Customer service, so the conventional wisdom goes, is the first casualty of an airline bankruptcy filing. And for certain airlines, notably those with intractable labor disputes, that may still be the case. But it is no longer universally true.
From the category archives:
Power Trip
Several companies are rushing to provide technologies that could open up the fast lanes almost anywhere for any motorist with a credit card.
Something strange may be going on at a little travel agency in Texas, something that illustrates a potential pitfall for business travelers.
Factor in rising travel costs, the airlines’ unending woes, the devaluation of award programs and a continuing erosion of service, and you have the makings of another trying year. So trying, in fact, that some people are planning to avoid business travel altogether.
Now is nearly the bitter end of the busiest year for business travel since 9/11. While there is plenty to complain about, like airline bankruptcies, overcrowded airports, soaring hotel rates, maddening car rental fees and substandard customer service, there is also plenty to be grateful for.
It was a routine request for a business trip. At least that’s what Ramsay Chu thought.
Next time you board a plane, consider visiting the restroom first. The passengers on a recent United Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Sydney probably wish they had.
One minute, Shirley Kuhl was returning her rental car to the Enterprise lot in Baltimore. The next, she was on a shuttle van to the terminal, $500 poorer.
Airlines could be in for an unpleasant surprise: a passenger revolt against their tried-and-true system for keeping everybody happy if too many bodies show up at the gate.
For several years, rumors have circulated on the Internet about privacy concerns with magnetic cards. The rumors appeared to originate in 1999, when the police department in Pasadena, Calif., investigated a claim that personal information had been extracted from a hotel key card.
With fuel prices soaring and the holiday season approaching, leisure travelers are starting to grumble about higher fares. But business travelers, far from feeling the pain, are enjoying one of the longest periods of generally falling prices in recent memory.
Why is shaving a few minutes off the human cattle herd such a big deal? Any business traveler who has ever rushed seconds too late to a connecting flight will be happy to answer that question. And so will any airline that has found itself at either the top or the bottom of an on-time performance ranking.
Most experienced air travelers know that their rights are spelled out in an airline’s contract of carriage, and they often refer to the document during a dispute with a carrier. But with three of the nation’s major airlines – Delta, Northwest and United – flying under bankruptcy protections, are those contracts still valid?
Greg Brooks is homeless. Not impoverished, “brother can you spare a dime” homeless, but displaced just the same. How else to describe a business traveler who spends 330 days a year on the road?
The Popsicle, a Boeing 737-400 painted bright orange and white, is a fantasy come true for the harried business traveler. Fitted with first-class seats and serving first-rate cuisine, it jets around the world to show off Connexion by Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer’s proprietary in-flight wireless Internet system.
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