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– The European Court of Justice, the EU’s highest court, ruled illegal a 2004 agreement that required European airlines to send personal information about US-bound passengers to the United States government. The information has been sent to the US within 15 minutes of departure, allowing Washington to run the information against its no-fly lists and other databases. The court ruled that this was a violation of privacy. However, the policy remains in place for now, but may face changes by September 30. Obviously something will have to be done, or else traffic from Europe to the U.S. could be grounded.

– The United States Air Traffic Stabilization Board’s loan guarantees to several struggling airlines after 9/11 most likely extended the life of companies that would have otherwise gone under. But at least the government didn’t lose money on the $1.6 billion venture. In fact, it made a $312 million profit. (Whether the longer-term systemic effects of the loan program work out positively or negatively for the companies, the economy, and the government’s tax receipts is an issue for economists to figure out.)

– Irish carrier Aer Lingus will leave the OneWorld alliance, dominated by British Airways and American Airlines. The airline cites a shift from the hub-and-spoke model (that favors alliances and feed from other carriers) to a point-to-point model.

– Looking to advertise to a high-income readership? Look to in-flight magazines. The average household income for United’s Hemispheres magazine readers ($119,588) exceeds the income for financial weekly Barron’s ($110,562) and The Economist ($107,024), making it the magazine with the wealthiest readership in America. In fact, five of the top ten magazines in America, measured by household income, are in-flight magazines. Even Southwest’s magazine makes the top ten, despite its budget-travel reputation. Curiously missing from the top ten are Continental and USAirways.

– High class shouldn’t mean high price (translate that into Latin and it’s a contender for my family crest). But not everyone feels the same. Niels Pedersen of Supranational Hotels argues that Europe’s posh resorts should keep their prices high this summer, and not give in to the temptation to offer last-minute discounts, in order to avoid “the wrong sort of people.” I’m not making this up. This is solid platinum snobbery at its best, worth quoting at length:

“Once superior hotels reduce their standard tariffs below 30% — and many cut them to 50% in a panic bid to fill their rooms — the clientele they attract via web portals can do harm to the image of the property,” he said. “It’s about a person’s inner values of self-esteem and self-confidence. The key test for the wealthy is whether their children will meet the right kind of people.”

Wow. I hope that no one’s inner values have been hurt by my rampant use of Priceline.

– Finally, here’s a solution to the scourge of discount luxury hotel stays. Maybe those wealthy folks will keep their eyes off the riff-raff with an exciting game of… Segway Polo!