High oil prices. Credit squeeze. Reduced spending by consumers. What to do? Instead of filing for bankruptcy (again), United Airlines has a new strategy: drastically cut the number of flights for leisure travelers. That means no more Ted, United’s Denver-based low-fare division that launched in 2004 to compete with Frontier and Southwest. From where I’m sitting — Sin City — that sounds a lot like economic disaster. According to an interactive graphic posted by USA Today, United’s announced cuts will contribute to a drop of 12.3% in air traffic to Vegas.

Agence France-Presse reports that United said it would trim US capacity by 17-18 percent through 2009, removing 100 aircraft from its fleet and about 1,500 jobs from its payroll. I guess the silver lining in this economic cloud is that the planes United says it intends to retire — about 20% of its fleet — include what the carrier says are its oldest and least fuel-efficient aircraft, namely, all 94 of its Boeing 737s and six Boeing 747s. At least the environmentalists have a little good news. As for leisure travelers, well, you might want to find a business aspect to that next trip, so someone else will pick up the tab.

Back in February, we reported on Farecast, a website that predicts fluctuations in airfares for major airlines, providing an advantage for travelers in a confusing, increasingly pricey market.  Farecast relies on historical airfare data to extrapolate probable changes in ticket prices, and generates graphical prognostications indicating whether an airfare is likely to increase, decrease, or remain the same.

Now, that’s a pretty awesome feat, but we think a new player on the scene, a Seattle-based website bearing the quirky name of Yapta, takes the air travel price comparison game to a new level.   Yapta — an acronym for “Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant” — takes a truly novel approach, allowing users to browse airline websites and bookmark the flights they’re most interested in.   Then Yapta tracks ticket price fluctuations in real time, and sends you an email alert as soon as the price drops.   It literally does the legwork of shopping around for lower fares while you sleep — saving users lots of time and tedium.

Yapta also takes advantage of a little-known policy many airlines have where refunds or frequent-flyer credits are paid to passengers when an airfare is decreased after they’ve already purchased tickets.  Yapta shows users how to take advantage of this policy.  And we understand that many flyers have already saved significant amounts of money, from both the price alerts and the refunds.

What we like best about Yapta — in addition to these innovative services — is the website’s clean, uncluttered user interface and ease-of-use.   The simplicity of design is very attractive and kind of reminds us of Google.  In fact, Yapta is so well-designed that, within minutes, you can create an account and start building a portfolio of travel plans.  From that point, the price alerts and a whole range of other useful features are within easy reach.

Yapta goes a long way to “level the playing field” between airlines and their customers, and is one of those websites that reminds me of Arthur C. Clarke’s famous saying:  “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”  We think the folks over at Yapta may just have created not just an “amazing personal travel assistant”, but the perfect planning tool for busy air travelers.

Ads, ads, ads. Recently, atop a Hotmail web page, a banner ad displayed the phrase “Fees Don’t Fly With Us,” accompanied by an image of a Southwest Airlines plane. Plus there’s the new “coupon” (see above). Lower on the page, to back up these claims, a link to an MSN article teased US Airways to Charge for First Bag, Drinks. So now it’s three carriers charging $15 for the first checked bag — American, United, and US Airways. On top of that, starting August 1 US Airways will charge $2 for a nonalcoholic drink. It seems that either the legacy airlines are rushing to yield the skies to Southwest, or that the great blue will become the exclusive domain of the wealthy. One thing’s certain: the skies are becoming less friendly.The MSN article goes on:

As of July 1, Southwest Airlines will be the only U.S. carrier that permits two checked bags for free, according to air travel expert Tom Parsons, who expects still more service fees to come.

As someone who flies Southwest more than any other airline - and so far has not been accused of violating the carrier’s unspoken dress code for passengers - here’s hoping that air passengers continue to have the sans-fee option of flying Southwest.

BBC’s website recently reported that a customs officer at Narita Airport in Japan gave a free spliff to a random passenger. Three questions: Where was that, um, flier headed? Was he/she was the hit of the party at the end destination? More to the point, what would have happened to that passenger had a dog detected the stash? The agent who planted it admits to not remembering into whose bag he put it.

I knew it was going to be expensive on the ride from the airport. Billboards and lighted signs advertised celebrities I thought were dead (Roseanne, Carrot Top) and everything seemed a little too new for a traveler used to paying eight dollars for a foam bed and twenty dollars for a crazy night out in places like Peru and Argentina. If you’re wondering what type of person stays in Las Vegas for seven days, it’s the type who’s used to lounging around in cities for weeks for no other reason than to see who he or she happens to come across. Initially I thought seven days may be too short.

The Famous Sign (Photo Credit: Pirvy)

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