The email scam of phishing has a new target. Members of Frequent Flyer Programs. Phishing is the act of sending out an email in the name of a company you have an account with. The emails typically inform you of a supposed problem with your account, and then redirect you to a fake site. There they try to extract information out of you so they can steal from either your account or steal you identity.

These attacks previously had targeted banks and paypal accounts. Now these thieves have set their sites on frequent traveler accounts.

Anywhere [consumers]strong> might have a stored profile might present the same risk,” said Eric Olson, a vice president at Cyveillance, an Arlington, Va., company that specializes in tracking Internet risk and fraud.

It may be especially risky for the Internet-savvy frequent traveler.

“Super-platinum members of hotel chains spend a great deal of money on travel. That is a perfect target for a scammer.”

Two of the largest hotel frequent-guest programs appear to have been targeted by phishers, the hotels’ websites suggest: the Hilton HHonors program and the Starwood Preferred Guest program. Neither Starwood nor Hilton returned phone calls asking for comment about phishing.

Deciding to concentrate on the more lucrative long haul routes as opposed to the highly competitive domestic market, Delta Air Lines is adding 11 new routes between the United States and Europe and the Middle East. The 11 new routes will include three already announced, linking Atlanta to Tel Aviv, Dusseldorf and Copenhagen, along with eight new ones, from Atlanta to Edinburgh, Athens, Nice and Venice and from New York JFK Airport to Budapest, Dublin, Manchester and Kiev.

Jared Blank, of the Online Travel Review Blog, has this observation.

That said, Delta has actually made this move before, with terrible results.  In 1991, Delta purchased a bunch of European routes from a dying Pan Am and lost $1.5 billion in three years in the process. 

Living near Deltas headquarters and watching the transformation, the key to the whole process will be the fuel prices. Labor cuts and transforming the airline are all good steps, but if fuel does not come down, airfares will need to be raised for Delta and most of the rest of the airlines to be profitable.

A new .travel on-line domain name will be available for the travel industry. This domain may give some users a sense of confidence; however, it is the internet and all should use due diligence when using. The following travel and tourism industries will be able to use the .travel domain. Pretty soon we will have on-line domain names for just about everything.

Airlines, theme parks, restaurants, tourism offices and others in travel and tourism are eligible for Web sites and e-mail addresses ending in “.travel.”

The new domain could give consumers confidence that they are dealing with a legitimate travel business or group, though the mantra of “buyer beware” applies: Operators of the domain won’t be performing any credit or criminal background checks or offering any guarantees.

There does seem to be some issues with the new .travel format as they are only allowing travel businesses to use the domain name and not the largest sector who search for travel on the internet, those that post their stories.

Those approved were allowed to register and use “.travel” names starting Monday.

Although Tralliance Corporation billed the domain as an on-line space for the global travel and tourism community, travel journalist and author Edward Hasbrouck criticized the rules, saying they exclude travelers at the expense of promoting travel businesses.

“The domain appears to exclude the participation of the largest class of people who use the Internet to travel — people who use the Internet to post their travel stories and photos and all sorts of things,” Hasbrouck said.

Approval is made on a case-by-case basis, he said.

So far, many of the eligible travel sectors are in transportation, including airlines, bus operators, cruise lines and passenger rail lines, a group that covers suburban commuter lines but not city subway systems. Also eligible are hotels, casinos, camp facilities, travel agents and providers of travel technologies.

To prevent overlap with “.aero,” an existing domain for the aviation industry, airports and aerospace companies don’t qualify — but airlines do.

(Full story)

Links:
Tralliance Corporation

OUR MISSION

Tralliance Corporation is the Registry for the .travel sponsored top level domain name (sTLD). The .travel sTLD is designed to serve the global travel and tourism community by developing products and services that promote the efficiencies and convenience of e-commerce for all bona fide travel companies and tourism organizations on the Internet.

The major aims of the .travel sTLD are improved Internet identity, creation of advanced distribution channels, and the establishment of an ever-stronger level of trust between the industry and its customers.

.travel will empower the broad spectrum of the travel industry – from the smallest to the largest players – to better promote their products and services within a universal framework on the Internet.