More ID, bag checks on Europe’s trains after foiled attack
After the thwarted terrorist attack on a French train, the European Union (EU) is struggling to find the right balance between security and the free movement of passengers across EU borders. However, every solution only punishes honest, law-abiding travelers and makes their life more difficult. If this terrorist act causes the authorities to put into place names on tickets and non-transferability of tickets, consumers will lose.
The group meeting Saturday pushed for train tickets printed with passengers’ names on them, which is currently allowed but not required. In a statement, they floated the possibility of letting train police consult intel databases and better Europe-wide use of criminal record databases.
Such measures, if implemented, would require close monitoring to ensure that they do not constitute border controls, which are illegal under the rule book governing the passport-free area known as the Schengen zone. They could also raise privacy concerns, which have held up Europe-wide legislation on aviation passenger name records.
Upselling is killing the airline industry one bad economy seat at a time
This article argues that by making flying in coach punitive in an effort to boost profits, the airlines are harming themselves. The idea of offering strategies to sell away the pain will have negative consequences and the airlines which ultimately will depend on service will end up losing customers to others who provide just that.
Changing cabin configurations and updating cabin product cannot happen fast enough to deal with sudden shifts in the passenger mix, and that has always been the challenge for airlines. Once resources are committed to a cabin lay-out, be they full or empty, those cabins fly. The average life of a cabin configuration is ten years. Planning for new interiors programs can require up to five years lead-time.
Mann [Principal at R.W. Mann & Company] believes that traditional airlines may already have done irreversible damage to brand positioning by competing down on fares, increasing cabin density, and matching a ULCC unbundled product sales strategy.
“The die is cast and it’s gone,” he says. “The ultra-low-cost model isn’t going away. The low cost carriers are the ones to watch. They would see the turn in the market sooner than anyone, and it’s clear the market has turned.”
Los Angeles council votes to permit Uber, Lyft at LAX
Uber and Lyft, ride-sharing operations, will be able to pick up and drop off passengers at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The City Council voted to permit airport operations for the ride-sharing companies. LAX is the second-busiest airport in the US.
In a 9-6 vote Tuesday, the council agreed to let such services operate alongside taxis at LAX. Currently, the companies can drop off passengers but not pick them up.
The council vote also calls on state regulators to come up with a protocol for fingerprinting and otherwise checking the backgrounds of drivers, with the goal of uniform standards for taxis and the ride-sharing companies.
“Angelenos and visitors to our city are using services like Uber and Lyft to get to and from the airport in a manner that is unregulated, unmonitored, and inconvenient,” Councilman Bob Blumenfield, who supported the resolution, said in an e-mailed statement. “Our challenge has been to meet the demands of a changing marketplace to ensure safety, transparency, and accessibility.”
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.