New rules test fliers' patience By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY That hint of crispness in the air isn't just the coming of fall. It's also= =20 the chill that comes over business travelers when they try to book airline= =20 flights or venture back into the airport. Just as they learned to wear=20 sneakers instead of steel-shanked shoes, carry coffee in a thermos and=20 leave pocketknives at home, they're adjusting to paying for services once=20 taken for granted. While travelers were on vacation, some major airlines=20 rewrote the fine print. They're dumping the one-price-fits-all approach and= =20 going cafeteria-style when it comes to packaging services with discounted=20 fares. Want to fly home early or bring along an extra-large suitcase? Get=20 out the credit card. The charges could snowball to include everything from= =20 meals to assigned seating. And there's more in store. Look for more fare=20 battles and airline alliances like the one that Delta, Northwest and=20 Continental are trying to form. Expect more rounds of flight cuts, fewer=20 non-stops, increased connection times and more crowded cabins. Some=20 travelers don't like what they see. "This has been one of the worst periods= =20 for flying," says international businessman Mark Medoff, about the changes= =20 he's seen rolling out over the summer. "The airlines basically dislike=20 their customers (and) do only what will minimize their losses." Travelers' ire is so strong that US Airways, the first to impose new=20 restrictions on deeply discounted tickets, became the first to pull back.=20 After a week of bitter protest from customers, it agreed to continue=20 counting frequent-flier miles earned on non-refundable fares toward=20 membership in the perk-heavy upper tiers of its Dividend Miles program.=20 Some loyal fliers feel the changes punish them even though they stayed with= =20 an airline through years punctuated by labor-related work slowdowns or=20 bouts of lousy service. Longer times between connections are "a real=20 hassle, especially for the traveler who doesn't belong to a club at the=20 airport," says Michael Noirot, a business development manager in St. Louis.= =20 "They are trying to nickel and dime people," says business consultant=20 Michael Sommer of Jacksonville, who is especially upset about being made to= =20 pay more to fly back early from a meeting when he's using a non-refundable= =20 ticket. "I've been through hell with United in the past couple years and=20 stuck with them. ... Their mess is not my fault." Opportunity in the air Smaller airlines sense opportunity and are trying to woo business=20 travelers. King of the discounters, Southwest Airlines, is aggressively=20 setting itself apart by refusing to follow its rivals' new fare rules and=20 charging a maximum $299 for any unrestricted one-way ticket, a cut of $100.= =20 It's also starting its first coast-to-coast non-stops this week =97 two= daily=20 from Baltimore to Los Angeles. By comparison, a one-way Los=20 Angeles-to-Baltimore jaunt costs $1,126 on Continental. To underscore that= =20 it's serious about the corporate market, Southwest's tag line for the=20 campaign is "Business Travel is Back." Other discounters are also trying to= =20 entice business fliers. Spirit Airways is offering wider seats in a premium= =20 section for $40 more a flight segment. Frontier is installing live=20 television at every seat. JetBlue is the only airline to have it now.=20 JetBlue also launched a frequent-flier program in June. But big airlines have little choice but to find a way to chop their costs.= =20 The industry is facing the prospect of $6 billion in losses this year after= =20 losing $7 billion last year. US Airways filed for bankruptcy protection=20 last month. United, the second-largest U.S. airline, might follow suit.=20 Flight schedules that were pared back after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks= =20 are being slashed again. More pilots, flight attendants and ground workers= =20 are being laid off. Lack of travelers is a huge problem. But a bigger=20 concern is a sharp drop in average business fares =97 American Express says= =20 the second quarter falloff was the steepest in four years =97 as more=20 passengers seek discounts. Most worrisome is a change in the spending=20 habits of corporations. Instead of depending on refundable, full-fare=20 tickets booked at the last minute, more companies are requiring traveling=20 employees to buy the lowest-priced ticket they can find, even if it's=20 non-refundable. The impact has been so great that United, which depends on= =20 business fliers for 65% to 75% of its domestic revenue, saw revenue per=20 seat mile drop 23% in the second quarter vs. a year ago. The nation's biggest airline, American, plans to cut annual costs by $3=20 billion over the next several years =97 about the same amount it lost over= =20 the past six quarters. For starters, American is cutting 7,000 positions in= =20 addition to the 20,000 eliminated after the terrorist attacks. It hasn't=20 detailed its flight cuts, which will average 9% of available seats.US=20 Airways is shedding 300 flights, including 36 routes that will lose=20 non-stop service. Among them: Tampa-Jacksonville, Charlotte-San Diego and=20 Pittsburgh-Fort Myers, Fla. US Airways' Ben Baldanza says the goal is to=20 "strike a fair balance between the needs of corporate travelers and=20 economics of the airline business." Are passengers on board? Will passengers accept the new changes? Judy Hager, a health care=20 consultant in Providence, says she'd be willing to pay $25 for an assigned= =20 seat, which is "an incredibly important part of the deal." But she wouldn't= =20 pay for meals, cocktails or to fly on a big jet instead of a regional jet.= =20 Neither would she consider switching to Southwest, which she considers a=20 family airline that makes business travel difficult. "There's nothing about= =20 Southwest that's conducive to business travel." Conversely, Stefano=20 Rosellini, vice president of a telecommunications company in Orlando, says= =20 he's ready to switch to Southwest. "I fly mainly Delta, and they charge for= =20 everything ... and they have cut so many flights that it's hard to fly=20 direct anywhere." Of course, higher fees and reduced services from the=20 nation's biggest airlines are only some of the new challenges that await=20 business passengers this fall. More security changes at airports are also=20 in store. The federal Transportation Security Administration will take over= =20 more airport checkpoint operations, raising travelers' fears of slow lines= =20 and even more intrusive checks as new workers learn the process. All of these changes are taking their toll on business travel. An August poll sponsored by travel site Orbitz for the Travel Business=20 Roundtable, an industry promotion group, found that 39% of business=20 travelers remain much more or somewhat more reluctant to travel than before= =20 the terrorist attacks, 47% are less reluctant and the rest didn't have an=20 opinion. Among frequent business travelers, the core elite who contribute a= =20 disproportionate share of airline and hotel revenue, 17% say they are=20 traveling less than they did before the attacks, 18% are traveling more and= =20 the rest about the same amount. Half of those polled said the weak economy= =20 is the reason they aren't taking more trips. One in 10 say airport hassles= =20 figure into their decisions. Ronan Young says he arrives an hour or two=20 early before a flight, wears slip-on shoes and carries no watch, jewelry or= =20 anything else that might trip the metal detector. He no longer boards=20 planes with the carry-on bag that used to see him through five-day trips,=20 because he doesn't want security screeners pawing through it. Instead, he=20 checks his bag, even though that adds time to his trip. "Fear of airplanes= =20 has been replaced by fear of airports," says Jonathan Tisch, CEO of Loews=20 Hotels and chairman of the Travel Business Roundtable. 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