Business Travel Tips

British Airways cabin crew members will go on strike for three days from 20 March and for four days from 27 March.

The union representing British Airways cabin crew confirmed it would not strike over Easter, but warned there could be further action after 14 April if a resolution had not been agreed, BBC reports.

About fight cancellations, BBC quoted BA saying all flights to and from London City Airport would be unaffected by strike action, as would all long-haul flights from Gatwick […] Some short-haul Gatwick flights within the UK and Europe would be cancelled, while some short and long-haul flights to and from Heathrow would also be affected.

Consumer group Which? said passengers should be able to get their money back if they are directly affected by the strike, but only once their specific flight has been officially cancelled. (source)

Hilton Garden Inn has launched a service enabling guests to print documents from anywhere in the world directly to the printers located in each of Hilton Garden Inn’s complimentary business centers.

The service — PrintSpots mobile printing from PrinterOn® — is complimentary to hotel guests and works with any smartphone device, including the Blackberry® and iPhone®.

- How it works

A guest can simply forward the document they want to print from their smartphone to a property-specific email address dedicated to the PrintSpot printer located in the hotel’s business center.

The PrintSpots service completes the task by processing the document and holding it until the guest releases it, using a unique release code.
(Source: Hilton Garden Inn’s press release)

WestJet has launched its frequent-flier program.
Canada’s second-biggest carrier said that its loyalty program is mostly offering dollars off flights and holiday packages.
The dollars can be used as cash to pay for a flight on any date to any destination. There are no blackouts or seat restrictions on the reward flights.

- WestJet vs Air Canada

WestJet is also attempting to lure Air Canada customers away from the 25-year-old Aeroplan frequent flier program by persuading consumers to participate in a new program that offers rewards once an individual traveller spends more than $1,500 on WestJet flights annually.

Patrick Sojka, chief executive officer at rewardscanada.ca, which tracks a wide range of loyalty programs, said the main drawback of the WestJet frequent guest program is the relatively high threshold of minimum annual spending on WestJet flights.
He said Aeroplan still provides a greater number of options for consumers, especially through Air Canada’s membership in the Star Alliance of carriers.
WestJet is gradually building its airline partnerships, but it could be years before consumers are able to have access to a worldwide network. (source)

Even though some airports in the U.S. are offering free Wi-Fi service many analysts predicts most airports will retain paid service.

Twelve of the top 20 airports that handle nearly 60% of all domestic boardings charge for wireless Internet, USA Today reports.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-s/ / CC BY 2.0

Large airports that offer it for free include Denver, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Orlando. Boston Logan and Seattle launched their free service earlier this year. Houston Bush Intercontinental offers free Wi-Fi, but only for 45 minutes. […] Houston is trying a tiered model, in which travelers can use the network free for 45 minutes after viewing a 30-second commercial or pay to skip ads and have more time.
Philadelphia waives its $7.95-a-day charge on weekends, and college students can access it for free every day.
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky’s free wireless Internet at Terminals 2 and 3 is provided by Project Lily Pad.

The newspaper quoted Dave Hagan, CEO of Wi-Fi network operator Boingo Wireless as saying “You’ll definitely get more usage in a (free) model”.
He cited as an example Denver International — the largest U.S. airport to offer free Wi-Fi — where the heavy traffic has drawn complaints from travelers about their user experience there. Dave Hagan, who predicts most airports will retain paid service, says that travelers’ payments will help airports keep up with demand for greater Wi-Fi network capacity. (source)

Despite the January’s results showing a continued improvement of US hotel performance — began toward the end of 2009, the U.S. hotel industry posted declines in all three key performance measurements during January 2010 when compared with a year earlier.

In year-over-year measurements:
- Industry’s occupancy: - 0.4% (decrease to 45.1%) ;
- ADR: - 7.1% (decrease at US$ 93.93) ;
- RevPAR: - 7.4% (decrease at US$ 42.35).

Three of the seven Chain Scale segments reported occupancy increases: the Luxury segment (+9.4% to 57.2%); the Upper Upscale segment (+5.4% to 56.1%); and the Upscale segment (+4% to 53.1%).

Among the Top 25 Markets, Boston, Massachusetts, reported the largest occupancy increase as Houston, Texas, registered the largest occupancy decrease dropping 15.7% to finish the month at 49%
Top occupancy increase:
- Boston, Massachusetts, (+ 18.3% to 48.9%)
- Detroit, Michigan (+11.2% to 44.5%)
- Miami-Hialeah, Florida (+10.6% to 74.6%).