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While oil is still comparably higher than it was two or three years ago, it has pulled back nearly 20% from its recent highs. Airline fuel surcharges haven’t all fallen to earth by the same measure.

Two notable exceptions are Air France-KLM and El Al. KLM reduced their surcharge by 5 euros each way, while El Al cut theirs by $14 each way. Other airlines have been resistant, and others have even raised their surcharges in the past two weeks, despite the drop in fuel prices.

The entire practice is a sham. If the cost of doing business has increased as a result of fuel expenses, then the change should be reflected in the base fare. Call it a fare hike - which is what it is.

But the airlines like to be able to quote “base fares.” They have been able to game the system by quoting prices with “taxes and fees” extra. And now we see that airlines are illegally colluding to use fuel surcharges to keep prices higher: Two British Airways executives resigned over an investigation into the company’s surcharge practices.

To see anyone actually reducing the surcharge is refreshing and welcome, so hats off to Air France-KLM and El Al. But we can do better. Let’s aim for greater price transparency. Let’s get rid of fuel surcharges.

(image: DrunkatNYU)

Dear Lufthansa,

I often fly over the Atlantic and then connect to one of your intra-European flights from Frankfurt. Whenever I check in, nearly 24 hours before that short flight is to take off, you always give me a craptacular seat. Then you tell me it can’t be changed until I get to Frankfurt.

Typically you assign me to the last row, at the window, right side. That is, it’s called a window seat, but as in this last instance, sitting in 24F on a 737, there was not even a window there, just a wall.

Since I’m coming from another continent, I’m checking in early, when there’s virtually no one else checked in to that flight. Your airline doesn’t provide advanced seat assignments for short trips, so I can’t pick a seat beforehand. Star Alliance Gold status obviously doesn’t help. And it’s not just me: You seem to put all the people connecting from long-haul flights into the back of the bus. The people around me were connecting from Detroit, Chicago, Singapore, or Bangkok. In other words, they checked in a long time ago. Meanwhile, the middle of the plane was nearly empty.

So why do you so consistently and predictably give such lousy seats to connecting passengers?

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Canada not on sale any more
Remember when the US dollar got around $1.50 Canadian? Memories! (It’s around $1.12 as I type.) But it’s about to get more expensive for non-Canadians visiting the country. It has long been possible to get a tax refund at the border, including the GST paid for hotel stays. Effective April 1, 2007, no such refunds will be possible any longer. Bummer. Nice to get it while it lasted, of course, but honestly, the hotel stay tax refund never made sense to me.

US Airways shortens the life of a mile
Most airlines expire your miles after 3 years (you generally reset the clock with a flight, or any other account activity.) US Airways has now cut that time to 18 months. If you’re earning anything in your account, this is moot. But if you rarely earn miles, make sure to credit something small to your US Airways account to keep balances alive. Better yet, spend ‘em!

Maxjet marketers suck up to the boss
I’m all for fare sales. And a $999 roundtrip business class fare from New York to London is great. But to say that it’s in celebration of the CEO’s birthday? Asskissers. (Use code CEOBDAY to get the deal at maxjet.com.)

The 9/11 hijackers are on the no-fly list
Thank goodness they’re on the list now that they’re dead.

World’s best airport security? Sweden!
Rah, rah, Sweden. Biometrics in full effect, while safeguarding privacy.

US and EU reach deal on passenger data
Not much more information out there, other than the fact that a deal of some kind has been reached. But this means that airlines flying between the EU and US won’t be fined. I certainly hope the details don’t remain secret forever, though.

Slower blogging this week
Expect fewer posts this week. I’m at O’Hare as we speak, waiting for this specific plane to board. Happy travels to those on the road.

Fans of unassigned seating, rejoice: Southwest is keeping the “cattle call.”

For now.

The airline won’t make any changes in the coming months, but may tinker some more in the future.

This past summer, Southwest experimented with assigned seats for flights departing San Diego, with mixed results.

As I’ve suggested before, why not allow those who WANT an assigned seat to get one? If you really “like seeing what’s available and choosing a window or an aisle depending on [your] mood,” as one flyer opined, then go for it.

My “modest proposal” for the airline:

Let anyone who WANTS a reserved seat get one. Guarantee reserved seats to full-fare tickets. (It’s not like you can upgrade on an all-coach flight.) Heck, even charge a couple bucks for a reserved seat, a la European discount carriers or rail companies. Maybe even limit the number of reservations to, say, 60 of the 137 seats on each plane, but let the last-minute full-fare folks override this limit. Board people with seat assignments first, and make only one call for that group. Then do open boarding for the rest.

Related:
- A modest proposal for Southwest
- Opening day jitters? Southwest’s assigned seating gets mixed reviews
- Confirmed: Southwest Airlines to test assigned seating; Northwest abandons boarding by rows
- Getting the best seats on Southwest just got harder

(image: mo husseini)

When John Brownlee, expatriate American and co-captain of the Consumerist.com ship, isn’t discussing how my building’s current lack of hot water affects my privates, he’s offering helpful advice and a platform for people who’ve been wronged by lousy customer service.

Via e-mail, he suggests this potential workaround to chip-and-PIN requirements for non-European credit card holders. He verifies that this trick works in Ireland:

I don’t know if this will work in Denmark, but what I used to do (when I lost my pin) was plug it in and just wait. After about twenty seconds of you not doing anything, a receipt is automatically printed out.

Obviously this won’t work at self-service gas stations or train ticket vending machines, but it’s worth a shot if you encounter a clerk who’s unwilling/unable/untrained to print out a swipe-and-sign receipt.

Whether you want to stand there and wait 20 seconds, doing nothing, when people are waiting behind you is a another matter.

Related:
- Rotten in Denmark: Credit cards with mandatory PIN
- We prefer Visa cards, just not yours

(image: PanDeva)

New unwritten but nonetheless enforced TSA security directive to be aware of: Small rocks are a threat to security.

Geologist Robert M. Thorson, on his way to an academic conference, had a small chunk of gneiss confiscated at Bradley Airport, because it was deemed to be a “dual-use” item, i.e., a potential low-tech weapon.

By these low standards for weaponry, anything with a density greater than a gel (which as we know is prohibited in quantities greater than 3 oz.) is a potential weapon.

My laptop computer could be dual-use in this sense, too. I could close it and use one of the corners to beat someone’s temples in. Then I could finish the job with my power cord, like a member of SPECTRE battling British secret agents on a night train from Istanbul to Budapest.

Sigh.

(thanks to reader Paul for the article!)
(image: stephinary)

European ultra-discount airline Ryanair, famous for low fares, but also for a complete lack of amenities (no windowshades, tight seating, ads everywhere, pay for checked bags, mandatory fees galore…) is targeting the long-haul market and seeking a monopoly position in Ireland.

Ryanair announced an all-cash 2.80 euros/share takeover bid for AerLingus, which itself just went public. Ryanair has already acquired a 16% stake in their competitor.

If the deal were to go through, then the newly merged Ryanair would no longer be “contained” in Europe. They’d be global.

People talk about a race to the bottom in the airline sector. Make no mistake: Ryanair IS that bottom. It’s the self-proclaimed WalMart of the sky, and it could be coming to long-distance travel. Be afraid.

But the Irish government may throw a wrench into this. They have announced that they’re holding on to their 28.3% stake in AerLingus, and that they prefer to promote competition over consolidation. Stay tuned.

Related:
- Ryanair’s trifecta of customer alienation
- Wheelchair fees and airplane insurance: unpacking airfare surcharges
- Disturbing Ryanair safety/training video exposé

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Reader Mike writes in:

I thought I’d share something I encountered on a recent vacation to Denmark. When I tried to use any of my credit or debit cards at stores, I was asked to enter a PIN code. It turns out that in Denmark, they instituted a PIN code to replace signatures, and this is different from an ATM PIN code you would have for a debit or credit card. Some stores were able to bypass the PIN and then print a receipt for a signature - hotels and some restaurants did this - but most other stores - supermarkets, mobile phone stores, gas stations - did not. I had a mobile phone store even call American Express, and eventually told me they could not process a purchase without a PIN code. As a result, we simply used the ATMs to withdraw and pay with cash.

We’ve mentioned this phenomenon before in an earlier post about the frustrations of not having a “ChipKnip” feature when traveling the Netherlands with U.S.-issued credit cards. But the chip-and-PIN requirement wasn’t nearly as widespread in Holland. We got off comparatively easy. It sounds much closer to mandatory in Denmark.

The whole point of a global credit card network like Visa or MasterCard is that you can use your card globally. If you have extra local requirements that take precedence, then Danish Visa cards might as well drop the Visa name. (Heck, call them Carlsberg cards.)

Of course, Danes can bring their cards to the U.S. to swipe and sign, so they enjoy the advantages of a global card network. But shouldn’t the major credit card networks clamp down on this kind of local variation?

Which countries are the biggest offenders? The issue seems isolated to Europe thus far. We count the UK and the Netherlands as moderately problematic. Germany and France are no problem at all. And Denmark is trouble with a capital T.

Where else? Comments are open, e-mail tips encouraged.

Related:
- We prefer Visa cards, just not yours

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Reader THC writes:

I’ve been in airports a lot lately, with CNN Airport playing on TVs everywhere. But I didn’t know about the plane crash in Brazil until I got home. Does CNN Airport filter air crash news?

Yep. Apparently the directors behind CNN Airport Network do indeed censor the news to keep “disturbing” images off the terminal TVs.

The exception was 9/11, when the network reported the events of the day. But otherwise, CNN has broadcasted other news, or even video of singing cowboys.

One writer went so far as to solicit the official CNN policy:

“Oh, yes, Airport Network programming is sensitive to travelers,” the cheerful Ms. Hammann told me when I asked if in fact they do cut out disturbing airline-related news. She sounded just like one of the on-air honey blondes, warm and overwhelmingly reassuring.

“So, we don’t show sensitive materials like that,” she continued. “We use our discretion. If it is something that is specific to the airline industry, something that is particularly upsetting or disturbing to travelers, then it’s not shown. That’s always been our policy, and we make that known to the airports and the airlines and they’re fully in agreement with that policy.”

There you have it. Frankly, I wouldn’t shed any tears if the CNN monitors were removed from airports. My eyes inevitably drift up to watch, no matter how much I’d rather not look.

But is the failure to report disturbing news of air disasters an act of sensitivity, or censorship? I’m on the fence. I’m not sure I’d want to hear about a crash just as I’m about to get on a plane, and I’m pretty hardy in the face of such news. But if the televisions are broadcasting news, shouldn’t it be the real news of the day, and not just singing cowboys?

(image: 1541)

Chase is offering an astronomical 25,000 bonus miles when you sign up for their United Airlines Mileage Plus Signature Visa and spend $250 on the card. There’s no annual fee in the first year. After a year they charge $60.

25,000 miles gets you a free domestic ticket.

The fine print says the offer is for new customers only, but it’s possible the bank might waive that requirement. (The link is handled by FirstUSA, which is a subsidiary of Chase, FYI.)

Via Gary Leff.

Post 9/11, I figured that hijackings were a thing of the past. Passengers would rise up and tackle the perps, grabbing them by the hair and engaging in a rough and tumble Boeing Brawl. The captain might emerge, heroically carrying his fire axe, duct-taping the hijackers to a seat, Jack Bauer-style, and order would be restored.

Apparently, you still CAN hijack a plane, after all. Turkish hijackers took over a Turkish Airlines flight from Tirana, Albania, to Istanbul, apparently in protest of the Pope’s upcoming visit to Turkey. The flight was diverted to Brindisi, Italy, escorted by Greek and Italian fighter jets, where the hijackers requested asylum.

Maybe no one stopped the hijackers because they were too nice: The flight attendants were allowed to serve drinks and snacks during the flight, apparently AFTER the hijacking was underway. The hijackers had no obvious weapons, and no one was hurt.

Passengers thought something was odd when they “saw a man wearing track-suit bottoms and a hat go to the cockpit door and pause there, thinking.”

Miss India, Miss Singapore, Miss Malaysia, and Miss Philippines were on the flight, returning from the Globe International 2006 beauty contest in fab-u-lous downtown Tirana.

The lesson: Never trust beauty queens to take down a hijacker. Never.

(image: Valleia)

The New York Times’ Joe Sharkey, who was on board the Embraer jet that collided with the ill-fated Gol Airlines Boeing 737 over Brazil, has a firsthand account of the incident today. It’s a worthwhile read, in which he describes the moment of impact, the sight of the sheared-off winglet, the passengers’ serious but unpanicked demeanor, and the pilots’ focused (and ultimately successful) efforts to wrestle their damaged plane to a runway they didn’t realize existed. Go read the whole thing.

Since Sharkey wrote the piece, the cockpit voice recorders of the doomed 737 have been found, so we’ll hopefully learn soon what happened exactly, and how the larger plane could be taken out by the smaller one.

On his own blog, Sharkey has come under vituperative attack, largely by Brazilians, it seems, for expressing concern about the Embraer’s pilots who were held for questioning, and not expressing sufficient grief at the loss of the 155 passengers in the Boeing.

Give the guy a break. He’s clearly shaken up after a brush with death, and he’s grateful to the pilots who safely landed a plane that was starting to come apart. It’s only natural to think of things through the lens of your own experience.

Previously:
- How could this tragedy have happened?

(image: AP via NYT)