Business Traveler Magazine has announced their 2006 Business Traveler Awards. Singapore Airlines won for the best overall airline while JetBlue won for best discount airline. We have listed a section of the awards for air travel.

• Best Overall Airline in the World: Singapore Airlines
• Best Airline for North American Travel: United Airlines
• Best Airline for International Travel: Singapore Airlines
• Airline with the Best Business Class Service: British Airways
• Airline with the Best First Class Service: Singapore Airlines
• Airline with the Best Premium Economy Class Service: Virgin Atlantic Airways
• Airline with the Best Economy Class Service: Singapore Airlines
• Airline with the Best Airport Lounge: British Airways Executive Club
• Best Low-Cost Carrier: JetBlue Airways
• Best Airport in the World: Singapore Changi Airport
• Best Airport in North America: Denver International Airport
• Airline with the Best Frequent Flyer Program: United Airlines
• Best Airline Alliance: Star Alliance
• Best Website for Booking Travel: Orbitz
• Best Airline Website: American Airlines
• Best Hotel Website: Starwood
• Best Private Jet Provider: Marquis Jet

Via KTVU.com .

A couple flying from Gatwick to Jamaica decided after a few hours of drinking to join “The Mile High Club” in one of the British Airways 777. They were a little too passionate and loud and the flight attendants had to intervene and order them to their seats.

The couple came out of the lavatory and were angry at the flight crew.

Stunned passengers watched in horror as the couple fought with flight staff.

A passenger told The Sun: ‘They were asked politely to return to their seats but went ballistic. They were shouting vile abuse and spitting at staff.’

Another said: ‘The captain tried to calm them down but they were just as abusive to him.’

And despite being restrained with plastic handcuffs, the pilot decided he had no choice but to divert the 777 jet to Bermuda. (The Electric News Paper)

No this couple is being shipped back to England to face charges of air rage.

And people are not happy about it. This loophole is starting to capture the attention of the flying public and more importantly. I use skype on a regular basis for talking to people throughout the world, and it is a wonderful tool. The clarity is better, and the cost is free if you are talking to another skype user, or very cheap if you are calling a telephone number.

However with this being said, I would go crazy if I was on an international flight and the person sitting next to me was talking on the phone the whole time.

But these days, there is a new wrinkle. Say you’re on El Al or maybe SAS or Lufthansa — one of the airlines that offers broadband Internet during flights for about $30 a trip. There are a lot of positives. You can do e-mail. You can get some Christmas shopping done. You can watch videos of curling.

But then the guy next to you boots up Skype. This is software that lets people make free or cheap phone calls over the Internet. Other software does this, too, including Yahoo Messenger.

Your seatmate connects to someone and starts talking. Maybe he has a headset — or maybe he doesn’t, and you have to hear both sides of the conversation as the other person crackles out of the laptop’s speakers.

There are no rules against this. It’s not a cellphone conversation. He is not using a BlackBerry or any unapproved electronic device. He’s on a laptop, on the plane’s Internet service, using software to make a phone call.

There’s not much you can do. You’re trying to read, but the guy is inches away from you in your coach seat. You feel the bile rising in your gullet. You read the same sentence six times, but all your brain takes in is the conversation next to you. And then the guy breaks out a webcam.

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With 50% of the airlines in bankruptcy and schedules and capacity being reduced, the opportunity for discount airfares over Thanksgiving and Christmas will hard to find.

The quirk of the calendar is also playing a role: Christmas and New Year’s fall on Sundays this year, bunching up the peak travel window. When those holidays are midweek, bookings are more diffuse, putting less pressure on prices for peak flights.

To make matters worse, many airlines have restricted the number of cheap tickets available during the holiday season. The upshot is that while in the past three years, consumers could find bargain prices booking just a few weeks before busy holiday periods, this year many flights are filling up three months before Christmas.

So the calendar has not helped either.

The lowest price AMR Corp.’s American Airlines offered nonstop from Boston to Orlando on Dec. 23 with a return Jan. 2 was $1,161 Monday on its Web site. The same trip flying two weeks earlier would cost only $205 round trip. But the peak-period holiday flights — American has only one daily nonstop on the route in each direction — are mostly sold out already. Flight 1645 from Boston to Orlando on Dec. 23 showed only 18 of its 115 coach seats open for booking, according to American’s Web site. “We are booked more than in the past” systemwide for peak holiday travel days, said a spokesman for American.

From Philadelphia to Cancun on Dec. 23, US Airways has bookings for about half of its coach seats on its three nonstop flights, according to its seat maps. A round trip with a return Jan. 2 on the nonstop flights was priced Monday at $1,096, according to Orbitz. Two weeks earlier, the trip was only $425 round trip.

So if you are planning on traveling to see family, book your travel now. Otherwise the costs may be too much this year.

Purchasing tickets online is one of the great way to save money when planning a trip. However, some sites in trying to show a lower fare online are not posting the true airfare. While this is not illegal, the practice will make a consumer work that much harder to get the best deal.

From the LA Times:

Air travel shoppers on the Internet visit, on average, more than three websites before making a purchase, according to PhoCusWright, a Connecticut-based research firm. Yet websites differ greatly in how they display taxes and fees, which can make an apples-to-apples comparison difficult.

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