Travel Industry Archive

I attended day 1 of the inaugural US version of the Aircraft Interiors Expo earlier this week, and I saw one big theme throughout the show. It’s all about weight. Let me explain. With fuel prices at such a high level, every ounce of weight on every single airplane becomes important. The more weight you have onboard, the more you have to pay in fuel to fly it around. So, just about...

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It’s not often that you see an airline come up with a new advertising medium, but Air New Zealand has done just that. They’re looking for volunteers to tattoo an ad for their new check-in system right on the back of their heads. Is this a brilliant idea that US carriers should consider or is it ridiculous? I’d say the answer is “both,” actually. This is...

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I definitely had to do a double-take when I saw that Singapore Airlines would be reducing its fuel surcharges in response to lower fuel prices. Shocking, isn’t it? According to Business Travel Guru, they aren’t all going down. Short-haul flights drop from $40 to $36 and medium-hauls drop from $110 to $100 while long-haul doesn’t change. But this is still a welcome, and...

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The City of Atlanta is suing Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia and 14 other online travel companies in Georgia Supreme Court for millions of dollars in unpaid hotel taxes. And the lawsuit is growing in popularity. Several officials contend that city coffers were raided by the online travel sites and filed similar cases in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Miami and Chicago. According to court filings, the...

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Holy cow. If you ever wondered about the volatility of the stock market, I think we’ve got a pretty interesting case study after United’s stock dropped like a rock yesterday morning on bankruptcy rumors that turned out to be false. Take a look at this chart and see if you can figure out when the news broke: Yeah, that’s what I thought. Initially, it was said that a Tribune...

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While some hotels are cutting rates or offering free nights for a three- or four-day stay, others are saying that they’re only hurting the industry. And ground zero of the debate seems to be occurring in tourism-battered Hawaii, where 20 percent of businesses have reported layoffs and visitor spending has declined by 15 percent, or $177 million last month since 2007. Outrigger Hotels...

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When Matthew Avril took the helm of president of the hotel group of Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide last week, after Matthew Ouimet was terminated by the company after two years, who knew that chief executive Fritz van Paasschen could come up with so much hackneyed praise to heap upon the new boss. Let’s count them! From the release: “Matt is a true team player with a...

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Could passengers stage a mutiny and take over a cruise ship? It could if the cruisers had anticipated a balmy week in the Caribbean. But because of Tropical Storm/Hurricane Hanna, they were rerouted to exotic . . . Newport, R.I.? According to USA Today, Carnival’s Miracle left New York last Friday and was supposed to sail eight nights with stops in San Juan, St. Thomas and Grand...

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Continental has been doing it for years. Delta, US Airways, and Northwest have ramped up as well. United, well ok, United doesn’t do it at all. But American’s limited 757 Transatlantic service is about to grow up as the airline sets aside a certain number of planes to have a full international premium product. Airliners.net has a copy of an internal memo from American detailing...

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A blimp being built outside of Los Angeles by Worldwide Aeros Corp. in Montebello, Calif., could soon shake up the transportation industry. Called the Aeroscraft, the blimp can haul tons of cargo and hover along at 138 MPH for 3,000 miles. About three-quarters of its weight is supported by helium and it’s buoyed by air, so it uses less fuel than a jet. Worldwide Aeros was founded by Igor...

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