The flight generated about $447,000 which will go to five charities. Air France said the bidding for seats raised more than expected, so it selected an additional two projects to fund, one in Madagascar and the other in Brazil. A new A380 flight is no longer all that noteworthy, but I think it’s worthy when a flight is used to generate funds to help charitable causes.

JetBlue aims to double its operations at Logan in five years, including a 30% jump in flights it announced on Thursday. Most of these are increased frequencies to existing destinations, but they’re notable: three flights per day to O’Hare; seven to Washington-Dulles; two to Denver, San Diego, and San Francisco; five to Baltimore; and four to Fort Lauderdale. All these destinations have fierce nonstop competitors, including Southwest. By next summer, JetBlue will have 78 daily flights to 33 destinations. It is already the largest carrier at Logan with a 17% share of passengers, according to federal data.

Two cities, Colorado Springs and Wichita, will be dropped from the airline’s network, and Las Vegas will see further cuts as the company goes from 64 to 33 daily flights at one of its former hubs. US Airways will also close crew bases at Boston, LaGuardia and Las Vegas. As for its hourly Shuttle service, the airline plans to swap 124-seat Airbus A319s for smaller 99-seat jets on the New York-Boston route.

“By focusing on our strengths and eliminating unprofitable flying we will increase the likelihood of returning US Airways to long-term profitability, which is in all of our best interests,” US Airways CEO Doug Parker said Wednesday in a statement. Last week, the company reported an $80 million loss for the third quarter.

U.S. airlines, which are nervously watching crude oil flirt with $80 per barrel, have taken a hard look at marginal routes in recent months and decided to focus on where the money is. That means the places where they dominate, ie, their hubs. American announced similar plans on Sept. 17, and in August US Airways swapped 125 slots at LaGuardia with Delta, in exchange for 42 slots at Reagan-National and access to Japan and Brazil.

If 2008 was the year of deep capacity cuts amid the crisis of $147 oil, 2009 has been the year of even further strategic pruning. Executives no longer tolerate flights that are not consistent financial performers.

For business travelers who need a truly global network, Continental helps Star cover Latin America and Mexico, the two most glaring destination gaps for the 13-year-old alliance. Continental’s road warriors will now also get a huge new roster of destinations in Asia, thanks to the six Asian carriers in Star. “If there’s a destination in the world that the Star Alliance doesn’t fly to, I’d suggest you may want to rethink your decision to go there,” joked Continental President and COO Jeff Smisek, who will become chief executive on Jan. 1.

Continental’s divorce from SkyTeam after five years was precipitated by Delta’s (DAL) acquisition of Northwest, which changed the balance of power for Continental and many others, Smisek said. Delta’s ability to buy its way into the largest airline spot last year was a jolt to the industry and demanded a competitive response. Continental’s shift to Star is one. The closer AA-BA relationship across the Atlantic is another, as is Lufthansa’s acquisitiveness.

Wendy Morse, a 24-year United veteran and 777 captain, will take over Jan. 1 as the first woman to lead the Air Line Pilots Association chapter at United. Morse has previously served as vice chairman of the United ALPA unit, and was elected on a close 8-7 vote. She will replace Capt. Steve Wallach, who was elected in October 2007, and built his tenure on aggressively challenging United management and calling repeatedly for the ouster of CEO Glenn Tilton. Some pilots also wore wristbands on duty that said “Glenn’s Gotta Go.” Additionally, Wallach wrote to the Federal Aviation Administration in 2008 suggesting a link between then-recent engine problems on 737s and less maintenance oversight as a result of company financial decisions.

“I think they realized this confrontational grudge match is not getting them anywhere,” says Hunter Keay, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets. Longer term, he thinks, “it’s good not only for United but potentially for the industry as a whole” if pilots decide to pursue their goals by collaborating with airline executives.

Hanni’s PC and America Online email account were both accessed illegally this summer, with AOL and Microsoft support technicians confirming the breaches, her attorney, Jason Gibson, said in an interview. Hanni discovered the hacking in August, with thousands of emails dating to June 2008 involved in the breach. Some emails were stolen and other work materials on Hanni’s computer were damaged, he said. “We don’t want any spoliation or destruction of evidence,” Gibson said, explaining one reason Hanni filed the suit, along with the chance to collect evidence through discovery.

Through a spokesman, Delta denied that it was involved in any hacking. “Obviously, the idea that Delta would hack into someone’s email is clearly without merit,” spokesman Trebor Banstetter wrote in an email. He declined further comment.

Here’s a breakdown on the 13 "holiday" dates you can expect to pay $10 more:

Nov. 29-30, 2009
Dec. 19, 2009
Dec. 26-27, 2009
Jan. 2-3, 2009
March 14, 2010
March 20-21, 2010
March 28, 2010
April 11, 2010
May 28, 2010

These correspond to the Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s and Memorial Day holidays, as well as spring break travel periods. Interestingly, the third Monday in January, a federal holiday that most U.S. workers are off to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr., did not make this list. (At least so far.) The airlines, as expected, did not see a negative reaction in sales, so it was logical to include other days of known demand. In the end, this extra $10 is not relevant on its face – supply and demand has always dictated fares and the airlines know that plenty of people want to fly on the above dates. However, at least in my view, this is somewhat a poke in the consumer eye for an industry that retains aspirations of being customer-oriented. Isn’t it just nicer to have the computers toss on the extra $10, $20, $50 or whatever when sales are heavy for a particular flight? I always thought so.

To date, partner airlines in the big alliances such as SkyTeam and Star Alliance have sought government approval for trans-Atlantic joint ventures and have been largely successful. New such deals across the Pacific are also likely if the U.S. is able to complete “Open Skies” talks with Asian nations. But we have not before seen the kind of deal that Lufthansa and JetBlue have begun, in which a U.S. discounter feeds traffic for the global network carrier. The Dept. of Transportation approved the application on Sept. 15.

The idea is that you can now book a Raleigh-to-Rome or Berlin-to-Buffalo flight on the various travel distribution systems with Lufthansa able to serve the full route, connecting at New York’s JFK Airport. “It’s an industry first,” says Martin Riecken, a spokesman for Deutsche Lufthansa AG. The first 12 cities were selected based on current flight connecting times and traffic patterns, the airlines said, and are focused heavily on Florida, a destination for many Germans. The actual flights begin Nov. 11. Neither airline would discuss how the revenue will be split, although JetBlue won’t sell any seats on Lufthansa flights. The companies expect to add additional routes in 2010 from JetBlue’s 58-city network, most likely focused on the Caribbean. Lufthansa doesn’t fly there, while JetBlue hits major tourist spots such as Aruba, Barbados, Cancun, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas. Lufthansa was further keen to seal approval for the JetBlue code-shares because its partners in the Star Alliance, United (UAUA) and US Airways (LCC), have little presence at JFK.

The codesharing arrangement comes less than two years after the German airline acquired a 19% stake in JetBlue. If Congress were to ever relent on foreign ownership rules, Lufthansa almost certainly would increase its position. Other airlines, such as Air France-KLM and Singapore, would likely seek to expand in the U.S., the world’s largest air-travel market. Any number of combinations could work – with JetBlue/Lufthansa as a template.

The airline is sparing no effort to make this occasion a blow-out bonanza in terms of media exposure, with press events in New York and at its Charlotte hub. (Skiles returned to work in April.) The airline has posted this news on its home page, too. What’s more, Sullenberger will see a familiar face in the right seat – the company is pairing him and Skiles for the flight from New York back to Charlotte, just as they were on that frigid Thursday afternoon in January. Want to sell a better story than that?

Granted, it is hardly surprising US Airways (LCC) would seek to capitalize on a truly good news event, especially as there is so much bleakness around airlines’ finances in general and abundant “will they make it?” stories about US Airways in particular. Both pilots did a fine job that reflected well on their training and fellow employees. But where is the line of too much, when a veteran pilot going to work is just fodder for TV sound bites and free advertising? Why not just add a premium to tickets on the flights Sullenberger pilots – pay extra for Sully’s experience. These days, every little bit of revenue counts.

The new bankers’ flight is either risky or prescient, given the times and the state of high finance. It could be read as a sign that corporate travel is beginning to regain some of its historical normality and BA is positioning itself smartly for that rebound. Investment bankers can’t remain homebound for too long, if business is to show any sign of growth, goes the thinking. The other way to view this flight is that BA is scouring for every last shilling of revenue and is willing to try nearly anything amidst desperation. Will the banks be willing to spend on this while much of European government (and even a top banker from JP Morgan) is condemning their salaries, bonuses and general foolhardy behavior with regards to financial risk?

Other airlines have gone this path and failed, for various reasons. There was Eos, maxjet, and Silverjet. BA subsidiary OpenSkies is still making a go of it between Paris-Orly and JFK and Newark airports after leaving the JFK-Amsterdam market in August. All those airlines used 757s or 767s, both far larger than the modified Airbus A318 BA has acquired for the new service. In fact, with 32 seats, it is the smallest commercial cabin flying trans-Atlantic. Sixty-four seats is not a high daily quota to meet. The flight, if it works, could also demonstrate whether BA may be able to further pare its short-haul flying in Europe as a way to feed its massive Heathrow hub, Bloomberg News suggested today in a story exploring the airline’s troubles. Sales are moving about as expected, without any advertising or promotion so far, BA spokesman John Lampl said in an email. “It's a very late booking service, as we have expected.”

2nd UPDATE: Southwest (LUV), JetBlue (JBLU), Alaska Airlines (ALK), and AirTran (AAI) have not matched the surcharge; Frontier is studying it. "We are focused on providing our passengers the best value in the sky, not taking advantage of them on some of the busiest travel days of the year," AirTran spokesman Christopher White said.

3rd UPDATE: Continental (CAL) matched the $10 charge on Sept. 25, after 7 p.m.

“Passengers already pay more to fly on certain days – typically, cheaper airfares are available on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays – but American and United have now upped the ante, by determining that certain peak travel days are worth an additional passenger-paid ‘premium,’” Graeme Wallace of fare monitoring firm Farecompare.com said Friday in an e-mail to reporters.

The fee – while potentially annoying to millions of travelers – demonstrates that airlines see much firmer demand this winter as more people plan to travel this year. In 2008, amid government bailouts of the financial system and enormous losses for stocks, airlines were devastated by weak demand and fearful consumers. “Holiday travel periods have always had times of peaks and valleys in customer demand,” American spokesman Tim Smith said in an e-mail.

Typically, airlines’ revenue management systems react to heavy sales around holidays by ratcheting fares higher or by not loading fares from the cheapest fare buckets into reservation systems. That’s why traveling the day before Thanksgiving or on Dec. 24 is almost always far more expensive. The surcharge, however, is different in that it applies to all ticket sales and is not subject to discounts as are fares. “This is just an easy way for them to add a small price without having to mess around a lot with their system,” says Rick Seaney, CEO of Dallas-based Farecompare.com. Airlines followed the same surcharge path in 2008 when they assessed a variety of fuel surcharges to cope with the dramatic increase in crude oil prices, which topped $147 per barrel in July, 2008.

The headline grabber is the International Air Transport Assn’s stated goal of cutting emissions in half by 2050 over 2005 levels. This 50% reduction would come from a four-part approach of technology, operational improvements, infrastructure upgrades and “economic measures,” a catchall term for various carbon-trading schemes and tax-incentives the association hopes to gain to encourage investments in newer planes, fuel research, etc.

The airlines also say they will present plans by November 2010 to begin trading carbon credits on a global market as part of a global approach to the issue and not by state. This would supplant the industry’s participation in the European Union’s carbon-trading market and would cost some $4.8 billion (3 billion pounds), according to the Guardian newspaper.

The money comes in part from $1 billion in frequent flier miles American sold to Citigroup (C), a deal that was long expected. The deal for miles, through 2016, also extends the companies’ credit card agreement. Still, many on Wall Street wonder why the miles sale did not occur earlier this year, when the market began questioning whether AMR had adequate funds to withstand what is expected to be a lean winter travel period. Another $1.6 billion is from a deal with General Electric Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) to sell to GE and then lease back new Boeing 737-800s American has ordered to replace its aged MD-80 domestic fleet. The GE unit will also loan American $280 million, involving 13 airplanes as collateral. As part of the finance deal, GE will supply engines for the 42 new 787 Dreamliners American has on order. The liquidity news sent AMR shares jumping more than 20% in trading Thursday.

“I was on my way home and I think you had lost your friends and then we decided to go down to the water to have a drink. And, yeah. That’s really embarrassing but that’s more or less what I remember. I don’t remember where you’re from … I don’t even remember your name.”

Needless to say, plenty of Danish people were offended by the idea that attractive, sexually available young women might be considered a useful lure to promote tourism to their nation. And then there’s the exploitation of a baby. And the notion that Denmark is populated by a promiscuous citizenry.

The country’s tourism agency, VisitDenmark removed the video on Monday but plenty of copies had already been made. “I regret any distress this film might have caused; it was not the intention of the movie,” VisitDenmark CEO Dorthe Kiilerich said in a statement distributed to media. “The aim was to create a positive awareness of Denmark and to increase dialogue about Denmark.” Interestingly, however, the video does not reference tourism or Denmark, save for mentioning that the unknown father was on vacation when Karen met him.

Sociologist Karen Sjoerup told The Associated Press that the ad suggested “you can lure fast, blonde Danish women home without a condom” and Denmark’s economy minister said the video portrayed “a not very well-thought-out picture of the country." Bloggers had a field day. “Visit Denmark! Knock Somebody Up!” read a headline at the travel site, World Hum. "Land of the truly warm welcome," added a wag at The Independent newspaper in London.

Here's some of Baker's introduction: "If it sounds like we're more bullish, it is because we are. Winter is forthcoming. It will be cold. It will be long. But it is not expected to witness the level of upheaval that we feared just a few months ago. We simply cannot ignore recent economic data and growing evidence of global economic improvement. As such, we believe the industry is on the verge of turning a financial corner and would suggest that risk-tolerant investors begin adding more aggressively to their existing airline equity holdings."

In 2010, JP Morgan now expects only one airline, United (UAUA), to lose money for the full year, with some of the per-share profit predictions quite bullish.

But here’s the table that really caught my eye. Check out these price targets for 15 months down the road and then consider just how battered these stocks have been in recent years. In March, US Airways (LCC) traded under $2, American (AMR) was at $2.40, Delta (DAL) was $3.51, Continental (CAL) hit $6.37. United flirted with $3 in July.