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Chris Gash
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No surprise here. But the AA-US Airways merger means less competition.
In 2012 there were seven successful airfare hikes and we expect to see at least as many this year.
Oil is one
reason for more
hikes; we don't expect the price of a barrel of oil to
drop to levels where the airlines could lower prices; oil would have to
be in the $70 to $75 range, down from its current $93. Plus it would
have to stay in that range for about four to six months in order for
airlines to really feel it in lower jet-fuel bills.
By the way,
one reason airlines want to raise some ticket prices is that they're
already dirt cheap. Skeptical? Consider that a winter flight to Europe
goes for around $750 to $800 round-trip. About $450 of that cost is a
fuel surcharge and another $150 or so is for government and airport
taxes, so the cost of the airfare itself can be less than a hundred
bucks each way!
Finally,
there's the matter of demand for air travel. At larger airports it's
been holding relatively steady and when people want to fly, there is no
incentive to drop ticket prices.
Fee Bundle Mania
It's
not that airlines are raising fees; they'll actually lower some but you
may wind up spending more. Confused? It's all about the bundling;
airlines will package two or more fee-based services and discount the
bundle.
Maybe you only want one of the services but you may have to take the "bundle."
American did this
last month with
its Choice Essential and Choice Plus options (don't you love buzzwords
like "choice"?), which provide such options as early boarding and a free
bag.
Delta has
something similar with
its Lift and Ascend programs. Both can be great for frugal-minded
business travelers who want some of the comforts of business class
without the steep price tag.
We suspect the vast majority of vacation flyers will exercise their right to choose no fees at all.
Sequestration Makes Skies Less Friendly
If you're
already a nervous flyer, your palms are about to get more sweaty. Thanks
to the political chicken being played in Congress, the sequestration
that has resulted from an inability to pass a budget means
across-the-board spending cuts.
That includes air traffic control towers. The FAA announced it will close
149 towers in April because of budget constraints. Many of the towers are at small airports with less than 150,000 total flights each year.
That means pilots will have
to use a shared radio frequency to coordinate takeoffs and landings among themselves.
That's comforting.
For example, the potential
loss
of busy Trenton-Mercer Airport's control tower leaves everyone from
air-traffic controllers, pilots and flight school operators wondering
how safe the runways will be during departures and landings. Frontier Airlines says it will continue fly here using an instrument landing system.
Not Putting Anything In The Overhead Bin? 
American Airlines Is Seeing What Happens If You Board First
One thing that irritates a lot of travelers is waiting
forever to board a plane because the passengers in front of you are
jamming their carry-ons into the overhead bins.
But now AA is testing to see what happens when it gives priority boarding to travelers who won't be using the overhead storage.
The
L.A. Times' Hugo Martin says
that the process is being tested by AA in at least four U.S. airports -
Baltimore, Austin, Washington-Dulles, and Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood -
and that it allows coach passengers without bags to board after first-
after business-class travelers, but ahead of the rest of the economy
travelers with bags.
Alaska,
Southwest and Frontier have all been doing it for a while and it seems
to work. Two main reasons it makes sense? It speeds up the boarding
process and it incentivizes people to check their bags, which is a
source of revenue for the airline.
New Sliding Plane Seats: A Brilliant Idea? 
