Business Travel Tips

Budget airline Ryanair could begin charging passengers to use the toilet in flight.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary made the comments to BBC television.

“One thing we have looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny in future,” O’Leary told the BBC.

Charging to use the toilet on flights seems it’s perfectly legal according to British law. “The situation is that there is no legal requirement for an aircraft to have a toilet onboard, so if an airline does have a toilet they can charge to use it.“, a spokesman of Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority told the Times.

Last week Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began testing Millimeter Wave technology (MMW) in the place of a metal detector at Tulsa International Airport for primary passenger screening.

Millimeter Wave equipment is already working at checkpoints of 18 airports across the U.S., but in a “secondary” screening configuration. At these airports, randomly selected passengers and those requiring secondary screening can be screened by millimeter wave technology as a non-invasive alternative to a pat-down from an officer.

In Tulsa, instead of walking through the metal detector, passengers will go directly through the millimeter wave machine. A passenger can opt not to go through the unit, but will go through the metal detector and get a pat-down instead.
In addition to the security benefit of whole body imaging – it can detect metallic and non-metallic threat items.

TSA says that the technology is completely safe, WBI images are never transmitted, printed or stored, the officer at the machine cannot see the image and the officer viewing the image cannot see the passenger.
In the next two months, the pilot program will expand to San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami, Albuquerque, and Salt Lake City. (source: TSA)

According to data from Smith Travel Research, U.S. lodging industry reported large decreases in the three key performance measurements during the month of January.

The industry’s occupancy fell 10.7 percent to end the month at 45.9 percent (51.5 percent in 2008).
Average daily rate dropped 5.2 percent to finish the month at US$100.66 (US$106.14 in 2008).
Revenue per available room for the month decreased 15.3 percent to finish at US$46.24 (US$54.62 in 2008).

Among the Top 25 Markets:
- Washington, D.C., reported increases in all three key performance measurements, benefitting from the inauguration held on 20 January 2009. Occupancy rose 2.5 percent to 52.3 percent, ADR increased 25.8 percent to US$181.75, and RevPAR increased 28.9 percent to US$95.12.
- Tampa-St.Petersburg, Florida was the only other market to report an increase in ADR, up 9.5 percent to US$126.23.
- Largest occupancy declines: Detroit, Michigan (-18.9 percent to 40.6 percent); Seattle, Washington (-17.9 percent to 45.7 percent); and Atlanta, Georgia (-16.8 percent to 48.4 percent).
- Largest ADR declines: New York (-13.1 percent to US$199.05); Phoenix, Arizona (-12.3 percent to US$133.52); and Detroit (-11.9 percent to US$87.22).
- Largest RevPAR declines: Detroit (-28.6 percent to US$35.42); New York (-27.1 percent to US$118.44); and Phoenix (-25.2 percent to US$74.36).

American Airlines has signed an interline ticket and baggage agreement with the Brazilian carrier GOL.

With a single ticket American’s customers will be able of traveling to Brazil transferring to a GOL flight within Brazil and checking their luggage through to their final destination.

GOL operates nearly 800 daily flights to 49 destinations in Brazil and 10 major destinations in South America.

AA serves five destinations in Brazil from three U.S. gateways and during the peak season offers 69 weekly flights to and from Brazil.

United Airlines is launching discount flights to Europe from some U.S. airports.

There are two travel windows:
between April 1 and May 15 — with tickets booked and bought no later than March 9;
between May 16 and Sept 12 — with tickets booked no later than March 11.

Below a sampling of United’s deals to Europe.
Please note, the airfares listed below are one-way, based on a round-trip purchase and do not include taxes and fees. A Saturday night is required and you have to travel Monday to Thursdays.
Chicago - Zurich $384
Chicago - Dublin $389
Los Angeles - Munich $404
Los Angeles - Stockholm $445
Denver - Berlin $474
San Francisco - Zurich $474
San Francisco - London $297
San Francisco - Barcelona $474
Washington Dulles - Geneva $509
Washington Dulles - Istanbul $112
Washington Dulles - Athens $474
More details here.