Online Travel Review

US Airways Puts Elderly Tampa Passenger on Flight to Puerto Rico

onlinetravelreview — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:52:27 +0000

An elderly passenger flying back from visiting an assisted living home in upstate New York did not get the living assistance she needed after a US Ariways flight attendant put her on a flight to San Juan. Which would’ve been fine, but she lives in Tampa. US Airways can’t explain exactly how that happened, but they put the woman up in a hotel and flew her first class back to Tampa.

Delta Will Not Charge for “Choice Seats”

onlinetravelreview — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:50:14 +0000

A couple of weeks ago Delta introduced a program called “Choice Seats” that allowed passengers to purchase exit rows and a handful of other seats for up to $25 (this matched a similar program from Northwest). It turns out that elite members hated that their good seats were either gone or now had to be purchased. And, in another stunning move after yesterday’s elite mileage bonus news from US Airways, Delta has eliminated the program, allowing Medallion members to get their good seats for free. Give credit where it’s due: we’ve seen airlines reverse a number of anti-consumer decisions lately. If you aren’t happy with a policy change, you should definitely complain. It seems the carriers are actually listening.

Canadian Supreme Court: Airlines Can’t Charge Obese Passengers for 2 Seats

onlinetravelreview — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:45:58 +0000

In case you are obese and were annoyed at having to pay for two seats on a plane, you’re in luck: move to Canada. The Canadian Supreme Court ruled that Air Canada cannot charge obese passengers for two seats if they cannot fit in one. However, they will still have to buy two inflight meals.

Huge 150% Bonus for Transferring Starwood Points into Delta Miles

onlinetravelreview — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:13:44 +0000

Delta has an amazing promo right now if you have a bunch of Starwood points sitting around: Earn 10,000 miles from Delta partners and they’ll give you a 150% bonus. What does that actually mean? Transfer 20,000 Starwood points into Delta miles and you’ll get 25,000 miles (with the normall 5,000 mile bonus). Then with this promotion, you’ll get a 150% bonus. In other words 20,000 SPG points = 62,500 Delta miles. That’s nuts. In a good way. You have to sign up here.

(Thanks View from the Wing)

OpenSkies’ L’Avion Will Add Lie-Flat Seats in 2009

onlinetravelreview — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:41:10 +0000

I’m not sure why I’m so fascinated with OpenSkies, but there ya go: OpenSkies’ L’Avion unit will add lie-flat seats to its aircraft in 2009 so OpenSkies can sell a business class seat on L’Avion codeshare flights to Paris. It will continue to sell L’Avion’s regular seats as Prem+ (even though the Prem+ on OpenSkies is a nicer seat). Still, always good to have more lie-flat options anywhere.

US Airways Reinstates Bonus Miles and 500 Mile Minimum for Preferred Members

onlinetravelreview — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:36:15 +0000

Overturning one of the more inexplicable moves of the past year, US Airways is reinstating the 500 mile minimum and bonus miles for Preferred members of its frequent flyer program. It is also reinstating 500 mile minimums on the Shuttle for all Dividend Miles members. Even better, the bonuses and minimums will be made retroactively back to August 6th. US Aiwrays elite members can stop complaining now.

You Think Airlines Have It Bad? The Hotel Industry Is Worse…

onlinetravelreview — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:19:22 +0000

For whatever reason, the airline industry’s woes have gotten lots and lots of media attention, but when it comes to facing down a gigantic mess, the hotel industry has it far worse right now. How bad? Hotel occupancy for the first week in November dropped more than 14 points versus last year to a very, very bad 56.9%. We’re talking post-9/11 bad. Other stats? Revenue per available room (so-called RevPAR) in the luxury segment is down 23% year over year during the first week in November. Average daily rates (ADRs) in Vegas were down 21% in September versus last year.

With travelers typically booking 45 or so days out, hotels are just now feeling the effects of September’s terrible financial news. Unlike airlines, hotels can’t easily take capacity out of the market (short of shutting down hotels entirely, a move that some chains are taking with their lesser-performing hotels, or taking this opportunity to renovate).

On the plus side, travelers will be happy with the cheaper hotel rates and, especially in the upper and luxury segments, packages with extras that are available during the coming months.

Southwest Seeks to Serve LaGuardia (Yes, That LaGuardia)

onlinetravelreview — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:55:15 +0000

Southwest Airlines has filed an application to take over bankrupt ATA’s 14 slots at LaGuardia some time next year. Yes, you read that correctly, Southwest would like 7 round trip flights into the most miserable traffic-and-delay laden airport in the country. My (and most people’s) guess is 7 flights to Midway, but I suppose they could surprise us with Baltimore and Providence. Though I doubt it. Oh, what the hell, we’ll put the odds at:

Midway: Even
Tampa: 5-1
Orlando: 6-1
Providence: 7-1
Baltimore: 9-1
Nashville: 11-1
Toronto: 50-1
Islip: 100-1 (that was a joke)

While most are probably wondering how Southwest can operate their tight operation at LaGuardia, they actually have a sizable presence at LAX, which is a rough airport as well, and they’ve managed to make that work forever. That said, there are about 275 flights to Chicago every hour, and in the past American and United have been willing to drop fares down to $59 each way, so we’ll see how this all plays out.

Why Is Peter Greenberg Saying United Will Go Out of Business?

onlinetravelreview — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:02:01 +0000

For some reason travel expert Peter Greenberg is saying that people should cash in their United miles because the airline will go out of business before next March. He is half right: you should be burning your miles — as we’ve seen, airlines continue to devalue their miles, so waiting to cash them in is effectively making them less valuable. But he is way off on United closing up shop. He mentions United’s $500 million charge last quarter for a bad bet on fuel hedging — but that was a non-cash charge and has nothing to do with their financial status (and I’m certain the airlines are thrilled that they did not have to exercise their fuel options at $115 given the precipitous drop in fuel prices).

They did have an operational loss of about $300 million last quarter, but they’ve got $3 billion in cash, and another $3 billion in assets they can sell. Plus, they’re exploring selling off Mileage Plus, a move that will shore them up for a while, but sounds to me like an act of desperation.

Even so, United isn’t going anywhere. Probably.

(Thanks, Upgrade Travel Better)

Northwest Will No Longer Accept Continental Drink Coupons - The Beginning of the End Is Beginning

onlinetravelreview — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:10:05 +0000

(Thanks, View from the Wing)

It looks like Northwest is beginning to make its push away from Continental, albeit in a small way: Northwest will no longer accept Continental’s free drink coupons (gasp!). Yes, yes, Continental flyers will still get Elite upgrades with Northwest (whew!), but the tiniest of perks is disappearing. It’s just a matter of time before Continental Elite members get zero from Northwest. Well, it’s been a good run.