Delta Tests Program to Woo Top Biz Clients

Delta Evolves Its Corp Program
Do business travelers care if airlines know their companies? Delta thinks they do. The carrier rolled out a pilot program earlier this year to greet travelers who work for about 30 of Delta’s large corporate clients and give recognition to their employers. The corporate recognition program is intended to show client companies and their travelers that Delta cares they are there. The carrier said additional benefits and functionality will be added later this year. Travel managers are hoping for tangible benefits like preferred boarding, waived bag fees, upgrades and lounge access, but the carrier isn’t talking specifics yet.

Brazil Biz Travel to Grow by 14%
Business travel slowdown? Not in Brazil. The latest numbers from the Global Business Travel Association show that business travel in Brazil has nearly tripled in the past 12 years. Road warriors spent $11 billion in Brazil in 2000. Annual growth in succeeding years averaged 8%, bringing Brazil’s business travel spend to more than $30 billion in 2012. The GBTA is expecting a 14.3% jump this year to $34.5 billion. Brazil currently has the eighth largest business travel spend and is expected to pass Italy, France and the U.K. over the next two years, according to the GBTA.

U.S. Airport Cuts Are a Bad Move, Say German Execs
Slashing federal staffing at U.S. airports and increasing wait times for passengers is the wrong move. That’s the warning from German officials, who say slowing down border and security formalities will hurt inbound travel to the U.S. Jurgen Weber, chair of Lufthansa’s supervisory board, complained that the TSA line for a flight from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Washington, D.C. was hundreds of yards long. Customs lines for Lufthansa passengers at JFK are stretching to two hours. Thomas Zielke, head of a German trade group in the U.S., pointed out that 3,500 German companies that rely on air travel to the U.S. face business travel delays.

Entry Delays Incur High Costs for U.S.
In a U.S. Travel Association poll of inbound non-U.S. residents in February, nearly half said they would advise friends and colleagues to avoid the U.S. because of the extended wait times for entry. USTA estimates that because entry delays are encouraging travelers to avoid the U.S., they are costing $95 billion in lost output.

App Helps Travelers Share Costs of Private Jets
Once upon a time, say 2007, if you had to ask what it cost to fly on a private jet, you couldn’t afford it. These days, even private jet owners are looking to control costs. Or that’s what a new app called JumpSeat is hoping. The app links those looking to share space on private jets with those who want to fly and are willing to share costs. Typical costs, according to JumpSeat are: $12,500 from Aspen, Colo., to Washington, D.C., on a Citation X and $6,250 from Miami to New Jersey on a Hawker 800XP. The offers generally come from individuals or companies that have chartered a private aircraft but don’t want to fly half-empty. Buyers are willing to buy space on somebody else’s charter in order to pay a few thousand dollars for a seat instead of tens of thousands for the entire aircraft.

In Hotel Choices, Wi-Fi Counts; Free Wi-Fi Counts More
Wi-Fi can make or break a hotel booking decision. An international survey by Hotels.com found that two-thirds of respondents named free Wi-Fi as the hotel amenity they most wanted to become standard. More than half, 56%, said free Wi-Fi is the one hotel amenity they look for most when booking business travel. That beats both free breakfast and free parking as the most-desired business travel amenity. Just 11% of respondents said they would be willing to pay for hotel Wi-Fi.

On Samoa Air, Big Passengers Pay More
Big is not better in Samoa, at least not for air travel. Samoa Air may be the first carrier to charge passengers based on weight. The “pay what you weigh” system is the fairest way to charge passengers, said Samoa Air chief Chris Langton. The airline charges a flat fee per kilo for passengers and their luggage. That can mean lower fares for families with multiple children and higher fares for large adults.

In 2009, Irish budget carrier Ryanair proposed what it called a “fat tax” on oversized passengers, but it dropped the idea saying that weighing passengers and collecting weight-based fees would endanger its 25-minute turnaround time and online check-in services. A Skyscanner poll of 1,000 international passengers released early this month found that 59% of respondents favored special fees for overweight passengers.