INFocus Newsletter1

JUNE 2013 NEWSLETTER

Delta to drop Memphis hub

Travel smart with mobile gear

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SEEKING SERENITY ONBUSINESS TRIP GONE AWRY

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SEEKING SERENITY ONBUSINESS TRIP GONE AWRY

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INFocus Newsletter2

Russia now a part of APEC TravelCard Program

Russia officially joined the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Travel Card program, which is meant to provide “pre-cleared, facilitated, short-term entry to participating member economies.” ABTC cardholders from APEC-participating countries now can enter Russia without a visa, according to a statement from APEC. Full program participants include Australia, Brunei, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The United States and Canada are “transitional” members. U.S. Customs and Border Protection currently “is working through the formal rulemaking process and internal programming” that would enable the United States to fully participate by establishing a mechanism for issuing cards to U.S. citizens, according to a spokesperson. ABTC holders entering the U.S. “are still required to be in possession of the appropriate visa and/or [approval through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization system], but ABTC holders are able to use the crew or diplomatic lanes at U.S. airports,” the CBP spokesperson added. For more information, visit www.apec.org.

BridgeStreet launcheshotel brand

Global Entry center opens in DC

Departure from JFK’s Terminal 3

BridgeStreet, a provider of corporate housing, introduced ApartHotels by BridgeStreet.

BridgeStreet described the new brand as a “midscale solution for executives, business travelers and vacationers seeking city center locations at an affordable rate.” The brand will cater to travelers seeking short and long stays.

“Our properties will be all about great sensory experiences, from the central ‘hearth’ around which guests can gather and connect with others, to the lobby and concierge; meeting facilities; fitness center; and cafe bar with a great food offering,” BridgeStreet CEO Sean Worker said in a statement.

Development will begin in Europe, then expand to the U.S., BridgeStreet said. The first ApartHotels by BridgeStreet location is scheduled to open in 2014 in Birmingham, England.

Other targeted cities are Paris, London, Zurich, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Munich, Geneva, Brussels, Amsterdam and Barcelona.

Properties will be a mix of franchised, managed and leased operations, BridgeStreet said.

A new Global Entry enrollment center and gallery opened at the headquarters of the Customs and Border Protection in Washington.

The opening marks the fifth anniversary of Global Entry, a program that expedites vetted travelers through customs at U.S. airports. In addition to the new center in the nation’s capital, centers also opened on June 6 in Tampa and Albuquerque, N.M. Global Entry has locations at 44 U.S. airports. For a complete list of airports that offer global entry, please visit: http://www.globalentry.gov/locations.html.

Terminal 3 at New York Kennedy Airport, which opened in 1960 and was known as the PanAm Worldport, will be torn down as Delta moves operations to the expanded Terminal 4, in a $1.4 billion expansion and renovation unveiled last week.Termination 3 is perhaps best known for its jet-age design, including its “flying saucer”-style roof, which enabled aircraft to park under its eaves.

By Jerry Limone, Travel Weekly

June 2013 3

Delta To De-hub Memphis Airport

Delta Air Lines in a memo June 4th announced that on Sept. 3 it will effectively de-hub its Memphis operation, reducing the number of daily flights to 60 and eliminating roughly 230 area positions. Delta already had significantly paired back its presence at the airport after inheriting the hub operations as part of its merger with Northwest Airlines.

“High fuel costs and the predominant use of inefficient 50-seat regional jets in a small local-traffic market have made Memphis unprofitable as a hub,” according to the June 4 memo attributed to Delta senior vice president of airport customer service and Delta TechOps Gil West and Delta senior vice president and chief cargo officer Tony Charaf.

The memo indicated that Delta’s new schedule would “preserve nearly all the top destinations for Memphis customers. The biggest piece of

the schedule reduction is 50-seat regional jet flying, as those aircraft begin to come out of the fleet.”

While the U.S. airline industry as a whole has shrunk significantly since 2007, service in Memphis declined even more severely, according an MIT study on U.S. airline service released in May. The number of total departures at Memphis in 2012 had declined by 41 percent versus 2007, the year before Delta and Northwest announced their merger.

According to Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority’s annual report for the fiscal year ending June 2012, Delta operated 175 flights per day in September 2011 but made several rounds of cuts since then.

During a House of Representatives subcommittee hearing in February examining the pending merger between American Airlines and US Airways, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) took the opportunity to blast

Delta management for failing to keep promises to grow operations after merging with Northwest.

The carrier had indicated plans to maintain all of its hubs following the merger, and in June 2011, Delta CEO Richard Anderson in a

interview with BTN said Memphis was “properly sized.”

Regarding employees, the Delta memo noted that “there are positions available for every eligible employee who stands to be affected by the schedule reduction at other locations across the system,” adding that a voluntary retirement package option also has been offered.

Delta announced Tuesday, June 4th, it would end its hub operation at Memphis, ending years of specu-lation about the airport’s long-term prospects as a key cog in Delta’s post-merger route map.

The Memphis closure will reduce the number of daily flights to 60 and eliminate nearly 230 positions.

By Jerry Limone, Travel Weekly

INFocus Newsletter4

JetBlue frequent flier points no longer expire... ever!

Tips to travel smart withmobile gear

Frequent business travelers know that smart planning can make the difference between a good trip and travel nightmares. Following these tips will help make that vacation or business trip provide smooth sailing.

Whether traveling for business or a vacation, forgetting one of the chargers/cables for your mobile gear can get you started on the wrong foot. Many have learned that the best way to prepare for a

trip is to get a cheap cable stash for keeping all the gadget chargers and cables in one place.

Frequent travelers have no doubt dealt with a lack of convenient power outlets in hotel rooms. There are often not enough outlets to charge the laptop, tablet, and phone. Mobile power strips are a simple way to deal with the outlets in any hotel room.

Packing smart sounds like

common sense, but can make the difference between a happy trip and one you’d rather forget when it’s over. Packing smart starts with a good piece of luggage, and these days that means a carryon bag.

These days, many carryon bags feature a nice zippered pocket on the front of the bag (when it’s vertical). This compartment is designed to be a mini-briefcase with easy access on the front of the bag. That said, if flights are crowded and you must check your carryon bag, it is a good idea to make sure your shoulder bag has enough room to squeeze you laptop inside.

Hate having your hard-earned frequent flier points expire before you’re able to use them?

JetBlue Airways announced Monday that points earned in its TrueBlue program will never expire. And “never” means with no strings attached or fine print that gives the airline a way to deactivate points.

With JetBlue’s new policy, current

points and ones earned in the future will remain in a TrueBlue member’s account for an unlimited time.

“Customers can still be loyal even if they’re not traveling every year,” said Dave Canty, JetBlue’s director of loyalty marketing, in a statement. “Loyalty shouldn’t have an expiration date, and neither should your points.”

Delta Air Lines is the only other U.S. carrier with a no-expiration policy for its frequent fliers, though language in the rules and conditions of its SkyMiles program gives Delta an out.

If a SkyMiles member doesn’t respond to repeated attempts to communicate, Delta reserves the right to deactivate or close the account, according to the carrier’s website.

Other major airlines, including American, Southwest, United and US Airways, require some account activity within an 18- to 24-month period to avoid mileage deletion.

By Darren Booth, CNBC.com

By James Kendrick, zdnet.com

June 2013 5

American Airlines CEO-designee Doug Parker on Monday announced the carrier’s proposed senior management team, with six of the top nine executives, including him, hailing from merger partner US Airways. Pending regulatory and shareholder approvals, the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.

US Airways president Scott Kirby will maintain his title at AA, with responsibilities that include planning, marketing, sales, alliances, pricing and operations.

Similarly, US Airways alum Derek Kerr will maintain his role as CFO of the merged carrier. Current US

Airways COO Robert Isom will keep the COO title and also take on the role of US Airways CEO during the post-close integration phase, when the carriers will maintain separate operations.

US Airways executive vice president of corporate and government affairs Stephen Johnson will lose „government” from his title, and AA alum William Ris will maintain his role as senior vice president of government affairs.

Other American vets include Beverly Goulet, who will be the combined carrier’s chief integration offi cer, and Maya Leibman, who will continue as chief information

offi cer, “responsible for all information technology systems, including systems development, infrastructure and planning.”

Also part of the senior management team, US Airways’ Elise Eberwein will maintain her roles as executive vice president of people and communications.

Meanwhile, Dan Garton later this year will leave his position as president and CEO of AA regional carrier American Eagle, with a successor to be named prior to his departure.

As previously announced, current

By Jay Boehme, Business Travel News

US Airways vets dominate new AA senior management team

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INFocus Newsletter6

BUSINESS TRIP BECOMES AN OBSTACLE COURSE, AND AN OBJECT LESSON

“I HAVE really good travel karma,” Carol Margolis said. “Well, almost all the time.”

Things began going wrong for her at the start of a recent three-day whirlwind trip from a small city in the south of Norway, where she was on a consulting job, to a midsize city in Colorado, where she had an important meeting.

Ms. Margolis is one of those resilient business travelers who know the drill: always have a Plan B. And chill, knowing that some things go wrong and you simply manage.

But still, this was asking a lot. “Well,” she said, “between the fi ve-hour nighttime bus ride and then walking in on someone else’s hotel room in Oslo, then having to sit in 36F in coach despite a business-class ticket, then having to spend an extra $6,000 on a new ticket to get back to Norway because they didn’t have my reservation on the return fl ight, and then my bag not showing up, and having to

buy cheap shoes that didn’t fi t ...”

Whoa, there. This has all of the makings of a lesson in coping, just as the peak summer travel season approaches. Fares and fees are rising, and airplanes are impossibly crowded. The trade group Airlines for America says that airlines in the United States will carry about 209 million passengers from June through August — 27 million on international fl ights, the most ever. The overall numbers of fl ights and seats are down, however, as airlines pare routes.

Ms. Margolis, a management consultant, said that her recent trip refl ected elements of a system that’s stretched so tight that there is little slack to accommodate disruptions.

“My baby just turned 29, so I know how many years I’ve been doing this, because he was 1 year old when I started traveling on business,” she said in a late-night phone call

last week from Kristiansand, Norway, just after getting back to her consulting work. “And this has been the worst trip ever.”

The saga is long, but we’ll cut to the chase. First, the little European airline that was to fl y her from Kristiansand to Copenhagen, the fi rst leg of her outbound trip, canceled her fl ight because of a strike. That meant she would miss her scheduled trans-Atlantic fl ight from Copenhagen. Plan B was to go to Oslo instead, for a fl ight to Newark, with a connection through Chicago to Colorado Springs. So getting quickly to Oslo, at night, from Kristiansand (about 200 miles) was the fi rst hurdle.

“I thought, I’ll drive, even though it was pouring rain,” she said. “It’s a four- or fi ve-hour drive, which was doable. But the car rental was about $600 for a one-way drop-off, and a taxi would take me for

By Joe Sharkey, New York Times

CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

June 2013 7

AA CEO Tom Horton will serve as chairman of the board of directors until the merged carrier’s first annual meeting. Parker also will be a member of the board.

The remaining 10 members of the board comprise a mix of new blood along with former AMR directors and US Airways directors. Among board

members with ties to the travel industry are The Blackstone Group senior advisor and former Boeing CEO James Albaugh, former Hilton Hotels president Matthew Hart and Richard Schifter, partner at TPG Capital, which is part-owner of Sabre.

Regarding the latter, US Airways remains embroiled in an antitrust lawsuit that it filed against Sabre in 2011. AA, meanwhile, late last year settled a similar lawsuit with Sabre.

AA MANAGEMENT CONTINUED

EasyJet to increase passenger number at London Stansted

EasyJet agreed to “more than double its passenger numbers” at London Stansted Airport,

according to the airport’s new owner, Manchester Airports Group. MAG in a statement indicated

easyJet signed a “long-term growth framework deal” that would see the airline during the next five years add destinations and increase its annual passenger count at Stansted to 6 million.

INFocus Newsletter8

Before you head to the airport, please familiarize yourself with changes affecting checked bag charges on American Airlines.

Between the United States, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America or South America (excluding Brazil, Chile, and Peru) and Europe, American will offer customers in First and Business Class the ability to check three bags at no charge when traveling on AA or connecting with British Airways or Iberia.

Customers who purchase tickets in the Main Cabin on or after June 6, 2013, may check one bag for no charge and a second bag for $100 USD each

way within the size and weight limitations. Customers who purchased tickets in the Main Cabin before June 6, 2013, may check one bag for no charge and a second bag for $60 USD each way within the size and weight limitations. The changes apply for travel on American Airlines, American Eagle and AmericanConnection fl ights.

Any additional pieces beyond the second bag will now be a charge of $200, while travelers who booked prior to June 6 will still pay a $150 charge.

Customers may pay checked bag charges at an airport Self-Service Check-In machine, Curbside Check-In, or at the airport ticket counter.

AMERICAN AIRLINES MAKES CHANGES TO BAG CHARGES TO AND FROM EUROPE

The U.S. State Department has nominated Chile for inclusion in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program.

Chile would become the fi rst South American country to join the program. If the country is accepted, Chileans would be able to travel to the U.S. without a visa for stays of 90 days or less.

Before Chile can join, the country must undergo a verifi cation process. Chile must meet the program’s security and information-sharing requirements.

Chile Next Visa Waiver Member?

9June 2013

I’D spent the whole day and a good part of the night flying across the continent in airline custody. I was famished. On Devil’s Island, the regimen for prisoners used to be bread and water, but in a coach seat on an airline these days you’re lucky to get the bread.

So I was delighted when I arrived at 2 a.m. at my destination, the Peabody Hotel in Orlando, Fla., and found that all-night room service was available. Within 20 minutes of my call, a Caesar salad with chicken was brought to my room. The big, freshly made salad was $13, with a 24 percent service charge and a $3 delivery fee added.

Was it worth it? You bet it was, considering the alternative for a traveler who hadn’t eaten a thing all day: wait till morning for the hotel restaurant to open.

More to the point, higher-end hotels that cater to business travelers regard room service not as a burdensome drain on revenue, but as a crucial amenity, even if it doesn’t directly generate a profit. From their point of view, room service is not about to be replaced with a tattered takeout menu on the bureau or an online screen promising speedy delivery.

“For us it’s essential. I don’t know any of our guests who would stay with us if we didn’t provide it,” said Amy Finsilver, the general manager of Fifteen Beacon, a luxury boutique hotel in Boston, where the least expensive nightly room rate this week was $425.

“We have a lot of international travelers — people arriving at all different times from all over the

world,” she said. “They might want a burger at 5 in the morning because it’s actually their dinner or lunch time.”

In today’s global business travel environment, at least for top-tier hotels, “the expectations are becoming higher,” she said. “Room service is not a luxury anymore; it’s an expected amenity. Not to have this, which any other comparable property would have for guests, would be” — and here I could almost see her frown over the phone — “unacceptable.”

Unlike airlines, which offer basically commodity-level service except in the highest-priced areas of international premium-class flying, hotels position themselves to cater to customers across a wide range of brands and niches, from the highest levels of amenities to the lowest.

Business travelers are notoriously hard to pin into a single niche. An on-the-go consultant might stay on one trip at a moderately priced Comfort Inn where the rate includes breakfast and the location is next to an Olive Garden or an all-night Wendy’s. But on another trip, that consultant might stay at a full-service Marriott or even a small luxury hotel like Fifteen Beacon in a big-city location convenient to the next day’s meetings.

The hotel industry is rebounding strongly this year. As it does, some midlevel hotels opening under newly positioned brands are catering to younger business travelers and recasting food-and-beverage operations away from full-service, three-meals-a-day restaurants. So-called grab-and-go food counters

offering packaged sandwiches or salads around the clock are a small part of this trend. And recently, the behemoth 2,000-room New York Hilton Midtown hotel announced it was going to eliminate room service.

Robert Mandelbaum, the director of research at PKF Hospitality Research, said that the New York Hilton Midtown wasn’t typical because of its size, its dependence on tourists and the convention trade, and a location where “you can walk out in the street and get anything you want to eat in Manhattan 24 hours a day.”

But for hotels at the high end of the market, room service isn’t intended to make money. For most full-service hotels that cherish the four-star and five-star ratings that often determine how guests or corporate meeting planners choose accommodations, room service isn’t going anywhere. “It’s always been a minimal revenue source for those hotels that offer it,” Mr. Mandelbaum said. “But that’s not to say that all hotels make the decision based on that. If you’re a luxury hotel it’s probably mandatory to have full room service in order to obtain or retain your rating.”

Or to appeal to your market. “A lot of single travelers, including women, they just don’t want to go to a restaurant and dine by themselves,” said Ms. Finsilver of Fifteen Beacon. “Some people like to dine in the privacy of their own room while they’re working or watching a movie or doing a business conference call. They’re trying to be more efficient with their time. But it’s one of those expected amenities. We would never get rid of it.”

By Jay Boehme, Business Travel News

Room Service Likely to Stay at High-End Hotels

INFocus Newsletter10

Alaska Airlines in May again was the most punctual major U.S. airline with an on-time performance ratio of 89.6 percent, according to FlightStats. Among the eight largest carriers, Delta again ranked second, at 86 percent, while American Airlines ranked last at 77.1 percent. Among all North American airlines, Alaska Air Group subsidiary Horizon had the best on-time performance during

May (91.7 percent), followed by Hawaiian (90.9 percent). At 67.8 percent, Spirit ranked at the bottom. Vancouver again landed at the top of North America airport rankings, with an on-time performance ratio of 91.4 percent, again followed by Salt Lake City (89.9 percent), according to FlightStats data. Newark had the worst on-time ratio among North American airports at 68.2 percent.

about $1,000, so that made better sense. Then as my hotel was calling the taxi, a desk agent said, ‘What about the bus?’”

“I’m like, the bus?” Ms. Margolis said with a touch of horror. But the bus turned out to be the cheapest and most reliable part of the trip. Exhausted, she got to a hotel in Oslo just before midnight.

“I used my key to open the door and flipped on the lights, and the room was occupied,” said Ms. Margolis, who publishes a Web site called Smartwomentravelers.com and blogs about her adventures. “Thankfully, I didn’t hear any screaming. Back down at the desk, they upgraded me to a better room, unoccupied — which I have to say is one tactic to score an upgrade that I’d never thought of before.”

The flight from Oslo to Newark in business class the next morning was pleasant and uneventful. But the

connection to Chicago was changed to Denver instead. “Well, it’s a short hop from Denver to Colorado Springs, so I figured, no problem,” she said.

Problem. She had a first-class ticket on that itinerary but, with the change in flights and planes, no first-class seat. “I see that I’m in seat 36F, way in the back in coach, a row from the toilet,” she said. “I’m like, what the heck?”

Protests were unavailing. Waiting for a later flight was not an option because of her tight schedule. Off to Denver she went, crammed in a window seat.

“The guy next to me is sleeping; the guy in front of me has his seat all the way back, so I can’t use my laptop. I could barely move. I’m saying, O.K., bladder, we’re in for a long ride. Still, even though you feel like crying, you think, heck, this is a stupid thing, suck it up. You’re getting where you need to be and you’re on your way.”

The morning after her meeting

in Colorado Springs she went to the airport for the long haul back to Norway. Oops, though she had a $4,000 ticket in her hand, she didn’t seem to have a reservation. No one at the airport or in the vast networks of interlocking airline alliances had a clue, she said. The option was to buy an entirely new first-class ticket to Norway and let her travel agent sort it all out later. The added cost: $6,000.

All’s well that ends well, she said — even the bag and her good shoes eventually showed up. But she added a note of empathy. “If this can happen to those of us who really know what we’re doing — you know, get to an airport lounge and get help; always have a Plan B with different flights — imagine the poor traveler who doesn’t know the system and doesn’t have a clue what to do,” she said.

You’ll be seeing more of them this summer.

FINDING SERENITY CONTINUED

United launches annual subscriptions

For $499, travelers can reserve Economy Plus for travel within the continental U.S. Global flight subscriptions start at $699. Annual checked-bag subscriptions range $349 for travelers checking one bag on flights in the continental U.S. to $999 for a traveler with up to eight travel companions checking two bags on international flights.

Alaska best on-time airlineagain in May