Welcome to the December 2009 Issue of Travology Today

Directravel wishes everyone a healthy, happy and safe holiday season and much success in the coming year!

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a new rule that significantly strengthens protections afforded to airline passengers, including the establishment of a three-hour time limit after which U.S. airlines must allow passengers to deplane delayed domestic flights. The rule also requires airlines to provide adequate food and potable drinking water for passengers within two hours of an aircraft being delayed.

The new rule prohibits U.S. airlines operating domestic flights from permitting an aircraft to remain on the tarmac for more than three hours without deplaning passengers, with exceptions allowed only for safety or security or if air traffic control advises the pilot in command that returning to the terminal would disrupt airport operations. U.S. carriers operating international flights departing from or arriving in the United States must specify, in advance, their own time limits for deplaning passengers, with the same exceptions applicable.

The new rule also:

• Prohibits airlines from scheduling chronically delayed flights, subjecting those who do to DOT enforcement action for unfair and deceptive practices;
• Requires airlines to designate an airline employee to monitor the effects of flight delays and cancellations, respond in a timely and substantive fashion to consumer complaints and provide information to consumers on where to file complaints;
• Requires airlines to display on their website flight delay information for each domestic flight they operate;
• Requires airlines to adopt customer service plans and audit their own compliance with their plans; and
• Prohibits airlines from retroactively applying material changes to their contracts of carriage that could have a negative impact on consumers who already have purchased tickets.

The rule goes into effect 120 days after date of publication in the Federal Register. The rule may be obtained at www.regulations.gov, docket DOT-OST-2007-0022.

In this age where many companies and travelers are eco-conscious, and concerned with their travel impact on the environment, www.GoGreenTravelGreen.com offers the following tips for making hotel stays a little more green:

1. Unplug, unplug, unplug. The first thing you should do when you walk into a hotel room is unplug. 5 lamps? Unplug 4. Mini-fridge? Unless you’ve brought a turkey and mayo sandwich, unplug. Coffee maker? Unplug. Hair dryer? Unplug. Appliances drain energy even when they’re not on. If you just spend 2 minutes unplugging items you will already have made a difference.
2. Move the soap. An easy trick to reduce your waste is to bring the bar of soap with you to the shower when you shower and leave it by the sink the rest of the time. Seriously, when was the last time you used two full bars of soap at a hotel? (Or even one full bar?)
3. Stick the “Do not Disturb” on your door. Or just call housekeeping and tell them you won’t need their services during your stay. To prevent the hotel from wasting water by changing your sheets and towels, wasting electricity by vacuuming, and spraying harsh chemicals all over your toothbrush, just ask them to refrain from cleaning your room during your stay.
4. Adjust the thermostat. By lowering the temperature by 2 degrees in the winter or raising it by 2 in the summer you will save a lot of energy. And you won’t notice the difference.
5. When you leave the room turn everything off:
• Lights
• TV
• Thermostat (if the weather is mild)
6. Take shorter showers. Sometimes a long, hot shower feels incredible. But do you need that every day? The average US shower head spits out about 2.5 gallons per minute, which means in a 15 minute shower you use nearly 40 gallons of water. Yikes!

For more information and to see other trips for greening your travel, click here.

The Air Transport Association of America (ATA), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, announced this month that it expects 41 million passengers¹ to travel over the upcoming winter holidays² on U.S. carriers, representing a 2.5 percent year-over-year decline from the 42 million passengers¹ estimated to have flown during the same period in 2008.³

The three busiest travel days during this holiday period are expected to be Sunday, Dec. 27, Monday, Dec. 28 and Tuesday, Dec. 29, respectively, based on sample data from the 2008 winter holiday period.

ATA is expecting the federal government, once again, to open up Special Activity Airspace (SAS) on an as-needed basis to help ease congestion. SAS was also made available over the Thanksgiving holiday.

ATA President and CEO James C. May encouraged passengers to pack light, to check their flight status before leaving for the airport, and to remember to arrive early to allow plenty of time for check-in and security screening.

In addition, ATA encourages passengers to consult its resource page for recommended travel tips. In particular, passengers are encouraged to keep in mind the following:

• It is strongly recommended that all passengers review the Web site of the airline on which they are flying for respective policies, amenities, customer service plans and flight-operation alert notifications.
• Pack any gifts unwrapped, as they may need to be inspected by security. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is also providing additional Helpful Hints for Holiday Travelers online.
• Remember that TSA requires that air travelers follow its 3-1-1 Rule for liquids, gels and aerosols in carry-on bags when passing through security checkpoints.
• Passengers should be aware that they could be asked to provide their date of birth and gender when making a reservation, as part of the TSA Secure Flight program. Travelers should expect no change in the travel experience, however, as part of this security initiative.

ATA airline members and their affiliates transport more than 90 percent of all U.S. airline passenger and cargo traffic. For additional information about the industry, visit www.airlines.org.

[1] The total number of revenue passengers boarding aircraft in scheduled service.

[2] Defined as the 21 days spanning Thurs., Dec. 17, 2009 through Wed., Jan. 6, 2010.

[3] There is no source of industry-wide traffic statistics for less than one month, so historical data for holiday travel periods must be estimated.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced that the United States and Japan concur on the text of a landmark Open-Skies aviation agreement, liberalizing U.S.-Japan air services for the carriers of both countries. The agreement was reached after five rounds of negotiations focusing on Open Skies, beginning in May of this year.

Under the new agreement, airlines from both countries would be allowed to select routes and destinations based on consumer demand for both passenger and cargo services, without limitations on the number of U.S. or Japanese carriers that can fly between the two countries or the number of flights they can operate. It would remove restrictions on capacity and pricing, and provide unlimited opportunities for cooperative marketing arrangements, including code-sharing, between U.S. and Japanese carriers.

The agreement also would provide opportunities for growth of U.S. carrier operations at Tokyo’s Narita Airport and ensure fair competition regarding the new opportunities at Tokyo’s close-in Haneda Airport.

Although the 1952 U.S.-Japan aviation agreement was greatly expanded in 1998, many U.S. carriers serving Japan were still subject to restrictions on capacity, routing, pricing, and code-sharing.

Once the agreement is finalized, Japan will become the 95th U.S. Open-Skies partner. Both the United States and Japan must affirmatively act in order to put the agreement into effect.

For more information, click here.

American Airlines was recently named "Best North American Airline for First-Class Service" and "Best Airline for North American Travel" by Business Traveler's 2009 Best in Business Travel Survey. …Continental Airlines began a new nonstop service from Honolulu and its Guam hub to Nadi, Fiji on Friday, Dec. 18, 2009. In addition to the new Fiji service, Continental operates twice-daily flights between Houston and Honolulu, daily flights between New York, Los Angeles and Honolulu and between Honolulu at Guam…Delta Air Lines has the "Best Frequent Flyer Program," "Best Airline Web Site" and "Best Airport Lounge," according to Business Traveler readers who voted in the magazine's 2009 Best in Business Travel Awards…Qatar Airways announced plans to further expand its international operations next year with the launch of flights from its Doha hub to three diverse cities – Tokyo, Bengaluru and Ankara. They will join Qatar Airways’ growing international network over an eight-week period beginning in February 2010…

in October ‘09 decreased to 77.3%, down 1.2 points vs. the running 12 month average of 78.5% and down 8.9 points from September’s 86.2%. 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 Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’lvoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Georgia, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Kenya, Lebanon, Mali, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Mauritania, Algeria, Colombia, Uzbekistan and Yemen.