This weekend we take a quick look at the bidding war for Washington DC slots, new taxes (well, old taxes reborn) on Canadians and padding expense reports.
JetBlue wins auction for DCA and LGA slots, Porter Air comes in second, Southwest claims price paid is “ridiculous”
JetBlue, in a surprise result (at least to me), ended up winning the auction for take-off and landing slots at LGA and DCA that resulted from the USAir/Delta slot swap deal.
JetBlue’s bid was significantly more than the Southwest bid. The Southwest CEO said the price JetBlue paid was “absolute madness.”
In his weekly hotline to employees, Southwest chairman and CEO Gary Kelly defended Southwest’s bid for the slots, and shook his head (verbally) at the winning bid.
“We bid a whole bunch of money. To put it in perspective, for eight daily departures out of Washington National we bid the equivalent of one airplane of over 30 million bucks. As you can imagine when we’re not hitting our profit targets, that absolutely stretches the limit of what I was comfortable with,” Kelly told employees.
“The winning bid, believe it or not, was over $40 million. That is absolute madness. It is a guaranteed money-loser,” he said.
Old taxes come back for Canadians, Schumer moves to repeal them
It seems an old tax on Canadians visiting the U.S. found its way into the Columbia Free Trade bill. The tax means Canadians visiting the U.S. have to pay $5.50 every time they enter the U.S. Of course there are disincentives for meeting planners and travelers, but the fee is basically a pain for those living right along the border who used to move back a forth freely.
Schumer said it’s important to stop such fees because of their potential economic impact. Nearly 3 million people traveled from Canada to New York State in 2009, spending $920 million in the state, federal figures show.
The senator introduced his legislation to repeal the fees a week after Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh, introduced a similar measure in the House.
The fees have caused particular concern in the Thousand Islands region that Owens represents, where boaters cross the St. Lawrence River. “The problem with imposing these petty fees on Canadians visiting the U. S. by any means is that they create annoyance and bad will across the border,” said Garry Douglas, North Country Chamber of Commerce president.
Many business travelers are padding expense reports because they feel they deserve it
Many companies are working overtime to stop travelers from gaming the system and submitting false expense reports, or from treating themselves to luxury treats on the company’s credit card. Some employees end up getting fired, but most it seems get away with it for the most part.
Besides benefiting from the inflated reimbursement check that comes in, many business travelers are padding their expense account charges because they feel like they deserve it, Bachman said.
“Employees are thinking, ‘They make me travel on a Saturday night, they can afford to buy me a steak for dinner,’ ” he said.
If they have to travel on their own time for the company, employees are looking at quality over saving money and pampering themselves rather than succumbing to the dirges of business travel.
“People are giving themselves a treat by putting in a little bit more than they should have and getting a little more back than they should,” said John Geron, a public accountant who audited expense accounts for 44 years.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
