Meeting News - July 7, 2008 - (Page 17)

Edited by William Ng william.ng@nielsen.com Tranportation & Services Startlingly, some 30 U.S. cities have seen their scheduled flights disappear altogether. “It’s affecting us all,” said Pat Schaumann, St. Louis-based vice they will increase.” According to the Official Airline Guide, scheduled flights have dropped 3 percent over the past year, representing a loss of 22,900 flights. Chicago has lost about 9 percent of those flights, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, while closely at chartered flights. “Fuel is fuel, but charters have no security checks or baggage fees, and you can fly wherever you want to,” she said. “It’s going to be worth looking at.” Another approach for planners is to strictly enforce corporate contracts with favored carriers. “You want to make sure people are sticking to favored carriers and within booking windows and price targets,” said Laurie Sharp, manager of corporate and field market events for Brocade, a tech firm in San Jose, CA. Some small cities aren’t sitting still. Charleston, WV, this spring announced plans with a group of investors led by Skybus Airlines founder and South Charleston native John Weikle to start a new “ultralow-cost” airline to serve the city. —Christopher Hosford and William Ng Capacity Cuts Jeopardize Airlift New York—In the wake of rising fuel prices, airlines are relentlessly slashing service to both major and second-tier cities, threatening the ability of planners to get attendees where they need to go. In recent weeks, Continental Airlines announced the grounding of 67 Boeing planes and ending flights to 15 cities. American Airlines intends to retire up to 85 aircraft, cutting capacity by 12 percent, in the fourth quarter. United Airlines announced the removal of all its Boeing 737s and six 747 planes and an 8-percent capacity reduction for the fourth quarter. Over the past several months, airlift has been cut back in virtually every major meetings destination. “It’s affecting us all. I think we’ll see more telepresence conferences, like webinars.” —Pat Schaumann, vice president, Kuoni Events USA, on how airline capacity reductions will affect meetings president of Kuoni Events USA Inc. “As a result, I think we’ll see more telepresence conferences, like webinars, than ever before. They won’t replace face-to-face meetings, but Washington, DC (Dulles) has lost 12 percent, Boston 13 percent, and Pittsburgh a whopping 25 percent. One result, Schaumann projects, is that planners might look more Airline Bag Fees Could Add Up to Big Mess for Meetings New York—The recent fees imposed on checked baggage by revenuestarved airlines could push already strained meeting budgets—and planners’ tempers—past the brink. American Airlines was the pioneer with a $15 fee for checking in a first bag. That was matched shortly by US wide, based in Portland, OR. “And to charge per bag will just cause people to bring their things onto planes, which already are jammed.” The frustration was evident among planners and industry professionals on MeetingNews’ online community, MiForum. Upon Meetings-wise, independent planner Carole Rosenblat surmised: “You’ve booked a program. The majority of your attendees are flying American, and all those people are going to expense back their luggage fees. It’s a 2,000-person program with 70 percent of the attendees booked on American and one bag per person—that’s an extra $21,000. If you have golf on your program, that’s an extra $25 for each golf bag. Better add that into your budget.” Spirit Airlines is doing the major carriers five bucks better, charging $20 for the first checked bag. However, Southwest Airlines has said it will not go along with a first-bag fee. American’s bag fees will not be imposed on gold- and platinum-level AAdvantage frequent-flier members, which would seem to exempt many corporate business travelers. Also exempt will be full-fare coach passengers, business-class travelers, or pas- “I don’t like being nickel and dimed. [This] will cause people to bring their things onto planes, which already are jammed.” —Amy Spatrisano, principal, Meeting Strategies Worldwide Airways and United Airlines, both of which announced $15 first-bag fees. Several airlines had previously announced charging $25 for checking in a second piece of luggage. “I don’t like being nickel and dimed,” said Amy Spatrisano, principal with Meeting Strategies Worldwww.meetingnews.com American’s unprecedented move, one planner suggested boycotting American, while others pondered whether the airlines’ moves would mean more delays at service counters and troubles with an increase in overhead storage use for overpacked, carry-on luggage. sengers flying overseas. There was no word on whether the fees will be imposed on travelers flying under corporate or group annual contracts; presumably those would be negotiable items. However, attendees flying to multi-day conferences likely would check several bags, a scenario that could impact sales and incentive meeting attendees. “I expect people will be evaluating more closely why they’re meeting, and who should be part of the event,” said Spatrisano. “It’s a question they should always have been asking, but now it’s more important than ever to re-evaluate meetings.” Planner Mitchell Beer, president of Ottawa-based Conference Publishers Inc., used the situation as a rallying cry for his MiForum colleagues: “We can build transformative meetings, maximizing the educational and motivational impact of every unit of air travel we consume.”r —Christopher Hosford and William Ng July 7, 2008 MeetingNews 17 http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - July 7, 2008

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