This week's highlights ...

United makes 'rare retreat' on fees
Sep 4, 2008 - Intense customer feedback is apparently what prompted United to reverse course on a plan to charge fliers for meals on its flights between Washington Dulles and Europe.

ASTA Gets Tough With Delta On Booking Policy
Sep 3, 2008 - The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) has asked Delta Air Lines to clarify its confusing Booking Enforcement Policy that has, in some cases, resulted in erroneous charges being sent to agents. ASTA said members have shared examples of Delta's audit system, sending out erroneous debit memos.

US Airways, Delta, Southwest improve flight times
Sep 3 , 2008 - Three major airlines that fly into Albany International Airport saw an increase in on-time percentages in July compared to the same period last year.

Continental Airlines Announces Fee for First Checked Bag on Domestic Flights
Sep 4, 2008 - Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) today announced a $15 service fee for the first checked bag for certain customers who purchase economy-class tickets.

Corporates face air travel price hike
Sep 5, 2008 - Travel buyers will soon have to incorporate the cost of credit card merchant fees into their budgets, according to a top travel management executive.

Fly High By Knowing Air Travel Rights
Sep 4, 2008 - Understanding different aspects of air travel can help make vacation or business travels "fly" smoothly. The airline industry has received recent media attention from planes being delayed for several hours in cities such as Detroit and Austin. During the delays, the airlines neither allowed passengers to deplane nor provided enough food, water or restroom access throughout the wait.

4 Signs Air Travel Is Getting...Better?
Aug 29, 2008 - The nation's airlines are one of our favorite punching bags, a common touch point of shared misery. With surging oil prices wrecking the airlines' profitability, only globetrotters with private jets (or inveterate landlubbers) have been spared the packed planes and penny-pinching aggravations of the past two years.

What Not to Worry About
Sep 2, 2008 - On the cusp of the fall season, it might seem like there's a lot to keep you concerned about business travel. Relax. Here's what shouldn't be causing anxiety.

BBB advises travelers on new airline fees
Sep 3, 2008 - Home prices and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are falling, and mortgage foreclosures, gas prices, food costs, unemployment and inflation are all on the rise — and yet Americans are still taking vacations. More than 25 million Americans will travel abroad this summer — a 2.6 percent increase over last year — according to AAA’s summer forecast for foreign travel.

Why do airlines still float free drinks?
Sep 4, 2008 - One by one, the nation's airlines have snatched back freebies that fliers once took for granted -- baggage checks, meals. (Whoever thought there would come a day when we would miss airline food?) But one service remains relatively unscathed: the complimentary beverage. So why haven't the airlines zapped this perk with the same miserly zeal?

Air travel getting more difficult as seats dwindle
Sep 3, 2008 - As airlines continue to cut back because of fuel costs, more and more travelers are affected. About 343,000 passengers were bumped from their flights -- because of overbooking and flight cancellations -- in the first half of this year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.