Week in Review

Samsung Galaxy Note 7s, airplanes and spontaneous combustion. Oh my! The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issued an emergency order banning all Samsung Galaxy Note7s from air transportation, carry-on baggage and checked baggage on flights to, from or within the United States effective Saturday, October 15. BBC reports carriers in Australia, Asia and Europe followed suit shortly after. Air Berlin, Qantas, Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines have all issued statements prohibiting the devices. According to Business Traveller, Samsung has set up exchange booths at airports in Australia, South Korea and the U.S. in an effort to replace the faulty devices. Airline passengers are able to trade in their Note7 for a new device and have their personal information transferred at the booths.

The Wall Street Journal reports India’s largest online travel agencies MakeMyTrip and Ibibo are merging. The transaction is expected to be finalized by the end of December and will enable the online travel agency to be more fiercely competitive in an ever-changing landscape.

According to Travel Daily News, IATA forecasts air passenger demand will nearly double over the next 20 years from 3.8 billion air travelers in 2016 to a projected 7.2 billion in 2017. The same source reports a new UK travel service enables airline passengers to check in luggage remotely from anywhere in London. The service provides a seamless travel experience by enabling passengers to travel completely luggage free until they reach their destination.

Airbnb has enacted a new “one host, one home” policy in which it will ban hosts with multiple listings in San Francisco and New York. According to Skift, the company will have the technology to do so as of November 1.

After an extensive development process, the GBTA Foundation unveiled a new Car Rental RFP, in partnership with Enterprise. The updated RFP includes a new sustainability component and is available free of charge to all here. The GBTA Foundation also released its latest quarterly U.S. business travel forecast, slightly downgrading expectations from the previous quarter. Skift shares findings from the forecast and reports election malaise and global uncertainty are expected to hurt U.S. business travel spend in 2016.

According to USA TODAY, the DOT debates requiring U.S. airlines to include ancillary fees in base fares for “all-in-one pricing” to alleviate traveler frustrations. Tnooz reports Google has added airfare forecasts and hotel loyalty marketing to its metasearch tool. It now predicts price changes for plane tickets and encourages consumers to sign up for hotel loyalty programs to receive special rates.

Skift reports traditional car service use is on the rise, despite the presence of ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft. The steady growth can be attributed to the prevalence of traditional car service use in the business travel space.

Your list for this week comes from Skift:

6 Charts Comparing Business and Leisure Traveler Satisfaction with U.S. Destinations