The federal Transportation Security Administration, which has been criticized for imposing unnecessary restrictions upon airlines and passengers, has devised a new wrinkle to confound frequent travelers, according to one frequent flier.
Leslie Plass, president of Tradeco International, an Addison import company, has flown more than 2 million miles with United Airlines and is a member of its Red Carpet Club.
Under guidelines imposed by the TSA, access to airline clubs, such as the Red Carpet Club or American Airlines’ Admirals Club, is restricted to people flying or holding gate passes.
But under the stricter new rule, only club members who have scheduled a meeting in the club at least 24 hours in advance can obtain a gate pass. A pass is needed to get beyond security checkpoints.
Many business passengers routinely pay hundreds of dollars to join the clubs because they offer a place where busy executives can continue working while awaiting flights or as a site for a last-minute meeting with a client. In addition, they had been allowed to escort to the club their business contacts who were scheduled to fly.
Plass said TSA’s new rules hamper those last-minute business meetings and block access to some of the airline industry’s best customers.
Brian Doyle, a spokesman for the TSA, said that the agency’s decision was aimed at maintaining a “sterile area” beyond the security checkpoint.
Tim Kincaid, a spokesman for American Airlines, said: “We, American Airlines, set the 24-hour minimum because we did not have the staffing to run lists down to the TSA every time someone called for a room who was not traveling. We did not want to put an expectation on the clubs that we would not be able to fulfill, so we set 24-hour minimum advance notice.”
Airlines shift baggage rules: United on Thursday became the latest airline to match a change in the baggage rules initiated by American in early December.
As a result of American’s move, which also has been matched by Northwest Airlines, the three carriers have scrapped a decadeslong rule that restricted passengers to two checked bags weighing a total of 70 pounds. Passengers who checked bags totaling more were charged an $80 fee.
Under the new rule, passengers are permitted to check two bags weighing up to 50 pounds each. Passengers checking bags weighing 50 pounds or more will be charged an overweight fee of $25.
Among the five major airlines, only Delta and Continental are holding to the old weight-limit policy.
Travel agents get Web fares: United and US Airways have agreed to provide Rosemont-based Galileo International, a computer reservation system used by some travel agents, with their Web fares in exchange for a 20 percent reduction in the booking charge Galileo collects.
Airlines estimated last year that they paid $4.50 for each ticket issued by a travel agent to computer reservations systems like Galileo.
The deal is similar to one announced last year between US Airways and Sabre Holdings Inc., the owner of the largest travel-agent booking engine, which also owns online travel site Travelocity.com.
United is hoping that it will reap substantial savings with the discount. Last year, the airline said, it paid nearly $300 million in booking fees to the four travel-agent computer reservation systems.
