Lloyd's Travel Letter May 1995, Issue 7 Serving theVery Frequent Traveler In This Issue: Page 1....Rating the Airline Clubs Page 1....Travel Vendors on the Internet Page 1....TWA Drops Agent Commission Caps Page 2....Letters to the Editor Page 2....Currency Exchange Rates Page 3....Travel Vendor Partnerships Page 7....Tidbits TWA Drops Agent Commission Caps TWA agreed to drop the cap on travel agent commissions in exchange for being dropped from a class-action lawsuit that had been filed by the American Society of Travel Agents against the seven major airlines. The biggest reason for the change is an attempt by TWA, who is suffering from financial problems, to generate additional traffic. The cancellation of the controversial caps, $25 for one way flights and $50 for roundtrips, may convince travel agents to push TWA flights over the competition. Travel agents typically make a 10% commission on the price of an airline ticket. The cap was instituted by Delta in February and quickly copied by other carriers. TWA, which flies more short haul trips than the big three (American, Delta, and United), has less to gain from a cap and could certainly use the additional business. Look for US Air and Continental, which also fly many shorter routes, to also abolish the cap. The American Society of Travel Agents is still suing American, Delta, United, US Air, Northwest, and Continental. Travel Vendors on the Internet You have heard all the news about the information superhighway and the explosive growth in online services and the Internet over the last few years. Far from being a competitor to the travel industry, online access to data by computer is a natural compliment for travelers. Independent of location or time, all its takes to pull out on the information superhighway is a laptop and a modem. For years travelers have been using conventional online services such as America Online and CompuServe to get weather reports or make reservations using Eaasy Sabre. Now many travel vendors are going a step further and actually setting up their own home pages on the Internet. This allows the vendor to provide its customers with up-to-date information wherever they may be traveling. With the conventional online services providing or planning to provide Internet access, everybody will be able to get to these Internet home pages. You can view these home pages with a web browser such as Netscape, Mosaic or with the latest versions of the America Online or Prodigy software. Some airlines that have made the investment are Canadian Airlines (http://www.cdnair.ca/), Cathay Pacific (http://www.cathay-usa.com/) and Northwest Airlines (http://www.winternet.com/~tela/nwa- info.html). Best Western International has created a home page advertising their hotels that can be reached at http://www.travelweb.com/bw.html. At least one airport is on the Web. You can find out what's new at the Norfolk International Airport (ORF) at http://www.infi.net/orf/whatsnew.html. Expect more vendors to use this method of communicating with customers in the near future. Rating the Airline Clubs Airline Clubs are generally a nice place for the seasoned traveler to escape the masses and find a comfortable place to wait for a flight, get a drink, and maybe catch up on some business. These private clubs are located at airports, provide comfortable furniture, telephones, a bar, and are staffed with personnel who can assist you with your travel plans. Many clubs offer some basic business services such as fax machines and conference rooms. For a yearly membership fee of $150-$275 the major airlines offer an annual membership into their club. However, some clubs are better than others. You can join some clubs for free. Just cash in some frequent flyer miles. The number of locations is also an important way to differentiate because this translates into how often you will be able to use your membership. The table below shows a basic comparison of these airline clubs. The table omits data on Northwest's Worldperks Club and TWA's Ambassadors Club. Calls to these two airlines to gather information were put on hold for more than 15 minutes, perhaps reflecting the establishments philosophy on customer service. TABLE IN SUBSCRIPTION VERSION OF LLOYD'S TRAVEL LETTER Recommendations: If an airline club is crowded and the cost of a drink is more than it would be out in the airport, you are probably better off not joining that club. If you could join any club, then Delta's Crown Room is clearly the best choice. A large number of locations, free drinks, friendly personnel and nice furnishing make the Crown Room a perfect place to wait for your nice flight. Of course, if most of your travel is on a single airline, then membership in that airline's club will make the most sense. Letters to Lloyd's Dear Lloyd's, I have just read the new program details for the Delta Air Lines frequent flyer program, SkyMiles. There is a small paragraph that states that miles are lost if you don't fly at least once every three years. While this may not mean much to many of your customers, it could be important to some. I suggest that you pass this information on and recommend that they complain if they don't like it. I doubt that it will matter, but.... -Rick Rosenbaum via CompuServe Dear Rick, You pass along some valuable advice. While we mentioned this change in the Delta program in our January issue, there are still a lot of Delta flyers that are unaware of this policy who could get burned. Formerly, miles earned on Delta were good for a lifetime. Now, as you mention, they will expire if you don't fly once every three years. This policy is better than American and United's where your miles simply expire. But the change could be costly for former travelers who are sitting on large stashes of miles who no long fly. -Max Letters to the Editor Lloyd's Travel Letter welcomes editorials and letters to the editor. Letters may be edited for brevity, clarity, etc. Address correspondence to LTL, Editorials, PO Box 13842, Research Triangle Park NC 27709. You can also reach us on the Internet at max@isscad.com, on American Online at L L Max and on CompuServe at 74710,1177. Currency Exchange Rates The following table lists the exchange rates per US Dollar on May 19, 1995. TABLE IN SUBSCRIPTION VERSION OF LLOYD'S TRAVEL LETTER Staff: Editor - Max Lloyd Managing Editor - Denise Wilson Lloyd's Travel Letter is published monthly by Lloyd's Travel, PO Box 13842, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709. Contents copyrighted * 1995 by Lloyd's Travel. All rights reserved. Small quotations allowed if reference to Lloyd's Travel Letter is included. For advertising information and address changes, write to the above address. You can also contact Lloyd's Travel on American Online at L L Max, on CompuServe at 74710,1177 or on the Internet at max@isscad.com. Subscription rates: Single issue price: $2.75. Yearly subscription (four issues): $10. Canadian yearly subscription: $14 in US funds. All others: $20 in US funds. Travel Vendor Partnerships The following table gives partnerships between travel vendors in three categories: airline, hotel, and rental car. You may find it handy to carry this list with you when you travel. This is a partial list for the largest vendors as of May 1995. The data is believed to be accurate, but check with the vendor for complete details. Vendors can send updated information to Lloyd's Travel. Flights are no longer required to earn Delta miles when renting a car from Alamo or Avis. South African Airways has linked up with the American AAdvantage program. American members earn miles on all SAA flights and South African Airways Voyager member can accrue miles on all American flights. TABLE IN SUBSCRIPTION VERSION OF LLOYD'S TRAVEL LETTER Tidbits... United is expanding the number of Red Carpet Clubs. New clubs have opened or will be opening up in O'Hare, Frankfort, Rio de Janeiro, and Sao Paulo. The fee for changing flight times on many low fare basis tickets is going up. To change departure times for a 14 day advance, Saturday stayover flight is slated to increase from $35 to $50. Watch out for National car rentals that have a cancellation penalty. On some rentals there is a $50 fee for canceling your reservation less than 2 hours before pickup time. If National is successful with this program, look for other vendors to copy it. Stay longer in Taiwan now that the maximum amount of time for a visit without a visa has been extended from 5 to 11 days. An up to date passport is required and a visa is necessary for longer stays. The ten busiest airports in the USA based on numbers of takeoffs and landings: 1. Chicago O'Hare (ORD) 2. Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW) 3. Los Angeles (LAX) 4. Atlanta (ATL) 5. San Francisco (SFO) 6. Denver (DIA) 7. Miami (MIA) 8. New York Kennedy (JFK) 9. Newark (EWR) Detroit Metro (DTW) In Upcoming Issues: -The Real Value of Miles and Points -Comparing Frequent Stayer Programs -Business Travelers Guide to Major Cities -Traveler Safety Tips Get the most from life on the road Subscribe to Lloyd's Travel Letter 8 issues for only $19 ! Let LTL's advice and valuable tips save you money and show you how to earn those extra miles. To get your subscription, send a check along with your name and address to: Lloyd's Travel PO Box 13842 Drawer N1 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 Introducing the latest software from Lloyd's Travel Weather for Windows, version 2.1 Priced at only $25 Weather for Windows quickly and easily gives you the average historic high and low temperatures for hundreds of major cities, along with expected rainfall. You can view information in either standard or metric formats and even graph the temperatures to get a visual overview. Use Weather to plan and pack appropriately for your trips. Requires Windows 3.1 or higher. 3.5" diskettes will be shipped Add $4 for shipping and handling. Send a check for $29 to along with your name and address to: Lloyd's Travel PO Box 13842 Drawer N1 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709