Good evening earthlings! It is yet another dark and….warm night here in the Metromess. The latest edition of PlaneBusinesss Banter is now posted.

This week we recap what was a very United Airlines-centric week last week. Not only did I fly on the airline’s trans-con p.s. product for the first time, but I also made my first flight on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Again, compliments of United. 

Oh, and I also attended the Tony Awards last Sunday night. Thanks to United. (That’s a whole ‘nother story!)

Finally, last Thursday, United Airlines’ SVP of Global Sales Dave Hilfman and I rocked the house at a joint Silicon Valley Business Travel Association/Bay Area Business Travel Association dinner meeting in San Francisco. I’m not sure who was the dog and who was the pony, but our yin/yang combination of sales hyperbole, financial analysis, and overall knowledge of the industry — peppered with a healthy dose of good humor and snarkiness — seemed to be well received. We’re thinking of taking our act on the road.

My thanks again to Ron Wagner, who extended the invite to the two of us to participate. It really was a heck of a lot of fun, the audience was large and asked a lot of questions, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

In other airline industry related news, it was a horrible week on Wall Street last week for the sector, after stocks were hit with two big jolts. One was Lufthansa’s profit warning for both this year and next. The second was the sharp rise in the price of crude oil — a result of political tensions surrounding the goings-on in Iraq.

Meanwhile, we also talk about the DOT April Air Travel Consumer Report, we get subscribers updated on the latest traffic and PRASM estimates from the usual suspects, and we also welcome a new contributing editor to PlaneBusiness Banter — Frank Arciuolo. This week Frank takes a look at the recent move by Delta to bring the development of its PSS system in-house, back from Travelport. 

All this, and much, much more — in this week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.