Between record amounts of snow and the New Orleans Saints winning the Super Bowl it certainly has been an unusual year already! So, I am only encouraged that 2009 is far behind us.

For 2010, we are celebrating our 25th Anniversary and are excited about the launch of our Humanitarian Travel division. Feel free to take a look at www.HumanitarianTravel.net and see all of the good things we are doing. Lastly, we have expanded into Connecticut and are managing the corporate travel for a large regional travel management company in Waterbury.

So, we’ve been a little busy but what does travel in 2010 mean to you?

Here are some thoughts to consider:

We expect there will be greater TSA security at the airports
The overall cost of travel will increase slightly in 2010:
If the price of fuel remains at or near current levels, U.S. domestic airfares will increase less than 5%.
The price of hotel rooms around the country will not increase.
The price to rent a car will remain the same in 2010.
Airline fees will increase in 2010. Make sure to get status with as many carriers as possible to avoid getting “nickel and dimed”. Talk to us about this!
Corporate Travel Policies are expected to remain the same as last year.
Southwest will continue to market no fees for bags but will come up with other fees to remain competitive.

Paying closer attention to airline average ticket prices, we did a comparison (2009/2008) and we found Safe Harbors overall average ticket for domestic travel reduced by 11% while international airfares reduced by 13%.

As discussed in the above bullet points, we don’t expect this downward trend to continue but do expect a sharp increase of creative fees by the airlines.

Southwest Airlines announced where you can choose to pay extra for early boarding (aka, getting a better seat). So, in their words you can “choose” to pay $10 extra for a one way flight just to have a better seat.

Ironically, Southwest has spent an enormous amount of marketing dollars taking on the legacy carriers claiming no extra fees for baggage. Well, call it a different fee; one for extra baggage or in this case better seats where basically we end up having Southwest playing the same game as other carriers they have been successfully competing against.

Yes, Southwest says it is a choice to pay the extra fee for a better seat but the last time I flew Southwest in a center seat I made a vow never to be late for a boarding pass and be penalized with a C pass also known as “Center Seat”.

What’s troubling about their new policy is the pure and simple fact that Southwest management has always demonstrated their ability to make money their own way based on decisions independent of the competition.

Apparently, Southwest has taken a whiff of the revenue being generated by the competing legacy carriers and now Southwest wants in. The traveling public (business and leisure) continue to be insulted with excessively punitive fees for baggage, drinks, food and now early boarding.

Here’s a message to the airlines – keep it simple and just increase the fare with all fees built into the airfare.

Survey: Would you pay $10 extra for early boarding?

Okay, due to changes to the government’s program, we have recognizably made the Secure Flight program a monthly feature of our newsletter. When followed completely, the Secure Flight program can make your travel experience seamless. This past week we had an opportunity to attend a conference call with the TSA that outlined the finer details of the program while answering many questions.

Secure Flight is designed to clear travelers behind the scene using the data required to allow for a boarding pass. Upon clearance, travelers can then proceed to their flight without additional screening. The program enhances the overall security of commercial air travel; providing fair, equitable, and consistent matching across all carriers.

As opposed to before, the TSA is now responsible for comparing the names of all travelers with those names on the watch list. To accomplish this task, they begin by receiving the names of everyone holding a confirmed reservation 72 hours prior to departure. These names are then compared to the watch lists and, after review; the travelers are cleared to access their boarding passes 24 hours prior to departure.

When booking air service, every traveler is required to provide their full name, date of birth, and gender. These details are provided to the air carriers as a part of the ticket and the air carriers submit the details to the TSA.

Currently the carriers and the travel reservation systems are working through their processes to ensure the passenger’s complete name appears on the ticket. This structure change may take some time; however, the TSA ensures that this will not affect anyone’s ability to clear security.

If a passenger’s name is similar to that of an individual’s name on the watch list, then the passenger can work with the TSA to obtain a “Redress Number”. This redress number can be used whenever the passenger makes a reservation for air travel, making clearance much less challenging. To obtain a Redress Number, please visit www.dhs.gov/trip

Next Deadline: August 15th. All traveler information is required to be in the profile and be provided to the carriers. This is an on-going process that is being implemented for the safety and well-being of all passengers.

Enabling travelers to quickly proceed through airport security lines, CLEAR is no longer an option and has shut down services. Apparently, credit cards were still being processed just prior to close of operation and if you are a CLEAR customer, we suggest contacting your credit card company for further details.

What has been your experience with CLEAR?