Skift Business Traveler: Uber and Lyft Infiltrate American Airports

What to Know Now

Airports have been traditionally been one of the only battlefields on which traditional taxi companies have found success in fighting Uber and Lyft. Almost every airport has a different set of rules on any given day. In San Francisco, there’s a tax on UberX rides from the airport and you have to meet your vehicle at departures. Last time I was in Chicago, Lyft could operate but Uber couldn’t. That’s since changed — multiple times.

Either way you skin the cat, the car sharing companies continue to make inroads. On Tuesday, LA voted to allow Uber and Lyft to operate out of LAX. Apparently Atlanta is next.

That low rumbling you hear in the distance is the sound of inevitability. While there’s certainly space for regulation and measure in the new world of e-hailing, we’ve spent too long trying to figure out how to make taxis and shared cars work in perfect harmony. Let the free economy take its toll.

Social Quote of the Day

Screw them both. Where is the Metro LAX station?

– commenter FLATIMES in the LA Times

Airlines

There’s a Small Scale Airline Fare War Happening Now in the U.S.: Don’t expect widespread sales or cheap flights home for Thanksgiving. But a number of cities are seeing ridiculously low prices at off-peak hours — prices the industry has spent the years trying to eliminate. Read more at Skift

Government Report Highlights U.S. Airlines’ Lack of Racial and Gender Diversity: U.S. airlines will hire more than 317,000 new employees by 2022, according to projections from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), but this growth is not expected to improve the industry’s lower rate of employment among women and non-white men. Read more at Skift

Upselling Is Killing the Airline Industry One Bad Economy Seat at a Time: The dogma of the aviation industry has been that the corporate buyer is the steadfast and profitable customer and aircraft interiors design has always been focused on attracting and retaining this customer. Read more at Skift

The Drink Coupon That Made Southwest Pay $1.65 Million to Lawyers: A federal appeals court has upheld a settlement in which Southwest Airlines passengers got free drink vouchers but lawyers who sued the airline got $1.65 million in cash. Read more at Skift

Airports

Pyongyang’s Airport Internet Lounge Has Everything But the Internet: Pyongyang’s shiny new airport building has all the features international travelers have come to expect, though some lose their luster upon closer examination. Case in point: Its Internet room appears to be missing the Internet. Read more at Skift

British Airways to Launch First Nonstop Transatlantic Service from San José, California to London, England: British Airways today has announced that it will begin service between Mineta San José International Airport and London Heathrow from May 4, 2016. British Airways will operate the newest aircraft in its fleet, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, featuring the airline’s newly designed First cabin. Read more at BusinessWire

Uber and Lyft Now Have Free Rein at Los Angeles Airport: Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. will be able to pick up and drop off passengers at Los Angeles International Airport within weeks, after the City Council made it the largest U.S. city to permit the companies at its airport. Read more at Skift

Tech

This Is How Business Travel Will Slowly Kill You (If You Let It): Called “A Darker Side of Hypermobility,” the study is basically a peer-reviewed confirmation of what you’ve always known after returning from a tiring bout of business travel: It’s hard on your body and your personal life. Read more at Skift

Gogo’s New High-Speed In-Flight Wi-Fi Clears Final FAA Hurdle: The skies just got faster and the competition for Wi-Fi in the sky just got hotter: Gogo’s long-anticipated 2KU Satellite/Air-to-Ground Wi-Fi service has cleared its final hurdle, gaining Special Type Certificate approval from the FAA. Read more at Skift

Hotels

FTC Continues to Pursue Wyndham After Data Breach by Russian Hackers: A U.S. appeals court said the Federal Trade Commission has authority to regulate corporate cyber security, and may pursue a lawsuit accusing hotel operator Wyndham Worldwide Corp of failing to properly safeguard consumers’ information. Read more at Skift

The suite life: tour the most-exclusive ways to travel: For those with unlimited bank accounts, travel has never been so glamorous. Read more at the AP

Tokyo’s Best Looking Hotel Has an Appointment With a Wrecking Ball: Tokyo’s iconic nod to Japanese Modernism, the Hotel Okura, will bid farewell to its last guests next week and face the wrecking ball, despite petitions from around the world to save it. Read more at Skift

Interview: Commune Hotels CEO on New Lifestyle Properties’ Creative Challenges: Thompson Hotels will add its second hotel in Mexico this fall, following its opening in Cabo San Lucas earlier this year with Thompson Playa del Carmen, a boutique property along the Riviera Maya. Read more at Skift

Your Turn

The Flight Deal has been reporting on a series of bargain-basement fares sweeping through the country this month. Keep an eye on their homepage and get your booking finger ready.

Tips and Comments

Can be sent to gm[at]skift[dot]com or to @grantkmartin

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