Airlines

Anyone who has booked a last-minute flight knows you pay more when you wait. But you also pay more if you book too early. What's too early? What's too late? Pity the poor fare geek trying to hit that elusive sweet spot. Discount travel site Cheapair.com has crunched a year's worth of booking data and found some answers to these and other eternal travel questions, including: - Best time to book a domestic flight? Seven weeks in advance. - Best time to book an international flight?

Airports will be crowded this summer and empty airline seats rare as Americans take to the skies in numbers that are expected to edge closer to the pre-recession peak. Nearly 209 million people will fly on U.S.-based airlines this summer, up 1% from a year earlier, according to an estimate released Thursday by Airlines for America, the trade group for the nation's airlines. That would mark the fourth year in a row that passenger totals have increased, climbing close to the pre-recession total of 210 million in 2008.

The Bush Administration says it might prohibit airline passengers from taking aboard portable computers, tape players, hair dryers and other electronic devices as a stopgap measure against terrorist bombings. The ban, covering items carried by hand or in luggage, would prevent such items from being used to smuggle plastic explosives aboard planes until sophisticated bomb-detection devices can be installed at high-risk airports around the world. Both Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner and his deputy secretary, Elaine Chao, raised the possibility of a total ban on electronic devices in forums this week.

Grouse all you want about airline baggage fees, but the numbers don't lie: You are slowly learning to accept them as a painful but necessary part of the flying experience. In fact, the overall satisfaction with air travel has increased to the highest level since 2006, according to the J.D. Power & Associates airline satisfaction study for 2013. On a 1,000-point scale, satisfaction with airlines reached 695 points, up 14 points from 2012, according to the survey of more than 11,800 airline passengers.

It's difficult to know when to buy an airline ticket and when to wait. Some sites offer to guide you on the timing of your purchase. I recently examined the fare prognostication tools used by Kayak and Bing, which advise travelers whether to buy plane tickets while searching those websites or to wait. Both sites use data from scores of past searches to predict whether you're finding a fare at its lowest point or whether it may fall. I examined 10 random routes and dates of travel, and the companies were generally united on their predictions, with one exception: For a hypothetical trip from Los Angeles to Portland, Ore., in mid-April, Bing and Kayak both brought back the same fare - $178 on both Delta and Alaska airlines - but differed in their recommendations.

Fuel surcharges - those fees that airlines say they add to ticket prices to compensate for higher fuel costs - have increased twice as fast as fuel prices in the past year, according to a new study. What's more, most airlines have not reduced fuel surcharges since 2009, despite dips in fuel prices over that time, according to the study by the corporate travel management company Carson Wagonlit Travel. Fuel surcharges can represent a hike of up to 40% or 50% on ticket prices, depending on the airline and the destination.

Question: What in the world is going on with airfares? I'm seeing airfares of more than $1,000 to European destinations and about half that for New York and Boston. Say it isn't so. Or at least say it won't last. Answer: I'm getting this question from leisure travelers who are seeing summer fares that may put their vacations on ice. And - are you sitting down? - it's probably not going to get better any time soon. Airfare experts point to three factors that are driving costs.

Looking for a good deal on an air fare? Try an air fare "factory outlet"--a discounter or consolidator. Airlines often sell large blocks of tickets at bargain prices to discounters (also called consolidators), which pass those savings on to passengers. The savings are more apparent on international tickets, but if you need to travel at a day's notice, the savings can also be big on a domestic flight. Of course, such deals come with restrictions.

Money-minded travelers wondering about the Internet should check out the "Snooze You Lose Specials" at Best Fares Online to see just how cutthroat airline pricing can be. You may not find the flight you want, but it's hard not to be impressed by the list of low fares, many of them unadvertised.

For years, JetBlue Airways Corp. turned up its nose at flying out of Los Angeles International Airport, saying that LAX was too big, too crowded and, well, that it just preferred to operate out of smaller hubs. Then out of the blue last month, the low-cost carrier stunned LAX officials by asking for gates there. Moreover, it wanted them in Terminal 6 next to Virgin America, the airline started by eccentric British billionaire Richard Branson. It was no surprise to industry observers.

Airline mergers, a deep recession and surging fuel prices have led to sharp cuts in airline service around the country. Hardest hit: medium-size airports. Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, LA/Ontario International Airport and other mid-size airports lost an average of 26.2% of their flights from 2007to 2012, according to a new study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's International Center for Air Transportation. The cuts are a result of airlines eliminating less-profitable routes and focusing on more popular, high-profit routes, the report said.

Some answers to readers' airline questions: Question: I understand that London's Heathrow Airport has a horrendous arrival fee. Is the same true for Stansted and Gatwick, London's two other airports? Answer: I'm not sure if you're referring to the airport landing fee, which is assessed based on the size of the aircraft and does vary from airport to airport but is paid directly by the airline, or Britain's air passenger duty, which is, essentially, a tax levied on airline tickets and varies depending on the class of service (economy or premium)

Los Angeles airport commissioners took additional steps Tuesday to halt a dramatic decline in passengers at LA/Ontario International Airport, including potential cost reductions for airlines and incentives that might encourage them to add service. Inland Empire officials, who are trying to wrest control of Ontario from Los Angeles, immediately criticized the measures, saying that they were too little and too late to lure flights back to what used to be one of the fastest-growing regional airports in the nation.

On-time performance of airlines at the nation's biggest airports dropped 9 percentage points Monday after hundreds of air traffic controllers were furloughed by budget cuts. East Coast airports felt most of the pain, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Staff shortages at air traffic towers were expected to cause more delays Tuesday in Los Angeles, Dallas and Las Vegas. "Travelers can expect to see a wide range of delays that will change throughout the day depending on staffing and weather-related issues," the agency said in a statement.

It looks as if you won't get to bring that pocket knife on your next flight after all. The Transportation Security Administration has delayed a policy change that would have allowed passengers to carry small folding knives onto planes. In a letter Monday to employees, TSA chief John Pistole said he decided to maintain, at least temporarily, a post-9/11 ban on knives after meeting with an aviation security panel. The policy change allowing knives had been scheduled to take effect Thursday.

Nearly a week after a computer glitch grounded hundreds of its planes, American Airlines has yet to disclose the exact cause of the problem that frustrated passengers stuck in crowded terminals across the country. American's chief executive, Tom Horton, would say in a video apology only that "we had a software issue that impacted both our primary and backup systems. " But as airline computer systems become more interactive and complicated, computer experts warn that outages may become more common if airlines do not regularly test and maintain their systems.

Passengers on Swissair's long-haul jets later this year will get a chance to do some casino-style gambling during their flights. Las Vegas-based Interactive Flight Technologies has completed a contract with Swissair for the installation of its In-Flight Entertainment Network on all of the airline's long-haul jets. The first plane is scheduled to be equipped with the system, which will cost between $70 million and $80 million, in October and to be in flight by November.

* AMR Corp.'s American Airlines said it's dropping two daily international nonstop flights, between Los Angeles and Paris and between Chicago and Rome, citing "changing economic conditions." American plans to end the service routes Nov. 1.

JERUSALEM - As Israeli airline workers went on strike in protest, Israel's government approved an "open skies" agreement with the European Union that will give European carriers greater access to the lucrative Israeli tourism market. The government hailed the agreement as a breakthrough reform to liberalize the commercial flight market, boost incoming tourism and generate economic growth. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the decision and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz congratulated the government.

Nearly a week after a computer glitch grounded hundreds of its planes, American Airlines has yet to disclose the exact cause of the problem that frustrated passengers stuck in crowded terminals across the country. In a video apology, Chief Executive Tom Horton said only that "we had a software issue that impacted both our primary and backup systems. " But as airline computer systems become more interactive and complicated, computer experts warn that outages may become more common if airlines do not regularly test and maintain their systems.