficiaries of the service expansion will be members of American's AAdvantage and Alaska Airlines' Mileage Plan programs, who can claim mainland-Hawaii flights on Hawaiian as program awards. Hawaiian also has frequent flyer partnerships with Continental and Northwest, but their members can only claim award flights on Hawaiian for inter-island trips. ADVERTISEMENT Nonstops to the Midwest Flying to the Midwest? Midwest Airlines has your travel covered from both coasts and the south. 28 nonstops serve Kansas City daily from 12 cities coast to coast. From major East Coast cities, fly nonstop to Milwaukee and easily connect to more than two dozen cities – Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, Indianapolis, Louisville, Des Moines, Omaha, St. Louis and numerous cities in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. You can always book the lowest fares at midwestairlines.com. AIRPORTS American will drop out of competition at Chicago Midway Just a few days before low-cost AirTran Airways is due to begin flights between Chicago Midway and Dallas/Ft. Worth, American Airlines said last week it will pull out of the close-in Chicago airport on September 1. Currently, American's only service out of Midway is the five daily roundtrips it operates to DFW. American continues to offer multiple daily departures between Chicago O'Hare and DFW, both of which are hubs for the carrier. Traffic booming at Philadelphia International If things seem a little more crowded on the concourses of Philadelphia International Airport, that's because they are. Perhaps because of the expansion of service there by low-cost leader Southwest, and the effect that has had on the fares of other airlines, Philadelphia International last year increased its passenger count by 10.5 percent, to 31.5 million. That was the fastest growth rate of any airport in North America, and the second-fastest of the world's major airports, according to Airports Council International. Only Beijing had more growth in 2005, with its passenger count rising by 17.5 percent, the group said. Philadelphia's 10.5 percent growth in 2005 came on top of a 15.8 percent growth rate in 2004. AirTran moves at Minneapolis/St. Paul AirTran Airways said it will relocate its operations at Minneapolis/St. Paul International on May 18 from the Lindbergh Terminal to the Humphrey Terminal. AirTran will move to Gates H9 and H10 in the new terminal. The carrier currently operates five daily flights out of MSP to Atlanta, four to Chicago and one to Orlando. It will add a fifth Chicago flight on May 9. AIR ROUTES ATLANTA (ATL). Continuing its buildup of international routes, Delta on May 9 will kick off new daily non-stops between Atlanta and Nice, France. Also on May 9, AirTran will increase frequencies between Atlanta and Myrtle Beach from two flights a day to four CHICAGO MIDWAY (MDW). AirTran Airways continues its growth at Chicago Midway on May 9, when it will inaugurate service between Midway and Dallas/Ft. Worth, with three daily roundtrips; and between MDW-Charlotte, with two daily 717 non-stops. On the same date, the airline will add a sixth daily frequency between MDW and Minneapolis/St. Paul. LAS VEGAS (LAS). AirTran on May 9 will discontinue its non-stop service between Akron-Canton and Las Vegas. LOS ANGELES (LAX). On May 9, AirTran Airways will begin flying between Los Angeles and Indianapolis, with one daily roundtrip; a second frequency will be added June 20. NEW YORK KENNEDY (JFK). Delta will add its newest transatlantic destination on May 8, with daily non-stops between JFK and Budapest. From May 14-October 22, Royal Air Maroc will increase its schedule between JFK and Casablanca from five flights a week to eight; a ninth weekly frequency will operate from June 18 to September 5. Last week, JetBlue began twice-daily service between JFK and Bermuda. NEWARK (EWR). The next transatlantic route out of Continental's Newark hub will begin May 10, when the airline starts daily non-stops between EWR and Cologne, using a two-class 757-200. Meanwhile, Continental Express has started daily non-stop regional jet service between Newark and New Brunswick's Greater Moncton International Airport. SACRAMENTO (SMF). JetBlue has kicked off three daily roundtrips between Sacramento and Long Beach, Calif. ADVERTISEMENT Emirates Fare Sale to Australia & South East Asia – Book Now for Travel through May 25, 2006. Book your flight on Emirates now and save on fares to Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Manila, Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Book no later than May 19, 2006. Special fares are for round-trip Economy Class reservations from New York (JFK) to these select worldwide destinations. For more details, log on to www.emirates.com/usa and keep discovering. DEALS AND SPECIAL OFFERS FOR BUSINESS TRAVELERS Worldhotels, which represents a number of independent properties worldwide, is offering customers 5,000 miles in any of 12 airline frequent flyer programs when they book a stay in a member hotel's suite through the end of May, and again from September through November. Nightly rates for suites start at $355 at the Eliot Suite Hotel in Boston, $219 at the Goodwin in Hartford, $440 at the Kimberly in New York. For details, go to www.worldhotels.com and click on "special offers" and then "hottest offers." A new web site called cFares (www.cfares.com) claims it can save travelers hundreds or thousands of dollars on international air fares. The site said that persons who enroll as Platinum members for $50 a year will gain access to both published and unpublished wholesale, consolidator and discount fares. The company said its services include "a patent pending name-your-price service that puts all other name-your-price services to shame" because it "conducts a continuous search of cFares' unique inventory to find a target fare and then holds the ticket for 24 hours and allows a member to see full ticket details before purchasing." Got business in San Francisco? A new boutique hotel, the Orchard Garden, is due to open July 12, and it's offering an introductory rate of $149 a night for rooms or $249 for suites through September - 50 percent off rack rates. The hotel is a block from Union Square. Check it out at www.theorchardhotel.com (888-717-2881). It's a sister to the city's Orchard Hotel on Bush Street. 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. How long is it since you've been on horseback? Dude ranch vacations - although they often prefer to be called guest ranches these days - are riding a surge of popularity. Find out what kinds of things you can do at these western vacation venues in the June issue of Executive Travel magazine, coming soon. By Jim Glab Have a question or comment? Send it to skyguide@aexp.com. To sign up for the e-Alert, click here.