Fliers put in their 2 cents to fix airlines By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY With airline executives stuck for ideas on how to relieve their industry from rampant losses, some passengers are now getting into the act. Perhaps airlines could sell three-month passes that would let passengers fly standby, filling empty seats for a pittance that would otherwise go empty, suggests one. Give disembarking passengers $25 certificates good for discounts on a future flight to rebuild airline loyalty, suggests another. And yet another calls on airlines to simplify the zillions of fare rules and restrictions on frequent-flier mile redemptions. These are a sampling from among the dozens of postings put forth so far by business travelers at the request of the Business Travel Coalition, a policy advocacy group. The coalition asked travelers last Thursday to go to their Web site, www.btctravelogue.com/sos.htm, and offer advice to the airlines. Coalition Chairman Kevin Mitchell says business passengers can help as airlines wake up to the need to make changes in their business models, and not simply try to wait out the bad times. "These people just tell it like it is," he says. "They are business people. They can see through this." Mitchell says he can tell from the e-mail addresses of some of those who have viewed the postings that airline executives are listening. Here are some of the more interesting suggestions posted so far. Lower the difference between business-oriented airlines and the discounters, says a post by Tom Bascom. "The fare insanity has to stop. It helps nobody." He calls for later and earlier departures on business days and free same-day standbys. Besides giving out discount certificates, Robert Bruss calls on United Airlines to restore the "Chairman's Hot Line" to help top-level frequent fliers. Limited fare re-regulation should be considered to stabilize the airline industry, Holmes Brannon says, "to eliminate the insane practice of selling tickets at rates so low that virtually every flight takes off in the red." The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (I95.5FM) http://www.i955fm.com (Radio Station I95.5FM) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************