Welcome to the July 2009 Issue of Travology Today

Directravel, a leading corporate travel management company, today announced the availability of two new CO₂ tracking reports – the CO₂ Air Summary Report and a CO₂ Combined (Air/Car/Hotel) Summary Report, available through its reporting package.

These reports were designed in response to client requests for an easy way to track CO₂ usage on various domestic and international trips and compare them to alternative travel methods. The Air Summary report includes information on Top 5 Carriers, Class of Service, Long Haul/Short Haul and Total Emissions. The Combined Summary Report contains data on Top 5 Car Rental Cities by CO₂, Top 5 Hotel Cities by CO₂ and Air CO₂ emissions. Both reports provide summary data of Top 5 City Pairs by CO₂ usage.

The reports use proprietary algorithms from several carbon reporting companies that are then applied to travel data to produce estimates of the carbon output from travelers' trips.

“In this environment, we’re all focused on trying to accomplish more with less and this certainly pertains to our impact on the environment. Having said that, keeping track of travelers’ global footprint continues to be a very important issue for many of the companies we work with, as well as to the travel industry on the whole,” said Pat Fragale, president of Directravel. “These reports allow them to chart their CO₂ emissions and make more efficient and environmentally-focused travel choices.”

The CO₂ Air Summary Report and a CO₂ Combined (Air/Car/Hotel) Summary Report are the latest additions to Directravel’s technology offerings, geared to helping clients achieve the most effective use of their travel programs. These reports will be provided on a monthly basis to those clients who opt to include this as part of their reporting package.

We look forward to seeing everyone at the National Business Travel Association’s Annual Convention in San Diego August 23-26. We will be located at booth 2549 and invite all attendees to stop by and say hello!

Ensuring the privacy of individuals is a cornerstone of Secure Flight. TSA has developed a comprehensive privacy plan to incorporate privacy laws and practices into all areas of Secure Flight. The program has worked extensively to maximize individual privacy.

In addition to assuring compliance and re-enforcing the Secure Flight commitment to protecting privacy, Secure Flight has created an environment dedicated to guaranteeing a Secure Flight privacy mission that is front and center every day.

The Secure Flight Privacy Program includes:

1. Foundational Privacy Principles: Tenets that underpin and guide all Secure Flight behaviors, requirements, systems and processes;
2. Privacy Organization: Dedicated Privacy Officer and privacy staff, processes and procedures responsible for privacy compliance, assessing Secure Flight privacy risks and for developing and implementing plans to effectively manage those risks;
3. Privacy Policy: Secure Flight privacy policies, procedures, standards and rules of behavior and ways to adhere to them;
4. Systems Development and Security: Administrative, physical and technical safeguards that manage privacy risks throughout the lifecycle of the Secure Flight system;
5. Awareness and Training: Programs to make the Secure Flight organization and its stakeholders, including the traveling public and the airlines, aware of Secure Flight's privacy posture and practices;
6. Monitoring and Compliance: Programs to monitor adherence to statutory and regulatory privacy requirements and Secure Flight's privacy principles, policies, procedures, standards and rules of behavior;
7. Redress and Response: Systems and processes to respond, if needed, to privacy inquiries, issues and incidents; and
8. Privacy Risk Management: Tools and techniques to support Secure Flight privacy risk management.

Personal Information - TSA collects the minimum amount of personal information necessary to conduct effective watch list matching. Furthermore, personal data is collected, used, distributed, stored, and disposed of in accordance with stringent guidelines and all applicable privacy laws and regulations. Secure Flight has published an updated Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) in conjunction with the Final Rule and System of Records Notice (SORN) published in the Federal Register, August 23, 2007 provide detailed information about the program's privacy approach.

TSA does not collect or use commercial data to conduct Secure Flight watch list matching.

As a reminder, the second phase of Secure Flight begins August 15, 2009 when passengers will be required to enter their date of birth and gender when booking airline flights.

One of New York's busiest airports is now using an advanced ground radar system to improve safety. Newark Liberty International Airport commissioned the Airport Surface Detection Equipment-Model X (ASDE-X) on July 15.

ASDE-X enhances safety by collecting data from more sources than Newark’s previous ground radar system, and provides controllers with color map displays showing the location of all aircraft and vehicles on the runways and taxiways.

For example, when a plane is approaching the airport to land, ASDE-X puts lines up on a controller’s display to show the edges of the runway. If another plane or vehicle crosses those lines or moves toward them at a certain speed, two alarms go off. An audible alarm sounds telling controllers to instruct the landing plane to go around. A visual alarm shows up on the controller’s screen that circles the two planes or the vehicle and draws a line between them.

The new system also shows data tags for both arriving and departing aircraft. The previous ASDE-3 system only gave information for flights headed to the airport.

In addition to a view of the entire airfield provided by ASDE-X, controllers can pick certain areas to highlight on the display and zoom in to get a better view of what’s happening in each area.

The new system is designed to integrate with future components of the Next Generation Air Transportation System, such as the Automated Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, or ADS-B, which can be incorporated into the ASDE-X display.

Boston Logan International Airport commissioned ASDE-X on July 23.

For more information, click here.

The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) – the largest association of business travel professionals –sent letters to 21 U.S. airports urging their cooperation in re-establishing Registered Traveler (RT) lanes. Despite the recent cessation of operations by the largest RT vendor, NBTA is hopeful airports will work with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to allow RT vendors to provide services in an interoperable format.

Kevin Maguire, CCTE, GLP, NBTA President & CEO, said in the letter:

"We are encouraged by recent communications from another qualified RT vendor, FLO, encouraging airports to re-launch operations with FLO to provide RT enrollees continued usage and benefits of RT. NBTA urges airports to work in coordination with TSA and U.S. airlines to reopen RT operations with FLO or other qualified vendors. In addition, we stand ready to work with you to engage the TSA and Congress to make RT a true risk-management tool for secure and efficient air travel.

NBTA is hopeful that effective coordination between the critical stakeholders will benefit all RT participants. We extend our support to RT travelers throughout the nation and stand ready to facilitate future success of the program."

For more information, click here.

At one time, airline safety generally meant one thing: avoiding a crash. But safety regulators are increasingly focusing on surviving one.

Starting this fall, all new airplanes will be required to have seats that will stay in place when subjected to stresses up to 16 times the force of gravity. The old seats had to meet stresses of only nine times the force of gravity. And, in a safety measure borrowed from automobiles, some seats will be equipped with air bags.

The new rules have taken effect gradually. Airplane models introduced after 1988 were required to have the new seats, known as "16g" seats. So planes like the Boeing 777 and the swarm of new regional jets all have them. But older models that were still in production were not required to have the seats.

But beginning Oct. 27, new airplanes of models certified before 1988 must also comply. In practice, aircraft manufacturers have been delivering many planes that meet the new rule for some time. So the deadline is more of a milestone than an actual change-over date.

The new rules do not affect older planes with the old seats. But those planes are disappearing from airline service because they are less fuel-efficient than newer models and because the total number of planes is down as airlines cut service in the recession.

Airplane seats are tested using some of the same methods highway safety authorities use on car seats. The plane seats are tested on sleds, using crash-test dummies borrowed from automobile testing. There are a variety of test criteria, including one for head trauma that is the same as that used by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The changes to the seats themselves, and the floor structure that supports them, will not be obvious to passengers. But the air bags are visible. They are built into one side of the lap belt, which appears a little thicker.

The air bags also borrow technology from automobiles. They are set off by a shock meter that comes directly from cars. And like the systems used in cars and trucks, the seat belt air bags in planes are designed not to deploy inappropriately - in cases of air turbulence, for example.

For more information, click here.

Hardly anyone enjoys getting stuck sitting in the middle seat on a full flight. In fact, according to a survey commissioned in April 2009 by 3M Privacy Filters, only 1 percent of those polled actually prefer to sit in the middle seat and 80 percent say they go out of their way to avoid it on a full flight. But, what is it about the middle seat that bothers people the most? Is it the cramped quarters? Lack of privacy? Rude seatmates? These survey findings reveal travelers' true feelings and some insights about the middle seat "experience."

Get Me Outta Here...

• A majority of Americans would rather get stuck in traffic (56 percent), go on a blind date (56 percent) or go to the dentist (54 percent) than sit in the middle seat on a full flight.
• People dislike the middle seat so much they go to great lengths to avoid it altogether. Fifty percent of people said they would be likely to take an aisle seat being offered on the next available flight, while one in five Americans (20 percent) say they would actually stay overnight at an airport hotel for an aisle seat on the first flight the next morning!
• Nine percent of Americans report that they would refuse to sit in the middle seat on a full flight if it was more than 1-2 hours.

Top Five Middle Seat Annoyances

• The top five things people find most annoying about sitting in the middle seat are:
1. Having a nosy seatmate peering over your shoulder (84 percent)
2. Crawling over someone to get to the bathroom (83 percent)
3. Not being able to stretch out (83 percent)
4. Having an overweight seatmate on either side of you (80 percent)
5. Not having a place to rest your head (71 percent)

Despite all the annoyances that come with sitting in the middle seat, nearly nine in 10 Americans are concerned with being a "good" middle seat occupant. After all, who wants to be rude?

Middle Seat Etiquette

• When sitting in the middle seat, you are subject to bad etiquette from neighbors on both sides. With in-flight wi-fi available on many flights, 65 percent of people are concerned about nosy neighbors snooping on personal or work emails and with good reason, since 49 percent of people admit to glancing at strangers' computer screens.
• However, there seem to be some discrepancies about proper etiquette. While 6 percent of people believe both armrests belong to the person sitting in the middle seat, the rest either had no idea of the proper etiquette (51 percent), believe one armrest belongs to the person in the middle (22 percent) or believe half of each armrest belongs to the person in the middle (21 percent).

Look On The Bright Side

• Nearly two-thirds of Americans (63 percent) agree that there is absolutely nothing good about sitting in the middle seat on a full airplane flight. However, some travelers do try to see the silver lining. An optimistic 17 percent say sitting in the middle seat means you do not get hit by the drink cart and 15 percent suggest that sitting in the middle gives you a chance to meet and talk to interesting people.

For more information, click here.

The nation’s largest airlines had a rate of on-time flights this past May that was higher than both the same month last year and the mark posted in April 2009, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report released this month by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

According to information filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), a part of DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), the 19 carriers reporting on-time performance recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 80.5 percent in May, better than both the 79.0 percent on-time rate of May 2008 and April 2009’s 79.1 percent.

The monthly report also includes data on lengthy tarmac delays, flight cancellations and the causes of flight delays by the reporting carriers, as well as reports of mishandled baggage filed with the carriers, and consumer service, disability and discrimination complaints received by DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division. This report also includes reports of incidents involving pets traveling by air, as required to be filed by U.S. carriers.

Cancellations

The consumer report includes BTS data on the number of domestic flights canceled by the reporting carriers. In May, the carriers canceled 0.9 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, lower than both the 1.0 percent cancellation rate of May 2008 and the 1.5 percent rate posted in April 2009.

Tarmac Delays

In May, the carriers filing on-time performance data reported that .0064 percent of their scheduled flights had tarmac delays of three hours or more, down from .0152 percent in April. There were eight flights with tarmac delays of four hours or more in May.

Causes of Flight Delays

In May, the carriers filing on-time performance data reported that 7.36 percent of their flights were delayed by aviation system delays, compared to 7.40 percent in April; 5.84 percent by late-arriving aircraft, compared to 6.19 percent in April; 4.56 percent by factors within the airline’s control, such as maintenance or crew problems, compared to 4.78 percent in April; 0.62 percent by extreme weather, compared to 0.69 percent in April; and 0.03 percent for security reasons, the same percentage as April. Weather is a factor in both the extreme-weather category and the aviation-system category. This includes delays due to the re-routing of flights by DOT’s Federal Aviation Administration in consultation with the carriers involved. Weather is also a factor in delays attributed to late-arriving aircraft, although airlines do not report specific causes in that category.

Data collected by BTS also shows the percentage of late flights delayed by weather, including those reported in either the category of extreme weather or included in National Aviation System delays. In May, 47.01 percent of late flights were delayed by weather, up 6.72 percent from May 2008, when 44.05 percent of late flights were delayed by weather, and up 5.93 percent from April when 44.38 percent of late flights were delayed by weather.

The Air Travel Consumer Report can be found on the DOT’s Web site at http://airconsumer.dot.gov.

American Airlines AAdvantage members who live in the Greater New York area and fly on American, American Eagle or AmericanConnection - no matter where the trip begins or ends - will earn double miles. To qualify, just register at http://www.aa.com/nydbl prior to travel and fly between July 29 and Dec. 31, 2009…Cathay Pacific Airways announced that it has joined the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group - an airline-led industry working group united by the need to accelerate the commercialization of aviation biofuels by developing robust, global sustainability criteria and best practices for the aviation biofuel markets… The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) approved the application for Continental Airlines to join the existing antitrust immunized alliance including nine Star Alliance member carriers…Delta Air Lines announced a new SkyMiles Medallion program, rolling out over the next nine months, which will retain benefits most important to Delta SkyMiles and former Northwest WorldPerks customers, including the popular unlimited complimentary upgrades on flights within the continental U.S. and select other regions… SkyTeam opened its new co-branded lounge at London-Heathrow terminal 4. This lounge is the first to have been designed by nine alliance member and associate member airlines...US Airways customers will have more access to beautiful Caribbean beaches this fall and winter as the airline adds more nonstop flights to Barbados from its Philadelphia hub…

in May '09 increased to 80.5%, up 2.1 points vs. the running 12 month average of 78.4% and up 1.4 points from April’s 79.1%. To view the USDOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics' (BTS) Air Travel Consumer Report, click here.

The United States Government has posted recent travel advisories and warnings for Algeria, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Georgia, Haiti, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mali, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.