Newsletter -  AUGUST  2003

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AIRLINE NEWS

MORE ELBOW ROOM. July is historically the busiest travel month of the year, and this year was no exception-- it was a mob scene out there. However, August seems to be starting out somewhat slower, mainly due to metro-area schools starting back this week and next (seems mighty early, no?). Despite the recent TSA-mandated increased scrutiny of our electronics, airport officials report relatively short lines and fewer delays at checkpoints. 

WINNING THE WEST. One day we may look back on the summer of 2003 as the halcyon days of low fares, easy upgrades, triple miles, convenient flight times, and seatback video on those loooong flights between Atlanta and California. When JetBlue announced in late July that it was shaving its thrice daily service into Long Beach to a single early morning (westbound) and redeye (east bound), it was a sure sign that Delta's big guns (i.e. triple miles, multiple flights) were winning the west coast war. On the other hand, AirTran is hanging in there and says that its two daily flights between ATL and LAX have been profitable and 90% full since starting the service earlier this summer.  

NOT FOR MOGULS ONLY. With the war for the west coast underway, it's never been cheaper to sit up front for the long haul from ATL to LAX. No more waiting and hoping for the last minute upgrade here: these fares are bookable online. AirTran's round trip business class fare is $600 round trip. (Even cheaper if you book a coach fare, then pay $50 to standby upgrade at the gate; but that's risky with full flights.) Delta has matched the $600 fare on certain flights at less popular times. (Remember when you had to pay at least $2000 for this honor?)

BAY AREA'S A BARGAIN. Despite the shrinkage on its ATL-Long Beach runs, JetBlue vaporized Delta's high-fare lock on the Atlanta-SF Bay area market, adding a single daily nonstop between Atlanta and Oakland (on a similar early morning/redeye sked) starting Sept 8. Shortly thereafter, Delta added two more B-737 flights for a daily total of three between ATL and Oakland, and found a way to do it for $173 round trip—the same price JetBlue is charging. But to get Delta's $173 ATL-OAK round trip fare, you must connect through either Dallas or Salt Lake. Delta's midweek, nonstop fares are in the $400 round trip range. But if you choose to land across the bay at SFO on a midweek fare, Delta's best roundtrip fare is about $800, and full fares are $1900. (Tip: The driving time between Oakland airport and downtown San Francisco is about the same as the drive up from SFO. But keep in mind that SFO now has that nifty BART train running from inside the airport to the city.)  

AIRTRAN SOARS. In July, AirTran reported the highest traffic numbers in its history, enplaning 1.1 million passengers, a 27% increase over the same month last year. Its load factor was 79% compared to 71% last year. This resulted in a $57 million 2^nd quarter profit, and a stock price that has surpassed that of Delta.  

IN-FLIGHT FOOD FARE? Is your next flight one on which Delta will be experimenting with selling food from the Atlanta Bread Company? Check out your flight number here. Despite all the PR noise and airport free-food-athons, actual food sales are only taking place on a miniscule number of flights to/from ATL. And, the test is over on Aug 10.  

DELTA-UNITED SPLIT. Now that Delta has entered into a new alliance with Continental and Northwest, it will end its frequent flyer and airport lounge partnership with United. SkyMiles members can earn miles and book award travel on United through Oct 15. Award travel on United must be complete by Feb 29 2004, which is also the last day Crown Room members can use United's Red Carpet airport clubs.  

UPGRADES IN THE OFFING? SkyMiles medallion members hoping that their status will soon allow them the opportunity to upgrade on Delta code share partners Continental and Northwest will have to sit tight (in coach) for now.  Delta's most recent answer to our queries about this missing benefit of the alliance: "Delta, Continental and Northwest have not determined a timeline for the start of the upgrade benefit cooperation.  Upgrade is a benefit that will be implemented at a later phase of the alliance."   

WEEKEND WEB FARES. Delta's weekend web fare emails, which used to arrive in our email boxes on Wednesday morning seem to be running on an earlier schedule this summer. Recently, we've received the email and have been able to book weekend webfares as early as Monday afternoon.  

HAWAII NONSTOPS. Starting this month, Delta has brought back non-stop B-767 flights between Atlanta to Honolulu. (Delta yanked the nonstops a few years ago when it ran into pilot rest issues on its newest 767's. All Hawaii flights stopped in LA.) Even better, Delta has put a limited number of first and business class seats on sale to Hawaii (on non-stops and one-stops) for only $563 each way.  (A cheap way to build up MQM's and get elite status—you get 2x qualifying miles, or 18,008, per round trip.) To search for these fares at delta.com, select "First" as preferred cabin and don’t check the "unrestricted" box. Demand for these seats is heavy, so plan as far in advance as possible, avoid holidays or heavily traveled days of the week, and try different days and times. Lowest demand flights are early morning or late evening on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Peak demand occurs on Fridays and Sundays.  

CLASSY CURTAINS. Did you notice that airlines have removed the curtains that separate the first and coach class cabins? They did so on post-9/11 orders from the TSA. However, due to increasing problems with coach passengers invading the space and lavatories in first, Continental says that it will install new velvet ropes between the cabins.  

HOOTERS AIR. WHO KNEW? We have always figured that Hooter's Air is not much more than a marketing gimmick designed to draw attention to the eponymous restaurant chain. But Delta competitive moves in relation to the tiny carrier are making us wonder. Last month in THE TICKET we reported that Delta had added new weekend jet flights on the ATL-Myrtle Beach run where it competes with Hooters Air. This month we've discovered that Delta has added new nonstops from New York-LaGuardia to Myrtle Beach, a clear competitive response to Hooters Air's nonstops between Newark and Myrtle Beach.  

ASA SPUTTERS ALONG. Regular TICKET readers are familiar with the late-plane-lost-luggage blues plaguing Atlanta's third largest airline, ASA. If you missed it, the AJC recently ran an in-depth story on the problems at ASA, which we can only hope has ruffled the feathers of its owners (Delta Air Lines) to do something about operational issues. In a bit of good ASA news, it recently announced the retirement of the last of it noisy and uncomfortable Embraer turboprop jets at DFW airport. Now, all ASA flights to/from Dallas will be on the newer, faster, and more comfortable Canadair regional jets. However, you could still encounter one of ASA's 19 remaining propeller-driven ATR's elsewhere.  

MORE ASA FLIGHTS. Delta is deploying more ASA regional jets on certain "thin" routes from Atlanta. It has expanded the number of daily round-trip flights between Atlanta and Akron-Canton to six, eight to Buffalo, seven to Rochester, nine to Pensacola and five to Wichita.  

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH. Delta will offer a daily nonstop between Atlanta and Steamboat Springs plus another between Atlanta and Jackson Hole during the coming winter ski season. However, the flights are not cheap—current round trip fares to Steamboat start in the $800 range, and fares into Jackson in the $500 range. (Consider redeeming your SkyMiles for flights like this.)    

BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE (if you dare.) Delta's current offer of a free coach ticket to those buying an international business class ticket is so full of fine print gobbledygook that we cannot recommend it here in good conscience. On the press release announcing the promotion (which it copied from United) it took 701 (count 'em!) words to qualify, exclude, blackout, except, validate as well as alienate. Why bother?  

JETBLUE TAKES REQUESTS. Since all JetBlue flights from the West Coast to Atlanta will be of the redeye variety, the carrier actually allows you to make requests for in-flight video entertainment. Click here and send in a request for your favorite classic 60s, 70s or 80s music video through its DIRECTV Inflight Entertainment system. "RedEye Requests" airs between midnight and 5am every Monday.  

NO CAN DO. Due to new requirements from the ARC (Airlines Reporting Corporation) travel agents can now only void airline tickets up to midnight, one business day after the date of issue. In the past, most travel agents had been able to void tickets up to a week after they were issued.    

FIRST CLASS SHUTTLE. US Airways has announced that it plans to add a first class section to its single-class northeast shuttle flights this fall between Boston, New York and Washington, DC. Delta says that is will monitor customer reception of US Airway's first class move, but at this time has no plans to add first class seats. Speaking of New York: Has anyone out there flown SONG between Atlanta and JFK? If so, we'd love to hear about your experience.  

THE TICKET PORTAL: LINK OF THE MONTH  

Check out the NEW AND IMPROVED TICKET PORTAL for links to helpful site like:    

The Frequent Traveler. Using this link in the left hand column of THE TICKET PORTAL, you can keep up with where TICKET editor Chris McGinnis is going and what he is saying on the air at CNN Headline News (or you can tune in on Fridays between 7 and 10 pm for his live "Travel Advisor" segments.)   

Want to have a look? You'll find the link on THE PORTAL PAGE. Just look for it in the top of the left column, under THE TICKET heading.    

SAFETY AND SECURITY NEWS     

HOMELAND SECURITY THREAT LEVEL: YELLOW    

ELECTRONIC GEAR SUSPECT. Over the last week, the TSA has been instructing airport security screeners and state, local and federal law-enforcement officers to give greater scrutiny to electronic devices that might be used in a terrorist attack. They are going to pay more attention to cameras, flash devices, remote car keys and laptop computers. As a result, you can expect more intense searches and possibly longer delays at security. (ADVICE: Leave your electronica at home unless you REALLY need it, cuz it's going to slow you down.)

SHOE SCANNERS. The TSA is now offering shoe scanners at ATL security checkpoints. USE THEM! They light up red if your shoes have metal in them and need to come off for your stroll through the scanner.

COKE KNIVES. The AJC reports that the FBI was called in when business class passengers on an AirTran flight taking off from Boston noticed three middle-eastern looking men tearing Coke cans apart creating sharp edges, and then walking up and down the airplane aisle. The three were questioned and released.

JAKARTA BOMB. A car bomb killed at least 14 at the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia this week resulting in speculation that it was carried out by the same al-Qaida-linked terrorist group responsible for the Bali blast that killed 200 last year. The two-year-old, 33-story JW Marriott-Jakarta is located near the US Embassy and is popular with expat Americans who staged their annual July 4 celebration there last month.

LESS INVASIVE. Homeland Security officials have re-worked a plan to gather and store information on airline passengers in an effort to weed out potential terrorists. The watered down CAPPS II program will not allow Homeland Security to check bank and credit records, and all information collected must be deleted shortly after the person completes his or her trip. Also, travelers will be able to write or call the Homeland Security department to find out how they appear in its database, something that was not allowed under the initial plan.

MONDAY MONDAY. Same old story at Hartsfield: Despite assurances from the TSA that security wait times shouldn't be negatively affected by recent headcount reductions, Monday mornings remain a serious issue at Hartsfield, with waits regularly exceeding 50 minutes from 6:30 a.m. until 9 a.m.  

ADVICE: If possible, don't make flight reservations departing Hartsfield on Monday mornings. Instead, fly out on Sunday evening, or wait until mid-morning on Mondays when peak crowds have dwindled. Hartsfield officials tell us that the worst times are from 6:45 a.m. until 8:30 a.m. on all weekday mornings, and even on some Saturday mornings. At that time, all 21 lanes are open (including mezzanine lanes accessed from the Atrium, and concourse T entries).  

HOTEL NEWS

"NEGOTIATED" RATES NOT ALWAYS CHEAPER. With the fall convention season right around the corner, many of us are busy booking hotel rooms. But recent studies show that the negotiated rates offered by many convention organizers are frequently undercut by online discounters, or just aggressive price shoppers on the phone. If getting the lowest rate is imperative, shop around. But beware: many convention hotels are catching on to this practice, and have started, or are considering adding extra "attendance" fees to those not staying at an "official" hotel.   

BOOK HILTON ONLINE; GO TO HAWAII. From now through Sept 30, Hilton is giving away a free seven day trip to Hawaii (incl air) every week, and nine three-night weekend stays everyday. All you have to do to qualify is to book your next Hilton "family" (incl. Embassy, Hampton, Doubletree, etc) stay on its web site. More info  

FREE NIGHT, FREE BREAKFAST. This summer, when you stay at Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts from Thursday to Monday for two consecutive nights, you get the third night free, plus, you'll also get a complimentary continental breakfast for two every day. Ask for the "buy 2 get 1 free" promotion when booking, or check out the offer online. (Good for stays through Sept. 7)  

HOTEL PRICING: Are hotel rooms, like airline seats, a commodity? Hoteliers would jump to say no, but what do you think? Is a downtown Hilton as good as a Marriott, Starwood or InterContinental property, or vice-versa? When it comes to business travel, is a full-service hotel stay the same as a limited service hotel stay? When booking online, is a room a room a room, period?  Let us know what you think. 

FREQUENT FLYER NEWS   

LOSING YOUR MEDALLION STATUS THIS YEAR? Then now is the time to go ahead and redeem any of those "old" Delta frequent flyer miles you have been carrying in your account—and save 5000 miles. While you are a Medallion level member, you can redeem just 20,000 "old" miles for a free domestic ticket. But once you lose your Medallion status, you will have to redeem 25,000 "old" miles for a free ticket. (To redeem your "old" miles, you must tell the agent to use the old miles because the system is set up to deduct the newer SkyMiles first. Also, you must redeem miles the "old way" where Delta mails you a certificate that you use to "buy" your award ticket.)

SKYMILES TO AUSTRALIA. Now that Delta's teamed up with Continental (as well as Continental Micronesia) is now possible to redeem 60,000 SkyMiles (coach) or 120,000 miles (business) for an award trip to Cairns, Australia (on the continent's NE coast, by the Great Barrier Reef.).  You can also get to Australia using SkyMiles on SkyTeam partner Korean Airlines via Seoul, but it will "cost" you 100,000 miles in coach or 150,000 in business. (See Delta's new partner awards page)

GETTING YOUR FREE TRIPS. Recently, John Discala, creator of the popular travel website johnnyjet.com asked TICKET editor Chris McGinnis for advice on redeeming Delta SkyMiles. Here's what we shared with him: "As editor of THE TICKET, a newsletter read by thousands of SkyMiles members, I must say that I get very few complaints about difficulty redeeming SkyMiles. An occasional snag here or there, but I think it's safe to say that most SkyMilers end up getting pretty much what they want in terms of award trips. As a matter of fact, I've recently been able to redeem SkyMiles and get award trips to Greece in July, and Tahiti in December. How? By advance planning and flexibility. To get free tickets to Hawaii for example, (probably the most requested award destination), I suggest you decide on a range of dates, then call Delta exactly 330 days prior to those dates, when Delta releases the seats for award travel. For Hawaii, you might even want to call at 12:01 am on the day the seats are released. Keep in mind also that Delta offers TWO types of awards, much like it offers two types of fares. The "cheapest" free seats come with capacity controls and other restrictions that make them harder to use and require more flexibility on your part. If you want the luxury of traveling on exact dates, destinations or routings, you will have to 'spend' twice as many miles."

PAYING FOR "FREE" TICKETS. In a disturbing move for frequent flyers, Air Canada now charges a $25 fee for frequent flyer award tickets booked through its phone instead of online, says triprights.com , an excellent new site that helps show you ways to get what you deserve from the airlines.  

SKYMILES BONUS FROM MEMBERSHIP REWARDS. Through Aug 15, you will earn a 15% bonus when you convert your American Express Membership Rewards points into Delta SkyMiles. Here's how. 

QUESTION: What is your FAVORITE part about THE TICKET? What bothers you about THE TICKET? We want to hear from you! Let us know what you are thinking.  

AIRPORT NEWS 

SEGWAY ON THE WAY. Atlanta Airport will roll out ten of the futuristic devices known as Segway Human Transporters in coming weeks. They'll be in use by police and other personnel in airport parking decks, in the main terminal and on the concourses.

ATL LIFESAVER.  All of the right life-saving elements were in place for a Hartsfield passenger who recently deplaned an Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight. The man apparently collapsed and fell to the floor. Next, an employee at Wendy’s (located on Concourse C) knew where the automated external defibrillator (AED) cabinet was and he ran right to it. A doctor on the same flight applied the AED to the patient’s chest and stayed with him until airport emergency paramedics arrived.  

ATL PRICES IN LINE? Did you know that the prices that you pay at Atlanta Airport cannot be more than 10% higher than what you'd pay for the same item at a non-airport location? Have you encountered any substantially higher prices lately? Feeling gouged? Let us know.

JACKSON INTERNATIONAL? TICKET readers were loud and clear when it came to opinions regarding the possibility of renaming Atlanta's airport from Hartsfield International to Jackson International, as a tribute to the recently departed, former mayor Maynard Jackson. See MAILBAG near the end of this issue of THE TICKET.    

INCREDIBLE SHRINKING AIRLINES. American Airlines became the largest airline in the world when it bought ailing TWA and its St Louis-Lambert Airport hub in the late 90's, and folded it into its operations. However, due to its raging rivers of red ink, American has decided to "de-hub" Lambert, halving the number of daily flights, and making it an "O&D" airport that will serve St. Louis passengers only. (All American's connecting flights will be routed through hubs in Dallas and Chicago.)   

HOUSTON CAR RENTAL CENTER. A new $135 million, 140 acre central car rental facility has opened at Houston's Intercontinental Airport. This means that you'll take a common shuttle bus instead of individual operator shuttles to the rental center. (By the way, you will pay a 71% markup on your car rental bill for the honor of using this facility—see "TAXING TEXAS" below.)

WWW NEWS

NO BUBBLE HERE. The Internet is expected to account for $96 billion in retail sales in 2003 in the United States, of which some 30 percent (about $27 billion) will be for travel, according to a survey by Forrester Research. The survey indicated that despite the bursting of the dot-com bubble, Internet e-commerce remains on a strong growth track.  

ORBITZ BOOKINGS: $6. Online booking site Orbitz.com has given itself a makeover (green-blue-yellow colors and larger typeface) and added new options, like searching for secondary airports, and the ability to book a trip in just three clicks. It also increased the standard fee users must pay to book trips, from $5 to $6.

TASTE OF THE TICKET  

This new, hip little Midtown bistro offers tasty cuisine with a healthy edge; a satisfying, yet guiltless meal for both waistline and wallet. But this is no rabbit food buffet! Can you name it? Check out our fearless Atlanta taste-tester in her latest dispatch from the food scene. Check out the TASTE OF THE TICKET.  

INTERNATIONAL

CONCOURSE F (The new Jackson International Terminal?) IS COMING! See picture below.  The new Terminal will provide ten additional passenger gates and create a new Concourse F. Additionally, a new 1,100 parking structure, new terminal access roadways, and reconfiguration of Aviation Boulevard (and entry from I-75) will be a major part of the completed the project. Airport officials estimate the entire project, scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2006, will cost approximately $980 million. Best of all: The new facility will eliminate that obnoxious baggage re-check and security screen for arriving passengers.  

BUSINESS CLASS BEDS. Northwest and Continental are nearly flattening their international business class seats to compete with lie-flat competition from the likes of British Airways. Continental has added seats that recline to 170 degrees—just ten more degrees and they'd be flat. Northwest has just started installing seats that recline 176 degrees—just four tiny degrees short of flat. No airline serving Atlanta currently offers lie-flat beds in business class—Delta's BusinessElite seats recline to 160 degrees. And BA's lie-flat business class seats are not due on ATL-Gatwick flights until at least January.  

MISCELLANY  

HEADPHONES BANNED? Question from reader Robert Glass: "Do you have any information as to whether the Bose Acoustic Headphones are considered to be "restrictive" electronic equipment during takeoffs and landings? If not, can you recommend an information source? ANSWER from THE TICKET: Yes, they are restricted during take off and landing because they are considered "electronic devices" which use battery power to enable the noise cancellation technology. Another, less expensive option to the Bose system that we recommend is called PlaneQuiet, which cost only about $80 compared to the $300 Bose model. See www.planequiet.com    

TAXING TEXAS. Tired of sky-high add-ons every time you rent a car at the airport? Then stay away from Texas. According to a recent study by Travelocity, six of the top 10 airports with the largest difference between daily rates and the total price are in Texas. At top Texas airports, consumers pay an average of a 51.7% mark-up on a rate quoted by the rental car company. Houston Bush Intercontinental, at 71.7% in additional taxes and fees, was not only the highest in the Lone Star State, but across the country as well.  California is the state least likely to surprise its visitors with car rental add-ons. (source:Travelocity.com)  

Don’t Forget! BOOK ALL YOUR ONLINE TRAVEL VIA  LINKS FROM THE TICKET!

delta.com  |  Hotwire  |  Orbitz |  Site59

Each time you click on an airline website link, button or banner ad from this newsletter or elsewhere on our site, and end up buying a ticket, we earn a few dollars. (Same web sites, same online booking bonus miles, just a different way of getting there!) Each time you want to visit an airline site, do so via a link from this newsletter or via our portal page. 

delta.com  |  Hotwire  |  Orbitz |  Site59

NOTICE!!: © Copyright 2003, Travel Skills Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved            

If you are cutting and pasting COPYRIGHTED information from THE TICKET into your internal publications, we ask that you do the right thing and credit your source with the following line:  
<<Source: THE TICKET Newsletter, free subscriptions available at http://www.travelskills.com/signup.htm   

KEEP READING  

MAILBAG!  

Feedback from TICKET readers regarding the possibility of renaming Hartsfield Airport after the recently departed Maynard Jackson:

Leave it Hartsfield and name the new international terminal after Maynard. –S Handel  

I think a name change is ok, but I think the name "Hartsfield" should still be part of it.  Try Hartsfield-Jackson International. --B Smith

The City of Atlanta exclusive bond agent is Jackson Securities.  (Gee I wonder how that happened?)  The TGI Friday's restaurant at Hartsfield is owned by Jackson.  (Gee I wonder how a guy who specialized in securities would land the lucrative franchise at the airport?) Jackson is dead and gone.  Let's pay our due respects for the excellent progress he made in civil rights, but let's not honor his rape and pillage of the city's good taxpaying citizens  (like me.) --D Hughes

No way.  I admire the man; he did great things, but Atlanta wouldn't be a major city without Hartsfield. Name the new Concourse after Jackson --- or better still, name the Olympic Fountain plaza for him... –K Lee

Changing the airport results in a ripple of expenses that are unnecessary and frivolous wastes of taxpayer money! There are other appropriate ways to recognize a leader whose impact on the airport was paramount to the success the airport enjoys today. --J Fenn

I would encourage our leadership not to rename Hartsfield International Atlanta Airport...Mayor Hartsfield was a visionary and was responsible for our becoming the major aviation hub that we currently enjoy. Mayor Jackson's success was in part as an heir to groundwork that preceded him. His contribution was outstanding for sure, but it should not replace what was accomplished under Mayor Hartsfield. –K Pickett

Why the rush to rename or add Jackson's name to Hartsfield?   It was named to honor William B. Hartsfield, and that should be enough.  After the recent flag flap, can't Atlanta just be satisfied with the status quo and look to future architectural or city projects to place Jackson's moniker. --S Gaskins

I am totally against renaming the airport!!!!  We cannot rewrite or erase history.  Mr. Jackson was not responsible for the start of the airport.  I think a concourse named after him or a life-size statue of him in the airport would be in order but we cannot discredit Mr. Hartsfield and his efforts. --S Ealy

PLEASE JOIN IN and provide us with your questions, observations and comments about your travel experiences or topics in this issue! Send your questions and comments to us at ticketatl@travelskills.com.  

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