This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx War and Security Take Toll on Airlines April 1, 2003 By JOE SHARKEY The airline industry is "beginning to buckle" from the effect of the war in Iraq and the continuing high-level security alert, said James C. May, the president of the Air Transport Association. Compared with a year ago, domestic advance bookings are down 20 percent. Bookings for trans-Atlantic travel are off 40 percent, and have fallen 30 percent for trans-Pacific trips. On some days, cancellations have exceeded bookings on some airlines, the trade group said. According to estimates from the Travel Industry Association of America, this spring, Americans will take 52.6 million business-travel trips over all, down 2.5 percent from last spring and down 13 percent from spring 2001. As they lay off employees and cut back flights, airlines continue to plead for significant federal relief from security costs. In a conference call with reporters two weeks ago, Gordon Bethune, the chief executive of Continental Airlines, said the airlines were picking up more than their fair share of security costs. "This is national security," he said. "This is not about protecting an airplane from being blown up. This is about protecting an airplane from being used as a guided missile." Airline passengers, he said, "should not have to pay for the protection of people in buildings in the Washington-New York area." Airlines' Online Service Gets a High Grade Who does online booking better, travel booking companies or the airlines themselves? Over all, the airlines do, according to a survey released yesterday by the Customer Respect Group, a Bellevue, Wash., consulting firm that studies online customer service issues. The company rated 500 travel-booking Web sites for attributes including customer privacy, usability, responsiveness, and openness and transparency in prices. Among airlines, the Alaska Airlines site scored highest. Among travel companies, Travelocity came in first with the same rating as Alaska Airlines. But as a sector, travel agencies did not do as well as the airlines. United Offers Bonus For Kiosk Check-Ins Members of the United Airlines Mileage Plus frequent-flier program get a bonus of 500 miles the first time they use the EasyCheck-in kiosks that the airline is rapidly rolling out at its hubs. The bonus for second- and third-time use is 250 miles each, for a total of 1,000 miles, through the end of the year. JOE SHARKEY http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/01/business/01MEMO.html?ex=1050210160&ei=1&en=621184c863c054f7 HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@xxxxxxxxxxx or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@xxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company