Travel Update-Weekly Edition
August 7th, 2008
Airline News
AirTran Airways - AirTran is trimming
one flight from Charleston, S.C., reducing its number of daily round-trip
flights to Atlanta to three from the current four. The change takes place Sept.
4.
British
Airways - British airways has announced
capacitiy reductions in their winter schedule as a result of the difficult
trading environment.
* Services from London Gatwick to Newquay, Poznan,
Dresden and Sarajevo will all be suspended starting October 26.
* New routes originally due to start operation on
October 26 from London Gatwick to Valencia and Porto, will not operate.
* Other changes in capacity come from reduced frequency
on multi-frequency routes have limited impact on the BA network.
All passengers affected
by these route changes will be informed and offered the option to
re-book on an alternative flight or receive a full refund.
Copa Airlines - Copa Airlines has announced the
addition of five new destinations on the American continent and the acquisition
of aircraft as part of its expansion plans for 2008. In addition, the airline
emphasized its support of increasing the Hub of the Americas' capacity by adding
a new terminal to the Tocumen International Airport. With the addition of
non-stop flights from Panama to Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Oranjestad, Aruba;
Valencia, Venezuela; and Santa Cruz, Bolivia, as well as the new service it
began to Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago earlier this year, the airline will
operate flights from Panama to a total of 45 destinations in its extensive route
network throughout North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean by the
end of 2008. On August 21, Copa will begin service to Belo Horizonte, the
airline's fourth destination in Brazil, providing the city with its first direct
connections to a large number of Latin American destinations. Continuing with
its expansion efforts, Copa will initiate flights to Valencia and Aruba on
December 1 and 15, respectively, serving both tourism and business passenger
needs. Also, in December Copa will begin flights to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, the
airline's fifth new destination in 2008. From these cities, Copa will offer
immediate connections to and from the principal cities of the Caribbean, North,
Central and South America.
Delta Air Lines - Delta Air Lines Inc will soon start
rolling out broadband Wi-Fi access for its entire domestic mainline fleet of
more than 330 planes. The access will cost $9.95 on flights of three hours or
less and $12.95 on flights of more than three hours. Delta expects Wi-Fi to be
available on all its domestic mainline planes by the summer of
2009.
Beginning Nov. 1, Delta plans to add nonstop service between
Atlanta and Mumbai, India. The carrier will fly one daily round-trip flight
using Boeing 777-200LR jets. But, in adding the new route from Atlanta, Delta
says it will discontinue its current service between New York JFK and Mumbai.
The Atlanta-Mumbai service still requires approval from Indian regulators before
the switch can become official.
JetBlue Airways - Beginning Dec. 18, JetBlue will add
nonstop service between San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo in the
Dominican Republic. JetBlue says the daily round-trip flight will mark its
"first intra-Caribbean service." JetBlue will fly the route with its 100-seat
Embraer E190 jets. The route remains subject to government approval.
JetBlue has announced that it will begin charging $7 for a blanket
and pillow on its flights. The airline's in-flight "TV remains free." Customers
can keep the blanket and pillow. JetBlue says customers can bring their own
pillows and blankets if they don't want to pay the $7.
United Airlines - As part of its continuing effort to
offer customers choice and flexibility, United has announced the
availability of Award Accelerator, a new offering that is focused on rewarding
customers by providing them with the option to purchase extra Mileage
Plus® miles every
time they fly. Award Accelerator
allows customers to purchase redeemable Mileage Plus miles in addition to the
miles they are already earning on a specific itinerary. Miles available for
purchase in most cases are based on the actual flown mileage of each leg of the
trip. Below are sample prices starting at $9 to purchase Award Accelerator,
which complement the flight miles already being earned for the trip.
Customers have the option to purchase Award Accelerator
through EasyCheck-in® online and
can visit united.com/traveloptions for additional information. Later this year, customers will have the opportunity to
purchase Award Accelerator miles prior to check-in on
united.com.
From |
To |
Miles
Flown |
Award
Accelerator miles* (USD) |
|
Chicago |
Cleveland |
316 |
Double
Miles: $9
Triple
Miles: $19 |
|
Chicago |
Orange County |
1,726 |
Double
Miles: $52
Triple
Miles: $104 |
|
Washington, D.C. |
London
Heathrow |
3,677 |
Double
Miles: $110
Triple
Miles: $221 |
|
Los
Angeles |
Sydney,
Australia |
7,483 |
Double
Miles: $224
Triple
Miles: $449 |
*Prices
subject to change without notice. Based on one-way
option.
Airport/Destination
News
Dallas/Ft. Worth
International Airport - Dallas/Ft. Worth international has opened
Best Buy-branded vending machines. Located in Terminals B and E, the machines
sell items from the electronic goods retailer and charge "the same prices as
customers would find at any Best Buy on the street," according to the airport.
Each machine sells products and accessories that are small enough for vending,
such as MP3 players, cameras and memory cards.
John Wayne Airport,
Orange County, CA.
- John
Wayne Airport in Orange County, CA., has
opened a new parking lot with 900 spaces. Parking Lot C is located on Airport
Way, just southwest of Terminal B. Free shuttle service to the terminal will be
provided. It will add 200 more spaces in 2009. The
lot was built partly to make up for Parking Structure B1, which will be
demolished in September to make room for the new Terminal C. When completed in
2011, the 250,000-square foot Terminal
C will have six aircraft gates and a new parking garage. The airport is also
raising its parking rates. Hourly rates will rise to $2 from $1. Daily rates at
closer-in garages will rise to $20 from $17.
Miscellaneous
There's a new
option for people annoyed at having to take their laptops out of their bags at
airport security. The Transportation Security Administration will now
allow travelers to leave their computers inside "checkpoint friendly"
cases. The new rules, announced Tuesday
and set to take effect Aug. 16, are intended to help streamline the X-ray
inspection lines. TSA said it reached out
to bag manufacturers this year to design laptop cases that would provide a
clear, unobstructed image of the computer as it passed through an X-ray machine.
The agency said the new bags will be available for purchase this month. To qualify as "checkpoint friendly," a bag must
have a designated laptop-only section that unfolds to lie flat on the X-ray
machine belt and contains no metal snaps, zippers or buckles and no
pockets. Among the manufacturers selling
TSA-approved laptop bags are Mobile Edge, Skooba Design and Targus
Inc.
July 31, 2008
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