Comments

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  Ed Wetschler January 19, 2011 at 9:22pm

  The seats on Delta's San Diego-JFK flight were remarkably uncomfortable. In fact, this was the first time I've ever gotten on a plane dog tired, taken an ambien for a red-eye, and still found it impossible to sleep.
  Makes me wonder: Which of the major carriers do you consider the least comfortable?
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  Anil January 15, 2011 at 2:09pm

  In specific ? or in general ? I would begin with a meta engine like momondo.com or vayama.com - another alternative is matrix.itasoftware.com.

   

  If you are in a gateway city like New York, you could look for last minute fares in the local ethic newspapers of the city you wish to travel, or call some of the travel agents or consolidators specializing in that market - e.g Go to Little Brzil district in Manhatan for fares to Sao Paulo or Rio.
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  Buzzy Gordon January 15, 2011 at 2:19am

  Anyone have recommendations for finding good last-minute intl. fares? Thanks.
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  girasolereale January 15, 2011 at 12:44am

  Can you give me some advice to find the best fare flight from Rome Italy to Bangkok in february!!!
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  Charlie Leocha January 8, 2011 at 8:36pm

  Ed. Virgin America is pretty cool alright. I just flew them from LA to Dulles about a month ago. I like JetBlue just about as much with more flights. They are both good, and for short hops nothing beats Southwest. All the basics at a fair price, even at the last minute.
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  Ed Wetschler January 8, 2011 at 6:26pm

  Am aboard virgin america to LA. I say this is the coolest US carrier. And you?
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  Northeast News January 7, 2011 at 11:56pm

  I just saw a cartoon on the Travel Humor page ( http://www.tripatini.com/group/afunnythinghappened ) that gave me a chuckle.
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  Charlie Leocha January 6, 2011 at 4:18pm

  Here is the next story about the epic battle - http://snipr.com/1s9pcm

  It will eventually affect everyone. Even FFs don't ourchase blindly. If AA's prices are higher than others they will book away from AA. Business travelers are the big kahuna here. Corporations want to work with a system that gives them interconnectivity across the travel spectrum.

  Honestly, I don't know what AA was thinking. They are getting slammed IMHO,
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  Anil January 6, 2011 at 4:04pm

  @Charlie: Some questions linger - Does AA want IT & TAs not using their system to pay more in transaction fees ? Sabre's de-preferencing means that in the past, Sabre would display AA fares first, and no it no longer does ? Certainly AA must have done extensive market research as well as some simulations before moving ahead.
  
  Elite flyers will still stick to their alliance/group, so it is a matter of luxury and budget travelers, is it not ?
  
  I agree with your article that hidden pricing and opaque fees are a major irritation, and need to be spelt upfront. I also want to do away with hidden-city pair business.
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  Charlie Leocha January 6, 2011 at 5:21am

   Here is my latest post on this issue from ConsumerTraveler.com - - http://snipr.com/1s5bzd.

  Basically AA wants to save money by moving transactions between passengers directly with the airline rather than through intermediaries. Unfortunately, the current system that AA wants to use does not allow for across airlines comparisons of prices, interlining (selling tickets between airlines), transparency of fees, building packages, and other deficiencies. The online travel agents and the IT companies that currently power almost every travel agent transaction are not amused and are against the whole idea. These companies lose business to AA and consumers lose transparency and the ability to compare pricing and businesses lose much of their flexibility. There is more, but that is it in a nutshell.

   

  Today Sabre decided to de-preference AA tickets and that will be a major blow to AA representing a loss of something like $5 billion in revenues, I estimate. We'll see how long they keep fighting.