news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

American Airlines employees have been visiting travel agents in several states over the last few weeks carrying several documents ” nondisclosure agreements about their discussions and direct-connect licensing contracts.

The airline apparently is making a big push now to get travel agents to sign the direct-connect contracts because of a looming big day on the calendar, June 1.

By late January, after Sabre had biased American Airlines’ displays and hiked the airline’s GDS fees, and American had filed suit against Sabre and Travelport, Sabre and American agreed to put the legal battle on hold and to put the displays and fees back to normal while the two sides attempted to negotiate a new agreement.

source: tnooz.com

British Airways has finally thrashed out an agreement to end a bitter two-year battle with its cabin crew which cost the company £150million.

The conflict, which lasted longer than the miners’ strike of the 1980s, saw the airline and its passengers hit by a total of 22 days of strikes since its start in February 2009.

But a deal has been reached with the militant Unite union, which represents the majority of BA crew, and is already being regarded as a crucial victory for the airline and Willie Walsh who led it for most of the dispute.

source: dailymail.co.uk

Travelport has signed a new deal with Flydubai and renewed its full content agreement with Alitalia.

The deals mean the two airlines will have their fares and schedules available on Travelport’s Galileo and Worldspan global distribution systems (GDS) – a first for the middle eastern carrier.

Flydubai’s listing on the GDS will mean the low-cost airline, launched in June 2009, can tap into Travelport’s worldwide network of more than 60,000 travel agents.

source: abtn.co.uk

British Airways’ parent International Airlines Group (IAG) has a potential rival in bidding for TAP Portugal, with Brazilian carrier TAM considering a takeover of the Portuguese carrier.

TAP is a member of the Lufthansa-led Star Alliance, as is TAM, while BA is a leading member of the rival alliance Oneworld. However, TAM is awaiting regulatory approval for a merger with Latin America’s other major carrier, LAN – a Oneworld member.

source: travelweekly.co.uk

US Airways landed at the bottom of the list for overall satisfaction, also receiving the lowest marks for cabin-crew service. The airline was also ranked lowest in 2007, when the last Consumer Reports airline rankings were released.

Southwest Airlines topped the rankings for overall satisfaction, with JetBlue Airways coming in second in the survey of nearly 15,000 passengers.

The pileup of added fees during or after check-in is contributing to many travelers’ decisions to fly less, according to the survey. Of the respondents who said they’ve cut back on flying, 40 percent cited fees as the major reason.

Ryanair is making a third attempt to acquire rival Aer Lingus in a bid to create an all-Irish national champion.

Michael O’Leary, Ryanair chief executive, has approached the Irish government to acquire its 25 per cent stake in Aer Lingus.

The budget airline bought just over 29 per cent of Aer Lingus in 2006, so the government’s stake would give it majority control.

The European Commission has blocked two attempts by Ryanair to acquire Aer Lingus because of competition issues – one in 2006 and the other two years later. And Brussels still says that joining the two airlines would create a monopoly for Dublin flights

source: dailymail.co.uk

Delta is the first airline to let you track checked luggage on its website and smartphone.

When Delta passengers check in luggage online or at an airport’s kiosk or service desk, they’ll receive a unique tracking number. The number can be used on Delta’s website to trace the baggage from check-in all the way to the final destination airport’s luggage carousel. If luggage is lost, that same number can be used to file a claim online rather than through a fax form.

source: consumerreports.org

Germany’s competition authority is investigating whether air carrier Lufthansa forced its corporate customers to provide information about competitors’ prices in order to receive discounts.

Germany’s competition watchdog, the ‘Bundeskartellamt’, is looking into whether contracts between Lufthansa and its corporate customers required that they provide the airline with sensitive information about competitors’ pricing structures, thereby possibly distorting competition.

Authorities say contracts between Europe’s largest air carrier and some large corporate customers stipulated that the firms would not receive discounts unless data on price and discounts from other airlines were provided.

source: dw-world.de

American Airlines says it will offer “‘happy hour'” pricing next month to customers buying alcohol on flights departing during the 5-o’clock hour. The promotion is a return of one AA tried this past December.

Starting May 1, the carrier’s “‘5@5’” happy hour promotion will feature $5 alcoholic drinks on flights in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean that depart between 5 p.m. and 5:59 p.m. (local times).

source: USA Today

A flight data recorder has been recovered from an Air France flight that crashed off the coast of Brazil in 2009. Investigators are hoping the device can provide answers to why the plane went down, killing 228 people.

Deep sea search teams have located one of two flight data recorders from the 2009 Air France flight that crashed mysteriously in the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 people on board.

In a statement, France’s Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) said the black box was “‘localized and identified'” on Sunday morning and brought up from a depth of 4,000 meters (4,375 yards).

source: dw-world.de