“(Budget Travel’s anonymous confessor has worked as both a ticket agent and a departure-gate agent for a major airline. He has since left the industry.)

When it comes to flight changes and delays, Budget Travel’s confessor says, “sometimes the agent is the last one to know.”

Airline agents may go out of their way to get kind passengers onto new flights when theirs are delayed.

No training
New airline ticket and departure-gate agents are hard to find these days. Not only are the wages awful, but flying for free — the one perk of the job — is becoming virtually impossible because planes are always packed with paying customers.

To save money, many airlines also aren’t giving new employees the same job training they once received, leaving inexperienced agents on the front line to deal with passenger complaints. Once, on a trip I took after I had stopped working as a ticket agent, I had to show a new hire where to look in the system to find my reservation — she had no idea what she was doing.

Cut off
The airline I worked for had a very antiquated computer system. We had about a dozen operating systems in the company. There were separate systems for mapping flight routes, filing lost-luggage claims, and keeping track of reservations — but not all of them could relay data to each other. To top it all off, the computers at the departure gates didn’t have Internet access.
The popular belief among disgruntled travelers that gate agents purposely keep passengers in the dark about flight delays isn’t really true — sometimes the agent is the last one to know what’s going on.

Good behavior
It used to be that if you tried a little smooth talking or even brought a cookie to the gate agent, you might be able to score an upgrade. Not anymore.

Because the airlines are increasingly focused on the bottom line, free upgrades are incredibly hard to come by. Still, it pays to be nice to the agents: After a few kind words, they may go out of their way to reroute you on a partner airline if your flight is delayed.

I turned on the charm myself one time when I was facing a long delay on the way to the Caribbean. Smiling politely, I went to a partner airline’s ticket counter and asked the agent to please reroute me. Several hours later, I was lying on the beach, sipping a tropical drink.

Personal info
Ticket agents are always updating Passenger Name Records, or PNRs. These computer files, which contain basic details on passengers’ trips, are accessible to most agents at check-in counters and departure gates.

Agents generally use PNRs to record special requests by passengers, but sometimes they also comment on a person’s behavior.” (via cnn.com and BudgetTravel.com)

Pointswizard.com Spin: here the link to read the rest

“He knew he had the miles and thought he had plenty of time.

Yet when Greg Marzolf tried to redeem frequent-flier miles early last year for a ticket to Colorado over Christmas — several months away — the Pendleton, S.C., resident said US Airways told him the return flight was off limits.

That’s a blackout date, they said. What gives, Marzolf wondered.

As it turns out, US Airways — Charlotte’s dominant airline, with more than 80 percent of daily flights — has flagged several dozen dates on which travelers can’t use Dividend Miles. Some apply to U.S. travel, while others are for overseas flights.

As the cost of tickets continues to climb, travelers who hope to cash in frequent-flier miles are finding more hurdles to getting a free flight.

Besides requiring more miles and making fewer seats available, airlines have expanded blackout dates so they can keep seats open for paying customers, said David Stamey, director of consumer and industry affairs for the International Airline Passengers Association.

“The restrictions have gotten tighter,” said Stamey, whose group promotes passengers’ rights and provides discounts on hotel rooms, rental cars and insurance. “You don’t get to redeem your miles, sadly, for the trip you would like to take.”

Policies on blackout dates vary by airline. United Airlines and American Airlines said they don’t have blackout dates. Southwest Airlines, like US Airways, posts dates on its Web site.

Travis Christ, vice president for sales and marketing at US Airways, said the Tempe, Ariz.-based carrier shares those dates so customers can better plan their frequent-flier travel. The dates are off-limits for miles, he said, because US Airways can fill planes with paying passengers.

“It’s pretty simple economics,” Christ said. “Those are very high demand days, and we want to be upfront with our customers.”

If US Airways made even a small number of seats available for frequent fliers, he said, it would have to make up that lost revenue somewhere else.

“You’re pushing down on the balloon, and it’s going to pop up somewhere else,” he said. “There’s no free lunch.”

Forget Thanksgiving

Some blackout dates are obvious, such as the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday afterward. US Airways also has blacked out every Saturday from June 14 to October 11 — nearly four months — for flights to and from Europe.Other dates in March and April are in high demand because of school spring breaks and the Easter holiday, Christ said, adding that blackout dates are studied by the airline’s revenue management division.” (via www.charlotte.com ) by JEFFERSON GEORGE

Pointswizard.com Spin: Read more-click here

“Many travelers would swear that they get sick after every trip or vacation. They wonder if it was the food, the water, the pina coladas — or, like me, the airplane ride. While I don’t think you can count out the pina coladas (or that burrito you bought on the street), it turns out you would be right about airplanes.
Airline carriers are also formidable carriers of the common cold; a recent study says you may be more than 100 times as likely to catch a cold on a plane as in your normal daily rounds, according to a study publishing in the Journal of Environmental Health Research: Common cold transmission in commercial aircraft: Industry and passenger implications.Why this is the case isn’t perfectly clear, but the publishers of the study investigate a panoply of possible causes,”( via msnbc.msn.com)
Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here to read the rest of the article.

“Know if your carrier adheres to this rule — it could be your saving grace

Even though U.S. airlines have weakened the Rule 240 clauses in their contracts of carriage, it still pays to have a copy with you to show the airline’s ground service agents what your rights are when your flight is badly delayed or canceled.

Before the deregulation of the U.S. airline industry in 1978, every U.S. airline had to follow the same set of rules — including those dealing with “irregularities” such as canceled flights.
In those days, airline fares and routes were regulated by the Civil Aeronautics Board, the predecessor to today’s Federal Aviation Administration.
One of these rules, number 240, specified that if an airline couldn’t get you to your destination on time, it was required to put you on a competitor’s flight if it would get you there faster than your original airline’s net flight. Airlines were even required to put you in first class if that’s all that was available.

They rarely advertised this perk, however, since airlines naturally didn’t want to fork over scarce cash to fly customers on a rival carrier. But seasoned road warriors have always known they could approach the counter and say the magic words “240 me” to be put on the next flight out.

Airlines formed after deregulation — such as JetBlue, Southwest, and Spirit — were never required to follow these rules. Even so, some of these newer airlines may attempt to put you on another airline if there’s no other choice.
“While we don’t have a traditional Rule 240, we will purchase confirmed seats as necessary on another airline to get customers to their final destination in the event of irregularities within our control,” Todd Burke, JetBlue Airways’ vice president for corporate communications, told Airfarewatchdog.com.
In addition, if there’s a “significant delay,” JetBlue’s compensation may include a “partial or full refund,” in addition to accommodation on another airline.

However, in recent years, as “legacy” carriers such as American, United, and Delta have struggled to remain profitable, and some have slashed costs to emerge from bankruptcy, many have quietly weakened their Rule 240s.

United Airlines, for instance, no longer states in its contract of carriage that it will fly you in first class on a competitor, if that’s all that’s available, although it will transport you in coach class on another airline.

Although Delta Air Lines still has a Rule 240 in its contract, it no longer makes any mention of transporting passengers on other airlines in the event of a flight disruption.

Continental Airlines will upgrade a delayed passenger only on its own flights—not on a competitor’s—and only if doing so will get you to your destination earlier than would otherwise be the case.

US Airways has nothing in its terms of transportation concerning Rule 240, though spokesperson Amy Kudwa said the airline still applies the rule on all flights except international flights.

The good news is that Northwest Airlines still has a very traditional contract, little changed from the days of regulation. It will put you on another airline, in first class if necessary, if your original flight is delayed 60 minutes or longer.

It’s important to emphasize that these rules generally apply to situations within the airline’s control, such as mechanical problems. But if the flight irregularity results from a “force majeure event” such as bad weather, a riot, or a work stoppage, then all bets are off. And the legacy carriers may not have agreements with their newer competitors such as JetBlue and Southwest, so that they might not re-route you on those carriers.

Even if you are flying an airline that adheres to Rule 240, its employees may be reluctant to rewrite your ticket on a competitor because of the financial implications of doing so. So it pays to print out and carry a copy of the contract of carriage and present it to the gate agent if necessary.” By George Hobica [Via msnbc.msn.com]

The Pointswizard.com Spin:
Know your rights. We did another post on this topic on April 7. 2007

“In fact, many smart travelers are converting at least part of their loyalty to the hotels. How does it work?

Well, if you’re on the road quite a bit, chances are good you’re staying a hotel. If you’re traveling around the country, you might have developed a good relationship with one or more hotel chains. Almost every chain has a loyalty program these days. Most are linked at some level with the airline programs.

But here’s the important point: take a look at your total travel bill. Chances are good that your hotel costs were more than the charge for your airline ticket.

So the question is this: how can you leverage your hotel cost for discounts and freebies in the future?”
[Via www.adn.com]

The Pointswizard.com Spin:
Click blue line above to read the whole article

“By James Gilden
Special to the Chicago Tribune

Scoring a free or low-cost upgrade from coach to business or first class is among the most coveted of traveler perks. And these days, airlines are offering fliers more ways than ever to fill their first- and business-class seats.

Frequent-flier miles, upgrade coupons and vouchers, last-minute paid upgrades and the ever more rare “operational upgrade” are some of the more common paths to a more comfortable flight. All these options and each individual airline’s policies around them have made winning the upgrade game a confusing and sometimes frustrating undertaking.

The rules of the game can change even when you are flying on the same airline.

A colleague of mine was flying from Chicago O’Hare to London’s Heathrow Airport in August on British Airways. She had purchased discounted tickets for her and her husband in World Traveller Plus, BA’s business-class lite, which comes with a bit more leg room than a regular economy class seat.


Four days before her flight she called BA to inquire about an upgrade to business class. For an additional $200 (cost to change the ticket) plus 15,000 frequent flier miles each, she secured business-class seats between Chicago and London.

Upon arrival in London, she inquired at the BA service desk at Heathrow about doing the same for her return flight to Chicago. She was confused and disappointed when she was told no, that only the flights from the States offered that type of upgrade.

Despite repeated queries to a BA spokesman and visiting BA’s Web site, it is about as clear as mud what exactly my colleague paid for and why it was not available on her return flight.



Unraveling all the various rules regarding upgrades is a challenge, even for someone who devotes his life to it.

”Do I get confused? Yes,” said Matthew Bennett, a.k.a. “Mr. Upgrade.” He is the publisher of the Web site FlightBliss.com and the monthly newsletter First Class Flyer, which has about 15,000 subscribers, he said.

”It takes time to understand them,” he says, likening upgrade policies in their complexity to insurance policies. “That’s our job to unravel them.”

The newsletter is written more for the frequent flier and business traveler, not the average leisure traveler. A one-year subscription costs $97. But FlightBliss features a free blog where Bennett weighs in with some of the latest news and tips on upgrades.

My colleague’s upgrade from the States was actually typical if unusual in that it was unavailable on her return flight.

Most airlines these days will not allow passengers who have purchased many types of discounted tickets to use miles to upgrade, especially on international flights. Some, like BA and American Airlines, charge an added fee to upgrade. Others, such as United, only allow upgrading on certain types of fares.

If you are booking tickets on United’s Web site, there is an option to book an upgradeable fare. But for the uninitiated, the array of seven choices is confusing.

I decided to test United’s upgradeable fare options for a flight from O’Hare to Heathrow in mid-November (these fares are for comparison only and may no longer be available).

When I clicked the first category of upgrades using miles — an alphabet soup of 10 fare types — I received a message saying that option was not available. The second option, “miles-MH,” yielded a round-trip economy class “upgrade eligible” fare of $822, or $340 more than the lowest non-upgradeable fare of $482. That is in addition to 30,000 frequent flier miles each way.

But here’s the rub. Even if you pay the extra $340, you are not guaranteed an upgrade. And if your upgrade is waitlisted and does not go through, you are not entitled to a refund even though the only benefit to the higher fare is the ability to upgrade.

Knowing the ins and outs of a particular airline’s policies is key to increasing the odds of getting an upgrade.” [Via chicagotribune.com]

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“Unless you count the trail mix, you can’t get a free meal on a domestic flight with a major carrier anymore. A bottle of water will cost you, and forget about a movie.

Why the skimpy offerings?

Cost-conscious mainstream airlines are trimming the fat, otherwise known as amenities, to provide the lowest fares possible. But as the flagships slim down, the category of low-cost carriers is rapidly beefing up, giving passengers the option of flying both comfortably and affordably.

Low-cost carriers tend to keep their prices down by flying out of fringe airports, relying on online booking and providing just the necessary level of onboard services. Many stock their fleets with one type of aircraft to minimize the amount of training for crews. As part of the discount category, the airlines also can operate without union agreements and employment contracts that often trouble legacy carriers.

A Growing Category

Starting out in 1971 as a small carrier in Texas with only three jets, Southwest Airlines is credited with giving birth to the low-cost-carrier phenomenon. Its founding mission was to fly passengers to short-haul destinations, on time and for the lowest fare possible. Nearly 36 years later, countless carriers have copied the philosophy.

Global flight information company OAG released a 2006 report identifying 40 low-cost carriers in Europe alone. It also revealed that Ryanair, a low-cost heavyweight based in Ireland, was carrying more passengers per month than British Airways.

And the number of passengers interested in booking with low-cost names is on the rise. The low-cost sector accounted for 16%, or 416,000, of the 2.6 million flights scheduled for July 2007, according to OAG’s Quarterly Airline Traffic Statistics. Last month, 309.7 million seats were offered worldwide, of which 20%, or 61.9 million, were on low-cost carriers. In July 2006, low-cost seats made up only 16% of the 289.8 million airline seats on offer.

“There seem to be new low-cost [carriers] appearing every week,” says Edward Plaisted, CEO of Skytrax, a London-based air transport research company. Simply being low-cost doesn’t guarantee success, however. “Each year that goes by you see anywhere from four to eight new low-costs that can’t keep the business model running and disappear after 12 months.”

The Best of the Best

For its annual survey of the best low-cost airlines in the world, Skytrax examined commercial and front-line factors, surveying the accessibility and quality of Web sites–crucial for carriers that rely on online booking–and, perhaps most important, the clarity of prices and fares.

Because standards vary around the world and there are so many low-cost carriers, Skytrax named a global top three– Jetstar Airways, Air Berlin and easyJet–and broke down the remaining results by region. Southwest Airlines, the carrier that started it all, ranked second in North America, falling behind JetBlue.

To assess what people are getting for their money, Skytrax also took into account consumer surveys. While some low-cost carriers offer complimentary entertainment like satellite television and snacks, as on Austrian-based NIKI, many grant passengers only a seat, a reading light and a smile.

The low-cost category remains the most competitive in Europe but is growing fastest in Asia, if for no other reason than that it has the biggest market. At the other end of the spectrum, South America and the Middle East emerged with only two top carriers each in the rankings, rather than three. Both regions have several other carriers, but they were deemed too small for inclusion.

New Options

As the low-cost sector continues to heat up, so do the options in terms of seating and routes. While many traditional carriers offer one class, Jetstar offers a StarClass premium cabin, while Oasis Hong Kong gives passengers a choice between Business and Economy.

The introduction of classes in low-cost travel is the result of carriers taking on longer-haul flights. While flights under two hours are most profitable, as more travelers look to fly farther afield, these airlines want a piece of the action. Oasis Hong Kong already flies from Hong Kong to London and may offer flights to the U.S. shortly.

So if you can travel substantial distances for paltry prices aboard a low-cost carrier, why opt for a big name airline?

“[People] might choose them because of the miles or because the major carrier can come pretty close to matching the low-cost carrier in price,” says Tom Michelson, vice president of operations for Airtreks, a team of travel consultants and experts that provide multistop international air travel service and technology. “Given the choice between the two, the traveler might want to go with the known entity.”

But with low-cost carriers such as JetBlue providing complimentary, 24-channel, live satellite TV on every seat back, the unknown is looking better every day.” [Via finance.yahoo.com ]

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“Beginning Jan. 1, airlines operating at New York airports will be required to provide passengers who are delayed on planes for three hours with water, snacks, and working toilets under the first law of its kind in the nation, which was signed Wednesday night by Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

But an organization representing major airlines, the Washington, D.C.-based Air Transport Association, said yesterday it may file a lawsuit to block the new law, dubbed the Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights. A spokesman said the is “disappointed” in the law and thatlegislating such services is not practical.

The law creates an Office of Airline Consumer Advocate within the state Consumer Protection Board. The advocate will refer any violations to the state attorney general’s office, which can seek a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per passenger per violation by an airline.

The law grew out of widespread passenger complaints after huge delays during the winter at some airlines, including JetBlue Airways Corp. of Forest Hills and American Airlines, the world’s largest carrier. JetBlue stranded thousands at Kennedy Airport on Valentine’s Day after a snow and ice storm blanketed the East Coast.

Federal law restricts what states can do when it comes to air travel, specifically prohibiting states from requiring that passengers be allowed to get off airliners delayed on the ground for hours. But states can require airlines to provide amenities for air travelers, according to the bill’s two sponsors — state Sen. Charles Fuschillo (R-Merrick) and Assemb. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria). Fuschillo is chairman of the Senate Committee on Consumer Protection.

“Anytime something is done that makes big business unhappy, their first response is to go to court and challenge it,” said Gianaris. “I’m very confident the new law in New York State is legally sound and will withstand any challenges from the industry.”
Fuschillo said he was delighted the legislation was signed into law. “Consumers pay a lot of money to fly,” he said. “They should be treated with a lot better respect than they have been.”

David Castleveter, the ATA spokesman, insisted the New York State law is pre-empted by the federal Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. Under deregulation, Castleveter said, government cannot regulate fares or service. “We’re reviewing our options, including the possibility of a legal challenge,” he said.” [Via Newsday.com]

The Pointswizard.com Spin: Check out:
A JetBlue Airlines Nightmare Story

For the first time ever, we are waiving our transaction fee. Just for you! Purchase 25,000
American Airlines AAdvantage® miles or more, and we’ll pick up the $30 transaction fee.
Don’t wait to purchase those miles – this offer only lasts until August 31, 2007.
Buy your miles today and save!

PLEASE ALLOW 72 HOURS FOR THE MILES
TO POST TO YOUR ACCOUNT.

The Pointswizard.com Spin: Ends 8/31/07

Air Canada: 800-361-5373

Alaska Airlines: 800-654-5669

America West: 800-247-5691

American: 800-882-8880

Continental: 713-952-1630

Delta: 800-323-2323

Frontier: 866-263-2759

Jetblue: 1-800-JETBLUE (538-2583)

Midwest: 800-314-7125

Northwest: 800-447-3757

Southwest: 800-445-5764

United: 800-421-4655

US Airways: 336-661-8390