Major airlines began the fee parade in earnest in 2008, when fuel prices were soaring. They picked up the pace during the deep recession, and airlines now say there’s no turning back. No wonder: Fees are helping [...]]]> As you’re packing for holiday flights, here’s all the incentive you need to keep those extra boots and sweaters out of your luggage: Airlines’ overweight-bag fees are as high as $175. And that’s on top of the fee to simply check the bag.

Major airlines began the fee parade in earnest in 2008, when fuel prices were soaring. They picked up the pace during the deep recession, and airlines now say there’s no turning back. No wonder: Fees are helping the always-struggling industry make money.

In the first six months this year, U.S. airlines collected nearly $1.7 billion in baggage fees, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Airlines took in an additional $1.1 billion from fees to change a reservation after purchase.

Both figures are all the more stunning when you consider that Southwest Airlines, which carries more domestic passengers than any airline, doesn’t charge for the first two bags or levy a change fee.

Airlines also are pitching new money-makers, such as charging for extra legroom and priority boarding. Southwest says its Early Bird Check-In option, which costs $10 each way and gives passengers a better pick of seats, has been a big hit. The Dallas-based airline famously doesn’t assign seats.

Fees aren’t easy to detect on most airlines’ websites, and they often change on short notice. Tempe-based US Airways, the busiest carrier at Sky Harbor International Airport, recently added a handy summary page to its website.

There’s one bright spot on the fee front this holiday season, though it won’t help the majority of Phoenix fliers. Delta, AirTran Airways and Virgin America are offering free in-flight Wi-Fi, courtesy of Google.

Here is a guide to airline fees. The charges apply to domestic flights and are for each way, except for reservation fees and change fees.

For details on other fees, check airline websites or fee guides at kayak.com, smartertravel.com, fare compare.com and other travel sites.

US Airways
Reservations: $25 over phone, $35 at airport, free at usairways.com.
Checked bags*: $25 for first, $35 for second, $100 for third.
Overweight bags: $50 for 51-70 pounds, $100 for 71-100 pounds.
Reservation changes: $150 plus fare difference.
Priority seating/boarding: $5-$35 for Choice Seats.
Unaccompanied minor: $100.
Pets in cabin: $100.

Southwest
Reservations: Free.
Checked bags: Free for two, $50 for each additional.
Overweight bags: $50 for 51-100 pounds.
Reservation changes: Free; traveler must pay fare difference.
Priority seating/boarding: $10 for Early Bird Check-In.
Unaccompanied minor: $50.
Pets in cabin: $75.

Delta
Reservations: $20-$35 over phone or at airport, free at delta.com.
Checked bags: $23-$25 for first, $32-$35 for second, $125 for third.
Overweight bags: $90 for 51-70 pounds, $175 for 71-100 pounds.
Reservation changes: $150-$200 plus fare difference.
Priority seating/boarding: Not available.
Unaccompanied minor: $100.
Pets in cabin: $125.

United
Reservations: $25 over phone, $30 at airport, free at united.com.
Checked bags: $25 for first, $35 for second, $100 for third.
Overweight bags: $100 for 51-100 pounds.
Reservation changes: $150-$175.
Priority seating/boarding: $9 and up for Economy Plus extra legroom, $9 and up for Priority Boarding.
Unaccompanied minor: $99.
Pets in cabin: $125.

Continental
Reservations: $25 over phone or at a ticket office, $30 at airport, free at continental.com.
Checked bags: $23-$25 for first, $32-$35 for second, $100 for third.
Overweight bags: $50 for 51-70 pounds. Bags more than 70 pounds not accepted.
Reservation changes: $150-$175.
Priority seating/boarding: Prices for extra legroom vary.
Unaccompanied minor: $100.
Pets in cabin: $125.

American
Reservations: $20 over phone, $30 at airport, free at aa.com.
Checked bags: $25 for first, $35 for second, $100 for third.
Overweight bags: $60 for 51-70 pounds, $100 for 71-100 pounds.
Reservation changes: $150 plus fare difference.
Priority seating/boarding: $19-$39 for Express Seats, $10 for Priority Boarding; $9-$19 for Your Choice packages, which include Priority Boarding and other perks.
Unaccompanied minor: $100.
Pets in cabin: $100.

*Baggage fees apply to domestic flights. Consult your airline for international charges.

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SAN FRANCISCO — Closer to rolling out its long-awaited operating system, Google on Tuesday said notebook computers running Chrome OS will be ready for consumers by the middle of next year.

“We finally have a viable third choice for an operating system” in addition to Microsoft’s Windows and Apple’s Mac operating systems, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said at an announcement in San Francisco.

Aiming to make a laptop feel more like a smart phone, Google on Tuesday opened [...]]]>

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SAN FRANCISCO — Closer to rolling out its long-awaited operating system, Google on Tuesday said notebook computers running Chrome OS will be ready for consumers by the middle of next year.

“We finally have a viable third choice for an operating system” in addition to Microsoft’s Windows and Apple’s Mac operating systems, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said at an announcement in San Francisco.

Aiming to make a laptop feel more like a smart phone, Google on Tuesday opened an online application store within its Chrome browser featuring a wide variety of games, media and other apps.

The Google Chrome Web Store opened with about 500 applications, including rich versions of publications like The New York Times and Sports Illustrated, an Amazon.com application that will allow shoppers to visually browse items, and a large suite of games from Electronic Arts and other game developers.

Apps will be available for free as well as for a fee, and the Web store is available at http://chrome.google.com/webstore/.

Google also said its first notebooks with the Chrome OS will be built by Acer and Samsung and powered by Intel chips. Google said no pricing information is available at this time.

With Chrome OS, the most basic software element of a notebook will be the Web browser that is largely dependent on its links to the Internet, instead of an operating system that runs on the machine’s hard drive, like Microsoft’s Windows or Apple’s Mac operating systems.

For now, a “very limited” number of consumers can apply to get an unbranded “Cr-48″ prototype equipped with the new Chrome operating system by going to YouTube and posting videos saying why they should be able to try one. A few selected companies, ranging from Kraft to Virgin America airline, will also get prototype notebooks to use on a beta basis.

Google says the new Web-based operating system will be much more secure than standard operating systems because of automatic updates, built-in data encryption and other features such as one that will block its software from being modified by outside sources.

“It is very, very hard to compromise this thing,” said Sundar Pichai, Google’s vice president for product management. “We are very confident that it will be the most secure consumer operating system that has ever been shipped to users.”

Google says its Chrome browser is now being used by 120 million users around the world, up from 70 million six months ago. The number of Chrome users has tripled since the start of 2010, Pichai said.

———

(c) 2010, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).

Visit MercuryNews.com, the World Wide Web site of the Mercury News, at http://www.mercurynews.com.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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1. Sign up for airlines’ e-mail feeds and frequent-flyer programs.

We know, you already get too much e-mail, but the airlines want to develop a relationship with you, so they’ll send you [...]]]> Yes, fares on many routes are much more expensive this holiday season than last, but airfares are not static and there are (relative) deals to be had any time of year. Here is Airfarewatchdog.com’s best advice for making your airfare dollars go farther no matter what the time of year.

1. Sign up for airlines’ e-mail feeds and frequent-flyer programs.

We know, you already get too much e-mail, but the airlines want to develop a relationship with you, so they’ll send you special deals, such as 50 percent off promo codes or two-fers, if you sign up. Airline sites sell much more than airfares these days (hotels, rental cars, credit cards and such), and they will entice you to deal direct rather than use a third-party site such as Orbitz. If you’re on Twitter, you might also want to follow the airlines’ tweets, which they’re using to promote exclusive Twitter-only deals. We signed up for Virgin America’s frequent-flyer program and because we haven’t flown them yet we keep on getting promo code discount offers to give them a try.

2. Sign up for third-party fare alerts.

Many airfare websites offer alerts, and they all have something to offer. Yapta.com lets you track your specific itinerary, down to the flight number and dates of travel, and will let you know if the airline owes you a price-drop refund. Travelocity’s easy-to-use FareWatcherPlus lets you track up to 10 routes and you can choose to be notified either when a fare goes down by $25 or more, or when it goes below a price you choose. Orbitz also offers alerts, as does Bing Travel, TripAdivsor.com/flights and FareCompare.com.

One thing to note: These sites use essentially the same airfare data provided by the airlines’ computer systems or ITA Software, so they won’t include discounted promo-code fares, and most don’t include Southwest Airlines. Airfarewatchdog.com includes hand-picked fares on Southwest and Allegiant Airlines.

3. Search airline sites individually, but not exclusively.

As noted above, many airlines reserve their best fares for their own sites. These are different from promo-code fares. International airlines such as Aer Lingus, Iberia and Qantas regularly offer lower fares ($100-$400 less) on their websites compared to what you’ll find on Kayak or Orbitz. But don’t ignore online travel agencies such as Expedia and Travelocity, because these sites will tell you if it’s cheaper flying out on one airline and back on another.

4. Buy hotel plus air packages.

It’s often significantly cheaper to buy an air plus hotel package rather than airfare alone, especially for last-minute travel. We often see Travelocity “TotalTrip” offerings, especially on last-minute flights, pop up with hotel plus air for half the price of air alone. Lastminute.com is also a great source for finding last minute packages.

5. Use Priceline for last-minute trips.

If you don’t have a 7-, 14- or 21-day advance-purchase window to buy your fare, your best bet is the “name your own price” feature of Priceline.com. You won’t know the exact flight times or airline until you pay, but you can save 50 percent or more. Hotwire.com can also be useful for last minute trips.

6. Use consolidators, but beware of the restrictions.

Consolidators specializing in premium cabins on airplanes often have great deals, and the airlines themselves will be heavily discounting their premium cabins, so check the specials on their web sites. Sites like Vayama.com, airfare.com and Asia.com also sometimes sell consolidator fares. Google “airfarewatchdog consolidator fares” to find more information online.

7. Use a flexible date search.

Would you fly in a different month, or a day or two earlier or later, to save hundreds of bucks? If so, learn how to use the flexible travel-date search feature on airline and third-party sites.

8. Consider extra fees before you buy.

If Southwest has a fare of $198 round-trip and United has $148, and you are checking three bags, then Southwest has the lower fare because Southwest charges nothing for the first two checked bags, whereas United would charge you an additional $165 each way for three.

9. Combine two separate fares rather than buying one fare.

If you’re flying to Europe, you might save by purchasing one fare from the U.S. to, say, Dublin, and another from Dublin on low-cost Ryanair.com to your next destination. (Just beware of Ryanair’s abundant fees.) Same holds true for some destinations in Asia (fly into Singapore and catch low-cost Airasia.com from there) and to some smaller Caribbean destinations via San Juan or the Bahamas.

10. Buy tickets on an airline that will refund the difference if a fare goes down.

If you buy a non-refundable ticket one day and the price drops the next, you can ask for a refund for the difference. Most airlines charge an “administrative” fee of $150 or more, wiping out any savings. Some airlines give you the entire fare difference without a fee. The “nice” airlines are JetBlue, Southwest and Alaska.

11. Check fares several times a day, and don’t listen to pundits who predict airfares.

A lot of people say they know where airfares are headed. But airlines are unpredictable, and any expert who claims he or she knows that airfares will be lower or higher in the coming months is suspect. Fares fluctuate throughout the day, and the number of seats offered at the lowest fares also changes frequently. So if you don’t like the fare at 10 a.m., check at 2 p.m. or the next day and you may be surprised.

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A month ago, San Francisco restaurateur Mark Pastore of Incanto wrote an impassioned blog post, Is OpenTable Worth it?, in which he bemoaned the reservation system’s fees and encouraged his readers to better support restaurants, many of which are operating on the edge of business viability, by calling them directly for reservations, thereby reserving OpenTable’s substantial fees for the restaurants themselves.

It’s a complicated relationship that restaurant owners have with OpenTable. There’s no question that OpenTable fills seats that would [...]]]>

A month ago, San Francisco restaurateur Mark Pastore of Incanto wrote an impassioned blog post, Is OpenTable Worth it?, in which he bemoaned the reservation system’s fees and encouraged his readers to better support restaurants, many of which are operating on the edge of business viability, by calling them directly for reservations, thereby reserving OpenTable’s substantial fees for the restaurants themselves.

It’s a complicated relationship that restaurant owners have with OpenTable. There’s no question that OpenTable fills seats that would otherwise go empty. And it’s ridiculous to pine for the pre-OpenTable era, when finding a reservation meant calling establishment after establishment and hoping for the elusive available table at the time you wanted. Even Pastore, in an e-mail to me, relented:

I certainly don’t want guests to go back to booking all reservations by telephone or as you suggest going serially from one website to the next to find a good table match. Yes, both of those scenarios suck.

What does he want, then? He wants OpenTable to not have a monopoly on the reservation business:

How about some good old fashioned American competition to keep pricing honest? And how about someone figuring out a way to monetize this online service on an ad model, like Gmail or any other of countless web services, rather than as something that ultimately siphons hefty fees from the diners. And how about someone figuring out a way to present a more trustworthy and comprehensive directory of all bookable restaurants out there, not just the closed universe (OT.com) of those who are paying thousands for the privilege of being listed?

OpenTable gooses loyalty with a points system.

At the very least, Pastore would like to see a more restaurant-friendly fee structure. Based on some admittedly old available data, he believes that an OpenTable reservation that costs a restaurant about $10 (taking into account monthly and per-booking fees) would completely negate a typical 5 percent profit on a $200 dinner check. The economics of OpenTable for restaurant owners are not crystal clear, though. See this discussion on Chow.com.

Leaving the table
It was with my conversation with Pastore in mind that I talked to Chuck Templeton of GrubHub, the OpenTable of take-out. Not coincidentally, Templeton was the founder of OpenTable in 1998. He’s already made one fortune from restaurants (OpenTable went public in 2009). It appears he’s at it again, with a similar, if less audacious and more open plan.

OpenTable is a subscription service. Restaurants pay a fee to get on the network, plus a fee for each booking. The newer Grubhub charges only for orders taken, with no monthly fee. It also lists nonparticipating restaurants (it includes their scanned menus), although it can’t enable online ordering for them.

Templeton believes that since his service can make take-out and delivery more profitable, by improving the yield of a kitchen, his company may even contribute to the the rise of no-table restaurants. As he notes, during a tough economy, diners don’t eat out as much, but people still buy prepared and cooked food. And for restaurants, a no-table, delivery-only setup means better per-meal margins, by quite a lot.

Even if Grubhub doesn’t contribute to the restaurant business fundamentally changing, it’s still a good model, and the company is well-funded ($14 million in three rounds, the latest led by Benchmark) and also riding the mobile wave (you can order from your smartphone in the train home; or when you’re at a hotel and want to do better than room service).

GrubHub collects delivery information from subscribing restaurants as well as establishments that don’t use it.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)

Securitizing diners?
But the key to success in this business isn’t just delivering a convenient service to diners and incremental profits to restaurants. My impression is that Pastore and Templeton both understand that the real business value to a reservation system is the aggregation of individual consumer loyalties (yours and mine) into big, valuable bundles. When you collect spending and behavior data into big buckets, you can resell it, advertise against it, and–if you end up with a bigger clump of it than anyone else–set the price for using your service wherever you want.

Another way of looking at it: for these businesses to win, they have to move customers’ loyalties from the restaurants they serve over to their own services. That is what OpenTable has done very effectively, by giving users a single site and log-in to manage their restaurant planning. To add insult to injury (if you are looking at the business from Pastore’s perspective), OpenTable has a loyalty points system that rewards diners for using it–and explicitly not using the restaurants’ own reservationists–to book tables.

Grubhub offers a similar one-stop convenience pitch to take-out diners, but it doesn’t have a loyalty points system yet. Templeton told me the company is looking into launching one.

Templeton also rebuts Pastore’s argument that monopolistic reservations or ordering systems steal value from the restaurants they serve by noting that most restaurant operators welcome the additional business and that these big, centralized systems can provide far richer market data to their customers that the restaurants could collect themselves.

Nonetheless, Pastore believes that a nonmonopolistic reservation system would be better for business owners, since it would cost less. He and I agree that it could also be better for diners since it would encourage competing reservations systems. In the travel business one can see the effect of competition in consumer-facing reservation systems: look at Hipmunk, for example, to see a new spin on airline data visualization and booking.

We see innovation in travel sites not because airline data is open or free–live airfare information comes from a few private sources and is expensive to license–but rather because the revenues to be made from travel bookings are so high that the economics of buying the data work in an entrepreneur’s favor. Google, by the way, is attempting to get into this game by buying airline data company ITA.

Speaking of Google acquisitions, this aggregation of customer loyalty is also the root of Groupon’s model. This service combines collections of consumers into such valuable bundles that businesses are willing to give them giant discounts. But it’s an open argument if these bargain-seekers’ loyalties to saving money rub off on the businesses that use Groupon.

Unfettered fees
Pastore is worried that if OpenTable continues to round up and lock in restaurants, it may well start to squeeze its clients for increasing fees, as, he says, TicketMaster has done. Aside from being a loud and rare conscientious objector to OpenTable, he hasn’t volunteered to spearhead the creation of a cooperative, open reservation system. Such a project would be hard to get off the ground, in part because OpenTable is more than a collector of table availability; it’s also the computerized reservation system that many restaurants rely on for all their table management, including phone reservations and tracking walk-in diners. Switching businesses over to a new system would be a tough sales job.

The restaurant business could stand the competition, but disgruntled owners like Pastore are going to have to do more than talk if they want to see an alternative that works for business owners and diners. OpenTable has had 12 years to dig in and it will be extremely difficult to displace.

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From 2009 to 2010, PhoCusWright notes a “strong countercyclical performance for the OTA category.” In 2009, sales fell only 1 percent [...]]]> A Changing Travel Market
From 2008 to 2010, online travel agencies were able to chip away at the online market share of their suppliers, reducing the suppliers from owning 62 percent of the online business in 2008 to 59 percent in 2010, according to travel industry research firm PhoCusWright. Bargain hunters drove the market, which eroded the importance of brand loyalty.

From 2009 to 2010, PhoCusWright notes a “strong countercyclical performance for the OTA category.” In 2009, sales fell only 1 percent for the sector, compared to 5 percent for the total online leisure/unmanaged business travel market. And, online travel agencies have posted double-digit gains in 2010.

Stronger industry conditions, however, are better for the suppliers, and PhoCusWright observes, “With the rebound continuing, supplier websites will likely regain momentum as the OTA fight to hold on to their share gains.”

In regards to the actual travel experience, ostensibly, the airline’s brand matters most. When a passenger books through an online travel agency, the brand associated with the transaction lasts for a few minutes – or a few hours, depending on the diligence of the buyer’s search. Meanwhile, interaction with the airline’s brand starts during the search for a ticket, persists through the flight and ends sometime after the passenger hops into a town car to get to his ultimate destination. To register in the customer consciousness, online travel agencies need to develop the sort of presences that will keep them top of mind.

This runs counter to the traditional online customer acquisition models associated with the online travel agency business, which involve a combination of search engine optimization, online ads, affiliate programs and social media. These are transaction-oriented tactics, which speak directly to the brand-barrenness of big discounting.

More Than the Transaction
The largest online travel agencies have already moved past transaction myopia: everybody knows the Travelocity gnome, Priceline‘s William Shatner and the likes of “Cooper” from Expedia. For all but the top players, however, investments in mass media brand development (such as television) have generally been eschewed in favor of what’s been known to work. Speaking at Business Insider’s IGNITION conference last week, Buddy Media CEO Michael Lazerow noted that Travelocity grew to $4 billion in revenue through online means before it moved to television to get to the next level.

Yet, for the online travel agency sector to hold its ground – and even grow – in 2011, brand has to matter more, and this means casting a wider media net. This, plus the size of CheapOair relative to its competitors, is what caught my attention about its recent media diversification. The company is launching its first television ad campaign, “Get More for Less,” in an aggressive move to get out in front of the imminent online travel market shift.

The move to television is an aggressive one, and it comes a bit ahead of “schedule” for CheapOair, if you use the Travelocity number as a reference point. Expedia pulled in close to $3 billion in revenue last year, for example, and Priceline at $2.3 billion. Travelong/CheapOair generated $825 million in revenue in 2009 and has grown at a year-over-year rate of 45 percent this year, resulting in forecasted 2010 revenues of $1.2 billion.

The company’s CEO, Sam Jain, says, “TV is a new strategy for CheapOair and as we head into our 6th year we believe this is the right time to expand our marketing efforts. TV is a natural evolution from our current digital marketing and will help build awareness among a larger audience and introduce more people to the brand.” The countercyclical tendencies of the online travel agency market relative to travel as a whole reinforce this point.

Pointing to the potential for a virtuous cycle, CheapOair’s Sr. Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, Bill Miller, adds, “This new TV campaign should draw in more customers for us which in turn will bring more value to our supplier partners. Our suppliers — airlines, hotels, car rentals —- want valuable and efficient distribution partners. I believe we are all that and more and this TV campaign is just another example of how we can extend our marketing reach on the behalf of our supplier partners.”

Fashion versus Reality
It’s been fashionable among the digerati to claim the death of other forms of media, and I’m as guilty as the rest. But, the reality is that SEO and online ads (a la Google’s pay-per-click model) are becoming increasingly crowded and competitive. Since they are focused on the transaction rather than the brand, they don’t provide for a relationship with the customer that results in a gradual reduction in cost per revenue over time. It’s strictly “pay by the drink,” and that can get pricey.

With the travel market starting to tip in favor of the travel suppliers over the online travel agencies, the costs associated with traditional online marketing will become even higher, as brand brings customers back to the suppliers and online travel agencies chase a shrinking share of bargain hunters. For online travel agencies to compete effectively, they have to make their own investments in branding – a commitment that lacks the predictability of other forms of marketing.

Strangely, television may become the key to winning on the web in the travel industry in 2011. A better market translates to the amplification of the importance of brand, and commercials are still a critical aspect of this in the consumer world.

A battle of the brands is about to break out. The good news is that it’s for your benefit … and you’ll get to watch it on TV!

[photo by Do u remember via Flickr]

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Avoiding closed British airspace, Scully diverted the couple to Dubai – which she knew they had always dreamed of visiting – then back to New York. Indagare, a New York-based agency, went so far as to try to charter a private plane, though ultimately managed to reroute clients normally.

The map was compiled on December 3, between 5:45 pm and 6:10 pm — so attempts to replicate the content may [...]]]> A fast food franchise, an airline, a ballot initiative, a couple newspapers, a porn actress, and a boatload of colleges and sports teams. These are some of the items that comprise the United States of Autocomplete — a map labeled with the first results that pop up when entering state names into Google Search.

The map was compiled on December 3, between 5:45 pm and 6:10 pm — so attempts to replicate the content may warrant different results. Case in point, Massachusetts would now be “Massachusetts RMV” rather than “Massachusetts Bay Colony.”

But it does represent an interesting look at each state’s most popular namesakes. North Carolina apparently has appealing furniture, many are enraptured by the Illinois state lottery, and Kansas can be associated with the Chiefs despite the team being from Missouri.

And the phenomena doesn’t have to be limited to the States. Gizmodo commenter Dys gave a run through the alphabet using Google’s autocomplete. Here are the results:

• Amazon
• Bank of America
• Craigslist
• Dictionary
• eBay
• Facebook
• Gmail
• Hotmail
• Ikea
• JC Penney
• Kohls
• Lowes
• Mapquest
• Netflix
• Orbitz
• Pandora
• Quotes
• Realtor
• Skype
• Target
• USPS
• Verizon
• Weather
• Xbox
• Yahoo
• Zappos

In the interest of symmetry, Dys also included the search terms from Yahoo’s autocomplete — with results accurately described as “depressing.”

• Airplanes
• Bruno Mars – Just The Way You Are
• Calorie Counter
• Dynamite Taio Cruz
• Eminem
• Funny Video
• Glee
• Hey Soul Sister
• I love the way you lie
• Justin Beiber (please gauge my eyes out)
• Katy Perry
• Love the way you lie
• Michael Jackson
• Nicki Minaj
• OMG usher
• Paramore
• Queen
• Rihanna
• Shakira
• Teenage Dream Katy Perry
• Usher
• Vanessa Hudgens
• Waka Waka
• X Factor 2010
• Your love Nicki Minaj
• Zombie

Guess we’ve finally discovered what Yahoo is: a test to see if you could understand or even stomach modern youth culture.

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On Dec. 1, 2010 the airline commenced services to DWF from Los Angeles International (LAX).

Virvin America celebrated the launch of its new upscale, low fare service to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) – the 12th airport in its growing network and first mid-continent destination.

Known [...]]]> Virgin America, the California-based domestic airline, started San Francisco (SFO) service to Dallas-ForthWorth International Airport (DFW) today, Dec. 6, marking its second West Coast connection to the heart of Texas in less than a week.

On Dec. 1, 2010 the airline commenced services to DWF from Los Angeles International (LAX).

Virvin America celebrated the launch of its new upscale, low fare service to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) – the 12th airport in its growing network and first mid-continent destination.

Known for its stylish design and innovative amenities, Virgin America is injecting new airline competition into DFW, with daily nonstop flights between DFW and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and daily nonstop flights between DFW and San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

The airline marked its inaugural LAX-DFW flight with a Texas-sized welcome for its first guests on the DFW tarmac.Virgin America’s Lone Star Launch Party turned the Dallas Opera on its head for a good cause, with a secret musical performance by the legendary 10-time Grammy award winner – Willie Nelson.

For its Texas launch, Virgin America teamed up with Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) via the “Stand Up Dallas-Fort Worth” digital campaign, which urged flyers in its newest market to stand up for a good time and a good cause by tapping their social networks. Those who tapped the largest network of donors to give to SU2C’s groundbreaking cancer research funds scored a spot at the launch party and the airline matched donations dollar for dollar.

Virgin Group Founder Sir Richard Branson opened the Winspear Opera House to fellow rabble-rousers and do-gooders for an once-in-a-lifetime launch party and performance: a private show with Willie Nelson Family.

“With touch-screen entertainment offering live TV, movies and hundreds of entertainment choices and new aircraft that look like nothing else in the skies, we think our service will be a breath of fresh air for Dallas-Fort Worth travelers,” said Virgin America President and CEO David Cush. “Before today, flyers along the routes had very little choice. A little healthy competition is always a good thing – and we hope our flights can bring some style and fun back to flying.”

The first Virgin America Airbus A320 aircraft received a red carpet welcome with a Virgin twist – an Eddy Deen Company BBQ on the arrival tarmac with Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, DFW CEO Jeff Fegan and Virgin Group Founder Sir Richard Branson.

The flight also enjoyed a uniquely Fort Worth receiving line with “heavy-hitters” from the Fort Worth longhorn herd welcoming the airline known for service that is very different from the typical domestic airline “cattle car.”

Virgin America offers outstanding guest service and beautifully designed cabins with a host of high-tech amenities and entertainment choices at every seat. The airline’s Red touch-screen entertainment platform offers 30 films, live TV, Google maps, videogames, seat-to-seat chat, music videos, a 3000 MP3 catalog (and the ability to build a custom play-list in-flight), a first-of-its-kind digital Shop section and an on-demand menu – so guests can order a cocktail or meal right from their seatback any time during a flight.

As SU2C’s Official Domestic Airline partner, Virgin America has pledged to support SU2C’s mission by driving awareness and funding for lifesaving cancer research.

On Virgin America, travelers can join the SU2C movement at 35,000 feet via the Red platform. Travelers can visit Red’s Shop section, choose a donation, swipe a credit card and join the fight to bring an end to cancer – right from their seat.

Virgin America continues to experience significant growth with the addition of four destinations in 2010.

In July 2010, the airline placed one of the year’s single largest aircraft orders at the Farnborough International Airshow – announcing plans to order up to 60 new aircraft. The airline’s fleet is projected to grow by two-thirds by the end of 2011 and will triple in size by 2016.

Since its 2007 launch, Virgin America has created 1,700 new jobs and welcomed more than 10 million guests. Virgin America flies to San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C., Seattle, Las Vegas, San Diego, Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Toronto, Orlando, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Cabos (starting Dec. 16, 2010) and Cancun (starting Jan. 19, 2011).

Virgin America is a U.S.-controlled and operated airline and is an entirely separate company from Virgin Atlantic. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is a minority share investor in Virgin America.

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Alaska Airlines is adding more flights and when an airline does that it usually means more savings for consumers, says Rick Seaney of FareCompare.com.

Daniel Acker file photo/Bloomberg News

Knowledge can lead to powerful savings, at least when it comes to [...]]]>

Alaska Airlines is adding more flights and when an airline does that it usually means more savings for consumers, says Rick Seaney of FareCompare.com.

Daniel Acker file photo/Bloomberg News

Knowledge can lead to powerful savings, at least when it comes to airfares. To help explain the murky workings of air pricing, I interviewed Rick Seaney, a longtime industry insider, and the co-founder of search engine FareCompare.com.

Frommer: How often do airfares change?

Seaney: Domestic airfares (both in Canada and the U.S.) are filed three times a day, at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. It typically takes two hours for those reservations to get into the res systems. International fares can change hourly.

Frommer: Why is it important for consumers to understand that timing?

Seaney: Well, it can help them better time their purchases in relation to air sales. Most domestic air sales are filed at 8 p.m. on Monday nights. So they hit the reservations system right after midnight. But you don’t necessarily want to book then. Instead wait for the next two cycles before booking, so that the other airlines have time to match the sale fares. Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET is usually when the maximum number of cheap fares are in the system (though you can often book sales fares through Thursday). Try not to book on weekends, as most sales will have expired by then.

Frommer: But you can’t book on any Tuesday, right? If you book too far in advance your particular travel window may not be on sale, right?

Seaney: Correct. On any given flight, you could have 10 different groups of prices on seats. Often the very cheapest airfares come with some heavy restrictions, and these won’t even be on the market until about three-and-a-half months out. An exception to this is Southwest Airlines, which sometimes does sell its less-expensive seats earlier. But on most airlines if you book six months in advance, you’ll be paying at the fifth- or sixth-highest price point at best.

Look also at the day of the week you’re flying. Generally, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday flights are cheaper for domestic flights than those on other days of the week.

Frommer: What about international fares?

Seaney: The sales on these tend to be seasonal. But even for these, you generally don’t want to book more than four or five months out. As for days of the week, weekends tend to be about $50 pricier than weekday flights.

Frommer: Are there any new trends in the way airfares are being priced?

Seaney: We’re seeing far more one-day sales, and even two- to three-hour sales than we did a year ago. The airlines are testing and probing, trying out new ideas on Twitter and Facebook. It’s a way for them to get consumers to come directly to their sites to book, now that most of the online travel agencies have eliminated their booking fees.

Frommer: I’m a bit skeptical about these short-lived sales. Many of them are over so fast, I wonder how a person who has to work for a living, and can’t just be watching Twitter all day, could actually take advantage of them.

Seaney: It’s true that the airlines use these sales primarily to create buzz. But a savvy consumer can sign up for fare alerts to the destination they want to visit and catch these sales. (Note from author: Such sites as FareCompare.com and AirfareWatchDog.com specialize in these types of alerts.)

Frommer: But how can one know that one’s booking when fares are lowest?

Seaney: Well, we have historic data on our site that can help . Another tactic is to look at which direction oil prices are trending (Google “Bloomberg oil” for easy-to-use charts). If oil prices are going up, it’s likely that airfares will, too.

Frommer: Are there any destinations or airlines that tend to be cheaper right now?

Seaney: Both JetBlue and Alaska Air are adding new flights, which is good news for fliers. Whenever an airline starts a route they typically have to discount for 3-6 months, because they’re trying to steal market share from their competitors. As for destinations, Hawaii, the Caribbean and Florida (with the exception of Orlando) are seeing an increase in service, which translates (in many cases) to lower prices than last year.

Pauline Frommer is the creator of the award-winner Pauline Frommer’s Travel Guides series. She co-hosts the radio program The Travel Show with her father, Arthur Frommer. Find Pauline’s books online at www.frommers.com/pauline. Order your copy of Frommer travel guidebooks at www.StarStore.ca.

© 2010 by Pauline Frommer

Distributed by King Features Syndicate

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Major airlines began the fee parade in earnest in 2008, when fuel prices were soaring. They picked up the pace during the deep recession, and airlines now say there’s no turning back. No wonder: Fees are helping [...]]]> As you’re packing for holiday flights, here’s all the incentive you need to keep those extra boots and sweaters out of your luggage: Airlines’ overweight-bag fees are as high as $175. And that’s on top of the fee to simply check the bag.

Major airlines began the fee parade in earnest in 2008, when fuel prices were soaring. They picked up the pace during the deep recession, and airlines now say there’s no turning back. No wonder: Fees are helping the always-struggling industry make money.

In the first six months this year, U.S. airlines collected nearly $1.7 billion in baggage fees, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Airlines took in an additional $1.1 billion from fees to change a reservation after purchase.

Both figures are all the more stunning when you consider that Southwest Airlines, which carries more domestic passengers than any airline, doesn’t charge for the first two bags or levy a change fee.

Airlines also are pitching new money-makers, such as charging for extra legroom and priority boarding. Southwest says its Early Bird Check-In option, which costs $10 each way and gives passengers a better pick of seats, has been a big hit. The Dallas-based airline famously doesn’t assign seats.

Fees aren’t easy to detect on most airlines’ websites, and they often change on short notice. Tempe-based US Airways, the busiest carrier at Sky Harbor International Airport, recently added a handy summary page to its website.

There’s one bright spot on the fee front this holiday season, though it won’t help the majority of Phoenix fliers. Delta, AirTran Airways and Virgin America are offering free in-flight Wi-Fi, courtesy of Google.

Here is a guide to airline fees. The charges apply to domestic flights and are for each way, except for reservation fees and change fees.

For details on other fees, check airline websites or fee guides at kayak.com, smartertravel.com, fare compare.com and other travel sites.

US Airways
Reservations: $25 over phone, $35 at airport, free at usairways.com.
Checked bags*: $25 for first, $35 for second, $100 for third.
Overweight bags: $50 for 51-70 pounds, $100 for 71-100 pounds.
Reservation changes: $150 plus fare difference.
Priority seating/boarding: $5-$35 for Choice Seats.
Unaccompanied minor: $100.
Pets in cabin: $100.

Southwest
Reservations: Free.
Checked bags: Free for two, $50 for each additional.
Overweight bags: $50 for 51-100 pounds.
Reservation changes: Free; traveler must pay fare difference.
Priority seating/boarding: $10 for Early Bird Check-In.
Unaccompanied minor: $50.
Pets in cabin: $75.

Delta
Reservations: $20-$35 over phone or at airport, free at delta.com.
Checked bags: $23-$25 for first, $32-$35 for second, $125 for third.
Overweight bags: $90 for 51-70 pounds, $175 for 71-100 pounds.
Reservation changes: $150-$200 plus fare difference.
Priority seating/boarding: Not available.
Unaccompanied minor: $100.
Pets in cabin: $125.

United
Reservations: $25 over phone, $30 at airport, free at united.com.
Checked bags: $25 for first, $35 for second, $100 for third.
Overweight bags: $100 for 51-100 pounds.
Reservation changes: $150-$175.
Priority seating/boarding: $9 and up for Economy Plus extra legroom, $9 and up for Priority Boarding.
Unaccompanied minor: $99.
Pets in cabin: $125.

Continental
Reservations: $25 over phone or at a ticket office, $30 at airport, free at continental.com.
Checked bags: $23-$25 for first, $32-$35 for second, $100 for third.
Overweight bags: $50 for 51-70 pounds. Bags more than 70 pounds not accepted.
Reservation changes: $150-$175.
Priority seating/boarding: Prices for extra legroom vary.
Unaccompanied minor: $100.
Pets in cabin: $125.

American
Reservations: $20 over phone, $30 at airport, free at aa.com.
Checked bags: $25 for first, $35 for second, $100 for third.
Overweight bags: $60 for 51-70 pounds, $100 for 71-100 pounds.
Reservation changes: $150 plus fare difference.
Priority seating/boarding: $19-$39 for Express Seats, $10 for Priority Boarding; $9-$19 for Your Choice packages, which include Priority Boarding and other perks.
Unaccompanied minor: $100.
Pets in cabin: $100.

*Baggage fees apply to domestic flights. Consult your airline for international charges.

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Here’s the mystery. Silicon Valley now has the nation’s most modern and efficient airport with the best on-time performance. It’s right next door to global technology giants like Cisco, Adobe, Google, Apple, eBay and Intel. Four million people live closer to Mineta San Jose International Airport than to any other Bay Area airport.

Yet California’s first city has only one flight a day to New York. And it’s a red-eye. However, an hour’s drive up the congested Highway 101, our [...]]]>

Here’s the mystery. Silicon Valley now has the nation’s most modern and efficient airport with the best on-time performance. It’s right next door to global technology giants like Cisco, Adobe, Google, Apple, eBay and Intel. Four million people live closer to Mineta San Jose International Airport than to any other Bay Area airport.

Yet California’s first city has only one flight a day to New York. And it’s a red-eye. However, an hour’s drive up the congested Highway 101, our neighboring airport has 30 daily flights to the New York area.

This makes no business sense, neither for airlines nor for Silicon Valley’s businesses. That’s why we need business and industry’s help to get more air service.

Airlines continue to add capacity at SFO, even though it has the nation’s worst on-time performance — one out of three domestic flights experiences weather delays — and its costs to carriers are higher than San Jose’s airport.

Over the past three years, airlines have increased the number of domestic flights at San Francisco by 8.9 percent and available seats by 11.8 percent. This is during a period when carriers nationwide reduced their average capacity by 15 percent. Meanwhile, San Jose lost more than a third of its flights.

Economics 101 tells you that too much supply drives down fares, and not enough pushes them up. That’s exactly what has happened at SFO and SJC. Higher operating costs, weather delays, and low fares mean that airline

profits are lower at San Francisco than they would be at San Jose. Yet SJC flights are full, and passengers can hardly find a seat to buy because flights sell out early.

The market is demanding more service for Silicon Valley. But airlines make route decisions, not airports. So why don’t they add more flights here? It’s because there’s an airline market-share battle at SFO that ignores their customers’ interests and even their own profits.

Airlines are pestered by airports every day to add flights. All 400 commercial airports in the U.S. want more service. San Jose continues to make its case to airline decision-makers, but in a sluggish economy, carriers often become deaf to airports.

Airlines need to hear from their big Silicon Valley customers. That’s what would get their attention.

We’re unique among airports to have so many major global businesses so close by. That is our strategic strength, but we must mobilize it. Customers need to speak up, loud and clear.

Silicon Valley businesses can appreciate SJC’s greater efficiency for their traveling employees. Easy in, easy out, less time stuck on the highway, and less idle time from flight delays. But they won’t get more available flights until top executives start picking up the phone to tell airline execs to bring more service here.

It’s in their mutual interest: Silicon Valley productivity and airline profits can rise. It’s a simple bottom-line call.

In other regions in the country, whether it’s Portland, Pittsburgh, or Phoenix, business and political leadership successfully works together on behalf of their airports to increase economic prosperity.

Mayor Chuck Reed has made it his priority to get more flights, and he’s enlisted City Council members to help. They’re reaching out to Silicon Valley business and community leaders who can help persuade airline decision makers. Already, the mayor’s relationship with the CEOs of Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines is showing results. Both these carriers are adding — and filling — flights here.

But he needs more active business engagement to help close the deal with other carriers. We need our region’s business leadership to join him in these efforts to get the flights that will help Silicon Valley’s economy thrive.

BILL SHERRY is director or aviation at Mineta San Jose International Airport. He wrote this article for this newspaper.

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Dec 04, 2010

Citing a litany of concerns over competition, airfare, and technology, a US Senator is calling on the Justice Department to put conditions on Google’s purchase of travel software company ITA.

In a letter to the DOJ on Wednesday, Senator Herb Kohl outlined a number of concerns over Google’s purchase of ITA — the independent software provider that powers many of the top [...]]]> concerns over competition, airfare, and technology,

Dec 04, 2010

Citing a litany of concerns over competition, airfare, and technology, a US Senator is calling on the Justice Department to put conditions on Google’s purchase of travel software company ITA.

In a letter to the DOJ on Wednesday, Senator Herb Kohl outlined a number of concerns over Google’s purchase of ITA — the independent software provider that powers many of the top online travel web sites, from individual airline sites to online travel services (Expedia, Orbitz) and aggregators (Kayak, Bing Travel):

“Participants in the on-line travel industry are concerned that Google could refuse to make the key components of ITA software available on reasonable terms to other online travel industry participants by raising the price for a renewed license or refusing to license improvements to the software. Such a course of action, they argue, could effectively degrade competition among air travel search providers and Google could drive more consumers to its own online air travel search services, in the long run harming competition in that market.”
In addition to calling for a “careful review” of the deal, Kohl specifically asks that regulators

make sure that Google’s promise to continue licensing the software to third parties is “enforceable and implemented”
prohibit Google from “selling search positioning or otherwise biasing its air travel search results in a commercially motivated way”
Asked about the Senator’s letter, a Google spokesperson told Reuters, “We’ve pledged to continue licensing ITA’s search tools to other sites, and hope to drive more potential customers to airline and online travel websites.”

Several major players in the travel industry have joined forces to form FairSearch.org, to fight against the Google-ITA deal.

The senator stated:” Many of ITA’s customers believe that access to ITA’s technology is critical to competition in online air travel search because it cannot be matched by other players in the travel search industry. They claim that ITA’s superior access to information and superior technology enables it to provide faster and better results to consumers. As a result, some of these industry participants and independent experts fear that the current high level of competition among online travel agents and metasearch providers could be undermined if Google were to acquire ITA and start its own OTA or metasearch service. If this were to happen, they argue, consumers would lose the benefits of a robustly competitive online air travel market.”

Forbes analyzed this statement and came to a conclusion:

For several reasons, these complaints are without merit and a challenge to the Google/ITA merger would be premature at best—and a costly mistake at worst.

The high-tech market is innovative and dynamic. Goods and services that were once inconceivable are now indispensable, and competition has improved the quality of technology while driving down its costs. But as the market continues to change, antitrust interventions are stuck using a static regulatory framework. As the government develops a strategy for regulating competition in the digital marketplace, it must tread carefully—excessive intervention will stifle innovation, harm consumers, and prevent growth. And given the link between innovation and economic growth, the stakes of “getting it right” are high. The individual nature of every decision, however, makes errors in antitrust enforcement inevitable. Some conduct that is bad for competition will be allowed to go on while some conduct that is good for competition will be blocked by intervention.

But prosecuting pro-competitive conduct is almost certainly more costly than mistakenly allowing anticompetitive conduct because mechanisms are in place to mitigate the latter but not the former. The cost of erroneous intervention is the loss to consumers directly and a deterrent effect on innovation—for fear of intervention, companies may not take large risks. Meanwhile, allowing conduct to persist amidst uncertainty allows the potential benefits of conduct to materialize while maintaining checks against practices that are bad for consumers: both the competitive marketplace and future enforcers have the power to mitigate specific anticompetitive outcomes that may arise. Unfortunately, current antitrust enforcement—abetted by influential congressmen like Senator Kohl—is more, rather than less, aggressive against innovative companies in high-tech industries. This aggression threatens to stifle growth and deter future innovation in a market with incredible potential.

Google has become a primary target of this scrutiny, and the company’s proposed acquisition of ITA, a software company that compiles and processes travel data, is a good example of aggressive scrutiny threatening to stifle growth.

Google’s acquisition of ITA is a straightforward merger where one company has decided to purchase another outright (instead of merely purchasing its services through contract). There are good reasons for integration. Most notably, Google gets to exercise direct control over ITA’s talented engineers if it owns ITA—influence that it would not have if the company simply signed a contract with ITA. If Google is correct that it can manage ITA’s resources better than ITA’s current management, then integration makes sense and is valuable for consumers.

The primary concern raised over Google’s proposed acquisition of ITA is that acquisition would “leverage” Google’s alleged dominance into another market—the online travel search market—and permit Google to prevent its competitors from accessing ITA’s high-quality analysis of flights and fares.

There are a few problems with this.

First, ITA does not provide or own the underlying data (this comes from the airlines themselves); rather it works only to analyze and process it—processing that other companies can and do undertake. It may have developed superior technology to engage in this processing, but that is precisely why it (and consumers) should not be penalized by its competitors’ efforts to hamstring it. Remember—although most of the hand-wringing surrounding this deal concerns Google, it is first and foremost the innovative entrepreneurs at ITA who would be prevented from capitalizing on their success if the deal is stopped.

Second, it is hard to see why, under the facts as alleged by the deal’s naysayers, consumers would be worse off if Google owns ITA than if ITA stands on its own. The claims seem to turn on ITA’s indispensability to the online travel industry. But if ITA is so indispensable—if it possesses such market power, in other words—it’s hard to see how its incentives to capitalize on that market power would change simply by virtue of a change in its management. Either ITA possesses market power and is already taking advantage of it (or else its managers are leaving money on the table and it most certainly should be taken over by another set of managers) or else it does not actually possess this market power and its combination with Google, even if Google were to keep all of ITA’s technology for itself, will do little to harm the rest of the industry as its competitors step up and step in to take its place.

Third and related to these is the simple repugnance of hamstringing successful entrepreneurs because of the exhortations of their competitors, and the implication that a successful company’s work product (like ITA’s “superior technology”) must be rendered widely-available, by government force if necessary.

Meanwhile, Google does not seem to have any interest in selling airline tickets or making airline reservations (just as it doesn’t sell the retail goods one can search for using its site). Instead, its interest is in providing its users easy access to airline flight and pricing data and giving online travel agencies the ability to bid on the sale of tickets to Google users looking to buy. The availability of this information via Google search will lower search costs for consumers and the expected bidding should increase competition and drive down travel costs for consumers. It is easy to see why companies like Kayak and Bing Travel and Expedia and Travelocity might be unhappy about this, but far more difficult to see how their woes should be a problem for the antitrust enforcers (or Congress, for that matter).

The point is not that we know that Google—or any other high-tech company’s—conduct is pro-competitive, but rather that the very uncertainty surrounding it counsels caution, not aggression. As the technology, usage and market structure change, so do the strategies of the various businesses that build up around them. These new strategies present unknown and unprecedented challenges to regulators, and these new challenges call for a deferential approach. New conduct is not necessarily anticompetitive conduct, and if our antitrust regulation does not accept this, we all lose.

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1. Groupon Is Said to Walk Away From Google’s $6 Billion [...]]]> The following are the day’s top
business stories:

1. Groupon Is Said to Walk Away From Google’s $6 Billion Acquisition Offer
2. EU’s Bailout Fund May Be Increased, Reynders Says in a Break With Merkel
3. U.S. Expansion Struggles to Become Broad-Based as Job Growth Lags Behind
4. Hedge Funds Decline in November Amid Europe Debt Crisis, Stock Market Drop
5. U.S. Stocks Gain on Economic Data, Europe’s Attempts to Stem Debt Crisis
6. China’s Central Bank May Order Reserve-Requirement Boost, Adviser Li Says
7. U.S., South Korea Rework Trade Accord to Appease Ford on Tariff Timetable
8. JJ Hip Replacement Lawsuit Proceedings Assigned to One U.S. Judge in Ohio
9. Cathay Chief Tyler Bequeaths Deeper China Ties, Stock Gain in Move to IATA
10.Asian Stocks Rise on U.S. Housing Data, Plan for Europe’s Sovereign Debt
11. Hooky Detectives Track Down Corporate Ferris Buellers on Their Days Off
12.Most Read on Bloomberg: Stock Climb, Ireland Wins Aid, Spanish Bonds Drop

1. Groupon Is Said to Walk Away From Google’s $6 Billion Acquisition Offer

Groupon Inc., a Chicago-based Internet-coupon service with
more than 35 million users, walked away from an acquisition
offer from Google Inc. yesterday, according to a person with
knowledge of the matter. The proposed acquisition fell through
amid hesitation by Groupon´s founding team, said the person,
who requested anonymity because the talks are private. The
startup will decide next year whether to sell shares in an
initial public offering instead,the person said. The
discussions could resume if both sides overcome their
differences. Google had offered $6 billion, including
incentives that would be paid to the target´s managers if
performance targets were met, people familiar with the matter
had said this week. Groupon would have helped its new owner
expand in the $133 billion U.S. local-ad market and lessen its
reliance on Internet-search advertising. “Clearly Google wants
to get into the local space and Groupon was one way,” said
Aaron Kessler, an analyst at ThinkEquity LLC in San Francisco,
who has a “buy” rating on Google and doesn´t own it. “I don´t
think from a Google perspective that if they miss out, that
there´s not other ways to get into local.”

2. EU’s Bailout Fund May Be Increased, Reynders Says in a Break With Merkel

Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders said the euro
region could increase the size of its 750 billion-euro ($1
trillion) bailout fund, breaking ranks with German Chancellor
Angela Merkel and France´s Nicolas Sarkozy. Reynders told
reporters in Brussels yesterday that the current cash pool
could be increased if governments decide to create a larger
fund as part of a permanent crisis mechanism in 2013. “If we
decide this in the next weeks or months, why not apply it
immediately to the current facility?” European officials are
under pressure to find new ways to stop contagion spreading
from Greece and Ireland amid concern the bailout package may
not be large enough to rescue Spain if needed. While Sarkozy
and Merkel rejected expanding the fund on Nov. 25, European
Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet on Dec. 3 indicated
governments should consider just such a move. The International
Monetary Fund also supports boosting the facility after 2013,
Reynders said at the end of a week in which Belgian bond
spreads jump to the highest in at least 17 years.

3. U.S. Expansion Struggles to Become Broad-Based as Job Growth Lags Behind

The U.S. economy is struggling to achieve a broad-based
expansion as companies remain reluctant to ramp up hiring 18
months after the end of the recession. The unemployment rate
rose to seven-month high of 9.8 percent in November as payroll
growth slowed to 39,000 from 172,000, a Labor Department report
showed yesterday. Hours worked and earnings stalled, while a
record 6.4 million women in the labor force were without work
last month. The worse-than-projected job numbers followed a
recent series of statistics indicating the economy was picking
up steam. Sales at retailers rose by the most in eight months
in November while manufacturing kept expanding, data this week
showed. “We haven´t hit escape velocity,” said Mark Zandi,
chief economist at Moody´s Analytics Inc. in West Chester,
Pennsylvania. “We´re approaching it, but the coast is not
clear.” He defined “escape velocity” as consistent economic
growth of 3 percent or more and monthly increases in payrolls
of at least 175,000.

4. Hedge Funds Decline in November Amid Europe Debt Crisis, Stock Market Drop

Hedge funds declined the most in six months in November as
the European debt crisis pushed stock markets lower across the
globe.     The Bloomberg aggregate hedge fund index fell 1.5
percent, the most since May, when a sudden selloff in stocks
known as the “flash crash” prompted investors to cut risk.
Long-short equity funds, whose managers can bet on rising and
falling stocks, dropped 1.6 percent last month and gained 6.1
percent since the start of the year. Global stocks slumped 2.3
percent in November amid concern Europe´s debt turmoil may
engulf Spain and Portugal after a bailout of Ireland failed to
persuade investors that the crisis will be contained. Standard
Poor´s said last week it may cut Portugal´s credit rating.
Prime Minister Jose Socrates has rejected suggestions the
country may need a bailout. Europe is “on the verge of
collapse,” James Melcher, founder of New York-based hedge fund
Balestra Capital Partners LP, said last week at the Hedge Funds
New York conference, organized by Bloomberg Link. “Germany may
leave the euro with a couple of stronger countries.” The main
Bloomberg hedge fund index is weighted by market capitalization
and tracks 2,627 funds, 1,198 of which have so far reported
returns for November. The index fell to 116.71 last month,
compared with a peak of 130.38 in July 2007.

5. U.S. Stocks Gain on Economic Data, Europe’s Attempts to Stem Debt Crisis

U.S. stocks rose this week, sending benchmark indexes to
their biggest gains in a month, amid improved economic data and
efforts by the European Central Banks to stem the region´s debt
crisis. Home Depot Inc. jumped 8 percent, the biggest gain in
the Dow Jones Industrial Average, as construction spending and
existing home sales topped economists´ estimates. Bank of
America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase Co. advanced at least 5.6
percent after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. recommended financial
stocks. Abercrombie Fitch Co. rose 16 percent, its biggest
weekly advance since July, after same-store sales surged. The
Standard Poor´s 500 Index increased 3 percent to 1,224.71 in
the five days yesterday, its largest gain in four weeks. The
Dow rallied 290.09 points, or 2.6 percent, to 11,382.09. The
30-stock gauge had its biggest two-day rally since July on Dec.
1-2, surging 3.2 percent. “With Europe, it appeared some of the
recent flare-up on the continent was going to subside and
markets reacted positively,” said Mark Luschini, chief
investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, which
oversees more than $50 billion in Philadelphia. “There are
continued signs of improvement but the economy isn´t yet
completely out of the woods. The market´s going to be subject
to setbacks.”

6. China’s Central Bank May Order Reserve-Requirement Boost, Adviser Li Says

China may order higher reserve requirements for banks to
counter capital inflows and a possible jump in lending at the
start of 2011, said Li Daokui, an adviser to the central bank.
Li was commenting on the Communist Party Politburo announcement
that the nation will move next year to a “prudent” monetary
policy from the current “moderately loose” stance. The
statement, which endorsed a continued “proactive” fiscal
policy, was reported by the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
Boosting reserve requirements would counter inflows of money
and “China´s own economic cycle, such as the fact that banks
tend to lend more at the beginning of a year,” Li said in a
phone interview in Beijing yesterday. China already has been
winding back stimulus to rein in liquidity and combat
accelerating inflation. Inflows of capital to Asia, the region
leading the global recovery, threaten to fuel price gains and
asset bubbles.

7. U.S., South Korea Rework Trade Accord to Appease Ford on Tariff Timetable

The U.S. and South Korea agreed to change automobile
provisions in a pending free-trade deal, gaining the support of
Ford Motor Co. and lawmakers in both parties for the stalled
accord. Both nations will scale back initial tariff cuts for
cars, and South Korea said it would allow more imports of
U.S.-made vehicles that meet American standards and not Korean
rules. The U.S. will maintain a 25 percent tariff on truck
imports for eight years instead of beginning to phase it out
immediately. “This was the only way to reverse the historic,
lopsided pattern of one-way trade with South Korea,”
Representative Sander Levin, chairman of the House Ways and
Means Committee and a critic of the earlier accord, said
yesterday in a statement supporting the agreement. With almost
$68 billion in trade between the nations, a deal would be the
U.S.´s largest since the North American Free Trade Agreement in
1994, and would help President Barack Obama meet his goal of
doubling American exports in five years. It was backed by
companies including Citigroup Inc., Caterpillar Inc., General
Electric Co. and JPMorgan Chase Co.

8. JJ Hip Replacement Lawsuit Proceedings Assigned to One U.S. Judge in Ohio

All pretrial proceedings in federal lawsuits against
Johnson Johnson over recalled devices used in hip-replacement
surgery will be overseen by a federal judge in Ohio, a judicial
panel decided. U.S. District Judge David A. Katz in federal
court in Toledo will supervise evidence-gathering efforts in
cases over the ASR XL Acetabular System, which JJ´s DePuy
Orthopaedics unit recalled on Aug. 26 after the implants
stopped functioning properly. Such consolidation “will serve
the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote the
just and efficient conduct of the litigation,” according to the
Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. About 150 federal
lawsuits are pending, and plaintiff´s lawyer Steven T. Baron of
Baron Budd in Dallas said he represents “hundreds of
claimants” with defective hips. “I´m highly confident there
will be thousands of lawsuits,” Baron said in an interview. “I
think this is a very significant liability for Johnson
Johnson. I believe that the damages that they´ve caused are in
the billions of dollars.”

9. Cathay Chief Tyler Bequeaths Deeper China Ties, Stock Gain in Move to IATA

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Tony
Tyler will leave after three years in the job having navigated
the slump, extended the carrier´s reach in China and outshone
Singapore Airlines Ltd. in the stock market. Tyler, 55, will
depart the world´s third-biggest airline by market value to
become head of the International Air Transport Association
trade body, according to a statement yesterday. He´ll be
replaced by Chief Operating Officer John Slosar. During his
time as CEO, Tyler has spent billions of dollars on planes from
Airbus SAS and Boeing Co. while returning Cathay to profit
following the first loss in a decade as deeper ties to mainland
China helped it weather the recession. That has helped shares
of the carrier jump 21 percent since he became chief on July 1,
2007, compared with a 10 percent drop at Singapore Air. “Beyond
all the other challenges involved in running an airline, Tyler
has had to manage the relationship with China,” said Tim
Coombs, managing director at Aviation Economics in London.
“Cathay was an offshoot of a big British trading company with a
massive history, and he had to manage it into something quite
different culturally and from a business point of view.”

10.Asian Stocks Rise on U.S. Housing Data, Plan for Europe’s Sovereign Debt

Asian stocks rose this week, reversing three consecutive
weeks of declines, after U.S. economic reports and eased
concern over Europe´s sovereign debt crisis added to confidence
in the global economic recovery. Honda Motor Co., the Japanese
carmaker which receives 80 percent of its sales abroad, gained
2.6 percent in Tokyo. James Hardie Industries SE, the biggest
seller of home siding in the U.S., soared 16 percent in Sydney
as the National Association of Realtors said purchases of
existing homes in the U.S. unexpectedly jumped. HSBC Holdings
Plc, Europe´s biggest bank, advanced 1.8 in Hong Kong after
European government officials threw debt-strapped Ireland a
lifeline. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 3.5 percent to
133.44 this week, reversing three consecutive weeks of
declines. Reports in the U.S. showed consumer confidence rose
to the highest level in five months in November and jobless
benefits over the past month on average dropped to a two-year
low. “The economic data is clearly improving,” said Nader
Naeimi, a Sydney-based strategist at AMP Capital Investors
Ltd., which manages about $93 billion and is a unit of AMP
Ltd., Australia´s second-largest asset manager. “U.S. housing
is showing signs of life and the employment trend is finally
looking encouraging. The easing of European debt concerns is
releasing a handbrake on markets.”

11. Hooky Detectives Track Down Corporate Ferris Buellers on Their Days Off

Rick Raymond parked his black Kia SUV behind a row of trees
and peered out at his target. It was 4 a.m., and Raymond — a
seasoned private detective who has worked roughly 300 cases,
from thieves to philandering spouses — was closing in on a
different sort of prey. Raymond recently has come to occupy a
new and expanding niche in the surveillance universe, Bloomberg
Businessweek reports in its Dec. 6 edition. Corporations pay
him to spy on workers who take “sick days” when they may not,
in fact, be sick. Such suspicion has led Raymond to bowling
alleys, pro football games, weddings and even funerals. On this
morning it has taken him to a field outside the home of an
Orlando, Florida, repairman whose employer is doubtful about
his slow recovery from a car accident. While Raymond tries to
be impartial about his subjects, “80 to 85 percent of the
time,” he said, “there´s definitely fraud happening.”

-0- Dec/05/2010 00:35 GMT

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MONTREAL — Gasoline prices in Eastern Canada have jumped by as much as 12 cents a litre in recent weeks as competition, the fortunes of the U.S. dollar and crude oil costs all create volatility at the pump.

Wild swings in the price of gas are a sign of “guerrilla warfare” pricing tactics among gasoline dealers, an industry analyst said Friday.

Prices in Toronto hit about $1.15 a litre on Friday. Price monitoring website Gasbuddy.com said a litre [...]]]> Gas prices jump in East

MONTREAL — Gasoline prices in Eastern Canada have jumped by as much as 12 cents a litre in recent weeks as competition, the fortunes of the U.S. dollar and crude oil costs all create volatility at the pump.

Wild swings in the price of gas are a sign of “guerrilla warfare” pricing tactics among gasoline dealers, an industry analyst said Friday.

Prices in Toronto hit about $1.15 a litre on Friday. Price monitoring website Gasbuddy.com said a litre in Stephenville, Nfld., ran up to $1.17 and gas was just over $1.12 in Halifax.

Viacom fights YouTube ruling

SAN FRANCISCO — Viacom Inc. is seeking to overturn a court decision that dismissed its claims of copyright abuse against YouTube even though the Internet video site used to show thousands of pirated clips.

The challenge filed Friday in a federal appeals court in New York had been expected since a June ruling rebuffed Viacom’s copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube and its owner, Google Inc.

Viacom is trying to collect more than $1 billon in alleged damages from Google. The case revolves around the premise that YouTube became the world’s leading online video channel by turning a blind eye to the rampant piracy on its site.

Trade deal reached with Korea

WASHINGTON — The United States has reached a trade agreement that will allow its automakers to sell thousands of cars to South Korea and gradually reduce tariffs on U.S. imports of Korean vehicles, the Associated Press reported Friday.

The White House had hoped to reach an agreement last month when Obama travelled to Seoul, but both countries were unable to come to an agreement on outstanding issues.

ACE reduces stake in Air Canada

MONTREAL — ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. is further reducing its once majority stake in Air Canada with the sale of 44 million shares of the airline for $162.8 million, taking ACE another step towards a complete windup.

The Montreal-based company said it has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters led by Canaccord Genuity Corp. and including RBC Dominion Securities Inc. and TD Securities Inc. Canada’s largest airline will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of its B shares at a price of $3.70 each.

Oilsands units drop

CALGARY — Investors punished Canadian Oil Sands Trust on Friday after the company announced it is drastically cutting its payout and boosting capital spending in 2011.

Units in the Calgary-based trust (TSX:COS.UN), which owns a 37 per cent stake in the massive Syncrude oilsands development, dropped nearly 11 per cent to $25.30 in afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

On Thursday night, Canadian Oil Sands announced its first-quarter dividend after it completes its conversion into a corporation will be 20 cents per share.

Cheese bacteria contained

MONTREAL — Saputo believes it has contained possible Listeria bacteria contamination at a Quebec processing plant by expanding a recall of all cheese made on a single line at the unnamed facility.

An expanded recall by Canada’s largest cheese producer covers nine products or a total of 150,000 kilograms of cheese.

Saputo spokeswoman Sandy Vassiadis said the Montreal-based company doesn’t foresee the need to close the entire plant because of problems identified on the one line. “It is in a secluded place in the plant and so it’s only that production line,” she said Friday.

– From the news services

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 4, 2010 B6

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Google (GOOG) announced two new acquisitions in separate blog posts Friday: It has bought speech-synthesis software maker Phonetic Arts and video-distribution technology firm Widevine Technologies.

The U.K.-based Phonetic Arts acquisition will help the search giant improve its voice-activated search services, making them more “natural” and less robot-like,” Mike Cohen, Google’s manager of speech technology, says on the blog. “We are excited about their technology, and while we don’t have plans to share yet, we’re confident that together we’ll move a little [...]]]>

Google (GOOG) announced two new acquisitions in separate blog posts Friday: It has bought speech-synthesis software maker Phonetic Arts and video-distribution technology firm Widevine Technologies.

The U.K.-based Phonetic Arts acquisition will help the search giant improve its voice-activated search services, making them more “natural” and less robot-like,” Mike Cohen, Google’s manager of speech technology, says on the blog. “We are excited about their technology, and while we don’t have plans to share yet, we’re confident that together we’ll move a little faster towards that Star Trek future,” Cohen writes.

Additionally, Google, which already owns YouTube, the world’s largest online-video site, stepped further into the video market with its deal to buy Seattle-based Widevine, which provides tools to help bring videos to a variety of different platforms and devices. The 11-year-old company was backed by investors such as Cisco Systems and Constellation Ventures.

Google, which has a market value of about $183 billion, continues to snap up technology companies at a rapid pace. In July, the company agreed to buy airline fare-pricing platform ITA Software for $700 million, although that deal is still being reviewed by U.S. antitrust regulators. Earlier this week, Google reportedly offered about $6 billion for e-commerce coupon site Groupon.

Google didn’t disclose its purchase price for either Widevine or Phonetic Arts.

Tagged: acquisition, acquisitions, google, mergers and acquisitions, Phonetic Arts, speech search, technology, voice recognition, voice search, voice-activated, voice-activated search, Widevine

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Relaxnews

Friday, 3 December 2010

Close

AFP PHOTO / Marius BECKER

Google’s unabashed ascension to the Internet search throne has caused some to doubt the sincerity of its “Don’t be evil” motto and made it a prime target for market watchdogs.

The latest headache for the firm came Tuesday when European Union officials announced an antitrust probe into accusations by rivals that the Silicon Valley giant was rigging the online search market.

Smaller companies accused Google of “unfavorable treatment” of their services in both unpaid and sponsored search results, the crucial listings that [...]]]>

Google’s unabashed ascension to the Internet search throne has caused some to doubt the sincerity of its “Don’t be evil” motto and made it a prime target for market watchdogs.

The latest headache for the firm came Tuesday when European Union officials announced an antitrust probe into accusations by rivals that the Silicon Valley giant was rigging the online search market.

Smaller companies accused Google of “unfavorable treatment” of their services in both unpaid and sponsored search results, the crucial listings that make the Web navigable.

EU competition authorities are also probing whether Google’s own services – including YouTube video, book-scanning project or telephony – are getting “preferential placement” when users punch in search queries, some of which may lead to consumer spending.

“It’s insane,” SearchEngineLand.com editor-in-chief Danny Sullivan wrote of the accusations in a post at the website.

“If you step back from the rhetoric, the political jockeying, the concerns that Google is just too big so let’s use any argument to stop it – if you logically think about this argument from a user perspective – it makes no sense,” Sullivan said.

Google’s job is to direct people to websites with the information they seek, not to route traffic to other online search engines, he argued.

What does make sense, according to analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley, is that Google is paying a price with regulators and the public for behaving as though it can do what it wants and get away with it.

“Arrogance is what is getting them on the map with the governments,” Enderle said of Google. “It is the arrogance that gets people looking at them like they are doing something wrong.”

Google’s drive to make the entire world’s information available on the Internet ran it afoul of authors and publishers of books it craved for an online digital library. A settlement to that clash is still in the works.

Google sparked concerns about privacy by sending out camera-equipped vehicles to snap pictures to augment its online mapping service.

That controversy catapulted to concerns about law-breaking after it was revealed that “Street View” vehicles inadvertently snatched data from open wireless Internet networks while gathering images.

Doubts about Google’s priorities have been fed by seemingly cavalier comments by its chief executive Eric Schmidt, according to Enderle.

The result has been an impression that Google has drifted from a path of righteousness to behaving badly, and that makes them a ripe political target.

“When a firm gets as much money as Google has as quickly, they don’t get the maturity and the result is they get into trouble,” Enderle said. “The reality is money doesn’t protect you from everything.”

Google’s plan to form an alliance with Yahoo! was abandoned after US antitrust regulators expressed concerns.

Google’s recent purchase of mobile device advertising firm AdMob underwent intense scrutiny by US regulators. A deciding factor in the deal being cleared was likely Apple’s acquisition of a rival mobile ad business.

Google’s effort to buy ITA Software, which specializes in online searches for airfares, is being opposed by a Fair Search alliance of businesses that fear it will have unfair influence on the airline travel industry.

The EU probe “underscores why the FairSearch.org coalition is urging the Justice Department to challenge Google’s proposed acquisition of ITA Software to protect consumers and competition in the online travel market,” said Tom Barnett, a lawyer at travel website Expedia.

Google faces government regulators hardened and honed by years of battle with former top technology world whipping boy Microsoft, according to Enderle.

Microsoft, in turn, learned from its own experience how to sic regulators on Google, the analyst said.

“Microsoft had to build this huge antitrust machine,” Enderle said. “When that died down, what did you think they were going to do except create holy hell for the people who went at them?”

Google has become a “litigation magnet” also in part because its business depends largely on providing people access to content that it doesn’t own, according to the analyst.

Google senior vice president of product management Susan Wojcicki and vice president of engineering Udi Manber on Tuesday posted an online message defending the fairness and transparency of the firm’s search service.

“We’ve always focused on putting the user first by providing the best possible answers as quickly as possible,” they said.

“Given our success and the disruptive nature of our business, it’s entirely understandable that we’ve caused unease among other companies and caught the attention of regulators.”

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This photo was emailed while onboard a Lufthansa transoceanic flight. It features Lufthansa VP Christian Koerfgen (left) and Deutsche Telekom vice president Martin Schlieker try out their new long-haul WiFi connections.

Bert Archer photo/for the Toronto Star

I’m writing this 10,000 metres over the Atlantic, and thanks to Lufthansa’s new FlyNet transatlantic WiFi service, which launches to the public on Wednesday, I’ll be sending it in to my editor from here, too.

I’m feeling a little of the same esprit de geek [...]]]>

This photo was emailed while onboard a Lufthansa transoceanic flight. It features Lufthansa VP Christian Koerfgen (left) and Deutsche Telekom vice president Martin Schlieker try out their new long-haul WiFi connections.

Bert Archer photo/for the Toronto Star

I’m writing this 10,000 metres over the Atlantic, and thanks to Lufthansa’s new FlyNet transatlantic WiFi service, which launches to the public on Wednesday, I’ll be sending it in to my editor from here, too.

I’m feeling a little of the same esprit de geek that people felt the first time they used those old in-flight phones (and before they took a look at the rates). I’m sure a good half of those phone calls consisted of little more than “You’ll never guess where I’m calling you from!”

But this is bigger than those phones were, and it means more than just being able to do something cool like checking Facebook and emailing my story while I’m still in the air. As of Wednesday, you will no longer need to absent yourself from your regular, connected life when you board a long-haul flight. The oceans were the last bastion of the pre-Internet era, when you had to be satisfied with what the airline thought you should watch. Anything you wanted to do on your phone or laptop you’d need to load up before you left, packing your devices with needful things — documents to work on, movies or TV shows you might want to watch, news or books you might want to read — just like you packed your carry-on. You were incommunicado, like the pre-cell era. Some people have romanticized this state of disconnection, characterizing it as more civilized, less harried. But really having Internet access in air is just something you haven’t been able to do and, chances are, something you’ve wanted all along.

For business travel, this is huge. The flights Lufthansa’s offering to begin with — Frankfurt to New York, Detroit and Atlanta — are seven and eight hours. That’s a lot of downtime. It’s something we’re used to, of course, but as soon as you’re actually able to reply to emails, put out office fires, go back and forth on a contract edit a couple of times before you land to sign it, and generally get a day’s work done, I can assure you, this will be one of those things, like bank machines and cellphones, that we’ll quickly forget how we ever did without.

For people on vacation, it’s just the next logical step in the progression toward airlines giving you what you want instead of what they want to give you.

I’ve been testing what it can do here in seat 11A. The speed has been running somewhere between 1.8 megabits per second and 630 kilobits per second for downloading, and 300-600 kilobits per second uploading. It took me about a minute to upload a 1.5 megabyte picture to Twitter. Facebook, Twitter, Gmail all work fine, and Youtube videos play smoothly. Though I was told any form of vocal communication was verboten, a decision based on a poll Lufthansa took of their most frequent fliers who didn’t like the idea, I tried videochatting through Google with a friend in Boston and it worked flawlessly. There were two 30- to 90-second interruptions in service, as the plane’s antenna switched from one satellite to another over the west coast of Ireland and just as we approached the U.S. border, but unless you were actually talking online at the time, you’d never have noticed. I tested the signal on a laptop, a BlackBerry, a Galaxy Tab and an iPad, and all worked fine.

At least until hour five or so, when everyone’s devices started running out of charge and they all plugged them in at once, overloading the electrical system and shutting it down. It stayed down for the rest of the flight, except in first class (where I cadged a charge from an amenable rich guy). Newer planes, we’re told, will have better electrical systems, but for the time being, it’s a real glitch.

As is, in my distinctly non-rich-guy opinion, the price they’re charging. Twenty euros for 24 hours, and 11 for one hour. That’s about $26.75 and $14.65, respectively. Paul Margis, who’s conveniently sitting in 10A and is CEO of Panasonic Avionics, the company that’s providing the service to Lufthansa, told me it costs several hundred thousand dollars to equip each plane. Someone’s gotta pay, I guess. But in a world where WiFi is increasingly free, it won’t take long for the novelty of being able to update your Facebook status with messages like “I’m writing this 10,000 metres over the Atlantic” to wear off, and for people to start thinking they’re getting ripped off. We’ll see what the market will bear once there’s competition in the intercontinental skies.

And there will be soon. Though Lufthansa vice president in charge of innovation Christian Koerfgen says it may be as much as two-and-a-half years before anyone seriously steps on Lufthansa’s toes, Panasonic VP David Bruner says he’s already signed up four more airlines — Turkish Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Dragon Air and Gulf Airways — for versions of the same service to debut within the next six months. And he says 12 more have expressed significant interest, including Air Canada.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ve got another couple of pressing issues to tweet before we land.

Bert Archer is the Toronto Star’s business and tech travel columnist. bertstravel@gmail.com. Twitter name: @BertArcher.

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Jennifer Stoddart is no sycophant. And she seems to have avoided the administrative and budgetary pitfalls that claimed the careers or marred the work of other officers of Parliament. Seven years ago, she took over an [...]]]> The rule for political survival under Stephen Harper’s government seems to be: smile and nod, and hope no one notices you. So it’s a nice surprise that the prime minister has nominated Canada’s high-profile privacy commissioner for re-appointment.

Jennifer Stoddart is no sycophant. And she seems to have avoided the administrative and budgetary pitfalls that claimed the careers or marred the work of other officers of Parliament. Seven years ago, she took over an office in disarray, and turned it into an internationally recognized storehouse of expertise. Her office deals with a large workload. She often has to pronounce on questions while they are in the headlines. There’s an urgency to every matter she takes on, because when an individual’s privacy is under threat, a remedy delayed is a remedy denied.

Most recently, she’s expressed concern about how governments will manage the information they gather on airline passengers. Notably, though, she doesn’t rail against the whole concept of data collection. She’s not a slavish defender of privacy at the cost of every other consideration. Her advice on airline security, as in all matters, is balanced and sensible. If a policy has an unwarranted or unnecessary effect on privacy, Stoddart will point out ways the government can mitigate those effects. When there is a clear breach, though, she doesn’t mince words. She recently said Veterans Affairs’ treatment of veteran Sean Bruyea was “alarming” and might be an indicator of a systemic problem. Stoddart’s office has been pushing Facebook to make changes for several years, and has criticized a careless mistake Google Inc. made in collecting information for its Street View application.

In any era, Canadians would be lucky to have a privacy commissioner ready to denounce and recommend fixes for an egregious but conventional breach of an individual’s rights, as happened in the Bruyea case. Stoddart, though, is particularly suited for this age, when new kinds of co-operation between states, new global business models and new territories in cyberspace are forcing privacy advocates to keep one step ahead.

Technology is changing fast. One gets the sense, though, that Stoddart finds that exciting, as well as challenging. She’s no Luddite. She wants to improve the world of social media, not sneer at it. She treats privacy as an essential living element of 21st-century citizenship. That’s important, because when privacy advocates buy into a binary world view that sees privacy and engagement as opposing principles, that encourages the developers of new technology to dismiss privacy as the concern of a bygone era.

There will be a lot of work to do in the next few years, as governments continue to refine their security protocols and as cyberspace takes on new forms. No public servant should develop a sense of entitlement, but Stoddart shows no signs of doing so. She’s working hard, getting results and is eminently qualified to keep leading this fight for the next few years.

Stoddart has been nothing but fair to this government, and has given it no reason to punish her. It’s quite possible, though, that her independent spirit and sharp mind will prove inconvenient to any government on the receiving end of one of her reports. The Harper government, to its credit, has shown itself willing to take that political risk for the good of the country.

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