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Downgraded: Uses of college budgets
I know that baggage fees suck, but is refunding students who fly back to school their $15 or $25 baggage fees really the best use of college funds?

Downgraded: “Fakeproof” passports
I love stories like this: British authorities touted the safety and security of their “e-passport,” effectively a passport with an embedded radio-frequency chip. Hacker-proof, they claimed. It was cracked, cloned, and altered within minutes. Minutes. Not even hours, much less days, or weeks. Minutes. The computer researcher proved his point by changing the data to make the passport appear to be Osama bin Laden’s, complete with passport photo. Just awesome. (Recall that, as posted a couple years ago, the easiest way to destroy the chip inside your passport, if you’re wary of RFID scanners stealing your personal information, is with a hammer.)

Downgraded: American Airlines upgrades
A downgraded upgrade? Indeed. American recently rolled out copayment fees for many of its upgrade awards. See the changes on the award chart here. More evidence of the devaluation of miles, if you needed a reminder.

Upgraded: European booking war hilarity
Britain’s Thomson Holidays, part of the TUI Group, came under heat for offering vacation rentals in Greece or Turkey for £14 a week. At £2 a night, that’s some cheap sleeps. Why was this problematic? Competitors complained that Thomson was changing customer expectations, causing travelers to hold out and wait for the rock-bottom room rate, instead of booking early. Sounds like crybaby talk to me.

Upgraded: Alliance dalliance
It’s not really a surprise, given the urge to merge that’s rampant in aviation today, but American Airlines, British Airways, and Iberia are looking to link up. They’re already alliance partners within Oneworld, and this isn’t a merger (yet), but the three airlines are trying to get antitrust immunity, so they can collude and set fares together. There’s really no benefit to consumers in this, especially if you fly between London and the United States. AA and BA dominate those routes, and the companies want to expand their price-setting power.

Upgraded: Google Maps’ sense of humor
Remember how Google Maps gave directions from the U.S. to Europe which included the instruction to swim across the Atlantic? Those jokesters recently did it again, suggesting you kayak across the Pacific Ocean. (They took it down, alas.)

Upgraded: Your chance to speak your mind on aircraft interiors
Friend of the blog Addison Schonland is doing some market research on aircraft interiors, and what you want to see inside those aluminum tubes. Take his poll, which will hopefully filter through to airline designers and execs attending the Aircraft Interiors Expo show next month.

Upgraded: Stormy weather
Priceline is once again rolling out a cute promotion, which promises to pay the cost of your vacation package if your trip is rained out, through November 16, 2008. The “Sunshine Guarantee” kicks in if a half inch of measured rainfall is present on HALF of the days of your trip. That’s a lot of rain, so don’t count on any payout. Kerala monsoon holiday, anyone?

I admit, I’m a sucker for the Shatner ads for Priceline. His over-the-top self-mocking is pitch-perfect. But beyond the Shat, there’s great news on the booking fee front courtesy of the firm he hawks. Priceline has “permanently” eliminated the booking fee it once charged on regular airfare.

Note that this is for a traditional flight search, by airline, schedule, etc., not the name-your-own-price opaque airfare they offer. (I wouldn’t recommend opaque airfare to anyone but a backpacking tourist with time to kill.)

Priceline and Hotwire have both previously put their booking fees for scheduled airfare on hiatus, but Priceline’s news is to make it “permanent,” and not just a limited-time offer.

This is a blow to Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, and any other agency, online or off, that charges a fee. But it’s not a death blow. Neither Priceline nor Hotwire have that great of a fare search engine, though you’re able to buy mixed-airline itineraries on both. Priceline allows multi-city routings and refundable-fare searches. (Hotwire punts and sends multi-city requests to Expedia instead.)

Nonetheless, it’s good to see a whittling down of booking fees, especially in an environment of fuel surcharges and all around nickel-and-diming. Bravo to lower fees. And with the ever self-deprecating Shat, to boot.

Related:
- Priceline flight search (aff)
- Hotwire.com (aff)