While other airlines are dissuading customers from transacting business at the airport, by imposing penalty fees, American Airlines is looking to smoothe things for passengers at the counter. At Boston Logan Airport, the airline is testing a new set of mobile check-in devices.

The machines, called “Your Assistance Delivered Anywhere,” or YADA — insert Seinfeld joke here — won’t be tied to a specific spot. Instead, AA staff will be able to rove around, checking bags, printing boarding passes, clearing upgrades (!), and providing flight and gate information. The program is designed to reduce wait-times. It sounds like they’ll need a skycap tailing them, to carry the bags off.

It’s a six-week test, so it will be interesting to see how the new procedure plays out in the real world.

Boston AA travelers: Please post your experiences with the YADA in the comments!

Despite a 47% drop in profits, Irish ultra-discounter Ryanair is announcing plans for trans-Atlantic flights starting at £8 plus tax.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said their “Economy class will be very cheap, around 10 euros, but our business class will be very expensive.”

Where would they fly? Launch routes would likely connect London-Stansted or Dublin with New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and unnamed Florida airports. Don’t expect a launch for another 12 or 18 months.

With a substantial network within Europe, Ryanair is likely to find success with its stripped down fares on the economy side. It won’t be pleasurable, and you’ll be nickel-and-dimed for everything, but it’ll still be cheap, and in a recessionary environment, there’s seemingly nothing that economy passengers wouldn’t put up with in order to save money. (And the legacy carriers aren’t doing much to earn your loyalty these days…)

Begin speculating what add-ons they’ll be charging you extra for!

What’s more of a mystery is the business class end of things. Ryanair doesn’t offer anything remotely approximating business class on its intra-European network. They’re the antithesis of premium, with some of the tightest legroom in the sky. So their premium cabin business would rely solely on terminating traffic in London-Stansted or Dublin. Having seen the demise of Maxjet, Eos, and Silverjet, which each serviced outlying London airports without significant premium connecting options, instead of the more networked Heathrow or Gatwick, you have to question whether the Ryanair business class model can work.

Related:
- Disturbing Ryanair safety/training video exposé
- Ryanair to fly to U.S.? Discounter attempts takeover of AerLingus
- Ryanair’s trifecta of customer alienation

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My wife is from Worcester, Massachusetts, about an hour west of Boston, and her mom called with the news that Worcester’s municipal airport was getting air service operated by Virgin America.

Sure enough: A charter outfit called Direct Air (or Myrtle Beach Direct Air) is starting flights from Worcester to Punta Gorda, Florida and Orlando’s downscale Sanford Airport. Flights are operated by Virgin America. Massport had to waive landing, bridge, and terminal fees (in other words, it’s a complete freebie) and, with the city of Worcester, the agency is paying $300,000 toward marketing the flights.

A few points on this, even if you have no family ties to central Massachusetts:

First, while I’ve never heard of Direct Air before today, I’m impressed that they have Virgin America equipment and crews operating the flights. (A “wet lease.”) The satellite TV and entertainment are Virgin’s. So are the seats, including first class. For a charter airline, the seat configuration — 34″ of pitch — is already a big improvement over the status quo of American coach. Thumbs up.

Second, except for the fact that they’ve got the classiest discount airline’s equipment, this airline is completely amateur hour. For God’s sake, on their website, they can’t even spell “Worcester” correctly. (Their frontpage announces service to “Worchester”. See below.)

Other cities are misspelled elsewhere on the site (e.g., “Fort Meyer” instead of Fort Myers, though they DO spell it correctly in the website masthead). Sheesh. The rest of the site is hardly better. They show images of a Direct Air-liveried plane (an old Boeing 737-200) that’s seemingly just a Photoshop job. (I assume Virgin America is keeping its colors on its Airbus A320.) This doesn’t instill confidence.

Third, what does this say about Virgin America that they’re pimping their planes and staff out on the Worcester to Punta Gorda (“Fort Meyer”) route for an outfit like this?

Fourth, fees, fees, fees. Expect an upsell to a “fare club” a la Spirit. Checked luggage costs ya. And there’s a “web convenience fee,” just like Allegiant, for purchasing tickets online. It’s the topsy-turvy world of scheduled charter airlines.

Fifth, let’s be honest. Why would any airline bother with Worcester? With so many airports in the region — Boston, Manchester, Hartford, and Providence are all within an hour — it’s no surprise that Worcester hasn’t been able to sustain viable air service. And why should it, frankly? No offense to the in-laws, or to the booster writing this pro-Worcester Airport blog, but it makes no sense for an established airline to fly to Worcester when other airports have far more established operations right down the road. American and US Airways used to serve the airport with regional jets. Then Allegiant offered flights, which ended in 2006. And now Direct Air.

Bottom line: I will be very surprised if this lasts more than four months after they start service. What a waste of taxpayer money, time, effort, and jet fuel.

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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I’m not sure why this isn’t getting more play, but the TSA is rolling out liquid explosives detection equipment at six airports. But don’t throw away those 1-quart plastic bags just yet. All the existing prohibitions on liquids, and all the procedures for bagging and scanning your 3-ounce liquid containers, are still very much in place.

This hit the news last week, but our inside man at the TSA nudged us out of complacency with this reminder:

On Tuesday (22/05), the TSA announced operational pilot testing at a number of large airports of the technology capable of screening sealed bottled liquids for explosives. The first unit ready for testing is the ICx Technologies Fido PaxPoint. Because the technology has performed well in initial testing, TSA anticipates deploying up to 200 bottled liquid scanners to the nation’s busiest airports by October. The device is currently being used by the U.S. government domestically and overseas, but this is the first time the system is being deployed in an airport environment. Bottled liquid scanners have been or will be piloted at Miami (MIA), Newark Liberty (EWR), Detroit (DTW), Los Angeles (LAX), Las Vegas (LAS) and Boston Logan (BOS).

The handheld ICx scanner can supposedly sense the presence of explosives or components for making an explosive device through glass, plastic, or metal.

I’m a little confused as to why these devices are being deployed, given the other restrictions that already exist on liquids. If 3-ounce bottles are deemed harmless, then a liquid scanner isn’t necessary. Or, if a liquid scanner is in place, then the 3-ounce limit on liquids would no longer be necessary. But why keep both?

Hopefully this test will prove successful and allow the TSA to eventually rescind the 3-ounce rule. I’ll happily offer my liquids for scanning, if that means I can carry a larger container on board.

Boston Logan Airport apparently got the first allocations of the scanners. Has anyone witnessed liquid scans in action? If so, hit the comments! Let’s hear about it.

Related:
- Japan and China introduce liquid-explosive detectors: Why can’t the US?
- Update: TSA compresses 100ml to 3.0 fluid ounces
- Are unlabeled bottles legal through airport security, and how do you deal with agents who make up rules?
- TSA apparently prefers its water in aerosol form

Want to class up that rental car? Avis launched a new service in ten cities today, letting Avis Preferred members hire a chauffeur to drive them around.

As part of the new “Chauffeur Drive” program, the drivers are provided and billed by WeDriveU, which specializes in this sort of thing, and by not Avis.

Personally, I love the idea of someone renting a little crapbox like a Kia Rio, but insisting on having a chauffeur. Somebody please do it, if just for the photos.

But more seriously, this could come in handy if time is short, and you want both an airport pickup and the freedom to drive your own butt around town. Your chauffeur can pick up your car and be there ready to pick you up at the airport, curbside. They can also do drop-offs. Thereafter, you can drive the car yourself, as normal.

Every time you use their service, it has a three-hour minimum, but you can dismiss the driver at any time. Of course, hiring the help isn’t cheap ($30/hour), and it requires 24 hours notice.

Avis has featured chauffeur service in certain cities outside the US, such as Mexico City, for some time, but the joint venture with WeDriveU will be available in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

Details here.