Travel Industry Archive

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary is at it again, this time suggesting to the BBC that his no-frills airline might start charging passengers a pound to use lavatories on flights. As you’d expect, the British press is having a field day with this one, with a lot of them playing off the phrase “spend a penny,” which is an Irish euphemism for, erm, going No. 1. It’s not...

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While many college students used to head to sunny spots like Ft. Lauderdale and Palm Springs, Calif. for Spring Break, several of those same communities have made them feel unwelcome. Not so in Mexico, where more than 100,000 teenagers and young adults are courted each year by its ocean resorts  – welcoming drinking binges, high-jinks and all. But this year, the U.S. State...

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It seems like ages ago that Alaska said it would do a wireless internet test, but then again, it probably was ages ago. It took Row 44 quite some time to get its satellite system ready to go, but closely following on the heels of the Southwest test, Alaska has started one of its own. The test is on one single, lonely 737-700 aircraft for now, and that’s about all we know. They’ll...

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Recently, both Hyundai, Flybe and JetBlue began programs that give refunds or other financial incentives to those who lose their jobs, so it should be no surprise that the recession-hit cruise industry follows. Norwegian Cruise Line announced their new Booksafe Travel Protection Plan that offers those who lose their job a cash refund of cancellation fees on any cruise starting May 1....

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There’s some good news out there for United and its Economy Plus product this week. It looks like Sabre has finally enabled travel agents to sell Economy Plus upgrades directly through its MySabre and Turbo Sabre tools. This will without question improve United’s ancillary revenue position. I know I sound like a broken record on this, but I just can’t believe it took them...

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The TSA’s Large Aircraft Security Proposal (pdf) sounds harmless enough, right? I mean, big airplanes should have security, I’d say. But as you’ve probably guessed, this rule isn’t all that it seems, and it actually has the potential to be extremely harmful. In short, this would effectively apply security similar to what is required on commercial aircraft to...

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Two critically injured on Celebrity Cruises bus crash — Two cruise line passengers taken to a Miami hospital after a bus crash in Dominica remain in critical condition. Sixteen tourists from the Celebrity Cruises ship, the Celebrity Summit, were coming back from a short trip on the Caribbean island when the tour bus crashed around 4 p.m. Tuesday. Several were taken to area hospitals in...

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The simple act of Delta replacing Northwest in a market is nothing special. We’ve seen this time and time again since the merger, as Delta looks to best match capacity and increase utilization of the combined fleet. But the decision to replace Northwest on the Vegas to LA route is actually a very interesting one that’s worth a closer look. It probably goes without saying that...

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Bryan Corliss has been doing an excellent job of covering the decline in demand for aircraft here at BNET (Airbus, Boeing), but I thought I’d dip my toe into the discussion today with the latest news on the surge of aircraft heading to the desert. According to Ascend, there are about 2,300 aircraft parked because they aren’t needed right now. If you’re looking for some...

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The cruise industry had a big story in Time magazine this week, saying that cruising is now cheaper than staying in a hotel. (The article pegged at least one cruise charging about $50 a day.) With the cruise industry in recession peril, it seems like time to explore any new money-making ideas. Perhaps that’s why Royal Caribbean International resurrected its partnership with...

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