Business Travel Tips

Lufthansa is informing that the strike announced by the pilots union Vereinigung Cockpit from Feb 22 to Feb 25, 2010, is likely to disrupt its flights.

Passengers already booked on a Lufthansa flight in the period from Feb 22 to 25, 2010 can rebook once free of charge on another Lufthansa flight, if they wish to change their travel plans – provided their ticket was issued before February18, the new travel date is before May 31, 2010 and no change is made in their departure and arrival destination.

Should the purpose of a journey become null and void because of a flight cancellation, passengers can annul their flight booking free of charge.

Lufthansa has implemented a toll free number for calls within Germany: +49 (0)800 / 8 50 60 70.
Current information on daily flight operations can always be found under Arrival & Departure  at lufthansa.com.

Many airlines are taking the decision that it is better to drop flights from their schedules when bad weather strikes.

They are making this move to avoid new multimillion-dollar fines that airlines would receive for long tarmac delay — defined as three hours or more.

The government announced in December it would fine airlines $27,500 per passenger for long tarmac delays or $2.75 million for a 100-passenger flight, the USA Today reports. These fines go into effect April 29.
Cancellations cost far less than a huge fine, especially since seats are routinely prepaid and airlines save fuel cost.

The newspaper quoted Amy Cohn, an associate professor at the University of Michigan who has done extensive research on airline scheduling, as saying: “They’re canceling a lot more”.
She said she had seen a substantial increase in cancellations across the airline industry.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has tentatively granted antitrust immunity to Oneworld partners — American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, Finnair and Royal Jordanian — to form a global alliance and combine their trans-Atlantic operations.

The USA Today reports that the Department of Transportation said an immunized Oneworld grouping would “provide travelers and shippers with a variety of benefits, including lower fares on more routes, increased services, better schedules and reduced travel and connection times.”

Those five carriers would be the third team of airlines flying over the Atlantic to have antitrust immunity.
Star Alliance’s members United, Continental and Lufthansa, received immunity last year.
The third team with immunity includes SkyTeam’s members Delta, Air France and KLM. (source)

The Air Transport Association, a trade group for large carriers, said 15,000 flights were grounded from Feb. 5 in the U.S., the USA Today reports.

The newspaper quoted Air Transport Association spokesman David Castelveter saying: “Those flights would have carried about 1 million passengers, all of whom must be rerouted on other flights. This could shape up to be one of the most significant weather events affecting flight cancellations and passenger travel in decades”.

Airlines say it could take days to rebook the passengers.

David Castelveter explained there is another reason for the high number of cancellations: airlines want to avoid stranding planes on the tarmac.

Darryl Jenkins, an airline consultant said: “Cancellations will become the new norm, rather than take any chance for long delays.” (source)

Beginning Feb. 22, American Airlines will charge for standby seats, the Dallas Morning News reports.
That means AA passengers will no longer have the option to stand by and grab a different flight at no extra charge. If they want to change to another flight at the airport, will pay $50.

The new standby charges will not apply to Premium customers including: Executive Platinum, Platinum and Gold members of the AAdvantage frequent-flier program; people in first class or business class; higher-priced coach tickets; and people traveling on military fares.

The $50 “confirmed flight change” fee has been around since 2005, but many people could rely on the standby option to avoid it.
American spokesman Tim Smith estimated that a majority of American’s customers fall into the non-standby category. (source)