While my illogical habits still hold, business travelers at JFK who weren’t already making an extra effort to fit it all in carry-on were probably pretty disappointed as they were forced to choose between making their flight and staying with their bags.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Handlers are currently sorting baggage manually, and the airline is telling its departing passengers that they can choose whether to go on the flight or not, Wagner wrote in an email to the Terminal. “Once we have the issue resolved, we’ll get the bags that are left behind on their way to the customer’s destination and delivered to them. Until then, we appreciate our customers’ patience as we work through this issue,” Wagner said.

It’s interesting to think about how many of the things we do are enhanced by computers, and how much of a difference that really makes. Without computer assistance, we can’t load planes fast enough for them to fly on schedule.

If you’re United, you go after the ever-growing luxury market. Successfully.

According to the Wall Street Journal, United has taken some of its more popular routes and made the right much more comfortable in exchange for a more expensive ticket:

Take a Boeing 757, remove 40% of the seats and give customers lots more room, better food and flat beds. Does that sound like a typical recipe at a U.S. airline these days?

Hardly, but that’s exactly what UAL Corp.’s United Airlines did with two of its busiest, most-important routes, and last year they were the best routes financially for the airline in the country.

Not a bad strategy. I can’t say I’ve never wished for more legroom on a flight.

The New York Times ran a story yesterday about how rising travel costs are forcing more businesses to adopt virtual meetings in place of good old fashioned I-flew-halfway-across-the-world meetings.

As just one example:

Accenture figures its consultants used virtual meetings to avoid 240 international trips and 120 domestic flights in May alone, for an annual saving of millions of dollars and countless hours of wearying travel for its workers.

So virtual meetings are definitely cheaper, not to mention if you’ve got a really good setup it can make you feel like you’re in Minority Report. Do you think that virtual meetings are going to start supplanting the travel in your schedule anytime soon?

“I vould liek to go to ze houtel pleez.”

As many seasoned travelers have no doubt discovered, this rarely works. Thankfully, the Wall Street Journal may have found one answer to the problem:

But interpretation companies are hoping you use another tool: your cellphone. These services aim to give you access to a 24-hour bilingual interpreter; you call the service on your cellphone, explain your dilemma in English, then hand over the phone to whomever you need to speak with — cab driver, waiter, police officer, doctor, or the object of your affection in a bar.

The WSJ tested several of the services to see how well they performed, and the consensus seems to be that they’re work as advertised. There is sometimes a bit of a lag time before you actually get on line with an interpreter, so it’s best to call before you need one if you can plan that far ahead.

It can also get a bit pricey. One dinner order cost about $30 to place, although I think it was purposefully complex.

The bottom line seems to be: it’s a worthwhile service for business.

“No, this is no good. You can’t take this.”

“Why not?”

“It’s serrated.” He is talking about the little row of teeth along the edge. Truth be told, the knife in question, which I’ve had for years, is actually smaller and less sharp than the knives currently handed out by my airline to its first- and business-class customers. You’d be hard-pressed to cut a slice of toast with it.

“Oh, come on. It is not.”

“What do you call these?” He runs his finger along the minuscule serrations.

“Those … but … they … it …”

“No serrated knives. You can’t take this.”

“But sir, how can it not be allowed when it’s the same knife they give you on the plane!”

“Those are the rules.”

But beyond the amusing front…in fact, largely on the second page of the article, Patrick Smith dives into an issue that does fall under the radar more often than it should:

Propped up by a culture of fear, TSA has become a bureaucracy with too much power and little accountability. It almost makes you wonder if the Department of Homeland Security made a conscious decision to present bureaucratic incompetence and arrogance as the public face of TSA, hoping that people would then raise enough of a fuss that it could be turned over to the likes of Halliburton. (Funny, how despite this administration’s eagerness to outsource anything and everything, it’s kept its governmental talons wrapped snugly around TSA.)

While I might not put it in such apocalyptic terms, I think we should all be wary of what powers we cede to the government in the name of “safety.”

It turns out there are quite a few uses. Yesterday’s New York Times had an article about major travel companies rushing to build the social network for business travelers:

Word of mouse is the latest trend in online travel planning, and a variety of corporate travel companies are setting up networking sites in hopes of becoming the Facebook of corporate travel.

Both Expedia and American Express Business Travel are announcing their new offerings this month. The Internet travel site Orbitz had one of the first networking sites, but it, too, is trying to increase participation by sending out e-mail messages to members to promote its Traveler Update.

The idea is to crowdsource the tips and locations tied in with business travel to help “road warriors” squeeze every bit of efficiency out of each destination.

Frankly, it’s not a bad idea. Social networks have proven to be a great, inexpensive way to augment many kinds of real world planning. Facebook’s event system comes to mind as a wonderful tool for getting a bunch of people in one place at the same time.

It stands to reason that the same trick ought to work in reverse; let’s get a bunch of people to figure out how best to visit different places at random times.

As business-class seats have consistently moved towards the luxury originally set aside for first class seats, European airlines have started phasing in a new level of ticket, often called premium economy.

The idea is to appeal to business travelers “on a budget” and people who are taking vacations but can spend a little bit extra on the tickets:

“It’s a smart business move because there’s been what I call class creep on an airplane,” said Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst with Forrester Research. “What’s now called business class is almost what first class used to be. So premium economy is more like what business class used to be back in the 1980s, akin in many ways to U.S. domestic first class in terms of legroom.”

I’m sure it will change over time, but I’ve made my list of what I need to keep me happy on an airplane. Super cushy seats and high-class cutlery are not on the list.

For now, it looks like I’ll stick to the main cabin. Of course, if premium economy came with free wi-fi…

What luggage services? (you ask)

According to the Journal there are companies that offer to pick your bags up at your door and deliver them to your destination—the door, again—so that you don’t have to deal with airline surcharges, hassles of luggage claim, security, or anything else the FAA might invent between now and next Tuesday.

How did the tests go? Are the services worth it?

The good news: No service failed the point-A-to-point-B test. The bad: Prices were so steep, from $122.19 to $198.23, the services can’t really be considered practical for frequent fliers or families with lots of luggage. (Procrastinators should also take note: Even if you opt for the higher-priced overnight service, you’re still stuck with the issue of having to pack and ship your bags ahead of going to the airport.)

And the real surprise: Four out of the five companies sent Federal Express or UPS to pick up our bags. Which begs another question: Why not just call the carriers on your own instead of paying for a third party to handle the task? For example, for that same $198.23 fee that our priciest shipper charged for a suitcase weighing up to 55 pounds (and insured for up to $1,500), FedEx quoted us a rate of $38.58, and UPS, $70.08.

So if you’re thinking about skipping the $15 luggage surcharge, try a different airline first

For a business traveler going anywhere other than Japan, Canada, or Mexico, this can be a real pain in the rear. But it turns out that there’s a service for this, too:

There are about a hundred passport and visa agencies nationwide, most of them single-office operations and some family run, Mr. Smith said. The two biggest are CIBT, based in McLean, Va., and Travisa in Washington. Like all larger visa expediters, they court major corporate clients, offering double-digit discounts for high-volume foreign travel.

These agencies specialize in getting Visas lined up quickly and painlessly, although they can be a little bit pricey with the cheaper Visas costing around $150 and the more expensive ones on the order for $400.

But if you need it done quickly and you’ve got the cash, this could be a good solution.

This week it’s the trains in Europe. Business Traveller reported recently that the York train station now boasts free Wi-Fi provided by National Express East Coast, which manages the station and also provides free Wi-Fi on all of its trains.

The quote from the station manager, Steve Soards, says it all:

“A major advantage of choosing the train over alternatives such as driving or flying is the ability to stay connected to the internet throughout the journey. For business passengers our wifi creates a productive mobile office, with the ability to send and receive emails as well as to access the internet. Staying online throughout a journey can mean the difference between clinching a deal or losing out.”

I’m think the airline industry needs to stop playing defense and start playing offense. Trying to tack little fees onto luggage and food is going to make people mad.

Offering productivity services, especially basic ones like free wi-fi (maybe you get to purchase extra or dedicated bandwidth?) is probably a much better approach to finding new revenue streams.