BTC News Wire

Indianapolis Airport Relaunches Registered Traveler Program

2010-07-29T15:01:22Z

Indianapolis Airport Authority

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 28, 2010

Susan Sullivan, 317.487.5025 | ssullivan@indianapolisairport.com

Fred Fischer, 336.782.0353 | fred@flyiqueue.com

Indianapolis Airport Authority and iQueue Priority Access relaunch registered traveler program

INDIANAPOLIS—The Indianapolis Airport Authority (IAA) and iQueue Priority Access announced today they will re-open expedited security lanes for registered travelers at Indianapolis International Airport (IND). The service will start Monday, August 16.

IND is the first U.S. airport to re-establish a registered traveler service since the CLEAR registered traveler program, which was operated by Verified Identity Pass, Inc., ceased operations last June.

The iQueue Priority Access program allows business travelers and other frequent fliers to pay a $169 annual membership fee for a biometric identity card that provides them expedited passage through airport security checkpoints.

Travelers can register on-site at IND beginning Monday, August 2. The enrollment location in Civic Plaza will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Travelers can also register online beginning Monday at www.flyiqueue.com.

A variety of discounted iQueue membership plans will be available during the initial launch period, including reduced family and corporate plans. In addition, former members of the CLEAR program are eligible for discounted iQueue memberships and credit for the time remaining on their CLEAR membership, up to one year.

CLEAR’s registered traveler program had over 250,000 enrolled members across the U.S., over 12,000 of whom were enrolled at IND.

“Providing an outstanding airport experience for our passengers is a top priority. We believe this program, which pre-screens its members for faster security clearance, will offer a new level of convenience for travelers. We look forward to partnering with the iQueue team to bring the program to Indianapolis,” said John Clark, CEO & Executive Director of the Indianapolis Airport Authority.

Noted James Jasinski, Executive Vice President of Cogent Systems, “We are thrilled to work with the Indianapolis Airport Authority to lead the re-launch of such an important benefit for frequent flyers. Now, iQueue members in Indianapolis will be able to enjoy a less stressful, more predictable airport security experience.”

Fred Fischer, iQueue’s Managing Partner added, “We expect to announce similar agreements with other U.S. airports in the near future, including those that formerly offered CLEAR lanes in addition to a host of new airports.”

The expedited security lanes are provided by the iQueue Priority Access operated by Cogent Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: COGT).

For enrollment, membership fees and more information, visit: www.flyiqueue.com

About the Indianapolis Airport Authority

The Indianapolis Airport Authority (IAA) owns and operates Indiana’s largest airport system. In addition to Indianapolis International Airport (IND), its facilities include the Downtown Heliport, Eagle Creek Airpark, Hendricks County Airport, Metropolitan Airport, and Mt. Comfort Airport. IND was named the best North American airport by J.D. Power and Associates serving under ten million passengers per year in 2010. IND’s economic impact in central Indiana is more than $3.3 billion annually and about 10,000 people work at the airport each day. According to U.S. Department of Transportation data, IND’s average domestic air fare is one of the lowest in the nation. IND averages 154 daily departures to 35 nonstop destinations. Home of the second-largest FedEx Express operation in the world, IND is the eighth largest cargo facility in the U.S.

ABOUT COGENT SYSTEMS

Cogent is a global biometric identification solutions provider to governments, law enforcement agencies, and commercial enterprises. Cogent provides the highest quality identification systems, products and services with leading technology, accuracy and speed. Cogent’s Automated Fingerprint/Palmprint Identification Systems, or CAFIS, enable customers to capture fingerprint and palm print images electronically, encode prints into searchable files, and accurately compare a set of fingerprints/palm prints to a database containing potentially millions of prints in seconds. For more information, please visit www.cogentsystems.com.

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Is Report Credible That DOT�s 3-Hour Tarmac-Delay Rule Represents Flawed Public Policy?

2010-07-25T18:23:50Z

Is Report Credible That DOT�s 3-Hour Tarmac-Delay Rule Represents Flawed Public Policy?

Or is the airline industry just seeking lower fines?

Business Travel Coalition - July 26, 2010, Radnor, PA

On April 29, 2010 a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) rule went into effect, after a 120-day notice, requiring U.S. airlines to provide passengers an opportunity to deplane after 3 hours of an extended tarmac delay, on most commercial aircraft, providing it is safe and operationally feasible to do so.

AT ISSUE
Last week two airline consultancies (The Aviation Zone and Marks Aviation) published an analysis exceedingly critical of the DOT�s 3-hour rule asserting that the public harm from the rule could reach some $3.9 billion over 20 years; a conclusion based upon just the first full month�s aggregation of flight-cancellation data. The analysis, seriously flawed on many levels, would have likely received little press attention were it not for overreaction by a sensitive DOT that criticized the report in an official statement, supported by a quote from Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood himself!

The factual and statistical defects in this study are stunning and include:

� ignoring the significant and complex work ahead for airlines to efficiently comply with the 3-hour rule;

� avoiding the central fact that passengers need only be given the opportunity at 3 hours to deplane versus cancelling a flight;

� dismissing the built-in exceptions to the 3-hour rule for safety and unworkable operational conditions; and

� basing conclusions on only the first full month of data since the rule has been in effect(1).

Any serious analyst or business executive understands the significant length of time it takes to drive fundamental change to where a new model produces normalized and predictive results; to take a snapshot at the beginning of such a major change-management process and make such grand exaggerations is inexpert in the extreme.

BACKGROUND
The airlines brought the 3-hour rule on themselves after 10 years of not treating the issue as a management priority; on this there is nothing to debate. The issue all along has not been the cause of these extraordinary irregular operations, e.g., severe weather systems, but rather, how airlines responded to them. Were there coordinated plans in place for such events? Were communications systems adequate? Were staffs trained? Did senior executives care enough to engage? Were their spokespersons indifferent? Too often since 1999 the answers were the wrong ones; airlines did not sufficiently heed the many early warning signs of government intervention coming at them.

We live in a country compassionate enough to send a fire truck to extract a cat from a tree or a Coast Guard helicopter and crew to rescue a dog from a swollen river, and without a second thought! What were the airlines thinking? Did they seriously believe our country would allow elderly, infants and health-compromised citizens to be kept on parked planes in freezing cold or sweltering heat at risk for 4, 6 or 8 hours in poor and deteriorating conditions while some airline industry leaders disingenuously dismissed concerns on the rationale that such circumstances are rare?

On the other hand, DOT gave just 120 days for airlines to prepare for the 3-hour rule; under these circumstances it is no surprise that flights will be canceled this summer. No study needed to be conducted to know this. This was a terribly insufficient amount of time to implement the rule given the enormous work that will be required to make adjustments, which includes complex internal airline planning as well as negotiations with federal and local governmental bodies such as TSA, FAA, Border Control, airport authorities and law enforcement.

Many airports, for example, can and should arrange for removal of passengers (who want to deplane after 3 hours, per the rule) by way of truck-mounted stairs, as Dallas Fort Worth International Airport does, thus minimizing flight cancellations. It will likely take a good year or more for airlines, airports and other participants to adjust to this rule. As I stated in a May 2010 National Journal posting, �Passengers will likely be negatively impacted by the rule, largely emanating from flight cancellations, at least during a transition period of a year or more from April 29, 2010.�

INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP MISSING
The Air Transport Association (ATA), which represents U.S. airlines, acknowledged its leadership responsibility in stepping up some 10 years ago, after the Northwest Airlines winter-storm debacle at Detroit, and subsequent Congressional hearings, with airline Customer Service Plans. Business Travel Coalition (BTC) had advocated that very step to the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and ATA in 1999, i.e. let the industry solve its problems before considering legislation. That positive ATA initiative unfortunately turned into industry indifference, and then annoyance that this issue continued to persist.

The airlines, at the industry level, have provided next-to-zero leadership on this issue since those Customer Service Plans were announced in September 1999. BTC testified 4 times in Congress over the past decade against Congressional / government intervention in this passenger-rights area. After 10 years of airlines not taking the issue seriously BTC, the American Society of Travel Agents and the National Business Travel Association all reversed positions last summer with respect to supporting a 3-hour rule.

WHAT�S REALLY HAPPENING
The new DOT rule will have been only the proximate cause of cancellations this summer. The root causes will have been over-scheduling, especially at NYC airports, as well as inadequate planning and implementation time to comply with the new rule. Blaming the 3-hour rule and DOT for cancellations is akin to saying Mexican President Felipe Calderon�s crackdown on drug-cartel activities is responsible for the 25,000 violent, cartel-related deaths since 2006, without acknowledging underlying root causes.

Despite the disruption that is likely to be rained-down on passengers this summer, the 3-hour rule has in fact forced airline senior managements to finally prioritize extended ground delays as a problem to be thoughtfully, if not urgently addressed. To their credits, Continental Airlines and US Airways proactively implemented steps to comply with the new rule ahead of its April 29 implementation date. Airline hyperbole as mirrored in these consultants� report regarding mass cancellations is really just part continued denial of a legitimate problem, part advance blame-game antics to set DOT up as the cause of all 3-hour rule-related problems and part posturing to have the $27,500 per passenger fine reduced.

THE 3-HOUR RULE IS ALREADY EFFECTIVE
The simple fact of the matter is that because of the new rule, airlines are now forced to fix this extended ground delay problem, and they are and will continue to do so. Canceling flight-loads of business travelers on a sustained basis would disastrously dampen demand just as these high-yield travelers are returning to the market, or drive these customers into the open arms of more able competitors. Mass cancellations represent an unworkable proposition, and well-managed airlines will successfully emplace new systems and processes to avoid this highly undesirable outcome.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES ANYONE?
From a DOT perspective this study and its associated branded website and PR campaign probably look like more of the same coordinated airline industry stonewalling on this issue; apparently the study was initiated before the ink was even dry on the order! What negative "unintended consequences" for airlines might this ill-considered and ultimately shallow attack likely have as DOT takes all manner of decisions later in this year regarding the currently open passenger-rights Notice of Proposed Rulemaking? Have airlines not learned anything from the �gift� of the 3-hour rule? Not content any longer to just shoot themselves in the foot, are airlines now embracing amputation in place of true industry leadership?

(1)SOURCE: AirlineForecasts, LLP

May 2010�s 1.24% cancellation rate is much lower than the annual average of 1.5% over the last 15 years, as reported by the DOT. However, the 10-year average has been 1.17% and may be a more representative base line. However, there is a large variation around the mean cancellation rate over the last 20, 10, and 5 years so a one-month comparison would be too noisy to produce anything that could be considered representative of a trend. As an example, cancellations as a percentage of operations increased 116% year-over-year in 2005 [May-over-May] and 85% in 1998, but decreased 48% in 2001 and 45% in both 2002 and 2005. The monthly variations are significantly more volatile than the annual variation.

�

CONTACT BTC

Kevin Mitchell | 610.341.1850 | mitchell@BusinessTravelCoalition.com

About BTC
Founded in 1994, the mission of Business Travel Coalition is to bring transparency to industry and government policies and practices so that customers can influence issues of strategic importance to their organizations.

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GAO To Release Airline Fee Study Tomorrow Morning

2010-07-13T15:42:28Z

FYI � GAO will be releasing its report early on its website at 9 AM tomorrow, Wednesday regarding airline fees.

Kevin Mitchell

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BTC Media Alert

2010-07-12T11:00:14Z

MEDIA ALERT

Tomorrow, Tuesday Business Travel Coalition (BTC) will publish results of a survey of 188 travel industry professionals, including corporate travel managers and travel agency executives, regarding airline product unbundling and ancillary fees. These survey results are being released ahead of July 14 BTC testimony before a U.S. House Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation hearing regarding airline fees.

Please let me know via email if you would like to receive an embargoed copy of this report.

Stories can be written for publication after 12:01am (EDT) on Tuesday, July 13. (Wire embargo: Wire services may distribute stories, but clients must hold for release until 12:01am on Tuesday, July 13.)

If you agree to these rules and would like an embargoed copy of the survey results, please so indicate in a response email.

Kevin Mitchell
Chairman
Business Travel Coalition
610-341-1850

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Travelogue (****News Day)

2009-12-11T06:40:32Z

http://businesstravelcoalition.com/members/silver/news.htm

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Message From Kate Hanni of FlyersRights.org (IMPORTANT)

2009-08-12T14:50:09Z

INVITATION AND SURVEY FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENT TO PROMOTE AIRLINE PASSENGERS RIGHTS EVER!

Dear FlyersRights.org Member,

I hope this note finds you well! I would like to invite you to participate in a timely AND important consumer and travel industry event in Washington, DC. Given your experience with the airline industry, you would no doubt have a big impact on the proceedings. Also, you may participate in the proceedings if you were a stranding victim and have a great story to tell and want to tell it to the people who make decisions in our Capital.

On Tuesday morning, September 22, 2009 between 8 am and 12 pm consumer and travel industry groups will conduct a Stakeholder Hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building regarding airline passenger rights; specifically the issue of extended ground delays.

Legislative prescriptions are currently included in FAA reauthorization bills in the House and in the Senate, whose version would allow passengers to disembark after three hours of delay, should a captain determine it is reasonable and safe to do so. As you know the House bill does not contain any details in its request for contingency plans that would require airlines allow passengers off at a specific time and leaves it to the airlines to decide how long they might hold passengers on the tarmac. However, the Senate bill is picture perfect with a clear timeframe that�s mandatory. What�s more the bill requires airlines to provide for passengers� basic human needs at all times on the tarmac. Plus, many more provisions not found in the House legislation are in the Senate version. We need your support badly at this hearing.

We are going to open up the hearing with a 60 minute Congressional Roundtable Discussion among 6 Senators and Representatives who have either sponsored passenger rights legislation, or who are opposed to it. This is why having as many actual victims there to both watch, and participate in the discussion is so important.

The role I hope you accept is as a victim representative. A link to the event for you to register is: http://stakeholderhearing.eventbrite.com. Next week I will send you a backgrounder and detailed description of the hearing. For now just know that we will have the participation of Senators, Congressmen, media, celebrity moderators, and this will be the most robust and meaningful hearing ever done for passengers rights. It�s YOUR chance to be heard.

Also we are conducting a survey that we need you to participate in. It only takes 5 minutes and it�s very valuable for us with our media partners to be able to show how many people support this vital legislation. Please take a little and complete the online survey at http://surveymonkey.twi.bz/i

Thank you for your ongoing support!

Best,

Kate Hanni
Executive Director
FlyersRights.org
kate@flyersrights.org
707-337-0328

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BTC Urges Parliament to Protect Consumers, Small Business

2008-06-29T15:01:54Z

STATEMENT

For Immediate Release

BTC Urges Parliament to Protect Consumers, Small Business

Travel distribution loophole threatens higher airfares, less choice and poorer service

Brussels, Belgium, 29 June 2008--The Business Travel Coalition (BTC) today urged the European Parliament to continue to defend the interests of travellers and small business. EU member states are pushing hard for an early compromise deal on the revision of the CRS Code of Conduct, currently before the EU institutions. There is now a real threat that the Parliament will abandon its previously firm position safeguarding consumer interests.

The compromise focuses on a dangerous legislative loophole exposed in the Commission�s original draft under the definition of �Parent Carrier� (Article 2 (g)). The Parliament text, backed almost unanimously by the Transport Committee, had established CRS ownership as a fully independent criterion when assessing parent carrier status. This takes into account the incentives for abuse which exist for airlines meaningfully participating in the capital and governance of a CRS and limits the discretion of the Commission.

Any weakening of the parliament position could immediately result in the reinforcement and creation of dangerous monopolies in CRSs in a number of European countries. Since the Commission�s declaration of last November, which made it clear that the CRS Code of Conduct applies to no-one, airline owners have been free to discriminate in favour of the CRSs they own and CRSs have been free to discriminate in favour of their owning airlines. Travellers all across the EU and beyond are, as a result, at risk of being subjected to higher fares, less choice and poorer service.

The Parliament has a strong hand going into the current negotiations. Giving up this position without securing any safeguards in return will result in a poor deal for consumers and small business across Europe.

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CONTACT BTC || Kevin Mitchell | 202-370-1871 | mitchell@BusinessTravelCoalition.com

About BTC
Founded in 1994, the mission of the Business Travel Coalition is to bring transparency to industry and government policies and practices so that customers can influence issues of strategic importance to them.

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BTC Report: Beyond the Airlines' $2 Can of Coke (embargoed copy offer)

2008-06-20T15:34:15Z

To members of the press,

The U.S. commercial aviation industry is in full-blown crisis. Business Travel Coalition will publish a report on Monday, June 23 titled: Beyond the Airlines’ $2 Can of Coke: Catastrophic Impact on the U.S. Economy from Oil-price Trauma in the Airline Industry

The report outlines and puts into context 9 major impacts from a failed airline industry on U.S. local and regional economies, and our way of life.

Please let me know via email if you would like to receive an embargoed copy of this report.

Two simple ground rules: (1) you cannot share the report outside your newsroom, and (2) stories can be written for after 12:01am on Monday, June 23. (Wire embargo: Wire services may distribute stories, but your clients must hold for release until 12:01am on Monday, June 23.)

Please address mail to Mitchell@businesstravelcoalition.com

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BTC Report: Beyond the Airlines� $2 Can of Coke (embargoed copy offer)

2008-06-19T16:09:28Z

To members of the press,

The U.S. commercial aviation industry is in full-blown crisis. Business Travel Coalition will publish a report on Monday, June 23 titled: Beyond the Airlines� $2 Can of Coke: Catastrophic Impact on the U.S. Economy from Oil-price Trauma in the Airline Industry

The report outlines and puts into context 9 major impacts from a failed airline industry on U.S. local and regional economies, and our way of life.

Please let me know via email if you would like to receive an embargoed copy of this report.

Two simple ground rules: (1) you cannot share the report outside your newsroom, and (2) stories can be written for after 12:01am on Monday, June 23. (Wire embargo: Wire services may distribute stories, but your clients must hold for release until 12:01am on Monday, June 23.)

Please address mail to Mitchell@businesstravelcoalition.com

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Kevin Mitchell's new contact info - (202) 370-1871

2008-06-15T13:00:30Z

Hello, friends!

I recently signed up with GrandCentral and got a new phone number that will reach me at all of my existing phones. The only number you will ever need to reach me at is now (202) 370-1871.

Now you can reach me everywhere (cell, work, home) with a single number. And if I move or buy a new phone...this number never changes. You can even use my new number as an email address (2023701871@grandcentral.com). It doesn't get much simpler than that.

Sorry for another "updated contact information" email, but now that you've got my GrandCentral number, this will be the last time I'll ever bug you about it.

Best wishes,

Kevin

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IAPA, BTC Support Airline Divestiture of CRS Stakes Proposal

2008-04-11T09:02:43Z

PRESS STATEMENT

For Immediate Release

IAPA, BTC Support Airline Divestiture of CRS Stakes Proposal

Applauds Parliament�s Focus on the Consumer

London, England, 11 April 2008�The International Airline Passengers Association (IAPA) and Business Travel Coalition (BTC) today applauded the European Parliament for providing much needed consumer focus to consideration of proposed reforms to the Code of Conduct that governs computerized reservations systems (CRSs). Rapporteur Timothy Kirkhope provided a thoughtful and balanced report that contained very solid analysis and proposals and enabled informed debate.

The Parliament debate also considered a proposal advanced by Brian Simpson calling for a complete, orderly divestiture of airline ownership stakes in CRSs. Complete divestiture would represent the �ber consumer-focused solution to potential abuses stemming from airline ownership of CRSs. Divestiture would eliminate the possibility of abuses that might go undetected under any version of a Code of Conduct; would virtually guarantee that consumers have access to complete and accurate information regarding airfare and rail offerings when using either online or traditional travel agencies; and EU and U.S. airline and GDS industry regulatory oversight approaches would be harmonized.

IAPA and BTC are very appreciative of the strong leadership demonstrated by Mr Kirkhope and other Parliament members on this issue so critical to consumer interests, and urge the rest of Parliament to follow their lead.

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CONTACT IAPA || Jonathan French | 011 44 77 52356258 | Jonathan.French@Prioritypass.co.uk

CONTACT BTC || Kevin Mitchell | 610-341-1850 | mitchell@BusinessTravelCoalition.com

ABOUT IAPA
The International Airline Passengers Association has more than 45 years� history representing frequent business travellers. It has offices in Dallas, London and Hong Kong and over 400,000 members throughout the world.

About BTC
Founded in 1994, the mission of the Business Travel Coalition is to bring transparency to industry and government policies and practices so that customers can influence issues of strategic importance to them.

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