United’s upgraded terminal at Newark could soon look a lot like this one–> Delta’s Terminals C&D at La Guardia. (Photo: OTG)
Terminal renovations at Newark. United Airlines is teaming up with OTG Management for a $120 million overhaul of Newark Liberty’s Terminal C over the next 18 months. UA’s hub terminal will get 55 new dining venues, and passengers will have free access to thousands of iPads “to track their flight, order from chef-created menus, and purchase travel amenities for delivery directly to their seat in the terminal while browsing the Internet,” United said. (This set up should sound very similar to Delta flyers who use New York La Guardia airport frequently– it’s the exact same concept.)
LAX upgrade. Meanwhile, LAX officials last week marked the groundbreaking for a $508 million makeover of Southwest’s Terminal 1 at that airport. It will get a new 12-lane security checkpoint, automated checked bag system, new and expanded dining and retail concessions; and relocation of the terminal entrances to the west end of the building.
Air France Update: Over the weekend, Air France pilots extended their crippling strike until Sept 26. The French carrier is flying about 40% of its flights.
SF Taxi biz down a whopping 65% (Photo: Athan / Flickr)
Taxi usage in SF down 65%! Ride-finding apps like Uber and Lyft have become so popular in tech-savvy San Francisco (where Uber launched in 2009) that the city’s traditional taxi business is in a downward spiral. A new report presented to city transportation officials said that the number of taxi trips in San Francisco has plummeted by 65 percent over the past 15 months. Have you switch away from cabs in favor of Uber, Lyft or other services in SF or elsewhere? Please leave your comments below. For me, I’m currently stuck in Las Vegas, a surprisingly non-Uber city, and feel lost without it! (Want $30 off your first Uber ride? Click here!)
Mercedes tarmac transfers at DEN. United’s best customers (Global First flyers and Global Services members) now have the opportunity for Mercedes-Benz SUV tarmac transfers to their connecting flights at Denver International. The service is already available at Chicago, Houston, Newark, San Francisco, LA and Dulles. (Something else that should be familiar to Delta’s ultra-elites who get tarmac transfers in Porsches.)
Runway closure at ATL. The northernmost runway at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson closed down last week for paving work that will continue through October 15. Four runways remain open, and because September and October are slow traffic months, “the runway closure is not expected to significantly affect flight traffic,” a spokesman said. However, TravelSkills reader RD begs to differ: On Sunday morning he wrote: “Just landed this morning at ATL and this is already creating a mess for arrivals. It added about 10 minutes to our taxi time.”
Inside the first class section of a United E175 (Embraer)
United adds more 76-seat jets. United Airlines is broadening its commitment to the Embraer 175 by ordering another 50 of the two-class, 76-seat aircraft for United Express, to be operated by a subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings. The carrier is already taking delivery of its first batch of 70 E175s; the next 50 will come online from 2015 through 2017. The aircraft offer first class, Economy Plus and regular economy seats. Next year, United Express will start to remove 31 Q400 turboprops from its fleet. Last week, United Express started deploying the E175 at San Francisco, on the SFO-St Louis route; on October 26, it will put the planes on SFO-Austin, Dallas and Minneapolis flights.
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WestJet, Air Canada add bag fees. Canadian carrier WestJet, which flies to a number of U.S. cities and has code-sharing pacts with Delta and American, is ending its “first checked bag free” policy for passengers who buy its bottom-tier Econo fares. The new $25 fee for the first checked bag is effective for travel starting October 29. The carrier also launched a new WestJet Rewards tier program with three levels — teal, silver and gold — starting October 29; it’s based on spending rather than miles flown. In response, Air Canada — which already has a first-bag fee on transborder flights — said it would impose a similar $25 bag fee starting November 2 on domestic passengers traveling on its economy class Tango fares.
Routes: DL grows in Texas; Frontier comes to ORD. Delta Connection/Compass Airlines will begin four daily LAX-DFW flights on November 3; add a third daily LAX-Austin roundtrip November 2; and start twice-daily LAX-San Antonio flights April 7, 2015 … Frontier Airlines started flying out of Chicago O’Hare last week, with six flights a week to Washington Dulles.
So, what do you think of Spirit Airlines flamboyant new livery? Comments below, please! (Photo: Spirit)
AIRPORTS
TSA: Line times are down. The TSA says it is meeting its goal of getting all travelers through security after a wait of less than 20 minutes. From June through August of this year, the agency said, 99.6 percent of all travelers waited in security lines less than 20 minutes — and 99.98 percent of those in the expedited PreCheck lanes “moved through the checkpoint in less than 10 minutes.” And that’s with a total of 173 million persons screened during those summer months. Do TSA’s numbers about waiting times sound right to you, based on your experience?
SFO encourages networking, brainstorming. The newest public facility at San Francisco International is oddly called “#Converge@flySFO” — an 850-square-foot space in the International Terminal, boarding area G, on Level 3 near Gate G93. Equipped with tables, chairs, power outlets, Wi-Fi and a wall-sized white board with markers, “the space is designed to allow travelers to meet and exchange thoughts on technology, shared economies, and ideas that could make the world a better place,” a spokesman said. Persons who want to use it should post their topic, date and time via social media channels using the hashtag #Converge, and tagging @flySFO so the airport can repost it.
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HOTELS
Marriott wants maids tipped. In thousands of Marriott hotel rooms across the group’s various brands, guests will soon start seeing envelopes encouraging them to tip their maid. Housekeeping workers reportedly receive tips less often than other hotel staff, and the company wants to make sure they’re not forgotten. It suggests $1 to $5 a night, depending on the room rate. We’d love to hear you sound off about hotel tipping and Marriott’s moves. Please leave your comments below.
In Case You Missed It…
>Nostalgia buffs can have dinner in a Pan Am 747.
>New airport concept: Park for free, rent your car while you’re away.
>Here’s a credit card for travelers with big bonuses and easy redemptions.
>Here’s how to find widebodies on domestic routes
–Jim Glab & Chris McGinnis
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Absolutely! They are doing their level best to skew the numbers by shunting all and sundry through a line that is supposed to be used by those that have had a background check to ensure the safety of the aircraft. They are making a total mockery of their own system and proving once again that the TSA is nothing but a scam.
Aha! I knew we hadn’t REALLY lost you 🙂 We’ll try to avoid clickbaiting in the future, but I assure you that was not our intention. And I’m sure facebook would be very happy to boost the performance of it if I’d pay them to do so, clickbait or not…. — chris
Clickbait: “(Something bad), unless you read this”
Not Clickbait: “Avoid (something bad) by (solution). Read more here.”
“Avoid roaming charges with Wi-Fi roaming or traveler SIMs, like Truphone.”
Clickbaiters are the worst.
sorry to lose you, T. We did not purposefully write that as “clickbait” on our facebook post about roaming charges even if it came across that way to you! Sayonara –chris
Between the lack of actual news and clickbait like “New devices like the iPhone 6 are leading to higher data consumption…and higher phone bills. Unless you read this”, I’m done with Travelskills.
Check out the memo from Facebook warning clickbaiters that their stories will be progressively hidden: http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/08/news-feed-fyi-click-baiting/
I look forward to following again when the news returns and the clickbait ends.
If you’re not checking luggage just go in through terminal 1. They connect airside and the walkway is to the left just past the Starbucks. When terminal 2 is a zoo you could hear pin drop in terminal 1.
I resent having to tip people instead of their employer paying them a living wage. I wish I could get my customers to tip my employees so I didn’t have to pay them somuch.
Thanks, Justing. The no off switch is very irritating, I agree! — chris
I find the ipads everywhere phenomenon creepy (and I’m 34 and work in tech). In much of the MSP airport, there is literally no place to sit that’s not in front of a screen with animated advertising and no OFF switch. This includes every table and bar seat at many sit-down restaurants, where you must use the ipads to view the menu, order, and pay — including cocktails from the bar, how antisocial!
“…thousands of iPads to track their flight, order from chef-created menus, and purchase travel amenities for delivery directly to their seat in the terminal while browsing the Internet”
This is empty marketing speak for “thousands of new places to to display advertising and mine customer information,” since the ipads are redundant for people who overwhelmingly already have smartphones and tablets of their own. They undoubtedly collect and correlate your web browsing habits, food orders, and travel profile (they aggressively want to know what flight you’re on), and — who knows — maybe determine your gender, race, age, or even identity from the onboard camera (see NameTag).
TravelSkills editors, maybe you can do some real reporting and find out how much revenue is generated by these ipads, for whom, and who benefits from the data collected through their use.
Its not a surprise to me that SF taxis are seeing less business. I’ve had the worst treatment from taxi drivers in SF from refusing fares, which is agaist the law, and not knowing how to get to Golden Gate Park (good thing I had my iPhone).
I’m sorry to see Marriott encouraging their hard working maids to beg for money rather than paying them a living wage. The hotel industry is enjoying record profits due the the limited supply of new properties due to the Great Recession and the increasing demand from a recovery.
As a note on Spirit airlines, I’d walk before I flew them. Frontier has also entered that category when they tried to charge me $100.00 for a carry on because i didn’t pay $25.00 at online check in. The gate agent said this is what there customers said they wanted.
Had a departure today (Sunday)from ATL. we were delayed 45 minutes with the taxi at a traditionally slow time around 4:00. Can’t imagine Monday at 8:00 am.
Helena I was told that Uber has reinstated flat fares to SFO from city.
I’ve used Uber Black, UberX , and both Uber and Flywheel to find taxis (I live in the Castro, so can usually get one in a few minutes – I pity the poor folks who live in the western or southern sections of The City). I won’t use UberX again (or Lyft or Sidecar) until they figure out the insurance mess. Uber Black is great but Uber no longer has fixed price rides to SFO, so they are now too expensive for my taste. Both apps get me a taxi, but SF taxi drivers are some of the worst in the country – don’t know their way around The City and drive like maniacs.
Lemon Pledge 🙂
Excellent info, Jeff! Thanks for sharing that essential info for early risers at OAK! -chris
OAK, normally a very well-run TSA checkpoint, is struggling with PreCheck capacity for the 6a Southwest bank of flights (which is huge). It’s the non-fliers who get shunted over to the PreCheck line which is doubling the wait time at that time. If it’s early in the week, that line can be out the door. It’s definitely easing the regular lines by shifting it over to PreCheck, but that doesn’t do me any good as a Global Entry participant. I’ve had to adjust my arrival time to accommodate the additional wait for an early flight.
It’s hard not to compare the new Spirit Livery to Hughes Airwest (unofficial callsign: “Banana”).
Re: Marriott — I would much rather pay an extra $5-10 a night and know that the staff was well paid than go through the uncertainties of tipping (it always causes me anxiety as to when I should tip and how much).
Sorry to disappoint you, Thinker. We had to broaden our content and reach beyond SF in order to make this a financially sound venture. (and it’s working!) Hope you understand and keep reading. Remember that you can always click on the SFO button at the top of the blog for SF specific info. — chris
Yep… that seems to be their strategy… use PreCheck to help improve overall numbers…. — chris
Hey M: The E175s arent all that bad, are they? I kinda like em… esp when you consider the CRJ alternative. — chris
I miss seeing actual news on TheBAT. Travelskills has quickly become “repost last week’s headlines from Flyertalk.”
There is no way anyone would pay up or use miles to “upgrade” on Uniteds E175.
Do TSA’s numbers about waiting times sound right to you, based on your experience? I wonder if they accomplised this by sending people who aren’t prequalified through TSA Precheck? They sure do seem so be funneling a lot of people through the Precheck lines that have NO idea what they are doing.
“the runway closure is not expected to significantly affect flight traffic”?? When we were landing Thursday night, the pilot stated that approaches had been delayed due to the runway closure and it would be about 15 minutes before we could land. Sounds like Delta didn’t get the spin from the ATL people.