Week In Review

Week In Review

We kick off this week’s news highlights with some positive news from a GBTA study released this week showing that most travel managers (72 percent) are satisfied with their salary. Average total compensation rose 6 percent year over year and the study also showed that travel managers enjoy significant benefits.

Late last week Frequent Business Travel reported on United’s changes to their mileage program and their announcement of additional requirements for elite status. In related news, Scott McCartney of The Wall Street Journal’s Middle Seat blog shared how frequent fliers are hunting for loopholes in new mile award programs.

Delta confirmed this week that it will go with Airbus in a big 50-jet order according to USA Today, which also reported that Airbus will deliver its first A350 in mid-December. Also in aviation news this week, The Hill’s Keith Lang says the Federal Aviation Administration is touting its NextGen implementation in Texas.

JetBlue joined the majority of U.S. airlines this week when it announced it will start charging customers to check bags. Southwest remains the last big airline in the U.S. to hold out on this front says USA Today. Just how much do airlines make from ancillary fees like checked bags? Peter Greenberg’s blog breaks it down by airline.

On the hotel front, Hugo Martin of the LA Times reported that more hotels are going green and it’s not just to save water or money. He cites a GBTA study that says the percentage of companies with travel booking policies that either require or recommend that a hotel adopt “sustainability” measures has jumped to 19% in the U.S., up from 11% in 2011.

Amazon is also getting into the hotel game. Skift reports that Amazon.com is poised to launch its own travel service, featuring booking at independent hotels and resorts near major cities.

In other news, GBTA also announced several awards this week that were presented at last week’s GBTA Conference 2014 Berlin. Volvo, Scandic Hotels, Portman and Scania were presented with Project ICARUS bronze trophies as winners of the second European Sustainability Outstanding Achievement Awards. Mark Cuschieri, Executive Director, Global Travel Lead – UBS,  was awarded the 2014 Luoma Award.

That’s a wrap for this week. The Week in Review will take next Friday off, but will be back in two weeks keeping you up to date on all the latest in business travel.