• FinalAirfare^SM – Dynamic bag and drink fee calculator estimates the total amount to be paid by the consumer taking into consideration not only airfare but also most common airline fees (available for most domestic U.S. flights)
• Flight Connection Risk Indicator – InsideTrip lets shoppers know when there is a particularly strong likelihood that a connecting itinerary could turn ugly – for instance, an itinerary involving a chronically late inbound flight with a very short layover increases the probability for a missed connection
• MarketQuality^SM – InsideTrip tracks and displays historical average TripQuality scores for all observed itineraries in a market to give shoppers an idea of what to expect on a given route
• New search capabilities – InsideTrip now offers the ability to search for business-class, first-class and multi-city itineraries
• Improved user interface, cleaner navigation, and major browser support
• InsideTrip now partners with American Airlines to integrate their fares and schedules

As an airline insider (I spent 10+ years running pricing departments at 3 different major US airlines), I’ll be posting my thoughts and observations on airlines, airfares, and just generally important stuff that I think you should know about in air travel.

So please add us to your reader, become a Facebook fan, and above all, shop for airline tickets at www.InsideTrip.com for a true insider’s view of how to find the best itineraries.

Until the airline bean counters see that this policy is costing them bookings, they’ll continue to push it as far as they can.

My advice is simple: BUY DELTA: they are the only large airline left out there not charging for checking the first bag and are no doubt revisiting their policy every time a new fee is introduced.

P.S. Southwest charges no bag fees whatsoever and are the most customer-friendly when it comes to fees.

Good Guys: AirTran, Alaska, Continental, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Midwest, and Virgin America

Bad Guys: American, Continental, Hawaiian, Midwest, Northwest, Spirit, United, and US Airways

Continental Airlines has now jumped ship along with Hawaiian adding fees and Midwest Airlines charging for the first bag. Here’s the new list:

Good Guys: AirTran, Alaska, Continental, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Midwest, and Virgin America

Bad Guys: American, Continental, Hawaiian, Midwest, Northwest, Spirit, United, and US Airways

BOTTOM LINE: Support Delta (or one of the smaller guys) now or expect Delta to fold to competitive pressure and for all of us to pay later.

So what can we do to help stem even more fees coming our way in the future? One simple idea: support those airlines whose “First Bag Free” baggage policies are more customer-friendly than their blockhead competitors and their caveman approach to passing on fees. (Hey airlines, check out Amazon Prime as a way to get people to prepay their future shipping costs.)

As it relates to bag fees, you should know that US airlines are really now divided into two camps: the “Good Guys” and the “Bad Guys” based upon their checked baggage fee policies. The Good Guys don’t charge you to check your first bag while the Bad Guys soak you to the tune of up to $80 round-trip for the pleasure of carrying your luggage.

Good Guys: AirTran, Alaska, Continental, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Midwest, and Virgin America

Bad Guys: American, Northwest, Spirit, United, and US Airways

Having been an airline bean counter myself, I promise you that the Good Guys are waiting to see if they can gain market share by not charging passengers as much as the Bad Guys.

Therefore, support the Good Guys now because if you don’t, they’ll just jump on the Bad Guy bandwagon later and we’ll all be paying more to send our socks to St. Louis.

InsideTrip’s Top 10 Things You Can Do About the New Airline Baggage Fees

1. Save space by finally making that long discussed leap to thong undergarments
2. Tell the service agent your family still cannot believe that your brother-in-law is actually allowed to run the airline
3. Trial size, trial size, trial size
4. Save space by changing socks every other day
5. Who needs all those silly toys when shoelaces can be just as fun
6. Buy a ticket for your bag
7. Three words: Nudist colony vacation
8. To save weight, suggest the airline creates new industry-leading cotton candy inflight service
9. Tell airline personnel that the only numerical system your religion will allow is strict adherence to the Dewey Decimal System
10. Per the Rick Steves travel nation, discard your unwanted clothing at your destination to make room for souvenirs

Check out great prices and our breakthrough TripQuality score at www.InsideTrip.com

1. Aside from large cash reserves, little can defend against an era of $100+ oil.
2. Innovative airline models seem even more susceptible. All first class (EOS/MaxJet), bare-bones coach (Skybus/ATA), and even geographically protected (Aloha) airlines are taken down without sympathy.
3. Fewer brands mean less capacity, thus generally increasing prices and creating less frequent flier availability.

While overall this isn’t great news, things could be a whole lot worse:

1. With the Delta and Northwest merger on the horizon, we’ll know it short order (before the presidential election) if it is approved. It’s not a done deal, particularly given a ticking clock on the remaining days of a known, merger-friendly, administration.
2. With a softening economy, bookings, particularly on international routes, may not come in as robust as previously expected. This could mean slightly lower prices for summer travel.
3. Your miles are generally safe unless you are vested on one of the smaller airlines.

Finally, many thanks to the great folks out there who are telling the world about InsideTrip. Our passion is all about showing the same prices as the other guys but giving unrivaled quality insight to help people make the most intelligent travel choices. Special kudos to Aseem Kishore at On-Line-Tech-Tips.com and Lisa Marie Mercer at Flyaway-Weblog.com for their postings and for reaching out to say hello.

The site traffic has surpassed all of our forecasts and we are so thrilled people are responding to our TripQuality view of the world. With an occasional stubbing of our toe here and there, we are listening to everything you are saying and love all feedback, good and not-so-good.

Having previously run the pricing/revenue management department at Alaska as well as the strategic planning group at TWA, I can’t wait to start sharing my insider’s view of the world.

Lots of crazy industry stuff going on: new fare sales, bad bag policies being matched, and general airline industry “pain” involved with oil at 100 bucks a barrel. All of these things affect your travel experience so please stay tuned!

Dave