By Ed Perkins

Overall, I think most of you would like to forget about 2009 -- even if you didn't suffer much yourself, millions of other Americans lost jobs, incomes, and investment values, and a few lost family or friends in overseas conflicts. Those of you who could afford to travel, however, found some good deals, across the spectrum of travel activities. As usual, some companies and governments made life easier for travelers; others made things worse. Here's my 2009 list.

Airlines.

The year's two main good guys were Southwest and JetBlue:

-- Southwest's "bags fly free" policy is in stark contrast to the other lines' fee-happy approach, and as far as I can tell, you like it -- apparently enough that Southwest increased its total share of the U.S. domestic air travel market a percentage point or so. Clearly, the policy has been and remains an obvious win-win for both the airline and its customers.

-- JetBlue's front-of-the-plane seating is by far the most consumer-friendly approach to offering more legroom as an option. At 38-inch pitch, legroom is actually better than first class on most domestic lines; JetBlue's upgrade prices are reasonable, and you can confirm an extra-roomy seat at the time of booking, without waiting out some flyer-status lottery.

Unfortunately, most airlines made little or no improvements for consumers, and a few went the wrong direction:

-- Allegiant -- an airline I otherwise admire -- is the year's clear "worst" in the fee department.

The only way you can avoid paying a "convenience" booking fee of at least $14 per person is to schlep out to your local airport and line up at the counter during the few hours a week the counter is staffed. As far as I'm concerned, this requirement violates the Department of Transportation's rules on honest fare advertising, but the DOT -- in a show of extreme cowardice -- dismissed attorney Don Pevsner's complaint.

-- Although a handful of big international lines now offer "premium economy" cabins, the pricing is generally too high to offer ordinary travelers some affordable relief from the cattle-car overcrowding of typical economy class.

Air France's new premium product says it all: 40 percent more room for 100 percent more money.

Hotels.

The "opaque" booking sites, Hotwire and Priceline, continue to offer you the lowest overall hotel prices. For many years, I've contended, "The best $100 a night hotel room you can find is half price for a $200 a night room," and those opaque sites make those deals -- or something close -- happen fairly regularly.

On the downside, the practice of adding "resort," "housekeeping" and other mandatory fees to advertised room rates is spreading. Clearly, any mandatory fee should be incorporated as part of the base rate, not charged separately, but some hotels can't resist the urge to feature phony rates to look better in price comparisons. Sadly, the big booking sites haven't picked up on this deception -- a bit strange, because they're perfectly able to show rental car rates that include all the extras.

Governments.

The U.S. government deserves some praise for accelerating the move toward a new generation of air traffic control that will help reduce congestion, reduce delays, save time, and save fuel. Better late than never. Similarly, our government will likely -- and finally -- put some real effort into high-speed rail development. And at a local level, congratulations to Seattle for finishing its airport-to-city-center light rail system.

There's no contest for the worst governmental action: The British government's steadily increasing air passenger "duty" now adds as much as $200 to the price of a ticket for a flight from the United Kingdom to the United States. Many of the politicians behind this tax openly admit that their intent is to get people to fly less. To me, singling out air travel for such a draconian attempt to cut emissions completely ignores the fact that, of all the uses of combustible fuels, air travel has the fewest practical alternatives. If you want to cut emissions, go after power generation and automobiles big time, but let consumers continue to fly at reasonable cost.

 

© Ed Perkins

Travel | The Good and Bad in Travel for 2009