British Airways may not be flying so high for so long.

Hoist the flag and start the band for I am the bearer of good news. And not only that, I bring proof that globalization has benefits.

The US and the UK, encouraged by the pimp of laissez-faire, the EU, have agreed to an ‘Open-Skies’ accord. This agreement/deal/pact means that no longer will British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American Airways and United Airlines dominate trans-Atlantic routes. Today (well, in March 2008 but who’s counting) we herald in a new era of nearly-perfect competition in trans-Atlantic air travel. And we, you, us, the consumers are set to benefit handsomely.

With the ‘Open-Skies’ deal set to launch in the Spring of next year, BMI, Lufthansa, Continental, Northwestern and Delta are all keen to commence flights of their own, which will bring new competition to the market and force down prices. Currently, the only direct flight from Philadelphia to London Heathrow is through BA. I just flew back from London on BA yesterday – the prices are rather expensive and in-flight environment is poor.

But fear not, for Terry Trippler, airline expert at U.S. travel club myvacationpassport.com told MSNBC last week that things are going to change. “As it gets into its real swing, we will have fare wars. It’s going to get bloody.” And by ‘bloody’ he means cheap, not gory like the 300, which, by the way, is a very entertaining movie and well worth a couple of hours of your time. But I digress. Back to the skies.

The biggest changes are set to come in the premium classes of travel. Business Class flights often cost 5 or 6 times the price of an economy class ticket, mainly due to a lack of flight options and a reluctance on the part of the businessman to make stops in order to lower the price. Convenience, up to now, has come at a price. But no more.

And the price drops aren’t to be confined to the luxury of upper-class fares. Those without the money or the parents to fund such excess will also to benefit from lower-prices and greater choice of flight times. The 7 hour red-eye to London has never been so appealing.

So for all the international kids here at Penn, your parents can sleep easy, safe in the knowledge that they’ll have some extra cash to burn on golf clubs, croissants and/or summers in the south of France. And for the Americans here who like to travel, the doors to Europe are more open than ever before. You will soon be out of excuses for never having climbed the Eiffel Tower, visited the Coliseum or seen the Crown Jewels.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 26th, 2007 at 5:39 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.