<B> InsideTrack</B>
<B>Airline Labor Update</B>
American Airlines continues to face labor strife following its acquisition of Reno Air this summer. Now, more than half of Reno's pilots are suing American and the Allied Pilots Association. The lawsuit, filed earlier this month, claims that AA and APA did not give Reno's pilots appropriate seniority. Meanwhile, US Airways and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, representing the carrier's 7,500 mechanics and related workers, reached a five-year agreement staving off a work stoppage. "While the company faces a significant loss for the third quarter," CEO and president Rakesh Gangwal said, "this new agreement is a major milestone on our path toward shedding our non-competitive cost structure."
<A NAME="2"><B>Securfone Names Acting Prez For Ixata.com</B>
While its CEO met with New York financial firms to secure a round of financing last week, SecurFone America promoted Robert Steiner to acting president of its Ixata.com division. SecurFone CEO Paul Silverman said that 1,000 Choice Hotels this month were added to the properties participating in Ixata's RFPExpress automated hotel bidding program, which now is used by 30 corporations, with "80 more in the pipeline." RFPExpress now not only allows travel buyers to bid out their annual hotel program electronically, but it also offers corporations an "unsolicited hotels" option to see other alternatives. "We're working with several investment banking firms so that we can dramatically improve the scale of the company," Silverman told BTN. The money will go toward two projects in the works for 2000: data mining to allow corporations to track their performance on hotel contracts, and integration of the RFPExpress with other enterprise and travel management systems.
<A NAME="3"><B>Navigant Steers Toward Web Branding</B>
Navigant International is developing a recognizable consumer brand that experts say is so important on the Web by consolidating 17 Web sites under the Navigant name. "You'll start to hear about Navigant rather than individual agency names in the next couple of weeks," said chief operating officer Tom Nulty. Navigant also plans to offer a line of vacation packages that do not include airline tickets--aimed at corporate travelers using their frequent flyer miles--on the site.
<A NAME="4"><B>Omega Now Travelennium</B>
Memphis, Tenn.-based Omega Travel in August changed its name to Travelennium after settling with Omega World Travel of Fairfax, Va., over use of the name. "There was a lawsuit, we settled out of court, and I sold them the name," said Travelennium CEO Dot Conley. The new name and logo are part of a new business strategy for the agency. It is servicing its accounts, ranging from $1 million to $5 million, through onsites instead of through a reservation center environment.
<A NAME="5"><B>Hi-Speed Offers Hotel Benefit Too</B>
The rollout of high-speed Internet access in hotels across the nation not only will benefit laptop-toting travelers, but also hotels--especially those with franchise operations, said Brian Reed, emerging technologies research and development manager at Bass Hotels & Resorts. Having a fast and secure common network will allow the sharing of financial and accounting data, e-mail and e-procurement initiatives between individual properties and the corporate office, Reed said.
<A NAME="6"><B>Fallen Comrade</B>
Former Philips Electronics North American corporate travel manager Robert F. Brunner, one of the industry's best and brightest, passed away last Tuesday evening, succumbing to a cancerous brain tumor.