Downgraded: Delta’s SkyMiles
It’s not coming as a surprise, but Delta has added a third tier to its frequent flyer program. I have expected this since last year, when Delta eliminated the “last seat availability” clause and added restrictions to its “SkyChoice” tier of frequent flyer tickets. (Previously, if you were willing to pay about double the miles, and if a seat were still for sale on your desired flight, you’d be guaranteed the opportunity to buy it. Much like full-fare tickets.) Now you have to pay TRIPLE the miles for the “last seat availability.” Bad enough. But there’s insult added to this injury. We know that miles are being devalued, and we understand that airlines are trying to make a buck (by screwing their most loyal customers, ahem), but it’s disingenuous when the airline says it’s giving travelers “more choice” or “flexibility,” when in reality that flexibility was taken away and then replaced at higher prices. I’m in complete agreement with Jared Blank on this one: Delta is pissing on us and telling us it’s raining.

Bonus: Since you’re going to need more miles, why not get some for very little effort, and have a story to tell your friends over a beer? Via Gary Leff, get 20,000 Delta miles by getting a free hair loss restoration consultation. Even if you’re a hirsute Adonis with a flowing mane (or, for the sake of equality, it seems, even if you’ve got the Crystal Gayle look), you’re eligible.

Downgraded: Standby on Frontier
Frontier has eliminated the complimentary standby policy and has moved to a Southwest-style model. You can still get on an earlier flight, but you’ll have to pay the difference between the ticket you’re holding and the walkup fare for the desired flight. If you’re on a full-fare ticket, then rock on. But walkups are most likely far more than what you’re holding. (Hat tip to Dan Webb.)

Bonus: A decent summary of most major US airlines’ standby policies, as of July 3, is here. (via FlightWisdom)

Upgraded: OpenSkies dumps economy, plans flights to Amsterdam
OpenSkies to fly JFK-AMS
British Airways’ new subsidiary OpenSkies just announced a new route from New York to Amsterdam, adding to their New York-Paris flights. At the same time, after only flying for a few weeks now, they’re giving up on their economy cabin, making the Boeing 757s a split between premium economy (using a version of the old BA biz class seats) and true lie-flat business class.

Downgraded: Le génie de Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis carried a gun in his carry-on luggage at Las Vegas’ McCarran Airport. Some confusion arose over whether the gun was a prop or not. Either way, stupid.

Upgraded: Google Maps adds walking directions
I just stumbled across this, in looking for directions within Boston: Google Maps now features walking directions, and not just driving directions. Of course, this only makes sense if you’re in a walkable city, and it’s not rolled out everywhere yet, but it’s a good start.

Downgraded: United
United is taking its pilots to court, accusing them of sick-outs and work slowdowns. I’m in no position to judge the validity of the charges, but this sort of acrimony isn’t exactly the kind of thing a person making travel plans wants to see. Flying is undependable enough, especially in summer, and no one needs another layer of uncertainty. If you had the choice between United and any other airline, and you saw that the pilots and management were swiping at each other, with “work stoppage” and “sick-out” being tossed around, how comfortable would you be booking with United?

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The ever-effervescent Benet Wilson of Aviation Week and Aviation Daily invited me over to her Towers and Tarmacs blog to offer up a guest post while she’s galavanting about on her vacation.

The result: Detention center or amusement park? 3 ways airports can alleviate passenger misery. One suggestion involves beer. Check it out, and tell me if I’m nuts.

Thanks to Benet for letting me sit in!

Delta is doubling the fee for a second checked bag, to a whopping $50. On the plus side, the first checked bag remains free, unlike American, United, US Airways, and others, who have a charge for the first checked bag as well.

It’s an interesting move. I’m guessing it’s not actually an attempt to raise much more money, but rather to dissuade passengers from checking that second bag, thereby keeping planes lighter and burning less fuel. If they really wanted to make luggage transportation a profit center, they’d add a first-checked-bag fee. (Who knows, they still might.)

So this seems designed to change consumer behavior, not rake in the bucks. And as irritating as a $50 fee is, I’d rather have no fee on the first bag and double up on the second one. Delta recognizes that sometimes you simply have to check a bag, and as long as it’s just one bag, you’re not being penalized. I appreciate that.

Update: Gary Leff’s comment entertains me:

Gee, maybe they’d make even more money if they increased the checked bag fee to $1 million.

Update 2: I’m not the only one to think this is designed to reduce bulk, not make money on the fees themselves. From the Dallas Morning News’ Airline Biz blog:

BestFares guy Tom Parsons offers up this theory on baggage fees — if passengers are discouraged from checking bags, the airlines can have space for more profitable cargo.

And they quote Continental CEO Larry Kellner on the success of that airline’s $25 second-bag-fee. Note how “effective” is defined here, and it’s not measured in fee-based revenue:

The second-bag fee has been very effective. In the domestic market, we are seeing about 60 percent reductions for second bags checked by affected customers, and for Latin, it’s about a 35 percent reduction without any meaningful problems at the TSA [Transportation Security Administration] checkpoints for onboard carry-ons.

This is very good for us as we save the weight on board our aircrafts, as well as the handling and mishandling bag costs.

Parents traveling with an infant are likely to rent a child safety seat along with their rental car. After all, it’s a legal requirement for children to be in such a seat. But Advantage Rent-a-Car has been renting out rickety old child safety seats that can’t be properly installed, that smell like vomit, or that are legally mandated to have been retired years ago.

Debbie Dubrow of DeliciousBaby.com has the full story.

This is the equivalent of renting a single person a car that failed inspection, with a duct-taped brake pedal, and a pile of dog poop on the rear seat. It’s unacceptable in every way. You wouldn’t put up with this if you were renting individually. Why would you put up with the equivalent if you were traveling with an infant?

What’s more, Debbie points out that this isn’t the first such incident in Advantage’s checkered history. The company is collecting fees for unsafe and filthy merchandise that’s potentially putting children’s lives at risk.

Advantage has been on my personal boycott list since 2003. (They screwed around with bait and switch pricing, plus the requirement that my insurance company fax them a copy of my policy before I could waive CDW/LDW… Forget it. We’re done. Why waste time and money when other car rental companies offer better service for comparable prices?) This is just the frosting on the cake.

Let’s be blunt here: Advantage obviously doesn’t care about your kids’ safety. You, in turn, shouldn’t be concerned about their financial well-being. Don’t rent from them.

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Last November, the Federal Trade Commission ruled that Budget Rent-a-Car couldn’t impose an automatic fuel fee for those customers driving fewer than 75 miles. Budget was charging the fee even when those customers returned the car with a full tank.

But the fee wasn’t outlawed because it was obnoxious, or extortionary, or patently unfair. It was banned because customers weren’t adequately notified of the fee, or how they could get around paying it by presenting fuel receipts at the time of return.

So much for quick dropoffs. Readers in the past have reported that rental car check-in agents, with their handheld scanners and receipt printers, aren’t always able to override the <75 mile fuel fee. Renters are sent back inside, to wait in line. Agencies are banking on your unwillingness to risk missing your shuttle (and your flight) and just biting the bullet on the fee.

The FTC's decision didn't eliminate the fee, and it's not limited to Budget. It's still out there, just amplified with a big sticky note.

See for example the note attached to Tyler Colman’s rental agreement at Portland Airport this past week, when he rented with Avis. The fee: $13.99. “EZFuel,” eh? Bilking the customer is oh so EZ !

Related:
- Low Mileage, High Surcharges

TechCrunch reported and Budget Travel confirms that American Airlines is pulling its fares out of the granddaddy of all airfare aggregators, Kayak.com. Effective August 1, you won’t see AA fares on Kayak.

TechCrunch also reports, citing “the CEO of a competing travel site” as a source, that American is “considering doing the same with Orbitz. If it does so, other airlines such as Continental and Northwest may follow suit.”

For starters, this stinks for consumers, because it’s making comparison shopping harder. Already we’re stuck comparing apples to oranges, thanks to the variation between the airlines’ myriad fees. But in the long run, I’m betting that pulling out of comparison sites will stink for the airline, too, and we’ll see this decision reversed.

The comparison with Southwest will inevitably arise. Sure, Southwest doesn’t show up in comparison sites, but Southwest customers have been “trained” for years now to skip the search engines and go straight to the airline. American doesn’t have that kind of culture built up, and it’s unlikely to go all-in toward creating such a culture at this point. Just pulling out of Kayak won’t do the trick. And worse, it’s a real pain in the butt to waste time looking all over the internet for the lowest fare. I have always disliked that about Southwest, but hey, it’s working for them. Still, Southwest is the exception — not everyone can pull off selling tickets solely on their their own. Even JetBlue caved in and started publishing fares on other sites.

American Airlines has played these games before. They once yanked first-class fares from Expedia, but came back three weeks later.

This sort of thing goes both ways, too. Notably, online travel agencies don’t claim to cover ALL the options. Orbitz, for example, limits customers’ choices in its rental car search to those companies that pay to be included.

I’m betting that American’s pullout is a bargaining strategy. They hate to pay any referral fees to sites that drive them customers, but they don’t want to lose those customers entirely. Their real goal: to negotiate a smaller revenue split with Kayak and/or Orbitz.

If I’m right, then American’s fares will be back online for comparison shopping within a month or so. If I’m wrong, then we will likely see other airlines do the same, and the business model of Kayak and its competitors is at risk. It’s not just venture capitalists who lose out if those sites fail: The consumer loses. So I really hope my prediction is right.

Air travelers have been taking a number of hits lately, but one of the most egregious was Spirit’s recent “web convenience fee,” whereby they charged an extra $10 for booking a roundtrip ticket online.

“Was”? Yes, “was.” They killed it. Sean O’Neill of Budget Travel pinged me to let me know that the newly updated Spirit contract of carriage no longer includes the fee. He posted about it earlier today.

And sure enough, the fee is gone. I walked through their site as if buying a ticket, and poof! It’s disappeared. Thank goodness. Let’s hope it doesn’t rise from the dead again.

Now, do those who paid the web convenience fee over the last week get their money back?… Don’t hold your breath.

Upgraded: Security on flights without air marshals
An unruly passenger who tried to open an emergency door mid-flight was tackled by members of Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution. Other passengers breathed two sighs of relief: One, that the exiting passenger wasn’t able to screw around with the door. Two, that they were flying with soccer players from Massachusetts, and not with the Uruguayan rugby team.

Downgraded: One-Two-Go takes a vacation
The Thai discount carrier says it’s canceling flight for two months, blaming fuel prices. It’s usually all or nothing, fly or shut down. That two month time-out seems like it would kill any customers’ confidence in the viability of those tickets. Are they simply putting off the inevitable, or making a brilliant move for survival?

Upgraded: Airline revenue streams
Starting this week, Delta has started slapping advertising on some self-printed boarding passes, under an agreement with the marketing company Sojern. See a sample image below. Is it annoying? Maybe. But frankly, I can’t get worked up over this. Cranky is upset about the “demographically” targeted ads that appear on the page, but I see demographically-targeted ads on dozens of websites every day, and I’ve made my peace with those, so I’m just shrugging this one off. I’d rather see ads on boarding passes than “web convenience fees” or tray-table advertisements.

…flies Spirit, that is. Chris Elliott notes the latest fee from the winner of the unofficial Upgrade: Travel Better fill-my-inbox-with-complaints award for lousy airline customer service. Their latest transgression: A $10 per roundtrip “web convenience fee” for making your air ticket purchases online.

So much for the internet reducing transactions costs and making it cheaper to deliver goods and services!

The fee is purely a way to bilk the customer. There’s no other way around it. I realize that fuel is pricey, and that $5 or $10 on every transaction can really add up fast. But this isn’t how you do it.

The phrasing of the fee:

Convenience Fee of $5.00 per traveling customer per one way travel applies to all reservations with the exception of those bookings created directly at Spirit Airlines’ airport locations. All fares are subject to change until confirmed and purchased.

So it’s cheaper to book a ticket at the airport? That makes no damn sense.

Chris is right that the Department of Transportation (and the Federal Trade Commission, I might add) should be looking into this. European airlines have been forced to reduce their false advertising of 1-cent fares with piles of add-on fees. This is a similar instance of mandatory, undisclosed fees that shouldn’t be permitted.

But why get ticked off at an airline I never fly? You won’t find me recommending Spirit to anyone, after all. Simple: These sorts of fees are actually problem for everyone, even if you never fly with them. Two reasons:

As I’ve argued before, one problem is comparison shopping: With Spirit tacking on fees like this, they might look cheaper in head-to-head comparisons with other airlines. That’s deceptive.

Second, like it or not, Spirit has been an industry leader, whom other airlines copycat. Nearly every time they add a fee, someone else follows suit within months, with a cascading effect. How soon before US Airways introduces a web fee? Then United. Then American, Continental, et al. (Southwest might not play along, as they’re still able to milk efficiencies from long-term fuel-contracts that they wisely sewed up months and years ago.) So b.s. fees like this one, even at a niche airline that most people haven’t flown, can’t be allowed to stand, or else we’ll all be paying it sooner or later.

Fight back by filing a complaint. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s complaint form is here. The Federal Trade Commission’s complaint form is here.

Update: Customers who really, really, really want to fly on Spirit, despite having been warned time and again about their horrible business practices, might want to book their tickets on Orbitz.com instead of on the Spirit Airlines website. While Orbitz charges a booking fee, it’s less than the new Spirit web convenience fee. Also, I just tried three sample itineraries, and the fare on Orbitz was lower than the fare sold directly by Spirit. Fluke? Maybe. But worth comparison shopping before clicking “buy.”

Update 2: As of July 23, Spirit has reversed this fee.

Related:
- Spirit’s latest indignity: Middle seats for a $5 fee
- Spirit Airlines keeps it classy with their M.I.L.F. sale
- Spirit Airlines’ CEO flips his customers the bird
- Downgrades: Spirit Airlines to charge for ALL luggage, coffee, and soda
- This is not the Spirit Airlines website and I can’t cancel your club membership. So why are people asking ME for refunds?

Reader Jon writes in with some advice for those prepaying their car rentals…

While searching for a rental car for a trip to Portland recently, I noticed the link to EasyCar on the Upgrade: site. Investigating, I found a UK-based service providing pre-paid rentals worldwide, through various partners (Alamo in the US).

The price of their rental was $150 less than the best price I could find otherwise (including Hotwire and the best name-your-own that Priceline would accept). And, unheard-of in this country, it included CDW. I was skeptical, but when an e-mail to their customer service confirmed that a US citizen could book a car, I took a chance.

Two remarks: First, EasyCar is indeed a legit company. They’re an outcropping of the airline EasyJet. But while Jon’s story is about his experience with EasyCar, his lessons hold true for any prepaid car rental reservation.

Second, rates automatically bundling in Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) are indeed more commonplace for rentals booked from European sites than American sites. I’ve seen this on rentals from big name providers like Avis, as well as from wholesalers and agencies like EasyCar.

Anyway, back to Jon’s story:

It turned out that, indeed, I got my pre-paid rental for the agreed-upon price. There were only two small hitches: although the documentation from EasyCar clearly showed on the front page that the rental was for Portland, OR, somehow at least the return had gotten into Alamo’s computer as Portland, *Maine*, so [Alamo] tried to charge me for a one-way rental.

Po-tay-to, po-tah-to?

Further, although the contract indicated that gas might be offered as an *option*, Alamo’s computer showed it as required. After some debate with the local manager, the one-way problem was corrected, and they agreed to charge but then credit back the tank of gas.

Anyone wishing to try EasyCar should be advised to read carefully all the paperwork and bring it with them to the rental counter. Be prepared to dispute any charges that don’t belong, and be aware that it won’t be easy to contact EasyCar if there’s a problem. (Alamo said the 888- number on my paperwork didn’t work for them, and they refused to call the overseas number. Luckily, they eventually worked it out on their own.)

Glad things worked out in the end, Jon, though I’m sorry you had such a fight on your hands.

Having to break out your inner lawyer isn’t necessarily limited to EasyCar bookings, to prepaid bookings, or … well, there’s really no limit to the kind of bookings you need to watch like a hawk. But prepaid reservations require an especially watchful eye, because there are so many things that can be included, or not. Taxes, fuel, insurance, surprise fees…

Jon did the right thing in printing out reams of documentation. Print (or keep an electronic copy on your laptop of) more than your confirmation; print the FAQ’s, print the contact info, print the terms, print anything that explains what you should be getting.

Another thing to look out for, when you’re considering using a prepaid service: Pay attention to where the transaction is actually charged to your credit card. (It’s either in the terms and conditions, or on the last page of the booking, before you confirm the purchase.) Why should you care? If you’re holding an American card and the charges are issued in another country (such as the UK for EasyCar) you will most likely incur a foreign transaction fee — even if it’s not a foreign currency that’s being charged to the account. Prepaid hotel specialist GTA Hotels comes to mind — they have some good deals, but when you’re comparison-shopping, calculate an extra percent or two to cover the foreign transaction fee, as GTA tends to issue the charge from Turkey.

Prepaid car reservations can be a great (and legit) way to save money. But do your homework, and fight for your rights.