Until I get time to write some updates, here’s what’s happening here in Dallas at PCMA. Have to run, literally — heading over to the 2010 PCMA Fun Run to try to work off some of the vast quantities of cookies I’ve ingested over the past few days!

The best session I went to at PCMA yesterday was by far the Masters Series session featuring Gerard Arpey of American Airlines and Gary Kelly of Southwest. Moderated by Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, it started off a little slow with some kind of “duh” questions about their feelings on the past 18 months of skyrocketing fuel costs, a spiraling economy, etc. I mean, it’s been bad for all of us, including the airlines. Not surprisingly, both think we’re doing the best we can to combat terrorism, and appear to be in favor of full-body scanners and the use of technology to find terrorists at the terminal (they didn’t go into other aspects of anti-terrorism efforts or security issues that reach beyond the airport per se).

But it picked up and got really interesting once they started talking about how to handle future rises (more fees?), the airlines’ carbon footprint and what they can/can’t do to reduce it, the airline industry’s need for a new air traffic control system and their outrage the the economic stimulous package included “not one dollar” to update this antiquated system developed in the 1950s and still dependent on that era’s technology.

Kelly said there were three things that would make airlines greener:
1. Updating air traffic control. “It would be nice to be able to fly from point A to point B as the crow flies, not as it was routed in the 1950s,” he said. The technology to do it is already available; it just needs to put assembled, he added, saying it could be done in a matter of months, not years.
2. Developing commercially viable alternative fuels.
3. Developing and deploying more fuel-efficient airline technologies.

Both airlines execs said they were already working on #3, such as employing “winglets” (I think that’s what they said — I don’t know a lot about planes) that help reduce drag, and replacing old carpets and seat coverings with lighter weight versions.

And the proposed cap-and-trade idea? Don’t get them started. A key quote from Kelly: “The thing that is galling to me about cap-and-trade is that it’s the government that’s keeping us from being more fuel-efficient [by not providing funds to update the antiquated ATC system], then taxing us for it.”

Arpey was in complete agreement: “As an industry, we are mortified that one of the most crucial infrastructures was ignored in the bailout bill, despite all the headlines about delays that are mostly driven by the 50-year-old air traffic control system.” He got applause when, explaining the need to replace the current radar-based system with one based on GPS, “You can put a GPS device on your children and know exactly where they are at all times, but we can’t do the same so we know where our planes are.”

Going back to the cap-and-trade idea, Kelly added that it was even more galling because the money raised through cap-and-trade on the airlines wouldn’t go to updating ATC or anything to do with the airlines, but go to reducing the federal deficit in general. He said the tax and fees burden already amounts to close to 40 percent of the ticket price. And focusing on the airlines’ carbon footprints is a bit out of whack with reality anyway, since planes are only responsible for 2 percent of the greenhouse gases emitted annually, while cars make up an infinitely larger percentage. And even cows that emit methane gas, one of the execs said, perhaps in a hat tip to being in Texas. “Maybe we need a steak tax.”

Anyway, it was a really lively, interesting exchange. Definite educational highlight of the day.

Have to run. I’ll try to at least catch up on yesterday’s doings sometime this morning. I’m bummed that I can’t seem to get wifi anywhere in the convention center, even at the Starbucks hot spot. The lines at the cyber cafe are so long that I feel I shouldn’t do more than make sure the house hasn’t burned down on a quick e-mail check. I’ll try again to get connected today, but if that doesn’t work, I’m going to give up and stop lugging the netbook around.

I was left curiously unmoved by Nancy Brinker, founder of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization, at her opening general session talk at PCMA’s Annual Convention. I’m not sure why, and most of the crowd seemed to love her, but while I as much as anyone want a cure for the hideous disease of breast cancer that took my maternal grandmother away much too soon and has devastated the lives of several women (and taken the life of one man) I know, somehow her way of going about it rubs me the wrong way, particularly the cause marketing piece of it. She did make a specific connection to the meeting planning industry by mentioning a group of planners who are involved, but I would have liked to see more on how what she did could translate to what our industry is doing. But maybe that’s just me.

Despite worries about long lines and getting extreme pat-downs, Boston’s Logan was business as usual yesterday as I headed off to Dallas for PCMA’s annual convention. I ended up chatting with some nice folks from Dallas and Hyatt in the press room (and scarfing some excellent cookies–lunch!) and so didn’t get over the Nieman Marcus extravaganza there yesterday afternoon. I hear it was jamming, though. I did trot all over the city trying to find the convention center from our hotel, which is probably just a couple of miles if you know where you’re going. I haven’t been here in ages, and last time I was in Dallas, I was doing the show daily for a conference and never saw anything outside of the sessions, our press room, the printer, and possibly my hotel room. Looking forward to seeing more of this place this time around!

After almost strangling a cowboy at the bar in the Hyatt who tried in vain to teach me to do the calf rope twirl, I met up with a colleague to head over to the New England chapter meeting. We never did find it, but had lots of fun hanging with the Canadians as we looked. Then we headed over to last night’s reception at the convention center. It was fantastic! A little light on food a non-red-meat-eater could enjoy (great nachos and sushi, though), but lots of great music, a carousel, something I thought was just a statue and heard later was an actual bull to sit on for photo ops, lasso lessons, a mechanical bull, and my favorite, the Dance Heads booth, where you could lip synch to a tune and have your head superimposed on a dancing body. I’d post the video of me, my boss, and a really good sport of a planner who agreed to make a trio with us on Respect, but I promised not to. I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt.

I have to go get ready for a breakfast meeting, then off to the kickoff and sessions, but so far, PCMA and Dallas are doing it up right and I am having a blast. After yesterday’s fun, I’m looking forward to doing some learning today. More later.

P.S. Had a lot of fun doing the pedometer count last year, so I brought mine along again for this year’s show. Off to a good start: 21,934 steps yesterday. Must have been all that walking around the city yesterday afternoon!

Andy Borowitz often cracks me up, but this one was just too good not to share: Full Body Scans to Double as Annual Checkups
Solution to Airport Security, Health Care Woes. I particularly liked this part: “The President added that instituting the body scan/checkup could ward off some terrorists right from the start, ‘because a lot of them will balk at the $25 co-pay.’”

Interesting idea, using a drug approved for narcolepsy and sleep apnea for jet lag. I’ve been doing much better with jet lag recently, and I’m not sure why. But I do know it has a lot more to do with coffee than Nuvigil.

Terrorist’s attempted bombing means more traveler hassles. You know, the idea of full-body scanners used to creep me out, but now not so much. Anyway, here’s hoping that any new travel hassles aren’t enough to keep people from getting on a plane to go to your meetings.