January 4, 2006 - Free 411 Calls From Cell Phones. My cellular service, Cingular, charges $1.25 each time I dial information. That's outrageous. But is it worth listening to a brief commercial message in order to enjoy no-charge 411 calls? The folks at 800-FREE-411 (800-373-3411) hope so. Dial that number from your cell, and you'll only pay your standard airtime charge. The catch is this: If you request the number for a commercial establishment, you may hear a short ad for a competing merchant. You'll then have the choice of connecting to the business number you requested or the competition. The entire process is handled by a competent voice recognition service. And requests for residential or government numbers come with just a one-sentence invitation to also visit the service's web site (1800FREE411.com) for numbers.

September 30, 2005 - Continental Adds $10 Fuel Surcharge. Continental Airlines this afternoon added a $10 fuel charge on flights within the US and between the US and Canada. The surcharge is for each way, meaning a round-trip ticket now costs an extra $20. The airline undoubtedly will spend the weekend watching to see if competitors match the increase. If they don't, expect Continental to back down by Monday. Earlier in the day, American announced the cancelation of some flights from its normal schedule, an effort to decrease capacity and save on fuel costs. As I recommended a few weeks ago, if you know where you want to fly and when, don't put off buying a ticket. No one expects the cost of jet fuel to decrease in the next few months, and with capacity shrinking a bit--partly due to Northwest and Delta cutting back on its flight schedule--there'll be more competition for the cheap seats.

September 1, 2005 - Buy Airline Tickets Immediately. And I do mean right now. I expect airlines will slap a fuel surchage of at least $10 per segment any hour today or tomorrow. In the last six days, the cost of jet fuel has gone up 20 per cent. There is no way US airlines can avoid passing that cost increase along to passengers. Just as you've seen gas prices at your neighborhood gas station go up 40 cents or more since Hurricane Katrina hit the US, so, too, have get fuel prices skyrocketed. In the second quarter of this year, for example, JetBlue paid about $1.50 for a gallon of fuel, up from 97 cents the same time last year. A week, ago the airline paid $1.75 for fuel, and today the price per gallon is more than $2. So if you know your future travel plans, do your wallet a favor and lock in your tickets and a favorable fare now.

August 13, 2005 - Double Points/Miles at Best Western. U.S. and Canadian members of Best Western's frequent guest program can collect double miles and points on every stay between Sept. 6 and Dec. 14. No catches, no particular credit card has to be used to pay for your room nights. But you MUST pre-register for the promotion at www.goldcrownclub.com or by calling 800-237-8483. Promotion code is "DOUBLE."

August 12, 2005 - British Airways Labor Action Ends. The sympathy walk off by British Airways employees ended at 8 o'clock in the evening today, London time. But repurcussions from the work stoppage that followed a wildcat strike by caterers at Heathrow Airport will be felt for the next week. More than 20,000 BA passengers have been affected, and BA spokesman John Lampl says that number could grow to 70,000 passengers before the situation is, as the Brits like to say, "sorted out." It could take a week to get customers who were unable to be placed on other airlines to their destinations, and as many as 100 BA planes and 1,000 staffers are stuck in spots around the world they're not supposed to be in. British Airways passengers are asked to check BA's web site, www.britishairways.com, for assistance.

August 12, 2005 - Oil Prices Soar, Fares Follow. Airlines around the world are rushing to raise fares as the barrel price of crude oil heads above $67. Delta raised fares by as much as $10 each way--less on routes where it's in hot competition with discount carriers. United tacked on $2 to $5 for each way on US and Canadian yesterday, and today other US airlines, including JetBlue, Continental and US Airways, jacked up prices. American, America West, and Northwest said earlier today that they were "studying" the possibililty of raising fares, as well. They didn't take long to study the issue, By 8 o'clock in the evening, East Coast time, all three followed their competitors by raising fares between $5 and $10 each way. And it's very possible airlines will try another round of fare increases before August ends, because this week's moves still aren't enough to get airlines ahead of the bad news. Overseas, airlines are also raising fares on both short and long haul flights. Welcome to the new world of expensive oil and airfares that reflect that fact.

August 11, 2005 - Southwest Changes FF Rules. At long last, Southwest Airlines is giving participants in its frequent flyer program 24 months instead of 12 to earn enough flight credits to collect a free ticket. Doubling that time window is effective immediately.

The airline is also removing blackout dates for travel. However, it is intoducing capacity controls on the number of free tickets that will be permitted on certain flights. Previously, if there was a seat available on a plane, anyone holding a free ticket had as much right to that seat as a fare-paying passenger. No more. That means during peak travel times, you should book award seats as far ahead as possible as we've all been trained to do on other airlines.

Holders of free tickets before the new rules were announcced, howver, can still fly under the old rules.

Details: http://www.southwest.com/jp/rapid_rewards.shtml?src=PR_RR_081005.

August 3, 2005 - Two Cendant-owned rental car companies, Avis and Budget, are lowering the minimum age for renting cars from 25 to 21. With lots of exceptions and additional charges of at least $25 a day. For example, in some locations such as Washington, DC, Iowa, Idaho, Connecticut, and parts of New Jersey, the new rules don't apply. Cendant blames something called "vicarious liability" laws in those regions as the reason they can't make this a blanket policy in the US. And in New York City, that surchrage tops out at a whopping $110 a day, more than the cost of the basic rental of a car in almost all cases.

Of course, National and and Alamo have long rented to 21-24 year olds for a $25 daily surcharge, and Enterprise does the same with a lower surcharge of $5-$10 a day. And other rental car companies, including Hertz, have rented to young adults who work for companies that have corporate contracts. Shop around if you're a young adult looking to rent wheels.

June 27, 2005 - Virgin Links Havana & London. That master airline promoter, Virgin Atlantic's Richard Branson, is linking Havana and London's Gatwick airport with twice-weekly service beginning July 7. Somewhere, in the corporate suites of US Airways/America West as well as American, executives are cursing the fact that Uncle Sam forbids them from serving Cuba. So can Americans hop over to London and catch a Virgin flight to Havana? Not legally. US law still forbids US citizens from spending a dollar in Cuba, and the Bush administration has been more proactive in fining offenders than previous administrations.

April 17, 2005 - Airlines To Count Pet Deaths. Every month the Department of Transportation publishes statistics on the performance of the nation's major airlines. The stats measure how many complaints per passenger an airline receives, the percentage of bags that go missing, each airline's load factors and so on. But brace yourself for a startling new category beginning in June: The number of pets injured or killed while flying in the cargo hold of commercial planes. In recent years, airlines have begun declining to carry pets in the summer, when heat can harm animals in cargo holds. I doubt that any airline rank as the number one killer of household pets, so expect more of them to begin taking a pass on carrying Spot or Kitty during any season where bad things might happen to good pets.

April 14, 2004 - Don't Flick That Bic. As of today, you may neither carry a lighter on board a commercial airplane nor check it in your luggage. That makes a lighter even more of a problem than, say, a knife--which you can at least carry in checked luggage. So if you're walking out the door to catch a flight, you've been warned.

April 14, 2004 - An Airline Turns a Profit. Here's a headline you don't see much these days in the airline business: "First-Quarter Earnings Triple." But that's just what Southwest Airlines announced this morning, attributing its good fortune to lots of passengers, cost cutting, and, mostly, lower fuel prices. It's that last point that sets Southwest so far ahead of its competitors--the airline wisely hedged fuel prices long before oil climbed to more than $50-a-barrel. For example, 83 per cent of Southwest's fuel needs the second quarter of this year will only cost the airline the equivalent of $26 a barrel because it locked in that price on the oil futures market long ago. Competitors including American, United and others didn't have the money to make long-term bets on the price of fuel and are hardly hedged. Which means they're paying full boat. Southwest is 65 per cent hedged in 2006 at the rate of $32 a barrel, still an enormous bargain from today's perspective. In 2007, 45 per cent of its fuel needs are hedged at $31 a barrel, and 30 per cent of its needs in 2008 are covered at $33 a barrel. In 2009, a quarter of the airline's fuel requirements will be delivered at what may still be the bargain-basement price of $35 a barrel. First quarter income was three times--nine cents a share--that of the same period last year. That sound you hear in the corporate suites of envious competitors is the sound of teeth gnashing.

April 14, 2005 - Lufthansa Ups Surcharge. Lufthansa increases the fuel surcharge it tacks onto the price of long-haul tickets to $27 per leg, or $54 on a round-trip ticket between the US and Europe. Last August, the surcharge was $2 on domestic and intra-European flights, $7 on long-haul flights per leg. Then, in October, the airline increased the domestic and intra-European fuel surcharge to $7, $17 for long-haul flights. Today's increase lets stand the short-haul surcharge but increases the long-haul charge to $27. Unlike KLM, Lufthansa is not making any promises about reducing or eliminating those extra charges should the price of oil decline over a several-month period.

April 14, 2005 - More India Flights. If you've ever flown between the United Kingdom and India, you've probably never seen an empty seat on a flight. Today, the governments of both countries agreed to increase the number of allowable flights from the current 40 per week to 84 per week over the course of the next 18 months. And the Indian cabinet approved a deal with the US to allow both nations' airlines to serve any cities in both countries. In the case of the UK deal, the British government says 56 of the flights each week will link London's Heathrow with Dulhi or Mumbai; 14 will be between any UK airport and Bangalore; and 14 between any UK airport and Chennai. British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and bmi all have authority to fly between the two countries. The US/India deal is an open-skies agreement that reflects the economic growth of India and its attractiveness as a destination. It will be signed today. Both Northwest and Continental have applied for authority to fly non-stop to India. Northwest's flight to Delhi would originate in its Minneapolis-St. Paul hub while Continental would fly to Delhi from Newark.

April 11, 2005 - Trouble In Cancun. The US State Department is warning American visitors that Cancun may be a dangerous place to visit. Police in the Mexican resort town are on strike, leaving visitors and residents vulnerable to street crimes. Should you cancel your trip to Cancun? Not yet. Just follow the same advice you would if you were planning on vacationing in Rio de Janiero: Don't wear jewelry or take valuables with you to Mexico, only take cabs provided by the hotel, and watch yourself in public areas.

April 11, 2005 - NW & China Southern Link Up. As of today, April 11, members of Northwest Airlines' frequent flyer program can begin earning miles on China Southern, the People's Republic of China's largest airline, and vice versa. In addition, both airlines will extend reciprocal privileges at airport clubs. And both airlines will accept the other's miles for award tickets.

April 11, 2005 - Hertz Shrinks Grace Period. Better get that Hertz car back on time if you're renting from the Yellow Giant in Europe or other overseas destinations this summer. Until recently, if you were late by 59 minutes or less returning your car, you wouldn't get charged an additional fee. Now, Hertz has shrunk that window to 29 minutes.

March 26, 2005 - US Airways Closes Clubs. Further evidence of belt tightening at US Airways is the closure next week of four of its airport clubs. On April 2, clubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and West Palm Beach will shutter. The club in Orlando, closed after suffering hurricane damage, will not reopen.

February 11, 2005 - AA, UA Double Miles. Buy your tickets by Friday, Feb. 18, and earn double miles on all United Ailines and American Airlines flights thorugh May 25. BUT you must preregister for this promotion. American passengers must visit www.aa.com/offers to be eligible for the bonus miles. The promotion code you'll enter on the airline's web site is DBL05. Register for United's promotion at http://mymileageplus.com/mmps/66323/201495/9727dd502de0767417aae64d02bf53ed

January 19, 2005 - American Matches BA's 50K Mileage Bonus. American Airlines matched British Airways' offer of a bushel of bonus miles on business and first class tickets between the US and London. Pick up an extra 48,000 miles if you take a full-fare, round trip in the front of the plane. The offer is good through April 30, 2005, but you must be a member of American's frequent flyer program and pre-register for this promotion at www.aa.com/offers. Enter promotion code LONAA. Or call 800-882-8880.

January 14, 2005 - United Offers Immediate Elite Status. You can buy your way into the elite status levels of United Airline's frequent flyer mileage club by prepaying for a year's worth of airfare. Plus, you'll receive a five per cent discount on all travel purchased. Pay $5,000 to by a prepaid travel card, and you're instantly a "premier" flyer. (Most folks have to fly 25,000 miles in a year to achieve that for the next year.) $10,000 gets you "excutive premier" status. (That normally takes 50,000 miles of flying in a year.) And $20,000 entitles you to instant 1K status. You can use the cash you've advanced to buy tickets through February 28, 2006. However, if you don't use up all your credit, you won't get all your money back. And you can't use your deposit to pay for other passengers' tickets. United will launch the program on Feb. 1, 2005, but you can read all about it by pasting this address in your brower window: http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,51196,00.html?jumpLink=%2Fprepaidtravel

January 14, 2005 - Southwest-ATA Codeshare Cities Announced. The new codesharing agreement between Southwest and ATA extends Southwest's reach into new cities and new airports. Flights may be booked beginning Jan. 16, 2005, for travel starting Feb. 4. By connecting through Chicago's Midway Airport, passengers can book flights on southwest.com to and from the following destinations: Boston's Logan Airport Denver Intl. Airport Regional Southwest Airport (serving Ft. Myers & Naples, FL) Honolulu Intl. Airport Minneapolis/St. Paul Intl. Airport New York's LaGuardia Airport Newark Intl. Airport San Francisco Intl. Airport Sarasota-Bradenton Airport St. Peterburg/Clearwater Intl. Airport in Florida Washington Reagan National Airport Passengers on codeshare flights travel on a single ticket and, of course, checked baggage will be handled behind-the-scenes at Midway. However, the airlines will not merge their frequent flyer programs. On Southwest planes, you'll earn Southwest miles; on ATA planes, you'll earn ATA miles.

January 13, 2005 - Intl Biz-Class Fares Fall. More and more airlines that fly internationally are offering discounted seats in the front of the plane. bmi, for example, has a sale that expires Jan. 17, 2005, offering business-class fares between Chicago's O'Hare or Washington's Dulles and London or Manchester for $2,065. Fare between the UK and Vegas: $2,265. Add another $150 or so in fees and taxes. The only catch: A Saturday night stayover is required. But if you can book way in advance--as much as 50 days--there are great deals on other airlines, as well. Continental will fly you between Newark and London in business for $1,920; the normal, walk-up fare is $8,314. Delta offers a Los Angeles-Buenos Aires round trip in business for $2,326, about 80 per cent off retail. Or LA-Paris for $2,020, compared to $7,154 retail. American and United require a 42-day advance purchase to score tickets from New York or Chicago and London. And Northwest has a 50-day advance purchase ticket linking its hub, Minneapolis-St. Paul, with London for $2,020 round trip in business.

January 11, 2005 - British Airways Offers 50K+ Bonus Miles. Fly business or first class round trip between the US and Europe on British Airways between Jan. 13 and Apr. 13 and earn at least 50,000 frequent flyer miles if you pre-register at ba.com/winteroffer. All of BA's 22 gateway cities in North America are eligible for this promotion, and there's no limit to the number of trips.

January 5, 2005 - It's Official--Delta Rewrites the Rules. Say hello to Delta's "Simplifares," a radical restructing of how major airlines price their tickets. Delta has eliminated the much-loathed Saturday-night stayover requirements nationwide on its cheapest tickets. That means if you book ahead, you can depart on, say, a Tuesday, and return on a Friday for a rock-bottom fare that used to require you spend a Saturday night in your destination. Delta has also simplified its fares, capping walk-up fares at $499 each way for a domestic coach ticket, $599 for a first-class ticket, not including taxes and fees. The move slashes as much as 50 per cent off the cost of some Delta tickets. There are some new charges: A $5 fee on tickets bought via Delta's telephone reservation system and a $10 fee if you book your tickets using an agent at an airport or city ticket office. The fees are an attempt to drive more customers to book at Delta.com. Buy on the airline's web site and there's no fee plus you receive 1,000 bonus miles. Now the big question is this: Will other major carriers follow suit? Northwest issued a statement saying it wouldn't. You can be there are a lot of meetings going on in the marketing and pricing departments of rival airlines. And I wouldn't be surprised to see rivals match Delta's new rules, at least on routes in which it competes head-to-head with Delta. So buy some popcorn, settle back in your seat, and let the show begin. It's going to be quite a ride.