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E L L I O T T' S TRAVEL NOTES
Travel news, opinion and analysis

April 14, 2004

Car Rental Companies May Pay Fines
Rental car companies could be stuck paying the bill for customers who illegally park and don't pay if Houston City Council passes an ordinance it is considering today. In the past 12 years, Houston rental car companies have racked up $1.2 million in parking tickets that customers either forgot or refused to pay. For the city, collecting on these tickets has been all but impossible because there's no way to know who's actually driving a rental car illegally parked in a handicap space or no parking zone. License plate numbers, however, do lead back to rental car companies and now the city -- scrambling for revenue to augment its anemic budget -- expects them to pay. Rental car companies say the proposed ordinance is unfair, putting the tab for tickets on the least guilty party. Houston Chronicle | Posted 9:10 a.m.
-- NYT: Car rental companies try harder to sell

• It's a little-known fact that you can turn the tables on fee-grabbing car-rental companies by "socking" them with your parking ticket. Ethical? Hardly, but in the minds of some fleeced travelers, it's a small equalizer. Send us your comments.

Northwest: We Must Match Low Fares
A top Northwest Airlines executive contends that low-fare carriers have become the dominant players in setting ticket prices in many domestic markets, while at the same time eroding the pricing power of major airlines. "For Northwest to remain a viable, long-term competitor in the airline business, we have to match the prices that our low-cost competitors are offering," said Tim Griffin, Northwest executive vice president of marketing and distribution. Griffin made the comments in the April edition of the Northwest employee newsletter that was obtained by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune. While airline executives rarely talk openly about pricing policy, the increasing market power of low-fare carriers has been part of Northwest's campaign to win pay, benefit and work-rule concessions from its labor unions. Macomb Daily | Posted 9:20 a.m.
-- AP: Class-action denied in monopoly pricing suit

US Airways Faces More Turbulence
US Airways Group's board of directors plans to meet Monday to weigh CEO David Siegel's plan to restructure the troubled airline, union leaders said Tuesday. Management must submit that plan to the board before US Airways can try to negotiate concessions from workers unions. Siegel says US Airways needs about $1.5 billion in cost cuts to turn around the airline and must be engaged in contract talks by the end of April. But those restructuring plans face tougher odds after two developments last Friday: Pilots union leaders replaced the chairman and vice chairman of its bargaining team with tougher negotiators. And Moody's Investors Service cut to a "junk" rating $3.2 billion worth of US Airways' jet-financing bonds. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | Posted 9:30 a.m.

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• And finally ... we note, somewhat belatedly, that one of our own has moved on. Terry Trippler has, in his own words, "split" with Cheapseats.com, and is now offering "public relations for the travel industry," according to his Web site. Trippler is the best in the business when it comes to making sense of airfares, and I'm curious about his next act. Plus ... don't miss my NPR story about monkeys at the Fort Lauderdale airport. Posted 9:45 a.m. | Send us your comments.

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