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Time to short Samsonite stock?
Continental is the latest in a long line of airline to slap an additional fee on checking in a second suitcase. Yes, some exceptions apply, so OnePass elites as well as premium-cabin customers won’t have to pay the bill. But the bottom line: The 2008 flying environment dictates that the “2PC” rule is dead. One checked bag per person, or pay up.

UPDATE: Cranky points out that United has tightened up its rules on the 2nd bag. Previously, a refundable (read: expensive) ticket meant you got a waiver on the 2nd bag fee. Not anymore. How nice of them to make the policy so much more consistent, while, surely coincidentally, adding a revenue opportunity for the airline!

Another one bites the dust
Not quite the level of drama as the ATA, Aloha, and Skybus shutdowns, but Midwest Express’ commuter feeder Skyway Airlines is no longer flying. Their routes are being taken over by Skywest, a few letters apart, but a different company nonetheless. Passengers may not even notice, as the tickets were sold by Midwest and simply subcontracted to a different supplier. But the pilots and employees of Skyway will be feeling the sting.

Fuel cell-powered airlines coming someday?
It’s a small plane, without tons of passengers and cargo, but an encouraging sign nonetheless. Boeing successfully tested a small plane that ran on batteries and fuel cells. Its only emissions: Water vapor. Now if only they could create a fuel cell large enough to fly to Singapore…

How would US Customs & Immigration rate?
Jan Chipchase blogs about customer service feedback opportunities at Beijing and Frankfurt airports. I’ve flown through Frankfurt, but not Beijing, yet I’ve never been asked to give my opinion of the customs/immigration experience. Harrumph. The Beijing mechanism — an electronic device that invites you to push a button, rating your customs agent on a Likert scale — is nutty, and frankly unexpected at ANY airport, much less in China. (Jan snapped a photo of the device in the airport, which, in itself, is amusing, considering the general securitization of the customs area…) Nice idea, as long as you can rate the agent AFTER you’ve completed your business. I can only imagine how the surly agents at JFK would rate.

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The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed changes to the way airports calculate the fees they charge airlines. If approved, the rules will allow airports to charge different rates for flights that land at different times. The logic: By charging higher rates at peak times, there will be incentives for airlines to schedule their flights off-peak, to save money on landing fees.

My initial take: If the goal is to truly reduce delays, I don’t think this will work.

Airlines don’t schedule a bazillion flights to depart from New York simultaneously because they’re being arbitrary. It’s because people want or need to depart during those times.

Sure, some airlines might find off-peak pricing to be an incentive — Skybus, anyone? — but that’s not going to be enough to change the Americans, Deltas, and Uniteds of the world. It’ll just push up the price of tickets for peak travel.

For those who want to get deep into the weeds, Chris Elliott has the full text of the new ruling on his blog.

Despite my pessimism regarding delays, allowing flexible fees isn’t necessarily a bad idea… if you’re an airport. Charging more for peak times is a way for airport operators to make more money. Maybe I’m just a cynic, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what this is really all about.

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Yes, I’m asleep, but yes I am happy to see you
The spectre of naked sleepwalking businessmen is haunting Europe. UK-based Travelodge reports a seven-fold increase in the number of cases of sleepwalkers, usually male, often in the buff. It’s become so much of a problem, the hotel chain has started issuing pamphlets to franchisees, giving guidance on how to handle a sleepwalker. “Have towels ready” in case of embarrassing nudity. Noted.

Sioux City, Iowa ROX
Sioux City’s three-letter airport code is rather unfortunate: SUX. But after years of objecting to code, and after considering the alternatives offered by the FAA (GWU, GYO, GYT, SGV and GAY), the city has decided to embrace the code. Paging Hubwear to create the appropriate t-shirts! (Thanks, Will!)

Meet the buyer of the world’s most expensive ticket
So the Airbus A380 took its first commercial flight, with all seats sold by Singapore Airlines as part of a charity auction. The winning bid for the pair of 1st class suite seats went to the fresh-faced 38-year old Julian Hayward of the UK, who spent roughly US$100,000 for the pair. Ouch. At least it was for a good cause, I guess.

Who knew commuter airlines flew to space?
Rocketplane, one of the companies hoping to bring suborbital space travel to the masses, is redesigning their spaceship. You might not know what weightlessness feels like, but the experience of the flight might seem all too familiar: In lieu of a refitted Learjet (!), they’re creating a new design, which looks astonishingly like a regional jet. I hope the legroom is better.

The movie seemed so nice, why is the guy in the uniform so unfriendly?
Nearly a year ago, the U.S. government commissioned Disney to help revamp the image of the United States as a travel destination. Thanks to the post-9/11 paranoia-driven fingerprinting, slow visa approvals, and the perpetually incomprehensible line “managers” and gruff INS agents at airports across the country, the reputation of flying to (or, heaven forbid, transiting through) the U.S. has been in the cellar. Disney’s first visible change: A seven-minute movie, depicting the diversity of American culture. Fine, and good. But until you train the passport checker in a little customer service, you’re still a long way away from people calling the U.S. a friendly place to enter.

Upgraded: Hotel executives’ waste of shareholder funds
Hotel corporation annual meetings rarely reach the level of sublime self-indulgence, but InterContinental has raised the bar:

[InterContinental Hotels Group] Americas’ President Steve Porter kicked off [IHG’s national meeting] with the gusto of a rock star, directing a choir singing Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” A band, including CEO Cosslett on guitar, provided the thunderous chords while drummers drilled the song into the rafters of the Dallas Convention Center.

“Today we are at a crossroads,” Porter said. “Our relevance is at risk.”

Clearly, true. For real relevance, Porter would have conducted the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and London Symphony Orchestra in a complete performance of the Who’s “Tommy,” while discussing the prospects for expansion of the Hotel Indigo brand.

Upgraded: Airport health care
Why visit a doctor — or heck, a supermarket — when you can get your flu shots at the airport? Now injecting at gate C17!

Downgraded: New England fall foliage
One year’s weather or global warming? Either way, fall foliage in the northeast U.S. isn’t looking so great.

Upgraded: Eos adds more all-business flights
Eos Airlines, which currently flies from JFK to London-Stansted is expanding. New routes will include Newark to Stansted in the spring, and JFK to Paris in the fall.

Upgraded: Skybus adds flights from Greensboro
Late last month, I posted about Skybus‘ plans to expand to a new hub — or “focus city,” if you must use the proper nomenclature. Signs were pointing toward Greensboro, NC or Portsmouth, NH. Greensboro it is. Up to 11 flights a day coming soon.

Upgraded: A380 cinema verité
Video of the interior of the new Singapore Airbus A380. It’s pure, unadulterated Singapore Airlines and Airbus PR video. But it’s actually often rather unflattering, if you ask me, at least in coach. (Legroom looks good, but those colors are drab!) For those seeking some first class airline porn, voila.

(Thanks to reader Chris!)

Reader Brian G. asks:

Your recent reader mail about international stopovers provides a reasonable segue for me to ask a question I’ve been pondering: is there a resource for identifying ALL of the non-stop flights from a given airport?
I initially thought of this question a couple of years ago while living in Alaska for the summer. Anchorage claims (and I have no reason to doubt) that Ted Stevens was the first North American airport with non-stop flights to both Europe and Asia. I started wondering if there were any airports in the world with non-stop, commercial flights to five continents (Antarctica is out and I’m not counting the continent of origin).

In my experience airport websites are largely useless. Of course I can use various search engines and try origin and destination airports through educated guesses, but not all airlines are listed in all search engines, and it’s sometimes hard to tell if a flight is truly non-stop. Probably the most useful resources I found were airline route maps, but still that’s a lot of guessing and checking. (Singapore was my best guess [for an airport with flights to five continents], but I can’t find a non-stop to South America. Perhaps Johannesburg?)

Such a resource has a practical application: we’re using miles to go to (Europe? South America) next summer, but we don’t care where we fly to specifically - we just want a non-stop flight from SFO. I’d like to type in an airport code and get an alphabetical list of direct flights and their associated airlines. Any suggestions?

Suggestions, yes, but none that meet your criteria fully. But let’s back up:

First off, don’t forget that when airports claim to have X number of nonstop flights to various locations, that number can (and will) include cargo flights. Anchorage, for example, is laden with nonstop cargo flights to Asia. And even if a search picks those flights up, that’s not going to help you plan your travels.

Second, no, I haven’t found an airport that meets your 5-continent criteria. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Readers, any help here?

But back to your core question:
I don’t have a magic bullet for you. Like you’ve found, there is no single source for nonstops. The closest is OAG’s online tool for finding all direct flights from a given airport. Click it, enter the origin airport name or code, and it will list all the cities served. BUT: You need to dig deeper to find which airline services that city pair, and more importantly, you don’t see whether or not that flight is nonstop or not.

Similarly, you can try running searches on the Bureau of Transportation Statistics website. But it’s not easy. You choose your variables and download flight data into an Excel spreadsheet. Have fun!

I also tried other sites that give great information on flights — flightstats.com and flightaware.com for example — but no luck there, either.

So… any of the myriad travel webmasters out there want to take the challenge? Who will create a site that creates a searchable database of all the nonstop flights (ideally with the operating airline included in the results) from airports around the world?

A note on lingo: In your question you use “direct” and “nonstop” interchangeably, even though you acknowledge that some flights aren’t really nonstop. In airline speak, a flight can be “direct” if the same flight number serves multiple cities. Say, if the same number is used for both a flight from Houston to Newark and the onward flight from Newark to Amsterdam, then Houston to Amsterdam is considered “direct,” even though there’s a connection (and maybe even a change of planes) in Newark. Flyer beware.

UPDATE: FareCompare.com CEO Rick Seaney hits the comments to point to his site’s nonstop-search feature. One catch: You have to choose the airline. Choose your airport/city, then choose the airline, and the site gives you the nonstops. Here’s the line Rick provided in comments, for New York City, to start the ball rolling. Replace “NYC” with the airport code of your choice to try for yourself:
http://www.farecompare.com/flights/-NYC/city.html

Today, online booking megasite Orbitz.com rolled out a new feature that can best be described as really, really neat:
Passengers can log in and alert other travelers to the precise location of the longest or shortest lines, the time it takes to get through TSA screening, the degree to which the roads to the terminal are clogged with traffic, or anything else that’s useful to know about the airport that day.

The free feature just launched in beta today, but once it’s fully operational, with multiple reports from the field, it could be a great resource for travelers looking to move through airports more efficiently.

OrbitzTLC Traveler Update, as it’s being called, also pulls in more traditional flight status, traffic, and airport security information, which in itself is a nice feature. But it’s the public input (call it Web 2.0 if you absolutely must) that really makes this a great idea — one that I wish I had thought of myself. The service is accessible on mobile devices as well as via the Orbitz website.

With multiple voices posting updates, there’s sometimes contradictory information. Take these comments left by travelers in the Charlotte-Douglas Airport section. These were left within minutes of each other:

Avoid security checkpoint lines at Checkpoints B & C. The lines are shorter at A & D.

vs.

Skip the C Concourse security line. You can “fly” through the B check point!

At least they agree that you want to avoid C. The speed of B is up for debate.

Related:
- Orbitz.com (aff)

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Is more efficient airport check-in design possible? Apparently Alaska Airlines has figured out a way to speed things up, by getting the passenger to drop their bag, rather than waiting for the gate agent to do it for them.

The system has been in use for some time now at the airline’s Anchorage hub. The Wall Street Journal profiles their patented (yes, patented) check-in area with a glowing report:

In Anchorage, the lobby is deep instead of shallow. But thanks to multiple windows, it is light and airy and provides a sweeping view of the Chugach Mountains to the east. The spacious hall is dotted with kiosks and roving customer-service agents to help passengers who aren’t familiar with the machines. Those without bags can go immediately to the security-screening lines around the corner. Those with luggage proceed to bag-drop stations where the passengers, not the agents, place the bags on conveyor belts while the clerk checks boarding passes and identification, tag the bags and give the fliers the baggage stubs.

Because the transactions are so swift at these stations — and because the passengers (or, in some cases, porters) do the heavy lifting — one agent can handle two lines of passengers, and the lines are rarely very long. Elite frequent fliers have dedicated bag-drop stations.

I’m honestly surprised at the speed improvements (surprised in a good way). The slowest part of self-check-in with bags is often the wait for the gate agent, who is working six counters at once. Until they check your id and tag you, you’re waiting, clogging the kiosk. The Alaska method moves you away from the kiosk, but it could still bottleneck at the bag drop, where the agent has to tag your bags, no?

The method will be rolled out in Seattle next year. But will it work elsewhere, in older terminal buildings where the width of the building exceeds its depth? Heck, even newer buildings are wide rather than deep.

Nonetheless, it sounds promising. It’s been 10 years, almost to the day, since I’ve passed through Anchorage Airport, so I have no first hand experience with Alaska’s new approach. Comments from those who have seen it in action are especially welcome.

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Downgraded: Any last smidgen of credibility for inflight radio interviews
If you’ve ever flipped through the inflight audio dial on American Airlines, you’ll know that there’s a channel (#9) devoted to “interviews.” University of Chicago economist and Freakonomics author Steve Levitt was invited to participate… for the low, low price of $3995.00. I honestly never gave those interviews advertorials much of a listen, but the participants pay-to-play? And for that much?? Wow. ZERO credibility. (Thanks, Dr. Vino!)

Upgraded, possibly: The international airport welcome wagon
The U.S. Senate has passed a bill expanding the “model airport” program to other international ports of entry.

In April, the DHS designated Houston’s Bush International Airport as the first “model” port of entry, adding multilingual signs and informational videos narrated in Spanish, French, German and English to guide arriving travelers through the customs and immigration process. Arriving visitors are also presented with a “Welcome to the U.S.” brochure.

Unclear if general tone of the arrivals halls will feel any less like a police station, what with the fingerprinting and generally gruff attitude of every employee, but here’s hoping it helps.

Downgraded: British Airways’ standing among royal Qataris
Members of Qatar’s royal family were kicked off a British Airways flight for not following safety procedures, when they refused to take their seats. Why wouldn’t they sit? “After boarding, the women complained about the seats they had been allocated because they were next to men they did not know.” Setting aside the culture clash: None of this would have happened if British Airways would actually allow advance seat assignments for passengers on fares lower than the most expensive tickets. (Given their seating concerns, I imagine the royals flew discounted business business class.)

Downgraded: Your privacy (who knew it could be downgraded more?)
Under an expanded security agreement between the US and the EU, gobs and gobs of personal data can and will be shared with governments. If asked, airlines will be required to hand over any information they collect from you. Ask for a king-size bed as part of your package? Homeland Security will know. (Via Consumerist)

Upgraded: TSA Chief Kip Hawley’s internet presence
Downgraded: Logical explanations
Security guru Bruce Schneier is running a multi-part interview with TSA Director Kip Hawley this week. The first part is here. Bruce questions the logic of the 3-ounce liquid restrictions, etc. I’m happy to see Hawley reaching out again, but some of the answers just don’t cut it. For example: “If a TSO finds you or the contents of your bag suspicious, you might get interviewed and/or have your bags more closely examined. If the TSO throws your liquids in the trash, they don’t find you a threat.” Huh? What? Read the whole thing.

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Virgin America’s website crashes (Mechanical delay?)
Virgin America finally opened its virtual doors for business, and within minutes, their site crashed. As Cranky noted, this might be the sort of thing they prepared for a little better. Maybe they should have upgraded from that $6.95/month Blue Host web hosting plan. Flights start August 8. If you want to buy tickets on Virgin America, and they’ve got some good promotional fares going, you can call them at 1.877.FLY.VIRGIN.

As I write this, a quick search shows that their flights don’t yet seem to be loaded on all the major online booking sites. Too bad: I was about to suggest booking online with Hotwire or Priceline, since both are waiving booking fees for all airfare on all airlines for the rest of the summer. But VirginAmerica’s fares aren’t available yet on those sites. No luck on Expedia or Travelocity, either. So far, I’ve only found the fares on Orbitz. If it’s any consolation, some airlines, such as jetBlue, are matching some sale fares. (aff)

Update 11pm: Virgin America’s site is back up. Huzzah.

Simpsons marketing goes airborne
Remember the saucy chalk-outline advertisements targeting air travelers flying into London-Gatwick? The same tactic has been put to use as part of the marketing hullabaloo for the upcoming Simpsons movie, to some controversy, because the drawing of Homer is mocking the, erm, virile outline that was left in a British field centuries ago by pagans. As far as Simpsons marketing goes, I prefer the conversion of 7-Elevens to Kwik-E-Marts anyway.

Travel to avoid… if you can
Joe Brancatelli has a great set of tips in a recent Portfolio column. He offers a list of airports and airlines to avoid if you can, and the special circumstances for each. For example, avoid flying Northwest Airlines in the last ten days of each month. They don’t have enough crew members, and they run short at the end of every month, leading to cancellations. Other tips are equally astute. (What, no swipe at Chicago O’Hare? Too easy?) Go read the whole thing.

Short-haul awards are back on American Airlines
Good news: Tim Winship reports that American Airlines is bringing back its 15,000-mile economy roundtrip short-hop award for nonstop flights less than 750 miles (each way). That’s a 10,000 mile savings per ticket. Dates of eligible travel will be September 1, 2007 through February 29, 2008. See here for full details. Historically, this means that United will announce a similar deal within a week or so. Start your stopwatches, the countdown is on!

Upgraded: US Airways elite status for non-elites
Downgraded: Existing US Airways elite member satisfaction
US Airways is letting those without status buy their way into the rank and file of the elite frequent flyer set, giving them access to the upgrade waiting list and a few bonus miles. Whoo. If I were a US Airways elite, I’d be peeved at their “Try Preferred Status on for size” promotion. Much like Tim Winship argues, it’s hard enough getting an upgrade; now the airline is willing to sell your loyalty down the river to make a quick buck, thereby making it even harder to snag that wider seat with the marginally better service. Classy.

Upgraded: Virgin America
Slow-going upstart Virgin America got its approvals all lined up, and they’re officially legal to sell tickets and fly around the USA. But they’re not selling tickets yet. Their website still promises the moon. What’s the holdup? Jeez, people! August, they say.

Downgraded: Airport scales
Surprise, surprise. The scales at airports are often wrong. How often? 90% of scales were off in a Phoenix television station’s investigative report. Problems limited to Phoenix? Probably not. Try to make sure your scale is at zero when you put down your bags, but that won’t necessary avoid trouble. (Via Consumerist)

Upgraded: The little guy
Jane Waun rocks. She took Spirit Airlines to small claims court for the additional expenses she incurred after Spirit summarily canceled her flight and left her high and dry. They refunded her money for the ticket (eventually) but didn’t cover her additional costs. So she sued. And she won, in part because Spirit never showed up to fight it. 90% of success is showing up, or something like that, right?
(Update: I see Chris Elliott picked up on this, too. And he goes a step further, suggesting that everyone take every travel company to small claims court. Sue them every time, and hope they don’t show, in order to force them to change their practices. Nice idea, but small claims cases still take time! That’s probably why Spirit blew the case off in the first place. But if you have the time, go for it.)

Upgraded: Price transparency in the European Union
The EU Parliament has passed a set of rules mandating that airlines have to quote full prices, not just base fares. (Take that, easyJet!) The law needs approval from member states before taking effect, but this is pro-consumer. Let’s hope the member states pass it.

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Regular readers know how frustrated I have been with inconsistent liquid-ban enforcement and the subsequent confusion over duty free purchases that ensues, like the finger-pointing contradiction-fest I experienced in Munich a while back. Travelers changing planes on multi-leg international flights (say, flying from New York to Frankfurt and on to Johannesburg) were especially hard-hit, with several different layers of regulation hitting them and their liquid cargo.

For the traveler with liquids in tow, two items may be of interest.

First, the European Commission adopted new rules for travelers changing planes in the EU member states, plus Switzerland, Norway, or Iceland. If the airport where you purchased your duty-free liquor adheres to “the two ICAO state letters (1 December 2006 and 30 March 2007), which set standards for tamper evident bags and security levels for supply chains to airport retailing,” then your precious cargo will not be confiscated by European airport personnel or law enforcement authorities. This effectively means that the European Commission now recognizes the security procedures of other airports as acceptable and adequate.

Of course, the problem is, how do you know that your departure airport fits the bill? And it may take some time before the new rules filter down to the people who enforce these rules on the ground. Still: A step forward for common sense.

Second, a reminder from Upgrade: Travel Better contributor Tyler Colman on the rules regarding duty-free limits on wine (or other alcohol, for that matter.) Very often, airport and airline staff unfortunately tell passengers about the “limits” on liquor, when in fact they’re referring only to the duty-free limits. As if the duty free limit is all you’re allowed to carry into the country. Not so!

If you’re flying back to the United States, you can carry in several cases of wine if you like, assuming 1) that you check it as baggage, packed nicely in a padded wine box, 2) that you have receipts indicating the purchase price of the wine, and 3) that you declare the wine to the customs agents when you arrive, and on your declaration form. You can bring plenty back from your travels, if you are willing to pay the taxes, but you only get very limited amounts duty-free. And how much are those taxes? 3%. THREE! That’s nothing! And travelers report that customs agents can’t be bothered to fill out the paperwork on such small amounts, so you might get off with a duty-free case or two.

Of course, carrying that much back means you’re dragging boxes through airports and possibly paying the airline an excess baggage charge. But don’t let anyone tell you you can’t take it with you.

Cheers!

Update:
Reader Steve writes in to point out that I glossed over an important point in Dr. Vino’s post: The rules on how much alcohol you can bring into the country are also set by the state where you land. A snippet from Steve’s e-mail, with a story of zealous liquor enforcement, below:

Your posting on booze coming back into the US is true, but incomplete.

While it is true that the Feds place no restriction on the amount of alcohol you can bring in some states do (or at least used to). So if your first port of entry is NY and NY State only allows two bottle (which used to be the case) then you can be forced to throw everything out beyond that.

That is exactly what happened to me, however it was almost 20 years ago and it is likely (though not certain) that the rules have changed. But since states are still firmly in control of these laws if you intend on bringing in more than the federal limit it would be prudent to call the ABC of the state you will be clearing customs in and ask what the regulations are.

Thanks, Steve!

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Upgraded: Airport food
A positive trend: The resurgence of local restaurants, snacks, and food gifts at airports across America. Ironically, these local brands are often being brought in by the national mega-vendors like HMS Host, who sense that people are tiring of finding the same five food options in every airport. (Thanks Dr. Vino!)

Upgraded: Irony
The passenger who recently flew internationally despite being diagnosed with tuberculosis and warned not to travel? His father-in-law is a microbiologist at the Center for Disease Control in (wait for it…) the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination. What are the odds?

Downgraded: US Airways tray tables, again
They just keep classin’ the joint up, don’t they? First it was tray table advertising in coach. Then they added ads to the tray tables in first class. Apparently people were able to ignore the ads sufficiently, though, so they’re adding editorial content from BusinessWeek magazine. Why? “Research showed that passengers remembered the ads better when they were accompanied by editorial content.” Other blogs are already deriding this (see here and here for two examples) and I’m all too happy to pile on. May I suggest that the following recent BusinessWeek articles be considered for lamination onto US Airways’ tray tables:

• “The Worst Airline Meltdowns: US Airways, Philadelphia, December 2004“
• “S&P Cuts UAL, AMR, US Airways, and Continental“
• “Airlines Brace for a Bumpy Ride“

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