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Airline A la Carte Introduced At Air Canada

OK, here's the menu when you fly Air Canada now:

• Want to forego collecting frequent flyer points?  You'll save $3 on a one-way flight in Tango class, the airline's cheapest fare category.
• No luggage to check?  Hey, take another $5 off your fare.
• Want a lunch?  If you buy it in advance, you'll save $2.
• Would you like a specific seat reserved in advance of your arrival at the airport?  That'll cost $15 each way. 
• If you agree not to make any changes in your reservation, take $7 off the ticket price.
• And if you're flying the more expensive Latitude class, you can spend $25 per flight for access to an Air Canada lounge.

From Ireland's Ryanair school of pricing, Air Canada's new program may well be a precusor to how things will work with US airlines, though no one has yet copied Northwest Airlines' system of charging $15 for "better" seats in coach 24 hours before each flight.

Iran Offers Bounty for American . . . Tourists; We're Worth Twice Others!

Iran wants more American tourists.  And it's willing to pay travel agents a $20 bounty for every US citizen it sends its way. 

Even as the US and Iran lock horns over Iran's nuclear program, apparently the Islamic republic appreciates how much money tourism can generate.  And Americans are traditionally among the most free spending of travelers abroad.  The offer to pay an incentive for more American visitors is apparently a bid by Iran to show its dispute with the US is with the American government, not its citizens. 

Not long ago, the Iranian president proposed resuming air service between the US and Iran.  Direct flights were discontinued 25 years ago, and the two countries haven't had full diplomatic relations since Iranian militants stormed and occupied the US embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held Americans hostage for months. 

How valuable are American tourists compared to visitors from other countries? 

The bounty for travel agents sending citizens from other countries to Iran is only $10.

Boston's Logan Told: "Set My Wi-Fi Free"

The folks who operate Boston's airport lost a battle with Continental Airlines, which wanted to offer free, high-speed Internet service in its freqeunt-flyer club there.  The airport, which charges for access to a wireless signal elsewhere in the airport, argued the Continental system would interfere with its network, raise safety concerns and violate lease agreements.

In a triumph for the business traveler weary of paying for Wi-Fi, the Federal Communications Commission ruled Continental could go ahead and offer its free service.  I have a solution for the Massachusetts Port Authority: Take a page from Detroit and other airports and offer access to a high-speed Internet signal for free everywhere at Boston Logan International Airport. 

Cigars In the Air? Jahwohl, Mein Herr!

A retired German stockbroker is tired of not being able to smoke while flying commercially, so he's promised to launch an all-smoking airline by October that will fly from Dusseldorf to Tokyo and Shanghai. 

"Demand is strong," Schoppmann told a Reuters reporter this week.  "We get people who say they want to fly with us even though they have no business in Tokyo or Shanghai."

Schoppmann, who is 55 and smokes 20 cigarettes a day, says he's got a bead on three, used Boeing 747s from airlines that are replacing them with newer Airbus jumbo jets.  He plans to remove seats and sell only business and first-class tickets.  He promises 139 seats in a jet that normally fits 559 passengers.  He intends to charge no more than other airlines do for front-of-the-plane fares.  Except he'll serve caviar or offer passengers Cuban cigars.

About a third of Germans smoke regularly, though the government is considering issuing new, tougher anti-smoking regulations that will ban smoking in some public places.  Germans have been reluctant to embrace such laws because Adolf Hitler forbade smoking in public places.

But Schoppman belittles health considerations and plans to call his airline Smintair, or Smoker's International Airways.  And if his hunch that the demand for an all-smoking airline is great, he hopes to add flights to Johannesburg and Sao Paulo. 

My take: Don't, uh, hold your breath.