In the game of merger roulette that U.S. airlines have played in the past decade, few stakeholders have lost more than the Cincinnati airport. In 2003, 10.1 million people boarded 211,000 domestic flights departing from CVG. By 2012, nearly three-quarters of that traffic had withered. Last year, that figure was down to 2.8 million …
Airlines
Feds Board Wrong Plane in Blocking US Airways–American Deal
Despite what the feds say, the American–US Airways merger couldn’t possibly make things worse
RelayRides Plans to Disrupt Airport Parking and Rental Cars in a Big Way
A new service gives travelers free parking at airports—with a free car wash and a free shuttle to and from the terminal thrown in as well. Yes, there is a catch.
The Awfulness of Airlines Is an Opening for Trains and Buses
New train and bus services are loaded with features you almost find on airplanes nowadays, including free Wi-Fi, power outlets, party lounges—and even complimentary checked baggage.
Asiana Crash: More Likely Than Pilot Error? Cockpit Miscommunication
At least in the media echo chamber, fault for the crash of the Asiana flight 214 in San Francisco last weekend is already pretty clear: some kind of screw-up by the pilot who’d never flown a Boeing 777 into San Francisco before and had only 43 hours’ experience in that plane.
Sure, the official NTSB investigation will take months, …
Why the No-Frills, Cattle-Herding, Fee-Crazy Airline Business of Today Is Here to Stay
At airline-industry conferences, you can pretty confidently bet that some luncheon speaker will sagely intone something along the lines of: “In the world of aviation, the only constant is change.” Well, not anymore. Love it or hate it (polls say more folks hate it), the way we fly today, our air-travel experience, isn’t likely to …
Why Hotels Aren’t Making a Killing on Fees Like the Airlines
Love it or hate it, the fee-based business model appears to be here to stay for airlines. But the hotel business is a different story.
JetBlue Proves There’s a Reasonable Way to Hit Us With Fees
You know the drill: An airline hikes its fees, and within seconds travelers vent their outrage in response. JetBlue shows that it doesn’t have to be this way.
Airline Baggage Fees: On the Rise — Yet More Passengers Deem Them ‘Reasonable’
Even as overall baggage fees have increased, some of the nation’s biggest airlines aren’t collecting as much as they did a couple of years ago. Perhaps even more surprisingly, there’s been a sharp rise in travelers who aren’t …
One Airline That Stubbornly Refuses to Pile on the Fees (For Now)
Most airlines view fees for baggage and ticket changes as easy, highly lucrative revenue streams. Southwest Airlines views them quite differently: If it added baggage fees on par with other carriers, Southwest says it would lose …
Oof! Airline Fees Rise Yet Again: At Least $200 to Change a Flight
This week, United Airlines jacked up fees on passengers who need to adjust travel plans. For flights within the U.S., customers must fork over at least $200 (up from $150) for changing tickets.
Air Travel by the Pound and Other Odd Airline Pricing Schemes
After tiny upstart carrier Samoa Air announced it would start charging passengers based on how much they weigh, travelers reacted by calling the pricing model wacky, impractical, even discriminatory. But it’s only one of several weird, possibly unwelcomed ways that flights might be priced down the line.