Business Travel News - March 3, 2008 - (Page 4)

NEWS BA,Virgin Settle In Fuel Surcharge Suit have to approve the mechanism for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic filing claims. The firm, however, set in the past few weeks agreed to a up a Web site (www.airpassengerclass action settlement for passen- refund.com) through which passengers in the United States and Unit- gers and businesses can sign up to ed Kingdom who paid fuel sur- be made aware of the next steps and charges between Aug. 11, 2004, and the court-approved methods for filMarch 23, 2006. ing. A spokesperson for the firm said The settlement could mean a 13,730 passengers and 162 businesswindfall for corporations that con- es already had visited the site. ducted business on those airlines “The claims process for businessfrom either side of the Atlantic, es is still being worked out,” Tompthough claiming procedures for busi- kins said, noting that the firm would nesses, which could differ from indi- explore setting up a data transfer vidual passengers, still were being process for corporations to pass along information on segments flown. Tompkins said minimal data requirements likely would include passenger name, date of travel and origin and destination information or frequent flyer number. “Whatever entity paid for the travel is entitled to the refund,” Tompkins said. “Some businesses could JOHN CALDWELL be entitled to a significant amount, Caldwell Associates president especially if they traveled a lot at the latter part of the claims period, when the surcharges were quite refined at press time. Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, high. You’re talking about £10 per the law firm that led the suit, said segment per traveler. If you have passengers who flew during that one thousand travelers, you could time “overpaid for their airline tick- be entitled to a couple hundred ets because the airlines illegally thousand pounds.” The firm said reagreed to increase the amount of fund amounts “depend on the the fuel surcharge they added to the amount of the surcharge paid,” but will be up to “£10 [about US$20] for ticket price.” each flight segment.” The firm estimated 8 million U.S. and U.K. Visit the BTN Archive British Airways last see btnonline.com/archive customers are entitled August was hit with to cash settlements. Through the fines on both sides of the Atlantic, settlement agreement, British Air- as the U.K. Office of Fair Trading ways and Virgin are making avail- and U.S. Department of Justice fined able $59 million for U.S. passengers the carrier more than $540 million and £73.5 million for U.K. passen- after it admitted to “collusion over gers who were subject to fuel sur- the price of long-haul passenger fuel charges during the timeframe. A surcharges” with rival Virgin Atlantic partner for the law firm in a state- between August 2004 and January ment claimed, “This is the first time 2006. OFT and DOJ granted Virgin non-U.S. citizens have been reward- immunity from fines since the carried on an equal footing to U.S. citi- er was first to give “full details” in zens in a case before the U.S. courts, relation to the “cartel conduct.” DOJ, making this a legal precedent and a however, said the carrier is “obligatsignificant milestone in both U.S. ed to pay restitution to U.S. victims (BTNonline, Aug. 13, 2007).” and U.K. legal history.” At least two dozen of the largest At press time, Charles Tompkins, a lawyer for Cohen, Milstein, Haus- corporate travel spenders in the Continued on page 8 feld & Toll, said the court would BY JAY BOEHMER CONTINENTAL SEC FILING MAKES AIR MERGER STATEMENT Continental Airlines in a Feb. 21 Securities and Exchange Commission filing acknowledged the industry’s ongoing consolidation efforts and asserted, “Our preference is to remain independent.”The carrier conceded it may not have that option should the competitive environment take such a dramatic shift, causing Continental “to respond by attempting to engage in a separate transaction.” The carrier in the filing also noted Northwest Airlines’ “golden share,” through which Northwest could block certain mergers involving Continental. However, Continental said that if Northwest enters into a transaction, Continental could “redeem” that preferred stock, “eliminating Northwest’s right to prevent us from engaging in a business combination.” Continental said it has had “discussions with third parties, including other airlines, regarding strategic alternatives.” INSIDE TRACK BANKS PARTNER TO COMBINE CORPORATE CARD SERVICES Five worldwide banks have formed an alliance to provide payment tools for multinational companies, giving them local currency billing, local language customer service and local expertise for legal and regulatory factors. The partnering issuer banks, called the Zenix Card Alliance, cover 25 countries including France and much of Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and the Baltic countries, India, several countries in Southeast Asia, and the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany and Austria. The alliance also will give users access to Web tools for data management and consolidation. “It’s a lot easier said than done for businesses to get these monies back.” REARDEN PROVIDING GREEN TRAVEL OFFERINGS Rearden Commerce expected to launch in late February green enhancements to its online booking platform, including access to hybrid ground transportation booking and Web and audio conferencing, and a carbon calculator that integrates with the conferencing application to measure emissions saved by not traveling. Rearden offers negotiated discounts for conference reservations made on WebEx and PremiereGlobal. Rearden has prenegotiated discounts with hybrid car service providers in Atlanta, Boston, New York and San Francisco. CWT ENHANCING TECH INITIATIVES Carlson Wagonlit Travel in February unveiled a new three-year growth strategy, new traveler Internet checkin and alert capabilities and plans for increased reporting and compliance enhancements to its travel manager portal, including credit card and agency data integration. CWT this year will improve CWT Program Management Center reporting capabilities by integrating more data, including matching credit card with agency data, integrating more pre-ticket data to measure compliance, and closing the gap between booked and actual data. USFS REVAMPS SALES FORCE TO BETTER HANDLE RFPS Travel buyers who use extended stay Hawthorn Suites and economy Microtel Inns & Suites brands in their hotel programs will encounter a new sales structure when they submit requests for proposals later this year. Parent company U.S. Franchise Systems in February announced it had moved its sales department in-house, dividing it between business travel sales and group and tour sales. On the business travel side, four regional directors and managers focus on securing business from such specific segments as airline crews and restaurants. The team also assigns a national account team member to each Microtel and Hawthorn Suites property to help with the RFP process. 4 Monday, March 3, 2008 www.BTNonline.com Business Travel News http://www.airpassengerrefund.com http://www.airpassengerrefund.com http://btnonline.com/archive http://www.BTNonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Business Travel News - March 3, 2008

Business Travel News - March 3, 2008
Industry Masters Eye Travel 2.0
BA, Virgin To Pay For Surcharge Collusion
Inside Track: Continental Gives SEC M&A Outlook
Profiles In Travel Management: Powering Savings
Buyers Embrace Midprice Hotels
BTN Research: Deploying Midprice Strategies
Aviation: WestJet’s Bureau Woos Corp. Canada
Hotels Foresee Slower Revenue Growth
Lodging: Hotel Revenue Up, but Growth to Slow
Meetings Today: Quantifying Attendee Feedback
Corporate Travel World: Blakey to Keynote
BCD, HRG Expand Super-PNR Tests
Travel Technology: Super-PNRs Further Evolve
Executive Dashboard: Saturday-Stays Reborn
Washington Wire: Amtrak Tightens Security

Business Travel News - March 3, 2008