Car hire firms aggree higher standards
Five major car hire firms have agreed to improve practices following a Europe-wide review by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), supported by the European Commission.
The companies, Avis Budget, Europcar, Enterprise, Sixt and Hertz, are introducing improvements over the next six months. These include more transparency when bookings are made, better information about optional waiver and insurance products, more upfront information about the pre- and post-rental inspection process, and improved notification of dispute processes and any charges for damages.
From departures to arrivals in one hour less
Research is being undertaken to cut up to 60 minutes from the time passengers spend getting from the departures hall in one airport to the arrival area at their destination.
Personalised Airport Systems for Seamless Mobility and Experience (Passme) is EU funded as part of the Horizon 2020 research project. The project aims to reduce times for luggage dropoff, cut queues, and introduce smart boarding. Passme will be piloted at Schiphol and Hamburg airports.
Airbnb and Uber figures see bigger share for sharing
The sharing economy is beginning to make inroads into traditional markets for accommodation and ground transportation in the United States. Travel and expense management company Certify looked at millions of expense reports and said that, in the second quarter of this year, 31 per cent for ground transportation were from Uber, 24 per cent were from taxis and 45 per cent were from rental cars.
Airbnb’s share of the business travel market jumped 143 per cent from the previous quarter. Top cities for Airbnb business travellers were San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Miami and Tampa.
Million air mile reward for UA website hacker
A Florida man has earned 1,000,000 air miles from United Airlines (UA) after identifying a bug in the firm's online system. UA asked hackers to check out its new website for bugs, with the lure of earning air miles. Jordan Wiens, of Tampa, is looking forward to spending his haul of air miles but cannot reveal the bug in the system.