Airport tips

Long lines, full flights, niggling fees for everything: Welcome to the new normal when it comes to air travel. While the flights can’t get much fuller, and there are few new opportunities to charge extra for non-basic services, those long lines are going to get longer before they get shorter.

In April, when the FAA removed restrictions on additional flights at Newark Liberty International Airport, the hope was that other airlines would increase their share of the airport’s flights, in the process eroding United’s dominance and near-monopoly pricing in that important market.

With fuel prices at historic lows and profits at historic highs, the airlines have come under increasing pressure from the public, regulators, and the media to lower their airfares. Albeit belatedly, it appears they’ve begun doing just that.

The Washington Post reports that U.S. carriers will ask president-elect Donald Trump to protect them from unfair competition with heavily subsidized Persian Gulf carriers. The three big U.S. airlines—Delta, United, and American—”have unsuccessfully lobbied the Obama administration to take up their cause against a trio of Gulf airlines who have grown exponentially, making inroads in the global market,” according to the Post.

For all their copious complaints about tight seating and sketchy service, consumers have proven themselves to be remarkably price-sensitive, willing to forego all manner of niceties to save a buck or two. Proof positive is the reliably robust financial performance of the likes of Southwest and Spirit.

In just the past month, there have been two major airline service disruptions, inconveniencing hundreds of thousands of travelers.

The long lines, missed flights, and traveler outrage have been front-page news for months. And there’s little prospect that the bottleneck at the TSA’s airport security checkpoints can be ameliorated in time to for the summer travel crush.

The media—social media, asocial media, major media, marginal media, all media—has been positively aflame for the past 24 hours with reporting and editorializing on United Airlines’ latest mishandling of a passenger confrontation.

How much is a monopoly worth? Plenty, for sure. But it’s no easy matter to precisely quantify its value in any particular situation.

Ancillary revenue is the amount of money an airline takes in after charging for its base airfares—also known as airline fees. It might not come as a surprise that the amount airlines get by nickel-and-diming you has been growing steadily over the past decade—but some charge (a lot) more in airline fees than others. How much? Billions.

The puns almost write themselves: U.S. Border Control wants to “friend” you. Travelers set to “dislike” new Border Control proposal. And on and on.

With the airport-security fiasco seemingly ever-present in the news, much has been made of the benefits to be had from enrolling in the TSA’s PreCheck trusted-traveler program. Even for occasional flyers, the savings in time and aggravation can be well worth the $85 fee for five years of relatively speedy security clearance.

In the airline’s first major initiative since replacing CEO Jeff Smisek with Oscar Munoz, United today announced details of a major upgrade to its international business-class product.

Not to be outdone by American’s $4 million lifeline to the TSA, Delta has gone a step further and actually designed and implemented new security checkpoints at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Airport.

JetBlue is on a promotional tear. Triple points for June flights. A fast track to elite status. Matching points for Virgin America flyers.

The Transportation Security Administration today announced the addition of five new airlines to its TSA PreCheck trusted-traveler program. They are Air France, Brussels Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Philippine Airlines, and World Atlantic.

Flying to the U.S. from abroad? Get ready for potentially longer check-in times and new security measures. Effective this week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will increase scrutiny on electronic devices travelers bring onboard.

When it comes to the world’s most popular destinations, two travel hubs have been in a tug-of-war match for the title of ‘most-visited’ over the past few years.

If this morning’s reports from the BBC and other sources have it right, the ban on in-cabin laptops will not be extended to include additional flights from Europe to the U.S.

Apparently, Icelandair neglected to patent its recently launched Stopover Buddy program.

If American Airlines’ recent scheduling glitch left you wondering whether your holiday flight would be cancelled for lack of available pilots, you can now rest easy.