Combining MileagePlus and OnePass programs

Before You Begin:

Customers who have a OnePass and MileagePlus account can link their accounts in order to combine award miles. Through a separate process, customers can also combine their elite qualifying activity or have their elite status matched. Although both of these processes appear similar, both are necessary. The following information will be needed in order to process the combination:

Ensure that your OnePass and MileagePlus account information appear the same in each system
- Names and Addresses must be an exact match
OnePass and MileagePlus Account Numbers
- Eight digits for OnePass and 11 digits for MileagePlus
Be sure you know your OnePass PIN or password and your MileagePlus password

Steps 1: Link My Account

Select one of the two URLs: United or Continental
Select one of the two frequent flyer programs and enter your account number and then your password. Click continue.
You will be prompted to enter your other frequent flyer program information. Click continue.
You have successfully linked your accounts and can now transfer award miles anytime you´d like by going to United or Continental. You will be prompted to enter one set of login credentials. Please proceed to Step 2.

Step 2: Combine My Activity

This step will combine EQM/EQS for each program and may help achieve elite status. This also ensures status matching for existing elite customers.

Select one of the two URLs: United or Continental
Once you select one of the URLs above, you will see important information about registering your account.
Select Register now. You will see a new screen that takes you to Register my Accounts. Select one of the frequent flyer programs; enter your account number and then your password.
Enter your other frequent flyer program information. Click continue.
You have now successfully requested your elite qualifying activity to be combined, and if applicable, your elite status matched.

Troubleshooting:
If you are unable to link your account or receive an error message, this may be a result of data not matching in both accounts. (i.e. The name or address on your MileagePlus and OnePass accounts do not match). If that is the case, you can update your address online at www.united.com or www.continental.com. To update your name, or if your accounts match but you are still seeing this message, please call MileagePlus Customer Service at 800-421-4655 or OnePass Customer Service at 800-554-5522.

Filed Under: Frequent Flyer

Airlines Expect Economic Recovery

First Quarter Airfares Jump 8.4 Percent
First-quarter airfares rose to $356, an 8.4% increase since the same period a year ago, according to the Department of Transportation. They were up 4.7% from the first quarter of 2010.

Pool and beach at Hilton Resort Barbados

Air fares in the first quarter of 2011 increased 2.3% from the first quarter of 2001, compared to an overall increase in consumer prices of 26.8%during that period. Passenger airlines collected 71.3% of their total revenue from passenger fares during 2010. (Source: Department of Transportation).

Airlines Expect to See Some Economic Recovery
Airlines expect to see some economic recovery in the next 12 months, according to the International Air Transport Association’s latest quarterly Airline Business Confidence Survey.

Fuel, of course, remains a problem, but it’s somewhat offset by strong traffic demand. And, airlines are also more optimistic about the broader economic outlook. Many airlines reported improved traffic volumes during the second quarter of 2011.

Traffic in general was up, with air travel in May up 4% from the beginning of the year. Finally, Jet fuel prices are lower than they were $130 per barrel instead of $140, but still nearly 50% higher than the average level the same quarter a year before. (Sources: IATA).

May Number Improve for Both Economy and Premium Travel
The number of passengers in both premium and economy grew in the second quarter, an encouraging sign after a disappointing first quarter, according to the International Air Travel Association.

It says that premium travel typically grows in line with developed countries international trade, which has been growing at three to four percent. On the other hand, business confidence is also a good indicator for air travel and confidence has declined in the past several months. This suggests that the May data may be exaggerating the underlying growth of premium travel.

The picture is a mixed one across geographic regions. On the North Atlantic, premium traffic is up 12.4%, reflecting strengthening trade. Europe and the Asia markets have also grown, 13.2%. But another key premium market, the Pacific, remains weak with a growth of less than four percent, in part because of events affecting Japan. (Source: IATA press release)

U.S. Air Travel Reports Spending Increases in June, But At a Slower Pace

The Air Transport Association said air travel spending was up 7% in June 2011 compared to June 2010. It was the 18th consecutive month of revenue growth for U.S. carriers, although the overall rate of growth is slowing.

Challenges lie ahead, especially with the jet fuel expected to average 40% higher than the 2010 average. The ATA said the U.S. domestic revenue grew nearly six percent. Transatlantic revenue grew 5.6 percent, transpacific revenue increased 5.5% and Latin American/Caribbean revenue grew 22 percent. (Source: ATA press release).

Airlines On Time Performance Up Over Previous Month But Down from Last Year
Major carriers´ on time performance was better in May than April but down from May 2010, according to the Department of Transportation. Tarmac delays of three hours or more jumped to 16 in May 2011, up from one in May 2010 and four in April 2011. But 14 were on the same day when bad weather hit Chicago´s O´Hare Airport. (Source: DOT press release).

Filed Under: Airline News

Business Travel Hotel Rates & Occupancies Are Up

Hotel Revenue, Rates and Occupancies Are Up
The hotel industry´s recovery is continuing, according to Smith Travel Research, which studies the hotel industry. Occupancies increased .5% to 63.4%, average daily rates rose 3.5% to $101.44 and room revenue was up 8.1% to $64.28.

Bathroom St. Regis luxury hotel in Atlanta

St Regis luxury. Notice the TV in the mirror.

The growth in average daily rate remains sluggish. Among the top 25 markets, Detroit and Houston reported the largest occupancy increases for the quarter, 10.1 percent each. New York City reported the largest occupancy decrease, falling 1.1% to 85%, followed by Washington, D.C., with a 0.9-% decrease to 76.4%.

Two markets reported double-digit daily rates increases, San Francisco San Mateo, Calif. 13.6% and Oahu 11.3%. (Source: STR press release).

Occupancy Gains Continue to Outpace Room Rates Increases
PKF Hospitality Research is forecasting that demand for U.S. hotel rooms in 2011 will increase a solid 4.9%, while the average daily room rate paid by guests will rise a modest 2.4%.

The 4.9% rise in occupied rooms forecast for 2011 compares to the 7.6% increase in lodging demand for 2010 reported by Smith Travel Research (STR). Both growth rates are well above the STR long-term average annual demand growth rate of 1.5 percent. The increase in demand is surprising, given stagnant employment and continued weakness in housing markets, according to PKF-HR. (Source: PKF-HR press release).

Business Travel …
Smart and Liking it

Business travelers today are increasingly using technology to travel smarter and to adapt to life on the road, according to a new study by the Global Business Travel Foundation and Concur, which provides travel and expense management tools. Among some of the study´s major findings:

Most say there´s no substitute for being there in person 78% and an equal number enjoy traveling for work
Nearly half 46%, say staying in touch with family and friends and staying safe while traveling are the most important goals of their trip
At least two-thirds travel with laptops, wireless broadband, portable GPS and smartphones
Nearly half, 46% have to work with tight budgets
The average trip lasts four days and costs $1,837
Business travelers tend to be college educated 71%, 38 years old on average, and male 59%

The study identified five types of business travelers: the Veteran 33%, the Road Weary (25%), Wide-eyed and anxious 21%, Passionate High-Tech 14% and New Recruits 7%. (Source: GBTA press release)

Filed Under: Hotel & Car

July Travel News Airline traffic is up & Hotels doing better

Williamsburg-American Express

$FIRSTNAME$,

All of us here at Williamsburg wish you a very pleasant summer. It is a great time of year with the children out of school and many of our clients enjoying their mid summer family vacation.

After a very difficult first quarter with spikes in fuel costs, numerous cancellations due to bad weather, and a slow economy, things in the travel industry have improved significantly.

US Airline Traffic & Passenger Revenues Are Up
Once again, major U.S. airlines saw their passenger revenues increase, 14.4% in May, the 17th consecutive month they're seen an increase, according to the Air Traffic Association.

Because of North American airlines’ cautious capacity management, carriers continued to trim capacity in April and May and traffic was up over year.

Hotels Doing Better at Keeping Customers Happy
Starwood’s The Luxury Collection had the highest satisfaction score, and Ritz-Carlton was a close second.

InterContinental Hotels Group conducted a pilot test on mobile room key and is evaluating the results.

How it works: On the day you’re scheduled to arrive, the room number and the digital hotel room key is sent to your mobile phone.

Hotel room rates are rising as demand for business travel increases, according to the latest American Express Business Travel Monitor.

If you are planning fall meetings and corporate events, we are pleased to assist with items such as destination and hotel site selection, on-line registration, and group air travel programs.

The cruise industry, in particular, has great values for holding meetings at sea, with all meals, meeting space, and audio visual included in the cruise price.

It has been a record breaking year for us here at Williamsburg-American Express. We greatly appreciate your business, your partnership with us, and your friendship.

Terry W. Brennan
President
Williamsburg-American Express

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Filed Under: News Letters

Hotels News Keeping Customers Happy

Hotels

Pool of Sandos Playacar Beach Resort in Playa del Carmen

Hotels Doing Better at Keeping Customers Happy
Hotels are doing better at keeping you happy, according to the latest Market Metrix Hospitality Index covering the first quarter. Guest satisfaction across all segments is up a bit, 1.1 points, to a score of 84, with luxury and economy hotels showing the most improvement, up 2.5 to 88.5 and 1.6 to 80.5 respectively.

Starwood’s The Luxury Collection had the highest satisfaction score, 93, up 6.3 points. Ritz-Carlton was a close second, 92.9, up 2.6 points. Overall, guests said that they felt more comfortable, welcome and respected. (Source: Market Metrix press release).

Hotels Test Virtual Room Keys That Let You Bypass the Front Desk
If you’ve ever waited in a lengthy line while checking in for a big meeting or at a large hotel will love the idea of using your phone as a virtual key to your room, enabling you to bypass the front desk and the line and go straight to your room.

On the day you’re scheduled to arrive at the hotel, the room number and the digital hotel room key is sent securely to your mobile phone, according to VingCard Elsafe, which is working on this kind of technology.

InterContinental Hotels Group conducted a pilot test on what it calls “mobile room key” and is evaluating the results to see if the practice can be rolled out to other hotels. (Source IHG public relations department, VingCardElsafe press release).

Room Rates Rise Moderately
Hotel room rates are rising moderately as demand for business travel increases, according to the latest American Express Business Travel Monitor.

Average domestic hotel rates increased 3 percent to $150 in Q1 2011 over Q1 2010. Average international hotel rates increased 4 percent to $238 in Q1 2011 over Q1 2010. Cities showing the highest hotel rate increases in the first quarter of 2011 over 2010 were San Francisco, 16 percent; Seattle, 9 percent; Austin, 8 percent; Omaha, 8 percent and New York City, 8 percent. (Source: American Express press release).

Air Traveler Satisfaction

Airline passengers continue to say they’re discontented with the service they get, even as hotels, fast food joints and restaurants see customer satisfaction increase, according to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). One major culprit: baggage fees.

Dissatisfaction with airlines dropped 1.5 % to an ACSI score of 65–a very low score
Passengers cited poor service and fees for baggage and other services as major sources for their discontent
Passengers who had to pay for checked baggage were the least satisfied–their ACSI score was 58
Since more than half of airline passengers pay to check their bags, the negative impact of those fees is significant
Southwest Airlines, which does not charge to check bags, actually saw its ACSI rating rise to 81, scoring the highest, as it has for the past 18 years

Source: ACSI press release.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

US Airline Traffic & Passenger Revenues Are Up

Airline Traffic is Up Again
Air traffic was up 6.8 percent in May, according to the International Air Transport Association, although political unrest in the Middle East and the European currency crisis are having some impact.

North American carriers continued to trim capacity, by .4 % in April and .5 percent in May. North American traffic was up 4.5% and capacity was up 5.5% over last May. Because of North American airlines’ cautious capacity management, they had the highest load factors (81.8%) of all the regions.

European capacity was up 10.9% and its load factors were 77.7%. Asia Pacific growth was less than other regions, just 4.7%, because of the continuing impact of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. (Source: IATA).

US Airline Passenger Revenues Are Up for the 17th Month in a Row
Once again, major U.S. airlines saw their passenger revenues increase, 14.4% in May, the 17th consecutive month they're seen an increase, according to the Air Traffic Association. Much of that is due to an 11% increase in yields.

Trans-Atlantic revenue increased 13% from a year ago. Trans-Pacific revenue rose 12% as higher passenger yields offset a drop in the number of passengers following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Latin American/Caribbean revenue grew 26% as passenger yields rose 19%, the largest increase of any region.

The busy summer travel season and an improving economy could help airlines deal with high-energy costs. (Source: ATA press release).

Airline Transactions Dip, but Fares Increase
The number of airline transactions that is, tickets sold is decreasing slightly, but airfares are increasing, according to the Airlines Reporting Corp., which processes the vast majority of airline fares.

In May, transactions dipped .9% year over year and 1.66% year to date. But fares went up--4.49% year over year and 6.9% year to date, showing that airlines are for once managing to increase fares and improve their yields.

Meanwhile, the American Express Business Travel Monitor is reporting that domestic airfares for first quarter exceeded pre-recession levels for the first time, rising ten percent over the first quarter of last year.

Rising oil costs and an increase in business travel are two reasons for the increase. The average first quarter domestic airfare is now $247. International fares, however, remain lower than their first quarter average, but could surpass that later this year, according to the Business Travel Monitor. (Source: ARC, American Express press release).

Low-Cost Carriers Continue to Increase Their Market Share
Low cost carriers now operate more than one flight in five in the world, according to OAG FACTS (Frequency and Capacity Trend Statistics).

OAG said that global seat capacity in June was up 5% over last year and frequency was up 3%. But low-cost carrier’s capacity and frequency were up even more, to 9%. Europe has the highest percentage of LCCs, with 28.2% of all flights operated by LCCs. (Source: OAG press release)

Airlines Move Forward on Developing Bio Fuel
Airlines keep looking for alternatives to oil, whose price fluctuations plague the industry. Seven major U.S. carriers have signed letters of intent with Solena Fuels for a future supply of jet fuel that would be derived exclusively from biomass to be produced in California.

Solena’s GreenSky California biomass-to-liquids (BTL) facility will turn post-recycled urban and agricultural wastes into 16 million gallons of neat jet fuel per year by 2015. The airlines are all members of the Air Transport Association. (Source: ATA press release).

Filed Under: Airline News

Secure Flight form

This information is now required by Department Of Homeland Security.

If you’re using Rearden Commerce or TripManager please go to your online profile and add the required information as soon as possible.

Please update your information

Important: We must have your name exactly as it appears on your Government issued I. D. that you use at Airport security.

Filed Under: Client Profile

Airline fees and Tarmac delays

Cayman Airways

Airlines are Making More with Ancillary Fees All those fees for services and amenities that were included in your airline ticket including baggage (although Southwest Airlines lets you check two bags free and your first checked bag fee is free with JetBlue Airways), seat assignments, meals, in-flight entertainment and etc. are adding up. The number of airlines charging those bag fees increased from 23 to 47 last year, according to an annual study by Amadeus, a major global distribution system. Fee revenues were up 38 percent to $21.46 billion. And for a few airlines, ancillary fee revenue now generates nearly 30% of their revenue. Topping that list: vacation carrier Allegiant Air, 29.2%; Spirit Airlines, 22.1%. (Source: Amadeus press release). What Bothers Air Travelers Most - Fees and Discomfort All those fees and lack of comfort are sore points with air travel consumers and it’s why some people are traveling less, according to a Consumer Reports survey. Eight of ten major airlines got low grades on seat comfort and several others got low marks for cabin crew service, cleanliness and in flight entertainment. Two exceptions: Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways. Southwest got top marks for check in and cabin crew; JetBlue scored tops on seating comfort. US Airways scored lowest overall and has the worst marks for cabin crew service. Flyers were also unhappy about service fees: 40% of those who say they’re flying less blame fees. The fewer fees airlines charged, the happier passengers are and, interestingly enough, both Southwest and JetBlue are stable on bag fees. (Source: Consumer Reports press release). More People Will Take to the Skies This Summer The Air Transport Association of America is projecting that about 1.5% more people will fly this summer than did last year, to the tune of 2.24 million people in the air every day. The ATA predicts that 206 million passengers will fly between June and August 2011. That is well below the pre-recessionary high of 217 million in the summer of 2007. (Source: ATA press release). Airfares Rose in Fourth Quarter 2010 Average domestic airfares rose to $337 in the fourth quarter of 2010, up 5.2 percent from the average fare of $320 in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Newark-Liberty, NJ, had the highest average fare, $461, while Atlantic City, NJ, had the lowest, $156. Despite that increase, airlines are correct in saying that, long-term, fares are staying low. The DOT calculates that in 1995 dollars, the average airfare in the fourth quarter of 2010 was $236, compared to $288 in 1995 and $300 in 2000. Adjusting for inflation in 1995 dollars, fares in 2010 averaged $235, up 6.7 percent from 2009 but down 21.6 percent from the inflation-adjusted high of $300 in 2000. (Source: DOT press release). Tarmac Delays Keep Decreasing Here is some good news for flyers. March was the fourth month out of the last six that the nation’s airlines reported no tarmac delays of more than three hours, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report just released by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). A year ago, in March 2010, the carriers reported 25 tarmac delays longer than three hours. Carriers also reported a decrease in the rate of canceled flights in March compared to a year earlier. (Source: DOT press release).

Filed Under: Airline News Tagged With: northwest

Hotel Occupancies and Rates Expecting to Go Up

Hotel Occupancies, Rates Expecting to Go Up
Increasing demand, lagging new construction and an economic recovery that should pick up for the second half of the year bodes well for hotels and means travelers will face slightly fuller hotels and modest price increases, according to consulting company PwC.

According to Macroeconomic Advisors, the economic growth that slowed somewhat for the first part of year should gain traction in the second half of the year. That, combined with still-subdued hotel development, means U.S. hotel occupancy should average 59.8% this year; rates should increase 3.7% this year and 5.5% in 2012. (Source: PwC press release).

Some Markets See Major Occupancy Increases
Among the top 25 hotel markets in the U.S., five are seeing year-over-year hotel occupancy increases in the double digits. Houston is up 14.8 % to 65.1%; Nashville is up 11.2% to 65.4%; Norfolk – Virginia Beach is up 10.8%to 59.2%; Orlando is up 10.8% to 76.4% and Minneapolis-St. Paul is up 10% to 64.1%, according to the hotel consulting company STR. (Source: STR press release).

Easter, World Events Cause Temporary Lull for Business Travel
The double-digit growth that business travel had seen earlier this year slowed in April, due primarily to the Easter holiday and world events. These included the earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand and simmering tensions in North Africa and the Middle East.

But Pegasus Solutions, the world’s biggest processor of hotel transactions, calls this just a temporary slowdown. “The fundamentals driving corporate travel recovery – overall economies, corporate earnings, business trips and meetings-conference travel are improving and increasing, while pent-up consumer demand and slow room supply growth portend a better summer travel season than last year´s,” said Mike Kistner, CEO of Pegasus. (Source: Pegasus press release).

Smartphones and handheld devices

Smartphones and similar handhelds have become so integral to their users’ lives that more than 60 percent of mobile workers sleep with their smartphone, according to a the quarterly Mobile Workforce Report produced by iPass, which provides enterprise mobility services. Ninety-one percent of mobile workers check their smartphones even during off hours, 30 percent check them every six to 12 minutes, even when they’re technically off duty. All of this takes its toll.

The average mobile worker works 240 hours a year longer than the general population
Thirty-eight percent of mobile workers wake up at night to check their smartphone
Thirty-five percent check email in the morning before getting dressed or eating breakfast.
Twenty-nine percent report that their mobile technology use causes friction with their spouse or partner.

(Source: iPass press release).