Wall Street Journal: What to expect from rising jet fuel prices

Here’s an arresting fact: The increase in jet fuel costs from a year ago that airlines are currently dealing with totals around $25 billion in additional costs for carriers, which is about five times more than the airline industry has ever earned in a single year (1999 was a record year for the industry, with profits topping out at about $5 billion).

That comes via the Wall Street Journal, whose Middle Seat column yesterday puts some good perspective on just how much the airline industry is hurting (as Grant posted yesterday, American is to begin charging money for your first checked bag in June). Airlines are faced with staggering expenses even as they know that countering them would mean having to make more money than they ever have before.

What can they do? Scott Mccartney, the WSJ‘s Middle Seat columnists, says to expect airlines to begin severely cutting capacity, eliminating money-losing routes, which in turn will increase ticket prices. “The price of flying has to go up if airlines are to survive,” he says. Also, expect some carriers to head to bankruptcy court beginning next year, which isn’t such a bad thing, Mccartney says. With fuel prices hitting $130 a barrel and airlines faced with major shortfalls, bankruptcies would be healthy for the industry, as the weakest carriers bow out and the market consolidates.

Expat married life rocks (the boat)

Anyone who has ever decided to move abroad knows that expat life brings its challenges (I am lonely. I hate the food. I don’t understand anything.) and advantages (I just met the hottest guy/chick.) For married people who decide to move abroad, it brings a whole different set of issues as well.

In a Wall Street Journal’s column titled “The marital strain of life abroad,” Alan Paul shares his experience moving to China with his wife. He says that different schedules, extensive travel, lack of friends and pre-existent marital problem are not unusual reasons for expat marriages to fall apart.

“Furthermore,” he writes. “Some people move abroad and go a bit haywire, in light of the easy availability of prostitutes, the ability of Western men to draw young, attractive girlfriends and, some would say, a culture more open to infidelity. The same impulses and sense of freedom and adventure that lead some of us to form bands or buy motorcycles, send others reeling into darker corners.”

I have seen this happen “more than once” in Prague.

Leap-year-themed travel discounts

This year, we get an extra day of life to enjoy. It wouldn’t be the WSJ online, if they didn’t suggest how to spend February 29th wisely and cost-efficiently.

Here are some travel leap-year themed bargains from the WSJ:

  • 29 Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant properties are offering discounts and packages. At seven Kimpton hotels in Washington, D.C., for example, guests who book two nights during the last weekend of February (Feb. 28-March 1) get Feb. 29 free.
  • In Portland, Oregon, guests born on Feb. 29 can get a $29 room rate on Feb. 29, and all other guests can get 29% off at Hotel Monaco and Hotel Vintage Plaza.
  • The Westin Aruba Resort has a “Leap Into Spring” package, available Feb. 29 to June 29, which includes 29% off each night booked. At the Las Palomas Beach & Golf Resort, Puerto Penasco, Mexico, guests booking two or three consecutive nights this month can get a third or fourth night free through Feb. 29.

Don’t take this as a hint to have 29 drinks next Friday. (Only if you were born February 29th.)

What strange things have been found on planes?


Click the image to read the bizarre story…

Sky Is the Limit: Why Even Sunny Days Can Ground Airplanes

I don’t typically read the Wall Street Journal (call me a leftist liberal), but its Fridays edition cover page caught my eye: “Why Even Sunny Days Can Ground Airplanes,” the title says. That is a question that’s been on my mind lately as I sit on the tarmac for hours trying to figure out what the problem is (see my recent complaints about a clear-weather cancellation I had on Delta). I have long suspected that the way the airline industry works is about as straightforward and transparent as the healthcare administration in the U.S. (me: leftist liberal).

Back to the story though. On Thursday, President Bush met with Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters to discuss the reasons for air transportation problems: from old air-traffic technology, and the growing number of corporate and regional jets, to labor tensions among traffic controllers, and overscheduling by airlines. The one fundamental shortcoming seems to be obvious: There are too many planes in the air, especially on the East Coast, and the airspace is choked with traffic. Contrary to popular belief, the sky has a limit. Yet, airlines continue to schedule more flights, even while using fewer total aircraft and employees than in the 1990s boom, and they fill their schedules with smaller, regional jets to save on fuel. Plus, there has been a massive rise in small, private-jet travel (200+ passenger jets often wait in queue with 10-person private jets).


Psst! Want to save some money? Check out these great travel secrets.

Of course, the WSJ blamed government regulation for forcing planes to fly on fixed paths that date back to the time when airmail planes flew along cross-country roads they could see from the air. People want to travel fast and airlines want to make money. What do we do about the lack of sky? It’s not an easy fix to get our hands on. You can’t exactly invade countries to get more airspace. Or can you?