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

February 13, 2004

Alaska Simplifies Fares, Lowers Prices
Say good-bye to last-minute $1,600 coast-to-coast fares on Alaska Airlines. No more changing plans to stay overnight on Saturday. The airline announced a sweeping restructuring and simplification of its fares Thursday that will cut ticket prices in half. Alaska's new fare structure, which will be applied to nearly all of its routes both coast-to-coast and throughout the West, will greatly reduce walkup ticket prices, eliminate most weekend stay requirements and reduce the average number of fares on most routes from 15 to six, the airline said. The moves are designed to attract business travelers back to the skies. Tribune | Posted 6 a.m.
-- Brancatelli: More bricks "fall" out of fare wall
-- Journal: Southwest begins selling Philly tickets

• It's about time. We've been saying it for years: fares are too complicated and need to be reformed. Even "sclerotic" US Airways (Joe's words, not mine) is slowly moving to a Southwest fare structure, insiders tell me. Send us your comments.

Study: More Children Riding Up Front
Adults regularly put millions of young children at risk by letting them ride in the front seats of vehicles or not using car seats properly, according to two new safety studies. A study released this week by the National Safety Council found that 88 percent of those who regularly drive children had heard safety warnings about front seats, where air bags can kill or injure children. Still, 6 percent of all children age 0-12 and 7 percent of newborns were seated up front. Blacks and Hispanics were more likely to place children in the front seat, the study said. AP | Posted 6:15 a.m.
-- Study: Unbelted passengers become "bullets"

BTS: More Passengers, Fewer Planes
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported that U.S. airlines carried 49.5 million domestic passengers last October, 2.4 percent more than a year earlier. These passengers were carried on 852,544 flights, down 3.8 percent from the flights operated in October 2002. Load factor, a measure of how many seats are sold and used, was up 3.6 percentage points. Among airlines, Delta Air Lines carried 6.7 million domestic passengers in October, the most of any airline. BTS | Posted 6:20 a.m.

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• And finally ... you know this is going to turn into a Wall Street Journal story. The hot topic on one of the discussion forums is about the best champagne served in first class. Don't these people have anything better to discuss? Posted 6:30 a.m. | Send us your comments.

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