October 12, 2007
September 19, 2007
The following is a list of phone numbers for hotel reservations at major hotel chains throughout the country:
Best Western: 1-800-780-7234
Comfort Inn: 1-877-424-6423
EconoLodge: 1-877-424-6423
Hilton Hotels: 1-800-491-6864
Holiday Inn: 1-877-270-6405
Hyatt hotels: 1-888-591-1234
Marriott: 1-888-236-2427
Radisson: 1-888-236-2427
Ramada: 1-800-272-6232
Quality Inn: 1-877-424-6423
The following is a list of phone numbers and websites for major rental car services, as well as Greyhound and Amtrak:
Alamo
1-800-462-5266
Avis
1-800-331-1212
Budget
1-800-527-0700
Dollar
1-800-800-3665
Enterprise
1-800-261-7331
Hertz
1-800-654-3131
National
1-800-227-7368
Bus
Greyhound
1-800-231-2222
Train
Amtrak
1-800-872-7245
The following are phones numbers for the major airlines, and links to view or download their conditions (or contracts) of carriage.
AirTran - 1-800-247-8726
Contract of Carriage
American - 1-800-433-7300
Conditions of Carriage
Continental - 1-800-525-0280
Contract of Carriage
Delta - 1-800-221-1212
Contract of Carriage
jetBlue - 1-800-538-2583
Contract of Carriage
Northwest - 1-800-225-2525
Contract of Carriage
Southwest - 1-800-435-9792
Customer Service Commitment
Spirit - 1-800-772-7117
Contract of Carriage
United - 1-800-241-6522
Contract of Carriage
US Airways - 1-800-428-4322
Terms of Transportation
Virgin America - 1-877-359-8474
Delays and Cancellations
September 14, 2007
Friday September 14th, 2007 10:00pm CDT
Farecompare.com, a consumer airfare research website, noted today in the 10:00am EDT, airfare distribution, a 6$ roundtrip (3$ one-way) system wide increase attempt by United Airlines.
Subsequently, in the 12:30pm EDT and 8:00pm EDT airfare distributions, the FareCompare.com proprietary airfare processing system noted significant matching activity.
This most recent increase continues to be broad based, encompassing both business and leisure airfares. The current tally on the percentage of publicly filed airfares that have increase by $6 roundtrip (3$ one-way) is shown in the table below:
|
Airline
|
Percentage of Total Airfares Filed with 6$ Roundtrip Increase Today
|
|
AirTran
|
None
|
|
American Airlines
|
20%
|
|
Continental Airlines
|
None
|
|
Delta Air Lines
|
70%
|
|
Frontier Airlines
|
95%
|
|
JetBlue
|
None
|
|
Northwest Airlines
|
None
|
|
United Airlines
|
75%
|
|
US Airways
|
7%
|
|
Midwest Airlines
|
33%
|
There are only 2 airfare distributions this weekend at 5:00pm Saturday and Sunday (where more matching or rollback activity might occur)
In the span of just three short weeks, a significant number of passengers are now paying up to twenty four dollars more for roundtrip ticket. Three relatively sticky increases in as many weeks (initiated by Southwest, Delta and United respectively) is a telling sign that the major legacy airlines are feeling pretty confident about passenger demand in the coming months.
Friday, September 14, 2007 9:30am CDT
This morning in the 10:00am airfare distribution feed, FareCompare.com’s proprietary airfare processing system, notes a system wide airfare increase by United Airlines.
The increase covers over 10,000 unique city pairs between the top 75 cities in the United States and Canada. The increase is 3$ one-way (6$ roundtrip) and covers both business airfares (less than 14 days advance purchase) and leisure airfares (14 days advance purchase or more). Over 33,000 airfares are noted with this new increase between these top cities. A smattering of $10 and $12 increases are noted, but not in any particular mileage or distance pattern.
Over the past few weeks Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines and now United Airlines have initiated airfare increases in what is normally a relatively slow time period before peak holiday travel. For the most part, the previous two increase attempts have stuck or partially stuck depending on the airline.
I have also posted some interesting capacity difference numbers comparing Thanksgiving 2006 versus 2007 on my blog (http://rickseaney.com).
I will send out a more detailed note after looking through the increase data more thoroughly (to confirm whether this is an airfare increase or fuel surcharge increase. Either is effectively a consumer increase.)
September 13, 2007
FareCompare.com decided to do a quick analysis of the number of seats flown in the domestic U.S. on the two busiest days of the year — the Wednesday before and the Sunday after Thanksgiving of 2006 compared to those same days upcoming in 2007.
The following table shows which airlines added and dropped seats “year over year” — showing passengers which airlines they want to steer clear of for the hectic Thanksgiving weekend.
While travelers throughout the country are affected across the board by a reduced number of seats, these 11 cities get top honors for the most dropped seats:
Reduced seats and higher demand are the perfect recipe for higher prices. Consumers who haven’t purchased airlines tickets for Thanksgiving travel should do so as quickly as possible — the prices will be a premium now but are likely to go up as planes continue to fill up.
September 10, 2007
This evening at the 8:00pm EDT airfare distribution feed, FareCompare.coms airfare processing system, continues to track price change activity related to the attempted increase by Delta Airlines Thursday night of $5 one-way ($10 roundtrip).
Alaska Airlines tests the water by matching the increase in about 10% of its city pairs.
On the increase side:
- Continental - who had been lagging behind on matching, doubled up on its matching with a new total of 45%
- US Airways - continued matching increases bring its total to 40%.
On the decrease side:
- American Airlines rolls back 5% to a new total of 40%
- Delta Air Lines rolls back 3% to a new total of 72%
- Northwest Airlines rolls back 10% to a new total of 58%
- United Airlines rolls back 10% to a new total of 64%
At this point it is pretty clear that this attempted increase is going to partially stick, which is not unusual for an attempted increase that is welcomed by the legacy airlines and shunned by the low cost airlines.
While it is still possible for any one of the legacy airlines to completely rollback (most likely foiling this increase attempt) — that possibility seems remote after 4 days and 8 airfare distribution cycles.
This will be the last update on this attempted increase unless a complete rollback is initiated by one of the major legacy airlines.
This morning in the 10:00am and 12:30pm airfare distribution feed, FareCompare.coms airfare processing system, continues to track price change activity related to the attempted increase by Delta Airlines Thursday night of $5 one-way ($10 roundtrip).
A summary of the activity in both these airfare distribution feeds includes:
- American Airlines minimal activity new total 45%
- Continental Airlines no activity remains 23%
- Delta Airlines increased 10% at 10:00am, then rolled back 25% at 12:30pm new total 75%
- Northwest Airlines rolled back 2% at 10:00am, then rolled back 18% at 12:30pm new total 68%
- United Airlines rolled back 2% at 10:00am, then rolled back 4% at 12:30pm new total 74%
- US Airways no activity remains 35%
In this airfare distribution both Delta and Northwest trimmed their previously increased markets by significant amounts. Given the continued activity level it is difficult to say what level this attempted increase will end up, it may take until late Tuesday before a clear picture finally emerges.
It is safe to say right now that a significant number of passengers are paying $10 roundtrip more than they did on Thursday last week.
The final airfare distribution will occur at 8:00pm EDT this evening.
Monday September 10, 2006 7:50am CDT
Yesterday evening (Sunday) at the 5:00pm EDT airfare distribution feed, FareCompare.coms airfare processing system, continues to note noteworthy price change activity related to the attempted increase by Delta Airlines Thursday night of $5 one-way ($10 roundtrip).
The activity level was not significant enough to predict the final stickiness of the increase it mostly reflects on the competitive pressures of low cost airlines which have not yet joined into the increase.
The following activity occurred at 5:00pm Sunday night:
- American Airlines rolled back 8% for a new total match of 47%
- Continental Airlines rolled back 10% for a new total match of 23%
- Delta Air Lines rolled back 10% for a new total match of 90%
- Northwest Airlines rolled back 12% for a new total match of 88%
- United Airlines no activity remains 80%
- US Airways rolled back 15% for a new total of 35%
Today there will be three airfare distribution feeds which should solidify the final disposition of this attempted increase:
- 10:00am EDT
- 12:30pm EDT
- 8:00pm EDT
