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Second All-Business NYC-London Airline Shuts Down; Bye-Bye Eos

In the fall of 2005, two new airlines began offering discounted, all-business class service linking New York's Kennedy airport with London's Stansted: MaxJet (which also included service between London and DC) and Eos Airlines.  With walk-up fares half what major airlines including British Airways and American Airlines were charging for business class, Eos and MaxJet caused the competition to drop prices sharply.  Instead of $13,000 for a walk-up fare on BA, Eos charged $6,500.  And as the last year or so, business class prices dropped as low as $2.000 round trip if you purchased your tickets in advance during sale periods.

That may be about to change.  Last December, Maxjet closed.  It wasn't as fancy as Eos, which offered 48 "suites" on Boeing 757s, and its closing should have strengthened Eos' chances of making a profit.  But apparently not.  This weekend, Eos shut down, filed for bankruptcy, and offered little hope that it will resume business despite the fact that the homepage on its web site says it had a "term sheet in hand for additional financing."

Passengers holding tickets for flights beyond today are advised to contact their credit card company or travel agent to seek refunds.  Those holding reward points in the airlines Club 48 will find their points worthless unless a bankruptcy court down the road awards some kind of compensation for unclaimed awards.  I think that's highly unlikely, but you may file a claim on this page on Eos' website.

So.  Willl the majors again raise their business class fares to stratospheric heights?  You can bet fares are being re-jiggered upwards right now.  Will American cease the JFK-Stansted flights it began because Eos was taking business away from its Kenendy-Heathrow route?  Probably, unless the airline decides it can make a profit continuing to offer reduced fares. But you can bet its ticket prices will rise, as well. 

Sexy Delta Flight Attendant, Katherine Lee's Lips Makes Safety Video A Chartbreaker on YouTube

Is it Botox or is it Mother Nature?  That's the debate raging on YouTube since the recent posting of Delta Air Lines' new on-board safety video.  You know, the one that shows you how to buckle your seatbelt and warns you to don an oxygen mask before helping a child do the same? 

An attractive (and real) flight attendant, red-headed Katherine Lee, delivers the message in this new announcement with her swollen lips that apparently began the debate about whether  they were  medically enhanced or not

As of this writing, the video has been viewed more than 350,000 times in the first three days it's been posted on YouTube even though it won't begin appearing on board Delta flights for another week.

Lee was part of a company casting call for the new safety video, and she won.  Within days, her video had made her an Internet star, and this morning she appeared on CNN.  Asked if she'd consider offers to go into acting or modeling, Lee allowed as how she loves being a flight attendant and had no other plans.  Given the number of people who wrote they intended to begin flying Delta more often in the hope Lee would be working their flight, it's a good bet Lee won't be part of the massive employee cutbacks planned by Delta.   

Pack Light: US Airways Begins $25 Charge For Second Checked Bag

Passengers who normally check two bags when flying are slowing getting squeezed--effective May 25, on all tickets purchased after Feb. 26, anyone who is not an "elite" member of US Airways' frequent flyer program, not in the military, and not an unaccompanied minor, will be required to pay $25 to check a second bag.

The other exceptions: If you hold silver or gold status on other Star Alliance carriers or are flying first class, you won't have to pay the fee.

Look for more passengers wrestling more carry-on bags into overhead bins on board every flight and slower lines through security (but faster lines at luggage check-in counters). 

Why Coca-Cola's Bakery Didn't Make It In Baan Talae Nok, Thailand

One sunny December morning three years ago, the schoolchildren of the southern Thai fishing village of Baan Talae Nok were in their playground near the beach practicing for a New Year’s ceremony. About 500 yards down the sand, a national park employee noticed the waters of the Andaman Sea looked strange—the water seemed to be receding quickly. He grabbed his motorbike and raced over a dusty, pock-mocked trail toward the village to warn the residents that a tsunami was headed their way. 

Tragically, the messenger bearing that news was known to be a heavy drinker, and the villagers dismissed his warnings as the raving of an alcoholic. Soon thereafter, half of the village houses were flattened by a wall of water. Fort y seven of the village’s 228 residents perished, including 16 schoolchildren. 

Today, the survivors live in cement homes set well away from the beach, homes built with the assistance of the Thai navy and an aid organization. There’s a new school, a modern, sparkling, all-brick complex with a pleasant courtyard, covered dining area, and six schoolrooms with neatly ordered desks and books.

And there’s also nascent industry in the Muslim village of Baan Talae Nok, which is a good thing. For generations, the sea provided villagers with their livelihood, but commercial fishing—you can see the ships on the horizon every night off the village beach—has led to overfishing, and the local catch is dwindling. With the help of an American named Bodhi Garrett, who was working at a nearby resort when the tsunami hit, Bann Taley Nok now hosts travelers in their homes, sharing meals with them and taking them hiking or out to sea to bring in the fishing nets (with an optional side trip to a pristine beach on a nearby uninhabited island where the just-caught fish are grilled for lunch).

Garrett, who was born in Nepal and raised in California, began the North Andaman Tsunami Relief, an independent, non-profit, non-religious organization to help decimated villages get back on their feet. Some might gaze at the splendid western coastline of the Andaman Sea and envision a parade of beach resorts, as you’ll find on the heavily touristed island of Phuket about a three-hour drive south of Baan Talae Nok. But others, like Garrett, thought it important to preserve the local culture that’s so often overrun by commercial development.

There are still fishermen in Baan Talae Nok, but if you visit the village early in the year, you’ll find as many as 20 residents meticulously shelling cashews for a nearby cashew processing plant. (A worker adept at shelling can earn 35 Thai baht a day, or slightly more than $1.) There are groves of rubber trees that are tapped by villagers. And visit the spa at the very posh Banyan Tree hotel in Bangkok and you’ll find soaps from Baan Talae Nok, fragrant bars made of, among other things, cloves, cumin, saffron flower, lemongrass, black sesame seed, and tamarind.

The village homestay program is now administered by another young company, Andaman Discoveries,  which runs a seven-month course on tourism development for locals that teaches the advantages of cultural heritage, environmental stewardship, and adventure-based guiding methods, as well as first aid, computer, and English skills. 

Visitors commonly stay three days (though some have stayed longer) and are briefed fully before arrival on what to expect—beds on floors with mosquito nets, Asian-style toilets, and little hot water. The traditional way to shower is to use a small bowl that is dipped in a vat of water—just pour it over your head to rinse. Surprisingly, high-speed Internet service (via satellite) is available for $1.35 an hour. 

I stayed one night in a home with our hostess, Cha, who prepared meals as good, if not better, than anything I’ve enjoyed elsewhere in Thailand. Because Baan Talae Nok is a Muslim village, no alcohol is served, so it’s all about water, sodas or fruit juices. At sunset, I saw one of the more extraordinary sights I’ve ever seen: More than 40 water buffalo parade across the beach into the sea to wallow in the salt water. Villagers told me it happens every night. The next morning, as I took a long-tailed motorboat to bring up fishing nets, I saw numerous crab-eating monkeys patrolling the bank of the klong (canal) leading to the sea. The monkeys are also adept at opening oysters. Mudskippers skittered along the (appropriately muddy) shoreline, and overhead I saw Brahminy Kites, comorants, and white-bellied sea eagles.

On a good month, Baan Talae Nok hosts as many as 25 visitors; the oldest tourist so far was 73 years old.

To visit, fly to Phuket or Suratthani and hire a car—Andaman Discoveries can help you with the logistics.

Efforts to help villages such as Baan Talae Nok following the tsunami have not always worked perfectly. On the village’s paved road, a weathered sign reads, “The Coca-Cola system in Thailand, as part of its tsunami reconstruction program, is proud to present this bakery to the community of Baan Talae Nok. Coca-Cola will always stand with the people of the south in good times and bad.”

The problem is, the residents of the village don’t eat bread, and they don’t have the means to transport it to other markets. Today what was supposed to be a bakery is a private home, though the sign still stands. Price Waterhouse Coopers was more on target; its German division built the town’s new school. Along with construction and landscaping, the company donated 20 computers and a batch of musical instruments. Today the computers and instruments sit unused because there is no one available to teach the 37 students how to use them. Andaman Discoveries is trying to raise enough money to pay for teachers.

There is, however, one important detail everyone got right: The school sits on the very highest point of land overlooking the village. 

Citrus Alert: Don't Drop Those Lemons & Limes Into Your Iced Tea!

From our continuing series on germs you encounter while traveling comes news from healthinspections.com that those wedges of lemon and lime that accompany your iced tea or vodka tonics might be loaded with germs, including that old non-favorite, "fecal matter."  Is it time to bring your own (already washed) to restaurants?  You be the judge --check out the short video below.  And be afraid, very afraid.

What Do YOU Think About United Charging $25 For a Second Bag?

Unless you fly at least 25,000 miles a year on United Airlines, you're only going to be permitted to check one piece of luggage for free beginning May 5th if you're flying on a non-refundable, domestic coach ticket.  (Though tickets purchased for future travel before next Monday, Feb. 11th, are exempt from the new rule.)  A second bag will cost $25.

While a fee for checking bags is routine at a few discount airlines around the world (Rynair being the most prominent), this is the first time a US airline has levied a charge on a second bag.  Travelers flying overseas on United may still check two bags at no charge, but the new regulations do apply on flights to Canada, Puerto Rico, and St. Thomas. 

United says only a quarter of its passengers check more than one bag, but I predict overhead bins will begin to fill up even faster now as passengers try to beat the rule that could cost them $50 round trip if they check more than one piece of luggage.  Premier members or higher of United's frequent flyer program may continue to check two bags at no cost.

Do you think the other airlines are watching this gambit closely to see if it, ahem, flies?  You bet. 

It's Art: Frozen In Grand Central Station! Immovable People!

I love these kinds of things, but it always amazes me folks have time to have this much fun!  Organizing more than 200 people to stop busy commuters in New York City's Grand Central Station is no small feat.

Perhaps it's MY life I ought to examine in hopes of figuring out why, at least every once in a while, I don't take the time to be a bit more creative and participate in something that is, at least for five minutes in this case, a temporary work of art and theater. 

Dictionary Definition of Culture Shock: Flying From Monaco to India

If there’s a little European city more neatly trimmed, buttoned up, and flaunting affluence than Monte Carlo, I haven’t found it. Well, maybe in Switzerland, but generally speaking nothing beats Monte Carlo for polish as well as the number of Bentleys and Ferraris parked outside the principality’s flagship hotel, the Hotel de Paris.

Then there’s Delhi, India, whose old downtown market is a chaotic collection of tiny shops selling just about every product known to the world amidst a swirl of dust, a parade of goats, monkeys flitting from roof to roof, jostling pedicabs (called “rickshaws” by Delhites), donkey-drawn carts, bicycles overloaded with cargo, and any other manner of transport you can imagine. The fanciest car is sight is a Honda Accord.

I jumped between those two destinations for work with just brief stops in my hometown of Saint Paul, MN, and Los Angeles; I think I established a new personal best in the category of culture shock.

I ’ve spent a lot of time on the French Riviera, so the cavalcade of luxury cars, the glittering hotels and restaurants, and the well-groomed couples taking $150 lunches outside at the Café de Paris came as no surprise.  (That's the famous casino on the left--the Hotel de Paris is adjacent to it.)  And I’ve also done Delhi a couple of times before this trip, so I’m not completely overwhelmed by the impossibly crowded streets, the press of the crowds, and the omnipresent evidence of poverty. But it was the rapid juxtaposition between the two that made me marvel at the disparity between two of the world’s great destinations.

Each, I think, offers travelers reasons to visit; each is fascinating in its own way.

Monte Carlo is a kind of Disneyland for the wealthy, a place to gawk at Belle Epoque architecture, the gorgeous Mediterranean, the super-sized yachts, and the manicured landscaping--not a bougainvillea blossom is out of place. Delhi is thrilling for its press of humanity, the ingenuity of man (just check the electrical wiring in Old Delhi), the brilliant colors of saris that pop out of the dusty cityscapes, and the jumble of religions with their various temples and traditions.

I find Americans are divided into two groups on a couple of subjects. The first is beets. Either you hate them or you love them. The second is India. Half of Americans love the country or can’t wait to visit; the other half dislike it or would never consider visiting. I love beets, and I love India, where, by the way, there’s beet juice available in street stalls everywhere. I tell friends that you can take a movie camera, set it up on almost any city street in India, turn it on, walk away, and return in two hours and you’ll have an Indiana Jones movie.

For three weeks in December, my television crew and I have been shooting our first episodes on India; now I know I was right in that description of India’s cities. In Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur (our first three destinations), we’ve barely had to move the tripod when shooting downtown. All of it comes to us if we just stay in one place—the cows, the elephants, the camels, the monkeys, and the panoply of bicycles and motorized vehicles with two, three, four and more wheels. Oh, and the people. Indians are famously friendly, and they love to come right up to our camera and are content to stand there and quietly watch as I botch my lines. When we shot in Monte Carlo a few years ago, no one gave us a second glance.

More on the French Riviera and India in upcoming blogs.

American Airlines' Airport Clubs Introduce Free Wi-Fi--But Don't Try to Poach!

Following the lead of other airlines, such as Northwest, American Airlines announces free Wi-Fi access to guests who are members of its Admirals Club airport lounges.  But if you're hoping to lurk outside the door of American lounges and pick up that signal, well, don't bother.  In the case of American, you'll have to type in your Admirals Club membership number in order to get onto the Internet.  Membership costs between $300-$450 a year, though day passes may also be purchased.  Of course, if all airports offered area-wide, free Wi-Fi, the world would be a much better place.

India Today: The Strange Melding of East & West; Bollywood, Mick Jagger . . . And What the Heck Is a 'Super Dense Crush Scenario'?

Turkey holds title to the cliché “where east meets west” because it straddles Europe and Asia. But while shooting two episodes of “Rudy Maxa’s World” in India, I grew convinced that India is an intriguing runner-up in that category.

More than on any previous visit, I was struck by melding of cultures taking place as the “new India” assumes global center stage with China.

Unlike China, however, India is more westward looking. That’s partly thanks to the legacy of British colonial rule—in New Delhi, the massive Connaught Square shopping area could be in London save for the pedicabs and motorcabs (what the Thais call “tuk-tuks”) buzzing around the streets. And the growing outsourcing of jobs from the US and elsewhere in the west must help explain the cultural stew, too. After all, employees of those phone banks you reach when you call for computer help or reservations are schooled in such things as American sports teams and other popular topics of American conversation.

Characters in Bollywood movies deliver dialogue partly in English, partly in Hindi. Every day, the dozens of English-language newspapers are filled with up-to-the-moment gossip about Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, and celebrities du jour. Shopkeepers in the crowded, old market of Jodhpur try to entice me into their stores with promises that Mick Jagger and other Western rock stars have shopped there.

(In the case of Jagger, they may not be exaggerating—the old rocker is best buddies with the maharaja of Jodhpur, a portly, serious figure who is a revered symbol of a family that ran the region for 600 years before Indian royalty there was stripped of its privileges about 60 years ago. While I’ve never met Jagger, I did interview the maharaja, and you couldn’t find two people that are outwardly more different.)

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The British tendency toward understatement is still evident in Indian life. “Rash driving” is a euphemism for hell-on-wheels motorists. (Traffic in India is something to behold, with two lane roads routinely becoming four-late roads as cars jockey for space; it wasn’t unusual even on toll roads—our equivalent of interstates—to see a tractor-trailer truck coming at you the wrong way with horn blaring.) The phrase “bold scenes” substitutes as a description of risqué scenes in movies, though in India, an actor and actress brushing cheeks qualifies as quite naughty.

Indians seem to have acronyms for everything; reading a daily paper requires a local translator because of the number of abbreviations. One of my favorite is SDC, which refers to a jam-packed bus or train, as in this line from a New Delhi paper this week: “The new trains will also have four blowers to pump in 15,000 cubic metres of fresh air—in a Super Dense Crush scenario where a 12-car train ends up carrying 5,300 passengers against a total capacity of 3,504 passengers, the significance of these features needs little underlining.”

“Super Dense Crush” is more than a descriptor—it’s apparently also an official category. Flying coach these days, for example, presents a Super Dense Crush scenario.

As India hurtles into the future with a robust economy and rapidly changing mores, there’s still the legacy you’d expect in a largely Hindu country. Virginity before marriage remains critical in most communities. In fact, suggesting otherwise can get you in hot water. Several Bollywood figures have recently come under not just criticism but also legal scrutiny for speaking frankly.

A former Miss Universe, actress Sushmita Sen, was charged last week with obscenity for “making lewd sexual comments” in interviews. Among other things, she remarked in a television interview that “no Indian is chaste or virgin anymore and having premarital or post-marital affairs is nothing wrong in society nowadays.”

She’s charged under laws titled the “Indecent Representation of Women Act” and “Young Persons Harmful Publication Act” in a court in Madras. When a couple of other Bollywood figures were charged last year with obscenity for striking a couple of, um, bold poses for an evening paper, the Tamil Murasu, a fellow actor who spoke out in their defense was slapped with a warrant for “casting aspersions on the judiciary.”
It’s a ropedancer’s game, this meeting of the traditional with the modern.

December is a perfect—and very popular—time to visit India, largely because it’s the dry season and temperatures are moderate. It is the foggy season in Northern India, however, as you may be able to tell in my photo, left, of the Taj Mahal.  For the first-time visitor, I’d suggest starting with the classic “Golden Triangle” tour of the north. Fly into Delhi and visit Agra (the Taj Mahal is worth the 2.5-hour train trip or five-hour drive), then Jaipur, and end up in Jodhpur before flying back to Delhi.

It’s easy to see India as an individual traveler if you hire a car and driver and tour guide when you arrive in India. Local travel agencies in Delhi will rent you a car and driver for about $60 a day to take you around the north. Figure on a bit more for a guide.

The crew and I were lucky to have the services of Rajesh (“Raj”) Ranjan, a delightful state-licensed guide with an MBA who managed to smooth our way into almost every site we needed to shoot—no small feat in a country filled with bureaucrats who feel the need to establish their territory when something new, such as an American television crew, shows up. (Yes, we’d secured advance permission to shoot from federal authorities, but that didn’t keep local pooh-bahs from searching for reasons to deny us access; the very diplomatic and persistent Raj eventually won the day.)

Drop raj an e-mail at ranjandl@bol.net.in if you'd like to retain his services--tell him Rudy sent you. 

Victoria & Virgin Team Up For In-Flight Pajama Party

Wasn't that international lingerie model Selita Ebanks sauntering down the aisle of a Virgin America flight between NYC and Los Angeles in her pajamas on Wednesday night?

Indeed it was.

A cross promotion between Victoria's Secret and Virgin America produced a pajama party aboard the night flight, with passengers receiving gifts of Victoria Secret pajamas and cosmetic products.  And the cameras came out, as passengers snapped shots of Ebanks and her fellow model, Miranda Kerr.  Virgin flew a couple of dozen models from NYC to Los Angeles for the annual VS lingerie show (to be broadcast Dec. 4th on CBS), and for Flight 317 on Wednesday, VS provided the goodie bags and models as entertainment. 

This evening I board an Air India flight from Chicago to New Delhi via London.  Wonder if there will be any Victoria Secret models waltzing down our aisles?  I'm guessing not.  But the Virgin/Victoria project wasn't the first in-flight promotional event.  I remember years ago flying coast-to-coast when Dell, to promote its new, longer-lasting laptop battery, handed out laptops to everyone to demonstrate the battery could last an entire trans-continental flight.  (We didn't get to keep the laptops, unfortunately.)  And Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic, is known for his wacky promotional events when he launches new routes.  On the first Virgin London to LA flight, Branson produced a dozen models in bikins, and he showed up wearing a bathing suit, flippers as well as a mask and snorkel.

Surprise! Effective Today, TSA Tightens Rules Regarding Inspection of Electronic Carry-0n Items

Effective today, new TSA rules will govern how airline passengers carrying electronic items will have to submit those items for inspection at security check points. 

Previously, only laptop computers had to be placed separately on a conveyor belt.  But as of today, the TSA requires you to remove video games, video cameras, DVD players and CD players from your carry-on bags (or coat pockets) so they may be run through X-ray machines separately.  While iPods and other MP3 players aren't included in this surprise, new ruling, I wouldn't be shocked if any number of front-line TSA employees think they might be.  So put on your best game face and allow a little extra time to pass through security lines as passengers get used to the new rules.

Will overseas airports mimic the TSA ruling?  They often do.  On Sunday, I'm flying via Amsterdam to St. Petersburg, Russia, to begin shooting the first of 13 overseas shows for my sixth series of public television travel shows, so I'll report back from the field.
 

Attention Atlanta Flyers: Long Lines Re-Appear at Hartsfield

If you need to pass through security at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport, you should know that this at 7:30 this morning passengers waited as long as 50 minutes in line.  Airport authorities attributed to long lines to the start of the summer vacation season.  Normally, about 250,000 passengers pass through the airport each day; this week that number ballooned to 370,000 passengers. 

But wait, it gets worse: On Wednesday, the wait time in security lines was as long as two hours, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  Some passengers missed flights as a result.

Busiest times: between 8 and 9 a.m. and 2 and 3 p.m.  Generally speaking, of course, early morning is the best time to fly because there's less chance of back-ups and congestion in the sky.  In Atlanta, at least, long security lines this week made that advice moot.

My advice: If it looks as if you might miss your flight, go to the head of the line and show your boarding pass to a TSA agent and VERY politely ask someone if you can cut in line.

Check out wait times on the airport's web site. 

Revealed: The Unhappy Truth Behind Airlines' 'Schedule Inflation' And Why It's Important To Bring Lots of Reading Material Aboard

Around 5:30 Monday evening, I boarded Northwest flight 735 from New York's JFK to Minneapolis-St. Paul, a distance of about 1,027 miles that normally takes just over two hours to fly.  But the airline's schedule clocked the trip at three hours and 17 minutes.  Why?  Because there's a daily traffic jam on the runways of JFK during the early evening; my fellow passengers and I spent an hour in a long line with other aircraft waiting to take off.  

In Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, the paper's excellent aviation writer, Scott McCartney, provided a revealing look at the enormous growth in schedule inflation--the increasing time it's taking planes to complete routine flights despite the fact that jets today fly faster then they used to and have more sophisticated avionics that allow them to chart more direct routes.  The culprit: airport congestion and the FAA, which lags behind the airlines in being able to route aircraft more directly.

I spent years taking the Eastern Air Lines (you remember them, don't you?) and Delta shuttles almost weekly between Washington, DC, and New York in the '80s and early '90s.  The actual flying time was--and still is--about 30 minutes.  But most trips took an hour because of congestion at LaGuardia airport.  Today's commuters look back on that schedule longingly--some DC-NYC shuttles routinely take two hours now.   

In 1997, American Airlines' flight 29 departing New York for Los Angeles at 7:05 p.m. took just under six hours to cross the country; today, American flight 21, departing at the same time, takes 23 minutes longer. 

The future was supposed to signal progress, and while I never quite believed the new milennium would find us all equipped with Jetson-like jet packs that would zip us about at will, I did think more sophisticated aircraft and airports would continue to make traveling easier and more efficient.  Aircraft enginners have generally kept up their part of the bargain, but airports haven't upgraded sufficiently to handle passenger load.  And, as McCartney notes, an outmoded, national radio beacon system on the ground still means airplanes must meander through the skies from point to point instead of taking an as-the-crow-flies direct route from Point A to Point B.

And Minneapolis-based commercial aviation watchdog Terry Trippler adds to our understainding of why fllying trips are longer rather than shorter: Too many flights. That's not to say that we should allow fewer people to fly; it's that airlines, in an effort to offer an expanded menu of departure and arrival times, are putting smaller planes on routes so they can offer more flights a day.  Sometimes they're not necessarily carrying any more passengers between cities than they did a decade ago.  But those additional flights on smaller planes mean more take off and landings.  Which means more congestion.

I wish I could belive that things will get better in the next year or so, but they won't.  And with some chagrin, I looked this moring at a ticket I bought for an upcoming New York City trip in July and noted I would be returning to my hometown of St. Paul on the same flight out of JFK that I flew Monday night.  As our pilot told the passengers when we pulled away from our gate and became number 20 in a line of aircraft waiting to depart, "This is routine at JFK at this time of night."  Which is why Northwest's schedule allows three-and-a-half hours for the trip. 

Technically, if a flight departs or takes off within a half hour of its scheduled times, it's considred "on time."  In the case of Northwest 735 and more and more flights these days, building routine delays into the published schedule is a facile way of suggesting things are working just fine.  And no one knows more than weary frequent travelers that, these days, that just ain't so.    

And Two Airlines You've Never Heard Of Continue To Expand; Jet Airways of India & MAXjet Spread Their Wings With New Routes

Chances are, unless you're a frequent visitor to India, you've never head of Jet Airways.  It's India's largest, privately owned airline, serving 40 cities in that country as well as ten other international destinations, including London.  This August, Jet Airways plans to link New York (from Newark airport) with flights to Mumbai via Brussels.  And by fall, Jet Airways will also serve San Francisco and Mumbai with flights via Shanghai. 

The new routes--the airline's first to and from North America--are intended to make Jet Airways a household word and, according to a press release announcing the new service, to help Jet Airways become one of the world's top five airlines by 2010. With plans to begin service between India and Toronto, Johannesburg and the Persian Gulf, it's well on its way to becoming an international player.  The planned purchase of 20 wide-body Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 jets, as well as 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, must have the competition startled.   

I've flown Jet Airways within India and found the airline uncommonly comfortable, its staff gracious, and its cabin service a cut above most domestic service in the US--not that that's a very difficult accomplishment. 

This is not a discount carrier, though I expect Jet Airways will undercut its competition in price.  The airline pours Krug and Dom Perignon in first class, and its new Boeing 777s will have private suites for eight passengers (left), seperated by sliding doors from the main cabin.  Business class will offer flat beds, economy passenger seats will recline 130 degrees.

Meanwhile, MAXjet --the all-business class airline that along with Eos is responsible for the fare war among trans-Atlantic carriers trying to lure business-class passengers--is also spreading its wings.  It's converting its seasonal service between London's Stansted airport and Washington's Dulles airport into year-round service beginning May 24, 2007.  And on Aug. 30, 2007, MAXjet links London and Los Angeles with service Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Friday.  Tickets between London and LA begin at $699 each way--often the equivalent price of coach class on most airlines.  MAXjet's seats aren't lie-flat, but they're leather, and passengers enjoy business class cuisine, space and lounges.  Currently, the airline flies to London from New York, DC, and Las Vegas. 

Southwest Reveals Winner of Make-Your-Own Ad Contest Tonight

After reviewing about 140 entries, Southwest picked the winner of its advertising contest that invited the public to suggest a story line to coincide with it's "wanna get away?" ad campaign.  The winning commercial airs tonight during the NBA playoff game on the TNT network.  You may view the grand prize winner as well as several runners-up at Southwest's contest web site. 

It's Official: The Chattering Class Can't Use Cell Phones Aloft

The Federal Communications Commission says it's not moving forward with proceedings that might have permitted individual cell phone owners to make and receive calls aboard commercial flights.  Since the FCC began its inquiry in December 2004, thousands of airline passengers have written the agency begging that they be spared from having to listen to other people's phone conversations. 

The FCC says it will continue to monitor the possible use of cell phones--European airlines are preparing to allow in-flight cell phone calls by the end of the year.  And still on the drawing boards is the possibility of Wi-Fi service during flights.  That, of course, is a whole lot quieter than cell phone conversations, most of which would have begun with the line, "You'll never guess where I'm calling you from" for at least the first couple of years.  For now, though, only an overly talkative seatmate or fussy child stands between you and a quiet flight.

One Out of Every Four Americans Has a Passport, And That's a Shame

One of the most difficult statistics to pin down is this: How many Americans have passports?  The State Department is never sure--I know because I've spent hours trying to get that number out of the passport office.  It's difficult to measure, since passports expire, people expire, and the population is always changing. 

But the best estimate is that about a quarter of all Americans at any given time have a valid passport.  That number may be going up even as I write, since new rules now require all US citizens wishing to fly between the US and Canada, Mexico and the Caribean have a valid passport in order to return to the country. 

In a recent article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, staff writer Jon Tevlin laments this small percentage of passport holders and compares our numbers to other countries.  In Germany, 90 per cent of citizens have passports.  In Canada, it's 40 per cent.  In Great Britian, 64 per cent. 

I could fill this blog with the excuses I've heard from Americans who tell me why they see no reason to ever leave these 50 states.  In my opinion, they're mostly bogus reasons that reveal a basic insecurity--too many Americans are afraid to go to a country where a different language is spoken, there are different customs, the food is different, and maybe the entire country drives on the wrong side of the road. 

In his article, Jon touches on some of those points and offers his own story of how his life changed as a result of his first trip abroad.  It's short, it's amusing, and it's right on.  Check it out.   

Virgin America Finally Gets A Break: Airline May Fly By Summer

The Transportation Department gave a partial green light today to the start up of Virgin Atlantic, the San Francisco-based, discount airline that has been trying to fly for more than a year now.  In December,  Washington regulators, helped along by pressure from American, Continental and Delta Air Lines, decreed that Virgin Atlantic didn't comply with federal regulations regarding the ownership of US airlines by foreigners.

Virgin Atlantic, of course, is Richard Branson's London-based airline, but he said he and his overseas companies did not exceed the ownership cap of 25 per cent in Virgin America.  Still, Virgin America made some concessions, issuing more stock, shedding three board members associated with Branson's Virgin Group, and--for reasons not quite clear to me--expressing a willingness to fire CEO Fred Reid, an American.

Virgin America's web site tonight says the airline hopes to begin flying to New York City by mid-summer, with flights to DC, Las Vegas, and San Diego beginning within nine months after the airline's inaugural flight.  Virgin America will be the first major discount airline to serve San Francisco's major airport (Southwest flies in and out of nearby Oakland), so expect fares on the new airline's competitors to drop the day Virgin Atlantic begins service. 

Don't Try This Relaxation Technique At Home, Kids!

Security officials at Los Angeles International Airport last Tuesday thought there was something suspicious about Fadhel Al-Maliki, a 35-year-old Iraqi who lives in Atlantic City, NJ.  So they selected him for secondary screening.  Al-Maliki then volunteered to TSA agents that he thought he knew what might have set off the metal detector when he passed through it.

He then removed a rock, chewing gum and thin wire filament from his rectum.  He told investigators the objects he'd placed inside himself were used to alleviate stress.

Airport police briefly blocked roads leading to the airport, and the flight to Philadelphia that Al-Maliki did not board was diverted to Las Vegas because Al-Maliki's bag was in the cargo hold of that flight.  And while authorties said the piece of luggage had been screened, they wanted to make absolutely certain.

Investigators ruled out an early theory that Al-Maliki, who said he'd worked as a security guard, was testing security, looking for weaknesses in the passenger screening process.  And though he was arrested on suspicion of possessing a destructive device, those charges were quickly dropped.  However, federal officials are reviewing his immigration status because information on his green card may have been out of date.

And so, at least for March, Fadhel Al-Maliki wins this blogger's award for having the most ridiculous carry-on items on his person.  Wanna relax?  How about an iPod with club music, next time, sir? 

Official Cherry Blossom Dates Picked: Book Now Or Forget About It

The chief horticulturalist of the National Park Service decreed today that the famous cherry blossom trees in the nation's capital will be at their peak, blossom-wise, April 1-7.  That's when 70% of the trees that ring the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson Memorial should be in bloom.

If you're thinking of visiting from out of town, now would be a good time to book a hotel room, as that's prime tourist time.  The actual festival will be held from March 31 through April 15, with parades and other assorted events that celebrate the gift of the cherry trees to the US from Japan 95 years ago.  Take it from someone who lived in DC for more than 35 years--don't miss the spectacle at night, when searchlights sweep the trees from across the water.  Magical.

US Airways' Woes Spread--Travelers Beware

US Airways' computer problems have not yet been solved as of Monday morning.  Check with the carrier if you have a ticket on a flight today.  Or tomorrow.  Lines have spread west as far as Las Vegas.  Here's the scene at Charlotte's airport as captured by a Charlotte Observer photographer.

Here We Go Again: It's US Airways' Turn In the Barrel Today

US Airways didn't tell passengers that today was C-Day--the day the airline began switching its entire Sabre-based computer reservations system over to a new platform in order to conform to America West's reservations system.

And now it's pandemonium time at US Airways' Charlotte hub.  And things aren't much better at other East Coast airports, including Philadelphia and Boston.  Not that you'd know anything was particularly amiss if you were checking in for a flight right now on US Airways' web site.  There's only a mention of a travel advisory warning passengers of long lines "due to heavy passenger volume."  I just checked my calendar, and, nope, it's not Thanksgiving or even Memorial Weekend.  There's no unusually heavy passenger volume today--there are unusual computer problems today.

The Charlotte Observer reports that check-in kiosks didn't work this morning at the local airport, and that long lines snaked through the airport as passengers missed departure times by at least two hours.  Some passengers due to depart this morning have been re-booked for evening flights, but the airline is advising passengers to "go home."

What can you do if you hold a US Airways ticket for travel tomorrow or this week?  Watch closely what happens tomorrow morning--if the IT guys haven't fixed the system, it's going to be one very long week for US Airways and its passengers.  And check US Airways' web site.  Maybe someday soon, airlines will figure out that with newspaper web sites like the Charlotte Observer's operating 24/7 and the proliferation of blogs that focus on the airline industry, blaming "heavy passenger load" on their own failings just doesn't cut it anymore.

Let My People Go! AA Opens First Class Lavatory To the Rest Of Us

American Airlines' domestic coach passengers are now free to move about the cabin to use lavatories in the first class section of the plane.  Interesting that AA claimed security considerations after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, led them to restrict access to first-class passengers only. 

In fact, federal security regulations only mandated first-class passengers use the front lavatories on flights en route to the US.  The idea was to avoid a clot of people standing around the cockpit door.  American was the only domestic carrier to enforce that rule on domestic flights, so it's interesting to see AA's PR spin suggesting the airline is now doing its passengers a favor unlike, say, its competitors.  (Though I do notice flight attendants on many different airlines don't look kindly on coach passengers using lavatories in the business or first-class sections of planes.  Some kind of territorial snobbery, I think.) 

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram obtained the memo announcing the rule change on American.  On your typical Boeing 757, there are two lavatories in first class, which has 22 seats, and two in coach, which can have as many as 160 seats. 

Note: Transportation Security Administration rules still mandate that passengers flying into the US must must use lavatories in their respective cabins.

American--Without Bankruptcy--Has Lowest Cost-Per-Available Seat of Legacy Carriers; Guess Who Has the Lowest Cost?

Every once in a while I come across a statistic that surprises me, and a recent Wall Street Journal article detailing labor relations between American Airlines and its pilots included a sidebar that revealed that among the so-called "legacy" carriers, American Airlines enjoys the lowest cost-per-available seat mile.

That figure is derived by taking an airline's available seat miles and dividing it into an airline's operating cost.  The three airlines with the highest cost as of the third quarter of 2006?  Three airlines that are either in, or have recently been in, bankruptcy: US Airways (with a 1.57 cents cost to fly a passenger a mile), Northwest (14.2 cents), and Delta (13.9 cents).

Two airlines that didn't declare bankruptcy in the last five years managed to have lower costs--Continental (13.4 cents) and American (12.6 cents).  United, which is still in bankruptcy, lands in the middle of Continental and American; it costs United 13.2 cents to fly each available seat mile.

Keep in mind airlines including United, Delta, Northwest, and US Airways used their time in bankruptcy to, in some cases, get rid of big pension obligations, renegotiate airplane lease agreements, slash workers' salaries and perks, and change work rules. 

Nothing wrong with any of that, of course. 

I just find it very interesting that American, which managed to keep its pension plan afloat (though the airline needs a string of profitable years to top it off) has comparatively lower costs than competitors who used bankruptcy as a way of cutting back.  That's a testament to the airline's executives and workers who put their heads together to figure out how to cut costs and boost productivity.  It's often been said, "Bankruptcy just forces lawyers and creditors to do what management ought to do."  In American's case, management and workers stepped up to the plate.

And what about the former upstart airline that is now the new, 900-pound gorilla in the business, Southwest?  Helped along by a highly motivated staff and fuel prices locked in years ago at earlier, lower levels, Southwest has costs of only 8.7 cents per available seat mile--a big competitive advantage. 

What's the Bottom Line On the jetBlue Fiasco? And What the Heck Does 'Controllerable Irregularity' Mean, Anyway?

I know I promised my reaction to jetBlue's self-imposed "passenger bill of rights" last week, but I wanted to watch the reaction to the airline's announcement, primarily to see if other airlines might follow suit.

They didn't.

The most startling part of jetBlue's announcement was its promise to pay $1,000 to any passenger with a reservation who is denied a seat because a flight is overbooked.  That's a lot of scratch.  Given that most airlines routinely overbook because it's known a certain percentage of passengers will not show up, jetBlue must be very certain of its ability to predict how many people will post for its flights.  Most airlines, of course, handle overbooking by offering passengers $200 or $300 or a voucher for a free future flight to surrender their seats and accept a later flight.

As to the issue of what got jetBlue in such deep trouble last week--passengers stranded on fetid planes--the airline proposed a sliding scale of compensation depending on how long passengers are delayed.  And jetBlue introduced a new phrase into airline lexicon--at least to my knowledge.  It's a phrase I think is better suited to those commercials that air on the evening broadcasts of network news: "Controllable irregularity."

As in, to quote jetBlue's web site: "Customers whose flight is delayed prior to scheduled departure for four to six hours due to a controllable irregularity are entitled to a voucher good for future travel on jetBlue in the amount paid by the customer for the one-way trip."

I searched in vain on the airline's web site (including its legalese-filled "contract of carriage") for a definition of "controllable irregularity."   Perhaps jetBlue will soon explain exactly what that means, but I think it means if something bad happens that the airline can control yet it still strands passengers in a terminal or the apron of a runway, it'll pay up.  Of course, weather is not considered a "controllable irregularity," but the airline's failure to get passsengers off a stranded plane would be a controllable event.

Several members of Congress are proposing their own passenger bill of rights.  Sen. Olympia Stowe (R-ME) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) are co-sponsoring a bill that would compel airlines to let passengers off a grounded plane after three hours.  And that's what worries me about legislators passing laws regarding the complicated world of commercial aviation.

Let's say you're a newlywed couple aboard a jetBlue plane at JFK when bad weather shuts down the airport.  But air controllers and airline weather experts tell pilots waiting in line for takeoff they expect the weather to clear in a reasonable amount of time.  (Which did, in fact, happen last week at JFK.)  Under the Stowe-Boxer bill, the aircraft would have had to head back to the gate after three hours even if the airport is expected to open in 15 minutes. This presents three problems:

1. By returning to the gate, the aircraft loses its position in line for take-off, and it may take a long time to receive another "slot" from air controllers.

2.  When an aircraft returns to a gate, the flight is considered completed, even if it never went aloft.  Pilots are not permitted to fly more than eight hours a day unless a flight is delayed while already underway.  Wait in line for three hours, taxi 15 minutes back to the gate, and a flight crew facing a five-hour cross-country flight cannot fly anymore that day.

3.  And what about that newlywed couple and other passengers who might be willing to wait an extra hour near the runway if it means they can reach their destination that same day?  Will they be writing thank-you notes to Congress the next day?

I agree with Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Marilee McInnis who told the San Francisco Chronicle, "We think customer loyalty and the threat of lost business are greater than threats of regulations from Congress."

This is not to belittle the extreme discomfort the passengers of Northwest's planes experienced in 1999 when they were stranded for hours in a snowstorm on the apron of Detroit's airport.  Or the terrible conditions endured last week by jetBlue's passengers who could neither take off nor return to the gate for many hours.  But such incidents are the extreme and very unusual.

I argue that common sense and market forces should correct mistakes and punish the makers of those mistakes.  What do you think?

jetBlue's Neeleman Makes Personal Apology To Passengers; Details On a New Passenger 'Bill of Rights' To Follow This Afternoon

In an extraordinary public apology and statement early this morning, jetBlue CEO David Neeleman "asks for your business and trust" and calls the meltdown of his company's flight operations last week an "aberration" he's taken steps to make sure never happens again.

Sometime this afternoon, the airline will post on its website its own passenger "bill of rights" that Neeleman yesterday described in a conversation with me on NPR's "Talk of the Nation" as a "living document."  By that he meant the airline will feel free to modify and add to its new corporate policy regarding what passengers can expect in terms of service.  One revolutionary promise expected to be included in this afternoon's statement will be a vow to pay customers should they ever have to wait longer than three hours aboard a plane stuck on the ground for whatever reason.

As I mentioned in numerous media interviews yesterday, Neeleman's quick apologies, extensive outreach to both print and broadcast reporters, and mea culpas are unprecedented in the airline industry, where chief executives are better known for going to ground when things go wrong.  Being an airline, to twist a cliche from that '70s sappy novel, Love Story, usually means never having to say your sorry.

I'll be on an airplane headed to a speech in Kansas City when jetBlue posts its "bill of rights," but I'll address it here as soon as I have a few minutes to review it this evening. 

Will JetBlue's Most Horrible Day Lead To a Bill of Rights? Not Likely

It's now two days since jetBlue stranded passengers for up to ten hours on ten flights at New York's JFK airport because of a combination of winter weather, frozen ground equipment, unavailable gates, and hopeful airline dispatchers who thought maybe, just maybe, if they kept planes loaded and ready to go, a break in the weather would allow an opportunity to take off. 

A passenger bill of rights is the topic du jour, just as it was seven years ago after Northwest Airlines stranded passengers at Detroit's airport in a winter snowstorm.  (At least jetBlue had the presence of mind to quickly apologize and offer full refunds as well as a free ticket on a future flight to its victims.)  After the Northwest snafu, the airlines blunted congressional action by proposing their own voluntary bill of rights that included such promises as keeping passengers up to date on the reasons for delays--once somehow considered top secret information by some airline ground staff for inexplicable reasons.

Since then, airlines have heeded that self-imposed list of promises rather haphazardly, perhaps because failure to abide by those promises carried no penalty.  And because the Northwest foul up wasn't repeated right away, proponents of new legislation got little attention.  Then came an American flight two months ago at Dallas-Ft. Worth airport that lingered for hours on the apron.  And then jetBlue's crisis on Tuesday.  And today, another jetBlue flight held passengers five hours on board on a Pittsburgh runway when the aircraft's brakes froze before takeoff on a JFK-bound flight.

Based on my experience of having been a Washington, DC, reporter for more than 20 years, I predict despite all the brouhaha surrounding jetBlue's terrible Tuesday, there will still be no passenger bill of rights at the end of the day.  And if there is, airline interests will  manage to water it down so as to make it toothless. 

But maybe there's an airline smart enough to steal the march on the competition--jetBlue comes to mind as one company creative enough to do this--by issuing its own list of promises that come along with self-imposed penalties.  Make the news, make it spectacular.  No passengers will be held longer than an hour on the ground no matter what, or each passenger will receive $1,000 for every additional hour.  Watch how fast an airline figures out--no matter how treacherous the weather--to get an aircraft back to a gate or a bus or snowplow out to a stranded plane.   

Travel Secrets: How To Snare a Passport In As Little As One Day

Effective Jan. 23, 2007, US citizens flying into the US from Bermuda, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean (excluding the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico) are required to display a valid passport.  Travelers returning to the US via land or sea from some of those destinations will have another year before they need a passport, though the precise deadline has not yet been determined.  My advice: If you have any plans to leave the country, get a passport.

If your plans call for travel within the next two months, today would be a good time to apply for a passport or to renew an about-to-expire one.   I talked to the passport folks at the State Department earlier this week and learned that in December, the office experienced a whopping 57 per cent increase in the number of passports issued compared to December of 2005.  The wait can be as long as six weeks.

What if you need to travel sooner?

Request the State Department's "expedited" service.  It costs an extra $60, but if you need a passport in two weeks or so, the extra fee is obviously worth it.  To learn how to get an expedited passport from Uncle Sam, call this toll-free number: 877-487-2778. 

Need a passport even faster?  Retain the services of a private company that will "walk" your passport application through the bureaucracy in a day.  You'll pay the expediter as much as $150 for that service, less if you can wait a few more days.  Just type "passport expediter" in any search engine and go shopping.

For general details on how to apply for a passport or how to renew one, check out a new website set up by the Travel Industry Association.

Unbelievable! A Third Entry in the NY-London, All-Biz Class Market

Can the NYC-London market handle a third competitor in the all-business class-only airline category?  Investors in London think so, as Silverjet launches this Thursday, Jan. 25, linking Newark airport with London's Luton airport.  With six-foot, three-inch, lie-flat seats, Silverjet is hoping to get a piece of the action that eos and Maxjet have been wooing now for more than a year.

Silverjet's tickets begin at about $1,800 round trip, or half that for a one-way ticket.  The airline flies Boeing 767s that are normally outfitted with 300 seats; with the all-biz class configuration, there are only 100 seats (and none of them middle seats).  There are five lavatories on board as well as expanded luggage lockers and hanging closets.  Other perks: You only have to check in a half hour before your flight.  And if you want to sleep until landing in London, the airline will give you your breakfast to go.

It's worth noting that the legacy carriers on this highly-competitive route, such as British Airways and American Airlines, have had to offer all kinds of business class special fares to hold on to passengers.  After all, if you can do NY-London round trip for slightly less than $2,000 (after taxes and fees are added), why pay twice or three times that?