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TALKING POINTS The maturation of our city by Bruce Spotleson Maybe it's the way I define the term. I count Cirque du Soleil, our art col- lections, our eclectic entertainment schedule and the traveling exhibits that so often come here. Over the years, I've had amazing cultural experiences. Granted, they may have been pro- duced to attract tourists, but ours has been a rich environment — even before the venues and museums we've opened recently came online. I The addition of state-of-the-art halls such as the Smith Center for the Per- forming Arts may seem like mere icing on our cake, but they provide a world of inspiration many hometown organiza- tions needed. 've never agreed with folks who complain that Las Vegas lacks culture. It seems to me Las Vegas has had, for quite some time now, more culture than most other cities. ic's time finally has arrived. One group already benefiting is the Nevada Las Vegas Philharmonic, a resi- dent company at the Smith Center. The Philharmonic in the past per- formed quite splendidly at UNLV's Arte- mus Ham Hall. But a recent screening of the 1931 silent film "City Lights" showed off a happy pairing with its new home at the Smith Center. Charlie Chaplin produced, starred in and wrote the music for the film. He would have been impressed to hear how it sounded when the Philharmonic brought his original score to life. The concert was one of nine per- formances planned for this season, themed "A Year In Pictures." The Chaplin experience was so stir- ring that, despite 14 years of perform- ing, one might think the Philharmon- "One of the things we would like to get across to the community is that 'getting there' is very important to us," said Jennifer Scott, the Philharmonic's public relations consultant who has worked with the San Francisco Symphony, Metropolitan Opera and Cleveland Orchestra. "But we would like to stay there, and we need support from the community to make the most of being in a world-class venue." Scott acknowledged that the acous- tics and central location of Ham Hall provide an important venue for the Philharmonic, as well as for other per- formance organizations in our metro area. "But the Smith Center has taken that up a notch," she said. "It certainly is being held up as an example that Las Vegas has gotten a bad rap for its cultural sophistication, but we're getting there the city has culture, that it's culturally sophisticated." The Philharmonic was one of the groups that helped "tune" the Smith Center last March, demonstrating to building personnel for the first time what the hall sounded like with a full orchestra. It will keep playing throughout the remainder of the current season, which runs until spring, with many perfor- mances for local students sprinkled in the mix. "There's sort of a groundswell of pas- sion for arts and culture and pride for a city that's going through a maturation," Scott said. A city that always had some culture, but has even more now — regardless of how you define the term. The Chaplin experience was so stirring that, despite 14 years of performing, one might think the Philharmonic's time finally has arrived. Sacrifice for strong airline industry Customers, cities might not appreciate changes that help keep carriers profitable by Richard N. Velotta L 20 as Vegas needs a healthy aviation industry to thrive, so it's encour- aging to see airlines posting profits in their third-quarter earnings. The unfortunate reality, however, is that in order to be profitable, many companies have had to use tactics that aren't particularly popular with customers or tourism-dependent cities like ours. Several airline executives have advo- cated for capacity control for years, but only recently have they begun to effec- tively practice what they preached. The result for cities is a flat or downward trend in passenger numbers. For con- sumers, it's planes filled to capacity. Passenger counts at McCarran Inter- national Airport are up less than 1 per- cent for the first three quarters of 2012. Passenger counts are flat because the number of seats airlines are bringing into the Las Vegas market is flat. While the tourism industry would love to see more planes coming in, the airlines have tempered their enthusiasm. If there's a silver lining to all this, it's that Las Vegas is better off than most cities. Airlines are using new methods to increase capacity while sustaining profitability with new tactics. Unfortunately, some of the new ap- proaches won't sit well with customers. Allegiant Air and Southwest Airlines, two carriers that are very important to Las Vegas, have fewer flights than they did a year ago but more seats to the market. Allegiant flies more high-capacity Boeing 757 jets now, and Southwest uses its higher-capacity Boeing 737-800 planes a lot in this market. Both are in the middle of aircraft interior remodel- ing projects to increase the number of seats in their standard planes. Allegiant also has long-term plans to introduce more fuel-efficient and higher-capacity Airbus jets to its fleet while Southwest will take delivery of more efficient next-generation 737s. Allegiant and Southwest officials say passengers won't notice a difference in the new seating configurations — passengers will lose a couple of inches, they say — but customers can't be happy about being on an Allegiant MD-80 jet with 16 more people or on a Southwest 737 with six more. Another profitability tactic that helps airlines but makes customers grumpy is ancillary fees. They are favored by Al- legiant and Spirit Airlines, the fastest- growing domestic carrier at McCarran. Many customers holler and vow never to fly airlines that use them, yet planes continue to fly full. Spirit this month increased its carry- on baggage fee to $100 when purchased at the gate. The airline said it's a profit- ability measure that isn't designed to take money out of customers' pockets. Spirit officials say they're trying to push customers to plan ahead and check bags. That way, the boarding process can be more orderly and planes can leave on time, a customer satisfaction mea- sure that is one more piece of the new normal in air travel. rick.velotta@lasvegassun.com / 259-4061 / @vegasinc_therv One profitability tactic that helps airlines is ancillary fees. Many customers holler and vow never to fly airlines that use them, yet planes continue to fly full. | 12 NOVEMBER 2012 |