by Nicholas Gill

Airlines are going bankrupt like it is going out of style. What does this mean for ticket prices?

When 2008 began tourists had high hopes for cheap trans-Atlantic flights thanks to the Open Skies agreement. Then the bankruptcies started. First it was Aloha Airlines, which had been operation for 61 years. Then it was ATA. Then Skybus, MaxJet, Champion Air. Frontier airlines filed for bankruptcy, but are still operating. Last week it was EOS, an all business class carrier that flew between New York and London.

Some are saying that these airlines were all weak and poorly organized, but if you pay close attention every airline is scrambling to survive. Who is next? It’s hard to say exactly, but any small regional airline or low cost carrier is in jeopardy. Even the major airlines are at risk.

Fuel Prices, which are spiraling out of control, are the main reason for this. Crude oil prices might topple the $200 a barrel barrier—doubling the $100 a barrel threshold that was broken this year—and airline profits are vanishing. Slumping economies in the U.S. and Europe don’t help the industry either. Nearly all airlines are expecting huge losses this year, or at least until they can come up with a way to make flying a jumbo jet less costly. It is not their first choice, but for now they will be taking it out on you. Expect a three-pronged attack on your wallet from the world’s airlines; at least the ones that are still around.

Surcharges:
First it was $5 for a headset to watch a movie or a small charge for an overweight bag. Those were the days. Delta and other U.S. carriers have already begun charging for a second piece of luggage, long a standard airline amenity. Additionally, some airlines now have, or will be implementing, fees for food, drinks, pillows, blankets and everything else that can be considered an “extra.”

Mergers:
NWA and Delta are set to become one of the world’s largest airlines. United is looking into U.S. Airways. Continental has said they will wait to seek a merger…for now. Fewer airlines will be in the air and overlapping routes will be cut across the board. Less options means higher fares. Without competition the handful of new airline superpowers are free to raise the prices as much as they want or as much as anyone is willing to pay for the now smaller selection of seats.

Prices Increases:
To compensate for rising fuel costs, surcharges and raised fares are going to occur across the board. They have already started actually. Average costs of an airline ticket jumped 10.2 percent last month compared with a year ago according to the Bureau of Labor statistics. RyanAir, Ireland’s notoriously low cost carrier has even raised fares twice this year, and it still expects profits to drop by as much as 50% this year.

by Nicholas Gill

The first flights between the U.S. and Europe under the new Open Skies agreement have already taken off. So far few have noticed. However, summer is right around the corner and the full brunt of the act will soon take shape. How much shape is the question?

The Open Skies agreement, which went into effect on March 30, has promised to literally open the skies so that airlines can fly directly between any point in Europe and North America and no longer need government authorization to begin a new route. The act is expected to improve service on both sides of the pond, increase traffic by a third, enable more airlines to fly, cut overall fares and increase foreign investment in the airline industry.

Over the course of the next few months there will be a flood of changes. New routes will be opening between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Paris, Denver and Heathrow, Portland and Amsterdam. Flights are going to be added to existing routes, such as a new Virgin Atlantic flight between Heathrow and O’Hare. A good portion of flights to Gatwick are getting diverted to Heathrow. Air France, Northwest/KLM and other carriers have announced that they will double or give bonus miles for anyone flying on the new routes. There are rumblings of small airports like Columbus, which lack direct transatlantic routes even though they have the market, adding their first flight.

Some airlines are going to take a direct hit, and British Airways is at the top of the list. Even though BA has a brand new terminal at Heathrow, the glitzy terminal 5, the airline’s domination of the New York-Heathrow route—the most profitable route on the planet which accounts for two-thirds of the airline’s total profits—has ended. New airlines want in. Even low-cost Ryanair is considering filling some of the slots. Now that would be interesting. What’s next? Skybus? A $10 seat to Europe would be the deal of the century.

Keep dreaming. If you’re hoping that you’ll be able to save with a cheap flight and have more money to spend on Avenue Montaigne, guess again. The rising cost of fuel is taking its toll on airfares worldwide and the new routes may help to simply keep prices from rising higher than what they are. New planes are being designed to reduce fuel costs by as much as 20 percent, but they are not going to be around this summer or even this year. When they do arrive, fuel costs will probably have risen so much that reduced fuel consumption still won’t have an effect on airfare. If you are on one of the new routes from a smaller airport that lacked trans-Atlantic service you might save a small amount, but any savings will probably be eaten away by the sinking value of the dollar against the Euro. Bon Voyage!

by Alec Rosekrans

Pity the noble blogger: shunning family, friendships and sunlight, forgoing sleep and exercise, subsisting on a diet of Mountain Dew and Top Ramen, slaving tirelessly in the dim light of their LCDs in the Sisyphean task of creating the intertubes. Now a story in the New York Times has revealed that many bloggers are so devoted to breaking the latest stories into the blogosphere that they are actually sacrificing their health, and in two recent cases, even their lives.

We at Halogen Guides cannot sit idly by as the nation’s bloggers post themselves into oblivion. Without this selfless tribe’s obsession for the most excruciating minutia of a Steve Jobs keynote address, its righteous indignation against a compliant “mainstream media” unwilling to report innuendo and rumor, and their fixation on producing grammatically incorrect annotations of cat photographs, Americans might actually have to interact with one another during coffee breaks. For the sake of the blogosphere, we politely ask that bloggers take a well-deserved, and much needed, vacation. And since we are the experts in luxury travel, we feel it falls upon us to advise these overworked bloggers on the best options for a vacation.

Michael Arrington, TechCrunch
For Michael Arrington, founder and co-editor of the beloved TechCrunch, who revealed to the New York Times that his blogging has led to weight gain, a sleeping disorder and frazzled nerves, we suggest a week or three at the Four Seasons Westlake Village. He can have a standing massage appointment at the world-class spa, and if more extensive treatment is required, get himself some wellness at the adjacent California Health & Longevity Institute.


Andrew Sullivan, theAtlantic.com
For Andrew Sullivan, whose erudite musings on politics and culture are the toast of cybserspace, we suggest a sordid sojourn among the philistines in Las Vegas, preferably at a hotel whose garish faux European décor will suitably offend his refined sensibilities. Pig out at the buffet table, ogle the oily young flesh by the pool at the Palms, take in the Bette Middler show, rake in some filthy lucre at the craps, let out that mouth breathing troglodyte inside for one bacchanal among the bourgeoisie. Don’t worry, you can chalk it up as a sociology experiment later.


Meg Frost, Cute Overload

For Meg Frost, the blogger behind Cute Overload, we recommend getting as far away from anything fluffy and soft as possible, she completely snaps and goes on a nine-state killing spree. She needs to go somewhere for adults. Perhaps a week at Las Ventanas in Cabo San Lucas will do the trick. Sophisticated, understated elegance without a puppy, kitten or baby panda in sight.



Christian Lander, Stuff White People Like
Finally, we turn to Christian Lander, the mind behind the instantly controversial, and popular, site Stuff White People Like. With a rumored $300,000 off-line deal (also known as a book deal), we suggest he combine No. 19 (traveling) and No. 72 (Study Abroad) with No. 9 (Making you feel bad about not going outside), and book this 17-day trip created by Stanford University that recreates Charles Darwin’s 1831 visit to the Galapagos, all from the comfort of a private jet.

So please, bloggers of the world, for your sake and for ours, heed our advice and take a vacation. And whatever you do, don’t take your laptop with you.

by Laura Balch 

Looks like aloha means goodbye for ATA Airlines and Aloha Airlines, who have both unexpectedly folded in the past two weeks, leaving passengers stranded and industry insiders scratching their heads. The two carriers, which together accounted for a huge portion of flights between mainland U.S. and Hawaii, have filed for bankruptcy protection practically back to back.

What does this news mean for travelers? According to a New York Times article posted today, the likely answer is higher fares for those hoping to get lei-ed this summer. Less competition, along with rising fuel costs, will almost certainly mean the end of deep discounts from remaining carriers, like Hawaiian, Delta and Continental, for the foreseeable future.