WineDiaper: Pamper Your Booze

It is well-known that in the spring of 2006 I pioneered the use of the vodka diaper for transporting alcoholic beverages in luggage.

Imagine my chagrin at finding that my idea has been adapted by the makers of the WineDiaper, which is said to “cradle your wine in a padded container” and is alleged to contain “absorbent material to quickly soak up any spills.”

My sister just used WineDiapers to transport two bottles of Georgian wine back to the United States, and I admit they arrived quite intact (and delicious).  And they looked considerably less bizarre than my Huggies-swaddled Russky Standart.

But seriously. Shouldn’t a purist use real diapers?

Delta Adds Flights From Bradley to Vegas, DC

After announcing that it will end nonstop flights from Bradley International Airport to Los Angeles (again), Delta has announced new nonstop flights to Las Vegas and to Reagan National in Washington, the Wilton Bulletin reports. The Las Vegas route, already served by Southwest, will be flown only on Saturdays. The Washington route, already served daily by US Airways, will be flown  three times a week. Oh, well.

Southwest Offers Fairness On Ticket Changes

I was reminded today of another reason to like Southwest Airlines: flexibility on changing reservations.

While most airlines charge a substantial penalty to switch flights, Southwest simply charges the difference in fare, if any. So when I had to change a reservation today for business reasons, the cost was just $84 — and that was only only because I changed my return from a Tuesday, when fares are lower, to a Saturday, when they tend to be higher. Had I changed it from Tuesday to Wednesday, there would have been no charge at all.

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Bradley’s Only Transcontinental Flight: Axed Again

That didn’t take long. Delta’s flight from Bradley International Airport to Los Angeles, the airport’s only nonstop  transcontinental flight, has been removed from the schedule. Again.

The Hartford Business Journal reports that the flights will end Aug. 30. Delta stopped flying that route in September 2008 and had revived it just last month. Delta officials told the Hartford Business Journal that the route might be resurrected on a seasonal basis next summer. Maybe.

It is beyond pathetic that it will be impossible to fly to the West Coast nonstop from Bradley. But then it was kind of sad to be doing it on a 737-800, anyway.

Unbundling And Fees Explained

Airlines generally promote the “unbundling” of airfares as a means of giving consumers more choices on an a la carte menu of options, but it is really a euphemism for imposing fees for things that used to be included in the base fare. Joe Brancatelli exposes some other issues this practice has kicked up, including the difficulty it causes consumers in comparing fares and the cover it gives airlines to dodge taxes. Read about it in his illuminating Portfolio column.

Las Vegas Rates In Orlando

The SpringHill Suites Convention Center in Orlando is offering accommodation via Travelzoo at $39 a night through Sept. 30, excluding Sept. 2 and 3, and otherwise subject to availability.

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Capacity Up, Fares Up, Profits Up For Airlines

Airlines are getting profitable again, and I’m having a hell of a time finding low fares to Spain. These things are not unrelated.

Delta Air Lines reported a $467 million quarterly profit on Monday and United Airlines followed with a $273 million profit today, as the Associated Press reports. Analysts expect all nine of the country’s largest airlines to post profits, with the exception of American Airlines,  which expects a small loss, Terry Maxon reports in The Dallas Morning News.

It is all about, as we learning in Economics 101, supply and demand. Airlines have been trimming capacity for the past few years, but never quite enough to meet the decline in demand. Suddenly the economy is improving, if only slightly, planes are fuller and the airlines have less incentive to offer sale fares.

The importance of keeping capacity low to keep profits up (this is called ”supply discipline”) was brought home by an interesting movement in the stock market. After Delta announced that it intended to increase capacity a modest 1 to 3 percent next year, its stock fell — despite the impressive earnings it had just reported, according to the Wall Street Journal.

So what does this mean to us, the lowly leisure travelers? It means higher fares. But let’s face it, that had to happen. Nobody’s going to keep selling  a service at a loss forever. The airlines have squeezed pretty much everything they could out of their unfortunate employees, added fees for everything they could train a price gun on and cut back on everything else.

Speaking of fees, now that the airlines are, at least temporarily, fatter and happier, will the fees go away? Not a chance.

The Associated Press reports:

United is getting some $400 million a year in baggage fees, but [company President  John] Tague said on a conference call that he personally thinks they could eventually collect $1 billion in baggage fees alone.  … “It’s my own view that over time you’ll probably see bag fees become ubiquitous,” he said.

As for me, if I get to Spain, it’s going to cost me.

Who’s Hurting Tourism In Arizona?

Kidnappings in Phoenix? Dismembered corpses in the desert? E.J. Montini, a columnist for The Arizona Republic, argues that politicians looking for votes are exaggerating the dangers posed by illegal immigration, thus scaring visitors away.

‘Procedures’ Kept Passengers Aboard Sweltering Jet

The Department of Transportation has concluded that “all of the established and appropriate procedures were implemented” by airline and airport staff when 300 passengers were left to swelter in the dark for four hours aboard a Virgin Atlantic jet diverted to Bradley International Airport last month, as The Hartford Courant reports.

The obvious implication is that “all of the established and appropriate procedures” suck, and need to be changed. It’s simply not OK to treat human beings like that, no matter what the rulebook says.

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Royal Caribbean Charges For Late Disembarkation

Royal Caribbean has come up with a new fee: $35 to let you stay on board one of its cruise ships after the other passengers get punted on disembarkation day. You have to admire the ingenuity.

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