tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5906715303875587242011-07-08T03:34:36.059-07:00News and views about online travel, travel distribution marketing, global distribution systems and all the technologies that support them (or anything else that I want to opine about).Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.comBlogger211100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-80214226553717672052010-04-14T15:17:00.000-07:002010-04-14T15:21:59.962-07:00

Change is good, according to the old adage. In practice, we only believe it when it happens to someone else.Over the last couple of months, it has become clear that several major airlines, notably American, are looking to alter the way they distribute their products to corporate travelers. Given that there has been no substantial change in the way they do that since 1976, you might think they

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-87169634550254302282010-03-19T13:28:00.000-07:002010-03-19T13:44:34.915-07:00

Talks between British Airways and Unite, the union that represents its cabin crew, have broken down, and the union says it will strike March 20-22 (that's starting at midnight tonight) and March 27-30. The carrier has worked with Usablenet, a company that optimizes Web pages for mobile access, to develop a mobile change booking tool. The tool can be accessed here.

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-16272954597513388382010-03-15T14:59:00.000-07:002010-03-16T12:39:34.917-07:00

Sometimes the problems of the world seem overwhelm-ing: 2 million people die each year from AIDS, another million from malaria, 1.8 million from tuberculosis. Many more millions are living with these diseases. Newly infected people roughly equal the number of the dead. It’s all too much, we think. What can one person achieve?A life. You can save a life.Massive Good, an initiative facilitated by

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-88812634681775811302010-01-27T13:57:00.000-08:002010-01-27T14:26:34.487-08:00

I am not an early adopter of much of anything. I bought cassette tapes until they stopped making them. I got a CD player just when everyone started getting MP3 players. I was the last person in America to buy a telephone answering machine and the second-to-last to buy a cell phone. But I want an iPad, and I want it now. I’m in desperate need of a new laptop. Every time I fire mine up, it growls,

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-49979264453455561382010-01-22T10:17:00.000-08:002010-01-22T11:48:21.558-08:00

Just in case you needed more evidence that this nation has lost its collective mind: A 22-year-old University of Michigan student going through a security checkpoint at Philadelphia Airport was stopped by a TSA employee, who reached into her computer case and pulled out a small plastic bag of powder -- the sort of bag used to carry earrings, or drugs. He demanded to know where she had got it.

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-80976965194903115842009-12-21T08:19:00.000-08:002009-12-21T08:52:30.728-08:00

The Transportation Department has ordered airlines to allow passengers to deplane after a tarmac delay of three hours.This will be hailed as a victory by groups that have lobbied for such a rule. Over the last decade, there has been no dearth of gruesome tales of passengers trapped for eight or more hours on planes with no food, water or working toilets.The straw that broke the camel's back was

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-90787360545658161932009-11-29T14:31:00.000-08:002009-11-29T15:24:44.599-08:00

It’s been a long time since I’ve flown US Airways. I flew it last week, and I think it will be another long time before it happens again. I ended up on a US Airways flight to Amsterdam because Continental, the airline on which I had piles of miles ripe for redemption, joined the Star Alliance. One day, it was offering SaverPass seats in BusinessFirst; the next day, the only thing available for

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-39837318069188497602009-11-29T14:10:00.000-08:002009-11-29T14:14:21.856-08:00

Check out this bathroom sink. The countertop was waist-high, and the protruding scallop thing in front of the sink made it impossible to brush my teeth without standing on tippy-toes or climbing up on the counter. OK, I’m on the short side, but I’m still well within the normal range. Obviously I should have paid more attention to those watermelon seed-spitting contests at camp. This wacky design

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-12081933882899774262009-11-17T08:54:00.000-08:002009-11-17T08:57:47.547-08:00

Somebody at the Transportation Security Administration read the U.S. Constitution and found Amendment IV: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched,

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-58373650070450111212009-09-24T12:23:00.000-07:002009-09-24T12:32:40.444-07:00

For the last few years, airlines and other travel companies have tried to figure out what to do about social media.Since the advent of TripAdvisor in 2000, suppliers at one industry conference after another were warned that they should not ignore the phenomenon. “It’s out there,” speakers would say. “You can’t ignore it.” But suggestions about the appropriate response were uniformly vague.A new

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-57962321658507424362009-08-12T13:46:00.000-07:002009-08-12T13:51:33.861-07:00

In talking with Henry Harteveldt about the latest Forrester Research report on travelers' dissatisfaction with the online booking experience, I was reminded of my first flight on Southwest Airlines. I was sitting in the first row, and when the plane arrived at the gate, the door opened almost immediately. Having grown accustomed to standing in the aisle and cooling my own jets for several minutes

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-46316423140631444162009-06-10T12:16:00.001-07:002009-06-10T12:30:36.953-07:00

I seldom get into “write your Congressman” mode – we’re all busy people, after all – but I have written to mine (even though I can’t stand him) to urge him to support H.R. 2027. This bill reads in part: “Whole-body imaging technology may not be used as the sole or primary method of screening a passenger under this section. Whole-body imaging technology may not be used to screen a passenger under

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-43460548310096528852009-06-02T09:36:00.000-07:002009-06-02T09:40:44.230-07:00

In the next issue of Travel Technology Update, we will introduce a new feature: Jobs.The name says it all. There are a lot of "unaffiliated" and very talented people out there, and many of them read TTU. If you have an opening within your organization in the field of distribution, revenue management and/or related technologies and disciplines, you can submit the details to me. If space becomes an

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-78101477321572524052009-04-29T12:00:00.000-07:002009-04-29T12:01:53.981-07:00

May I nominate Michael O’Leary as the biggest swine on earth? The Ryanair chief’s latest pathetic bid for attention came in the form of a pronouncement that swine flu is “only a tragedy for people living in slums in Asia or Mexico.” People who live in other parts of the world aren’t going to die, he stated.Mr. O’Leary should stick to what he knows best: running a very bad airline. He is not an

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-32918505970440139112009-04-28T09:48:00.000-07:002009-04-28T09:53:51.763-07:00

Whether or not swine flu reaches pandemic status, the airlines are already bearing some of the economic pain it causes. There’s no clear line of demarcation between prudence and panic in these situations. Was it premature for the European Union to advise travelers to avoid visiting not only Mexico but areas of the U.S. where this strain of flu has been identified? We will never know. Here is what

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-17814899109524679212009-04-16T11:59:00.000-07:002009-04-16T12:05:45.438-07:00

If you thought Wall Street types had learned anything over the last year, put that right out of your mind. During a conference call to discuss Southwest Airlines’ first-quarter financial performance, the Street’s airline analysts badgered CEO Gary Kelly with the same question phrased in different ways: Why isn’t Southwest charging fees to check bags?I could almost hear the ghost of Gordon Gekko

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-87464524002850259892009-04-07T15:29:00.000-07:002009-04-07T15:31:52.642-07:00

Butterfield & Robinson is a Canadian tour operator that does some lovely trips, with an emphasis on bicycling, hiking or riding horse- or camelback. They believe in getting you out of the car and into the life of your destination. They do it with class and style, and the price tag reflects that.Just about every travel company on earth is offering a “Stimulus Package” right now, but B&R’s has a

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-82784161767588149322009-04-07T12:51:00.001-07:002009-04-07T13:43:20.197-07:00

Hell has officially frozen over: Southwest Airlines is going into New York’s LaGuardia Airport, something Herb Kelleher used to say would never happen. Never say never, even if you’re Herb.I live in St. Louis, but New York will always be my spiritual home, and the $99 fares sounded nice. Southwest isn’t planning STL-LGA nonstops, at least not initially, but I'm not too proud to connect. So I went

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-17075244052483506872009-04-04T08:58:00.000-07:002009-04-04T09:02:33.045-07:00

I wasn’t enamored of Twitter before the TravelCom conference in Atlanta, but after witnessing a second noble experiment involving its use, I vote that we just leave it to the kids.Members of the TravelCom audience had the option of submitting questions to speakers via Twitter. Here’s how it worked: A person seated in, say, the second row used technology to ask a question of a person who was on

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-42260340526284236532009-03-29T10:02:00.000-07:002009-03-29T10:46:49.781-07:00

In times like these, ripping off your customer will only work once.Just ask Antoine Medawar. After he checks into a New York hotel, he heads out to a deli to buy a couple of bottles of water. Medawar is managing director of Amadeus Hospitality. He can afford the $6 that a hotel might charge for a bottle of water, but he’s not going to encourage that sort of behavior.That’s why he was pleased to

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-590671530387558724.post-29527097384114237442009-03-28T14:21:00.000-07:002009-03-28T14:40:02.683-07:00

I am a failed Twitterer. Or maybe I mean tweeter. I resisted signing up for Twitter — maybe “enlisting” is a better term — until a couple of weeks ago, when a friend told me how she limited its use to business-related matters. Her Facebook world had turned into a mix of friends, family and “industry friends.” Her Twitter connections were all about business, and she was finding it useful.So I

Michele McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06173006565094037168noreply@blogger.com1