Hertz adds car rental self-service at 50 airports

By Joe Brancatelli

Faster car rentals, less flight service: United Airlines fliers to London take note: United flights to and from Heathrow Airport
have shifted to Terminal 1. The airline says its new space there will
have an exclusive check-in area for first-class and Mileage Plus Global
Services fliers. … Hertz has added self-service car rental kiosks at 50
airports and the car rental giant is promising that renters can get
their cars within 10 minutes. … Up in Canada, Air Canada is pulling out
of Hamilton, Ontario. Effective July 31, its Jazz commuter operation is
dropping its flights to Montreal and Ottawa. … Hartford, Connecticut,
is losing some service, too. Northwest Airlines is dropping its flights
to Amsterdam (Hartford’s only trans-Atlantic flight) and Delta Air Lines
is dumping flights to Los Angeles (Hartford’s longest domestic route).

ROUTE MAP

Guess who’s still growing? Southwest Airlines finally released its fall and winter schedule and guess what? It’ll keep growing. Although the airline will drop 31 round-trip flights beginning November 2, it will add 40 others. By contrast, the Big Six airlines are shrinking by 10-15 percent in the fall. What is Southwest cutting? Two routes — Oakland-Tucson and Sacramento-Kansas City — and some frequencies, primarily to/from Chicago Midway and Oakland. What gets added? New routes from Denver to John Wayne/Orange County and Tulsa; a new route between St. Louis and Fort Myers; and three new routes from Fort Lauderdale: Las Vegas, Kansas City and Albany. Searching for a strategy in Southwest’s moves? Consider: Denver-based Frontier is in bankruptcy and Fort Lauderdale-based Spirit Airlines has warned employees that almost half of them may soon be laid off.

INTERNATIONAL AGENDA:

BA gobbles up L’Avion for OpenSkies: It’s been rumored for several months, but it’s finally happened: British Airways is buying L’Avion, theFrench all-business-class airline. The deal is for €68 million. BA says it will integrate L’Avion into OpenSkies, the boutique carrier it launched on June 19. But the exact form that integration will take is an open question. Although both L’Avion and OpenSkies fly Boeing 757s to Paris/Orly, L’Avion operates from Newark and OpenSkies uses New York/Kennedy. L’Avion’s aircraft are configured with 90 business-class seats while OpenSkies’ plane has 82 seats in three classes. And, needless to say, L’Avion is a French flag carrier and OpenSkies is a British airline. Watch this one carefully, folks. … Delta Air Lines continues to expand its international route network. It will soon add two more Latin American routes from its JFK hub: Flights to Bogota begin on August 19 and service to Buenos Aires launches on December 18.

CUTBACK CENTRAL

The big airlines are shedding smaller cities: United Airlines continues its contraction in South Florida. It plans to cut its once-formidable hub at Miami to just four daily flights and it will end all service at Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, too. … American Airlines will end all service in several cities, including Albany, New York; Providence, Rhode Island; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; San Luis Obispo, California; and Barranquilla, Colombia. … US Airways is cutting back intra-Pennsylvania service. The Pittsburgh-Harrisburg route ends on September 1, while October 1 is the last day for Philadelphia-Williamsport flights. … JetBlue Airways is dropping its West Palm Beach-Newburgh/Stewart route on September 2. … Horizon Air is dropping flights from Portland, Oregon, to both Klamath Falls and North Bend/Coos Bay, Oregon. The flights end on October 11. … Frontier Airlines is dropping flights from its Denver hub to Louisville, Kentucky.

NEED TO KNOW

On-the-road intelligence to help you travel smarter: Continental Airlines has improved the ticket-change procedure for same-day flights, but it will cost you: $50 for most travelers and $25 for gold and platinum level frequent fliers. The window for same-day changes is now 12 hours. It used to be 3 hours, but did not carry a fee. … Qantas will add a premium economy cabin to its U.S. flights later this year. The seats in the cabin will have 42-inch seat pitch and be 19.5 inches wide. Premium Economy will be available on Los Angeles-Sydney flights beginningNovember 14 and on Los Angeles-Melbourne flights on December 19. … the Internal Revenue Service has raised the per-mile business driving rate to 58.5 cents. The new rate goes into effect on July 1. … Marriott Rewards members can now cash points for luggage shipping. The hotel giant and the Luggage Club have struck the unique deal. … Speaking of luggage, Delta Air Lines says it will rebate the $25 second-bag fee for any traveler who had purchased tickets before April 9. … American Airlines is now testing in-flight Internet on two aircraft this week. The planes are on the transcon route between New York/Kennedy and Los Angeles.

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Joe Brancatelli is editor and publisher of JoeSentMe.com, a non-commercial Web site for business travelers.

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