"The New Rules of the Road, Written in the Sand"
 

The New Rules of the Road, Written in the Sand

"It’s been five weeks now, long enough perhaps to begin rethinking the rules of life on the road and rewriting the playbook for day-to-day survival.

As any hard-core business traveler knows, nothing was ever written in stone when it came to dealing with airlines, airports and hotels. And, for now at least, we’re writing tips and strategies in the sand. Rules and routines change by the hour and there seems to be more inconsistency in the system than ever before. We’re suddenly strangers in a very strange land.

But here, as best as I can make out, are some of the new rules of the road."

http://www.zyworld.com/brancatelli/branc.htm

Looks like sound advice, but I'm not sure which airline or flights this guy has been flying, but every flight I've taken lately has been packed to the gills. And recently my upgrade chances (DL GM) equal that of the state lottery.

Uncommon routes I've travelled (i.e., PIT-ITH) have been less than half full. Flights the week after DCA opened were about the same -- which I blame on the fact that people were avoiding booking DCA flights with the airport in a state of flux.

Flights that are on common 'commuter' routes, like Washington-Atlanta, or Washington-New York, have been fairly crowded. Some of mine have been completely full.

My last 10 flights have been over 95% full with the exception of one SEA-SJC leg on AA that was about 2/3.

Another view:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/005527.html