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The tide appears to have turned on inflight cellphone use, and passengers hoping to catch a few winks in-flight may be relieved.

The Federal Communications Commission is apparently withdrawing its previous support for the use of cellular phones onboard commercial aircraft.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is recommending the FCC drop its tentative plan to lift its ban on in-flight cellphone use, three agency officials say. They asked to remain anonymous because the proposal is still being considered. Most of the agency’s five commissioners support the recommendation, the FCC officials say.

The reason given is technical, not etiquette. Tests showed that the inflight systems interfered with mobile phone communication on the ground.

No word yet on how this might affect plans for cellular data transmission. But voice is out. No more worries about trying to sleep while a chatterbox gabs away in the adjacent seat.

Hallelujah.

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Related:
- Secrets of inflight cellphone use — revealed!
- “No Cellphones” light to be added to aircraft interiors
- Emirates promises (or threatens) inflight cellphones on longhaul flights
- No to cellphones, yes to VoIP in the sky?

I’m guest-posting at Consumerist.com again this week, and early into next. (If you came here from Consumerist, howdy. Hope you’ll stick around here, too.) Thanks to Ben and Meg for having me back.

Yesterday’s travel-related highlight: passengers forced to relieve themselves in the barf bag because the airline prohibited use of the bathroom — because a lightbulb was out.

Today’s first offering: American Airlines skycaps in Miami, upset with the tip they received, fill a woman’s suitcase with trash. Delightful.

Just two weeks ago, in a post about rental car upgrades, I mentioned how some car rental agencies will first try to upsell you. Then, if you decline the extra charge, they give you the higher-class car anyway, at no extra charge.

Well, it happened to me again. The scene of the crime: Dollar Rent-a-Car. San Antonio Airport. March 14.:

Agent: I see you’ve reserved a compact. We’ve got a 2-door Suzuki Forenza.

me: That’s fine, thanks.

Agent: The Forenza doesn’t have power windows, power locks, or power steering. For only $45 more for the duration of the rental, we can put you into a nice new Nissan Sentra, that’s a midsize.

me: (incredulously) The Forenza doesn’t have power steering?!!?

Agent: No, it doesn’t. We buy them with no options for $8000, that’s how we can rent them out so cheap.

me: (skeptically) But no power steering?? I’ll still take the compact, thanks.

Agent: You’re sure? It’s not much more for the Sentra!

me: I’m sure.

[type type type]

Fact Check, upon returning home:

1) The Suzuki Forenza doesn’t come in a 2-door.
2) All Suzuki Forenzas (sedans and wagons) come with power steering.

Here, have a review.

Back to the bamboozlement!

Agent: We recommend that everyone take our Loss Damage Waiver [I started tuning out for a bit here]… and we charge for loss of use, which your insurance doesn’t cover.

me: I know all about loss of use. I’m covered. I’m declining all coverage.

I love how the agent knows all about my personal auto insurance and the coverage provided by my Visa card. Nice.

After more typing, and some harrumphing by the agent, I get the contract, get on the shuttle bus, and get dropped off at my car…

A 2007 Nissan Sentra.

I looked around the lot, and how many Suzuki Forenzas — especially the mythical 2-door model without power steering — did I see? None.

On a previous post, commenter Jason wrote about attempts like this to upsell the customer when a free upgrade was pending. Jason said such practices were a fire-able offense at Alamo/National. Apparently not the case at Dollar…

In the end, I was fine receiving this upgrade, since it’s a decent ride with solid fuel economy. It’s not like they gave me a minivan.

But the outright lies that were told to me at the desk were atrocious.

Related:
- Reader mail: Why would I want to upgrade my rental car?
- Loss of use? Get lost.

The Department of Transportation has spoken, and embattled airline-to-be Virgin America can fly… IF — and only if — they fire their CEO.

That would be Fred Reid, whom you may remember from such video aircraft tours like this one.

Here’s the word from the DOT:

“We tentatively find that the applicant’s replacement of Mr. Reid as CEO and board member with a U.S. citizen who has no prior affiliation with the Virgin Group would substantially remedy our concerns over the independence of the applicant’s management from the Virgin Group,” DOT said.

As a condition of gaining approval, Virgin America must confirm Reid’s termination of employment within 90 days of the carrier’s obtaining its certificate, and any follow-on consulting work must end within 180 days of his removal.

Tough break for Fred, but I’m not worried about him. Something tells me he’s got a platinum parachute waiting for him.

There is also a dispute over the use of the Virgin name, and the payment of royalties to the British mothership. That could actually be a bigger snag, in the end, since the Virgin name is something the airline presumably wants.

Pass the popcorn, again.

Related:
- Virgin America is un-American
- Virgin America wants your vote, teases you with glimpses of their planes
- Update: Virgin Atlantic revises its ownership structure, potentially making it legal

I’m back from vacation, tanned, rested, and ready. Thanks to Tyler Colman, a.k.a. Dr. Vino, for minding the store in my absence, and for guest-posting earlier today. (And, as an aside, congrats to him for his James Beard Award nomination!)

I returned to Chicago just in time to catch a glimpse of the behemoth Airbus A380 at O’Hare. Airbus and Lufthansa have been taking it on tour. Sadly, I arrived at 4:30pm and was unable to get the interior tour, but I snapped a few exterior photos. They’re not the greatest pictures, but what the heck.

The photo above was taken from my seat onboard a comparatively wimpy little Boeing 737, right after landing. We taxied right past the mega-jet after touching down. I have to admit, it’s really impressive when you see the plane in person. There was a 747 nearby, and it looked small.

And yes, being a dork, I took the train to the long-term parking lot and back to the terminal to try to get another glimpse.

More photos after the jump. Click “more” to see them.

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In the old market of Sarlat, a new language is increasingly being heard: English. Attracted by the quality of life, including good food and good weather, the English have been buying second homes in the remote Dordogne region of France over the past few years. Why the new interest? Ryanair started direct service to Bergerac (EGC) from London Stansted (STN).

While in Europe many peripheral airports have aggressively courted low-cost carriers, the trend in America has lagged behind. That may be changing.

Scott McNally wrote in his column last week in the Wall Street Journal about the rise of peripheral airports. He cites the new LA/Palmdale Regional airport 50 miles from LA, the Gary, Indiana airport now calling itself “Chicago/Gary” and the fact that the Port Authority bought the lease on the Newburgh airport 55 miles north of Manhattan.

Will we see this as a cheap (if not fast) route to big cities as has been the norm in Europe? Sadly, it seems not. United is scheduled to provide service to LA/Palmdale via their regional jets. Where are the low-cost carriers in the US? Will these far-flung areas experience new growth like the Dordogne with the English? Sound off in the comments below. Interestingly, Ryannair recently said they had to start flying to major airports in order to continue growth.

–Tyler Colman

The folks at FareCompare.com are an inventive bunch. I really like what they’re doing to lift the hood on the mechanics of airfares. I’ve previously posted about their fare alerts that tell you what the discounted fares will be hours before you can actually buy them, and how their fare search tools let you do flexible searches that the big booking sites have disabled.

So when FareCompare COO Neil Bainton started posting an index of airfares at his blog for airfare wonks, Airtravelchannel.com, I was interested.

What the index does is track the lowest fare (ignoring fare rules like minimum stay or advance purchase) between the 50 largest markets in the United States. That’s 1250 fares. (50 markets times 50 markets = 2500, but the fares are the same in each direction, so divide it by two to get 1250.)

Much like the Dow Jones Industrial Average doesn’t track all stocks, but only 30 blue chips, this index doesn’t cover all the bases. The index is a first cut at measuring the state of airfares as a whole. With tens of thousands of city pairs, and hundreds of fares between each airport, getting a glimpse of ALL the airfares in America isn’t going to happen anytime soon, and might not even be useful. (How many people really want to fly, say, from Grand Junction, Colorado to Pellston, Michigan? So I don’t think it’s not really necessary to include every fare.)

The index could have some interesting applications, especially for journalists or financial analysts who want to track the big-picture of fares in America. Just this past Tuesday, the index “crashed” 29 points, or 5.8%, with a Delta sale bringing the average down.

The index also comes with a one-to-four star label, to give the current reading historical context. Four stars obviously means that fares on the whole are generally good.

But the utility of this number isn’t immediate: No one buys “fares on the whole,” they buy specific tickets. This is all interesting stuff, and data hounds could eat this up. But individual travelers would probably benefit from a more localized index that targets their home airport. Neil tells me this is in the works.

An index just for your own city might be one extension. A rule-driven index might be another. Business travelers who can rarely take advantage of ultra-low advance purchase fares might instead benefit from an index of refundable fares, or 3-day advance purchase fares, possibly sorted by home airport as well.

Much like there is an industry-specific stock index for practically every sector of the economy, this could balloon into a huge number of indicators. Heck, this could be monetized by creating futures contracts based on an index like this. Go long the San Francisco fares and short the Dallas index! Don’t laugh, there are websites out there that already do this sort of thing, and Wall Street isn’t far behind.

In any case, it’ll be neat to see where this goes. Information like this increases the transparency of airfares and travel costs as a whole, which is good for consumers. Bring it on.

The Star Alliance wants to give you a free round of golf or a free golf lesson if you travel on one of their member airlines internationally.

It’s 18 holes of real golf, not mini golf, despite my choice of image. (As an aside, if you demand more images of minigolf windmills, see here.)

The deal: Register at the Star Alliance golf offer site. Then buy an international ticket on one of their airlines. El Cheapo Deluxe fares won’t cut it, unfortunately. Tickets need to be in Y, B, or M fares (high-end economy), or full fare business and first. Gee, thanks. But if you’re already intending to go on one of these fares, and you like golf, you might as well get that extra perk. Bizarrely, the offer is open only to residents of the United States and China (but not Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan).

Three days after travel, you should receive an e-mail with the voucher for the free golf. The list of golf courses that participate (limited availability, first-come, first-served, etc., etc.) is pretty extensive, spanning 22 countries, including Pebble Beach (good luck getting that one.)

Full rules, dates, etc. are here.

(image, via The MiniGolf Enthusiast)

More passengers’ bill of rights fun! It’s not just the Chicago City Council that’s taking a national issue local. This time it’s the Florida Senate. Pile on!

The Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday endorsed Bradenton Republican Sen. Mike Bennett’s bill to force airlines to refund ticket prices or issue tickets for other flights to customers whose flights are delayed more than one hour.

It’s unclear whether the state has the authority to regulate the federally controlled airline industry, but Bennett said he filed the bill so lawmakers in Washington and the airline industry know Floridians expect better customer service when they fly.
[…]
Under Bennett’s bill, airlines would have to pay inconvenienced customers the same fee they would charge someone to cancel a flight.

For example, if customers have to pay $50 to book a later flight because they’re delayed in traffic, the airline would have to pay those customers the same $50 if the carrier delays a flight because of problems with a plane. The penalties would not apply to flights delayed because of bad weather. The bill would also require airlines to transfer tickets from one person to another.

Love it! I know this is grandstanding, and it’s likely to be struck down in court, but it’s fun to turn the tables on the airlines. Can we start doing it to banks, too, while we’re at it?

(Aside: $50 to book a later flight when you’re stuck in traffic? Most airlines have the “flat tire rule” which lets you stand by for a later flight with no penalty, but you may need to use the phrase “flat tire” to make it stick. Anyway…)

Boeing is testing a new form of autopilot that might make hijackings even harder by putting the plane’s controls in the hands of people on the ground.

[The system] will be activated by the pilot flicking a simple switch or by pressure sensors fitted to the cockpit door that will respond to any excessive force as terrorists try to break into the flight deck. Once triggered, no one on board will be able to deactivate the system. Currently, all autopilots are manually switched on and off at the discretion of pilots. The so-called ‘uninterruptible autopilot system’ - patented secretly by Boeing in the US last week - will connect ground controllers and security services with the aircraft using radio waves and global satellite positioning systems. After it has been activated, the aircraft will be capable of remote digital control from the ground, enabling operators to fly it like a sophisticated model plane, manoeuvring it vertically and laterally. A threatened airliner could be flown to a secure military base or a commercial airport, where it would touch down using existing landing aids known as ‘autoland function’.

Of course, you hope that the system is configured so that it doesn’t kick in every time the beverage cart bumps into the cockpit door.

And speaking of autopilot, I’m on vacation for a few days, and the odds are slim that I’ll have regular, easy internet access. So I’ve queued up a few posts for the coming days and handed the keys to the kingdom to my good friend Tyler Colman, a.k.a. Dr. Vino. We might get some guest posts out of him, but no promises, and no pressure!

Upgraded: Poolside chairs
Honestly, this isn’t something I’ve ever struggled with, but at some resorts, pool chairs are at a premium. The result: Squatters. People actually get up crazy early to lay claim to their chairs. Now, hotels are fighting back against the “chair hogs.” Some have a waiting list. At others, you sacrifice your seat if you’re out of your seat for an hour. At the Peninsula Hotel in Bangkok, you only have a measly 15 minutes. That seems a bit aggressive. Better not actually swim!

Downgraded: Booze
This just breaks my heart: From October to January, the TSA at Miami Airport confiscated NINE TONS of liquids in containers exceeding 3 ounces. Primarily liquor and perfume. And that’s just at Miami Airport. So much booze, much of it purchased at duty free shops in the Caribbean, sitting in a storage locker, with no one to drink it. This is a national tragedy. I weep. Folks: If you’re arriving in the US and connecting to a domestic flight, you have to put your duty free liquor in the checked luggage. Or simply not buy it. Stupid, stupid, stupid, I know.

Upgraded: No frills hotels
If no-frills flying is your cup of tea, then why not bring the discount airline vibe to your lodging? From the folks who brought you EasyJet and EasyCruise, the EasyHotel concept is expanding. Perhaps we’ll see it go the other direction someday. Motel 6 Airlines, anyone? (Or would that be Air 6?)

Upgraded: Movies on planes
It wasn’t just my impression: Airlines really are putting more unedited movies into the rotation. But it’s not just on the individually-controlled in-seat TVs, it’s hitting the old-school projectors, too. The key snippet, with a quote from United: “Since September, United has loosened its restrictions on what types of movies can be shown on jets equipped with overhead screens, which all passengers can see. When the airline played ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ in the fall, an R movie with some ear-curling rants by Alan Arkin, ‘We got a tremendous amount of positive feedback,’ Kovick said.”

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This past weekend, I was a guest on Peter Greenberg’s radio show, talking about Spirit Airlines and their new luggage fees. (Shameless self-promotion alert!)

During the segment, Peter had his producer fire up the Spirit website to see how low their fares went. The answer: $9.

But there was a catch: She found a $9 fare, but only if you joined their “$9 Fare Club.” I had noticed this on their site Friday afternoon, but didn’t think anything of it, really, not realizing at the time that this members-only savings society was anything new. Since then, it has hit the news and blogosphere as something newsworthy.

I’m predictably skeptical. For starters, I’m not a fan of the new Spirit fare structure, so paying a membership fee to maybe — just maybe — have access to limited-availability ultra-low fares doesn’t seem like a good way to spend your cash.

That said, for now the club is relatively cheap to join. A 3-month trial is $9. Thereafter, it’s still pretty cheap, honestly, at $29.95 per year. If (and only if) that really gets you access to ludicrously cheap fares year-round, then it may be worth it. But I have my doubts. Besides, Spirit doesn’t shy away from sales with cutesy names.

I’d wait for the sale.

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