EXECUTIVE TRAVEL SKYGUIDE E-ALERT 04/18/05 Welcome to EXECUTIVE TRAVEL SKYGUIDE E-ALERT for the week of April 18, the weekly e-mail of essential business travel news! To sign up for the e-Alert, click here. Amtrak's Acela trains are taken out of service again TSA ban on lighters draws criticism Airlines: Southwest ends web promo; Continental scraps Africa plan U.S. airports get low ratings in "world's best" passenger poll DFW starts using new automated screening system for checked bags Leading Belgian airlines agree to merge Mexico unveils its first low-cost carrier Hotels: Chicago gets an Indigo, Jacksonville a Hyatt RAIL Amtrak's Acela trains are taken out of service again Just when Amtrak is facing elimination of its federal budget subsidy by the Bush Administration and Congress, the rail company got same bad news it really doesn't need: On Friday (April 15), all of its Acela high-speed trains in the Northeast Corridor were taken out of service. An estimated 9,000 to 10,000 passengers per day - most of them business travelers - rely on the high-speed trains as a more efficient alternative to air service between New York-Washington, New York-Boston and points in between. But last week, inspectors discovered cracks in certain components of the trains' disc brakes. The cracking was so widespread that Amtrak decided to take all the Acela trains out of service until the brakes can be fixed - but Amtrak officials haven't estimated how long that will take. On Monday (April 18), one Acela train had been put back on the tracks. The high-speed service normally operates 15 roundtrips each weekday between New York-Washington and 11 between New York-Boston. By some accounts, it could be weeks before all the Acela trains are back in service. Until then, Northeast Corridor travelers will have to resort to the Metroliners once again. Amtrak plans to add more Metroliner and Regional trains in order to accommodate the Acela traffic. The Acela trains were previously "grounded" in August 2002 to repair cracks in the undercarriages of the trains' locomotives. FAA/SECURITY TSA ban on lighters draws criticism A new federal ban against cigarette lighters in commercial airline cabins -- whether in carry-on luggage or on your person -- took effect last week, the latest step in what some critics see as a penny-wise and pound-foolish approach to onboard safety. Last year, Congress passed legislation ordering a ban on lighters, and the Transportation Security Administration's new regulation is a result of that law. Lighters have been prohibited from checked luggage for decades; the new ruling against lighters in carry-ons was spurred by the failed attempt of terrorist Richard Reid to ignite his shoe bombs. Oddly, although lighters are banned, passengers can still carry up to four books of matches past the security checkpoint, TSA said. The Business Travel Coalition blasted TSA's lighter ban as misguided. "Security experts know that an AA battery and a piece of wire is all that is required to light a cigarette, or a fuse," BTC said. "Would not a terrorist industrious enough to smuggle explosives onto a plane be smart enough to find a workaround to the ban on lighters? For now, it is matches, which are currently not banned, or AA batteries, both of which can be used in an airline lavatory," BTC remarked. AIRLINES Airline news briefs... • Southwest Airlines has dropped its longstanding promotion that awarded double frequent-flyer credits to program members who booked their trips online. • Frontier Airlines last week completed the transformation of its fleet to all Airbus planes. Before 1999, Frontier relied on 737s, but it gradually switched over to Airbus A319s and A318s for greater fuel efficiency; it has 44 now and expects to have 62 by 2008. • Continental Airlines has scrapped plans to launch to only non-stop service between the U.S. and Africa. Continental had previously announced plans to begin Newark-Lagos, Nigeria flights in July, but said it was having too much trouble getting all the approvals it needed to operate the route. • Northwest Airlines and China Southern Airlines last week started a program of frequent flyer program reciprocity, so that members of WorldPerks and the Sky Pearl Club can now earn and spend miles on either carrier. The two airlines also started a reciprocal airport lounge access. AIRPORTS U.S. airports get low ratings in "world's best" passenger poll Skytrax, the British-based monitor of the air travel experience (www.airlinequality.com), has issued results in its annual passenger poll of the world's best airports, and the top three spots all went to Asian cities. There five Asian airports -- but no U.S. airports -- in the top 10. Hong Kong International took the number one spot for the fifth straight year, followed very closely by Singapore's Changi Airport. Seoul Incheon came in third, followed in order by Munich, Japan's Kansai International, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Amsterdam Schiphol, Copenhagen, and Sydney. The massive Skytrax poll question more than 5.5 million travelers from June 2004 through March 2005, measuring some 30 factors in the airport experience. As for the poor showing of U.S. airports, "The ongoing impact of U.S. airport security and immigration changes is still being felt," said Skytrax marketing director Peter Miller. "While air travelers appreciate the need for enhanced security in post-9/11 times, we found the impact of this on the U.S. airport rankings was quite considerable. Overly aggressive security checkpoint procedures, and very varied U.S. immigration services resulted in the airport experience being downgraded by many customers." DFW starts using new automated screening system for checked bags Dallas/Ft. Worth International has started using the first phase of its new $220 million inline baggage system, which it says will be the world's largest automated bag screening system when it is fully deployed. "The inline baggage system is designed to screen all 55,000 bags checked every day at DFW, without forcing passengers to carry their bags to a separate screening location at the airport," a spokesman said. Essentially, the new system integrates checked bag security scanning into the regular flow of checked luggage, so it can process them twice as fast as the previous system. The first phase of the new system is in Terminal E, and will screen checked luggage for Continental Airlines. It will eventually be used at all DFW terminals, including the new International Terminal due to open soon. INTERNATIONAL Leading Belgian carriers agree to merge Airline consolidation continues to proceed at a quicker pace in Europe than in the U.S. It's not on the same scale as last year's Air France-KLM combination, but Belgian carrier SN Brussels Airlines has completed an acquisition of Virgin Express Holdings, the parent of low-cost, Brussels-based competitor Virgin Express. Excess capacity and price wars have been ravaging Europe's airlines in recent years, much as they have in this country. Plans call for the two companies to remain separate, operating under a holding company structure. Virgin will continue to court the price-sensitive market, while SN Brussels will remain a full-service carrier. Still, the two are expected to coordinate schedules and eliminate duplication of routes. Mexico unveils its first low-cost carrier Click Mexicana is the name of a new low-cost airline that will start flying in July as an affiliate of Mexicana. Emilio Romano, CEO of Grupo Mexicana, said the fledgling company's low-cost concept is "unprecedented in our country," and will offer "accessible and competitive rates to a greater number of clients." Click Mexicana will start out with a fleet of 10 100-seat Fokker aircraft, and will phase in a route network serving nine cities from a base in Mexico City: Saltillo, Nuevo Laredo, San Luis Potosi, Oaxaca, Zihuatanejo, Huatulco, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Villahermosa and Merida. HOTELS Chicago gets an Indigo, Jacksonville a Hyatt InterContinental Hotels Group plans a mid-June opening for the second of its new Indigo brand of hotels, this one in Chicago. Indigo is InterContinental's "lifestyle brand" aimed at "style-conscious guests," the company says. The Indigo Chicago is a remake of the former Claridge Hotel; it will be called the Hotel Indigo Chicago Gold Coast ... Hyatt has taken over management of the former Adam's Mark Hotel in Jacksonville, Fla.; it's now called the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront ... Marriott has opened a 616-room convention hotel in Kentucky, the Louisville Marriott Downtown ... Hilton recently opened the 21-story Hilton Virginia Beach Oceanfront in Virginia Beach, Va. ... The newest Embassy Suites property recently opened in Albuquerque, about five minutes from the airport. AIR ROUTES BOSTON (BOS). Continental Connection/CommutAir will initiate the only non-stop service between Boston and Lehigh Valley International Airport (Allentown/Bethlehem, Pa.) on April 18, with three daily roundtrips on weekdays. INDIANAPOLIS (IND). AirTran has kicked off new service at Indianapolis, with three daily roundtrips to Atlanta and one to Tampa. ORLANDO (MCO). British Airways has reconfigured aircraft on its Orlando-London/Gatwick route, and now offers its new Club World business class with flat-bed seats, as well as its upgraded World Traveller Plus cabin, with service levels in between business class and economy. To mark the change, BA offers reduced roundtrip fares from Orlando of $1,998 roundtrip in business class or $498 in World Traveller Plus, available for purchase through April 21, with a Saturday night stay requirement. THIS WEEK'S DEALS AND SPECIALS FOR BUSINESS TRAVELERS Independence Air (800-359-3594; www.flyi.com) set a purchase deadline of April 28 for its new system-wide fare sale, good for travel from April 25-August 1. A seven-day advance purchase is required. Sample one-way sale fares include $29 between Washington Dulles and Tampa or Ft. Myers; $39 between IAD and Orlando, Charlotte or Pittsburgh; $89 between IAD and Las Vegas or San Diego. Connecting fares through Dulles are as low as $79 one-way for east coast trips, $99 for transcontinental flights. Got business in South Africa this summer? To mark the planned launch of its new four-times-a-week route between Washington Dulles and Johannesburg July 2, South African Airways (800-722-9675; www.flysaa.com) has a sale fare of just $807 roundtrip in economy class, for travel through August 15. It requires a stay of at least five days, doesn't include up to $110 in government fees, and must be bought within 48 hours of booking. In the Dominican Republic, Hilton Hotels set an April 15 opening for the Hilton Santo Domingo (877-464-4586; www.hiltoncaribbean.com/santodomingo), with introductory rates starting at $99 a night for the next three months. The hotel anchors a mixed-use complex called the Malecon Center; it has Executive Floor rooms, high-speed Internet access and 17,000 square feet of meeting space. For links to other websites where you can search for bargains, click here: www.executivetravelonline.com/reference/deals.html By Jim Glab To sign up for the e-Alert, click here.