This is Part 2 of this week’s Catching up on Travel News with TravelSkills! Here’s Part 1. (Sorry if you get this email more than once today…we are still getting the hang of our email distribution system)
AIRLINES
American will soon be picking up its best passengers at LAX in Caddies like this one. (Source: GM)
American Airlines teams up with Cadillac. Following the lead of Delta’s partnership with Porsche and United’s with Mercedes-Benz, American Airlines is teaming up with Cadillac to provide rides across the tarmac to connecting flights — starting at Los Angeles International — for ConciergeKey members with tight transfer times. AA said it will expand the service next to Dallas/Ft. Worth and New York’s LaGuardia and JFK, using Cadillac CTS, SRX or Escalade models. Also, as part of the promo AAdvantage members can earn 7,500 miles for test-driving a new Cadillac.
Breaking news: A health care worker in Dallas has contracted Ebola according to health officials there. If confirmed by CDC, this would be the first case of Ebola transmitted in the US. Hmm. I’m wondering how many TravelSkills readers (including yours truly) might want to change their answer to our recent Ebola fear poll from “not fearful” to “somewhat fearful” after hearing this news. One thing you can count on: Increased Ebola screening at airports that could cause long lines.
Loading ...(click on the vote button or the clear looking button to cast your vote)
Love Field route recap. October 13 marks the end of the Wright Amendment at Dallas Love Field, and here’s a reminder of what’s happening there route-wise.
- Virgin America, which moves operations from DFW to DAL, will have three daily flights starting Monday, October 13 from DAL to SFO, LAX and DCA, adding four daily DAL-LGA roundtrips October 28. (Still no word on when it will add flights to Chicago.)
- Southwest on Monday starts five daily roundtrips between DAL and Chicago Midway; three each to LAX, Baltimore, Denver, Las Vegas and Washington National; and two to Orlando.
- On November 2, Southwest adds one more daily frequency to Midway, Las Vegas, LAX and Orlando, and boosts DAL-DCA to six a day. Also on November 2, Southwest begins service from DAL to Atlanta (4x/day), LGA (3x), PHX (4x), Ft Lauderdale (2x), Nashville (2x), San Diego (2x), Orange County (1x) and Tampa (2x).
All-you-can-fly airline comes to OAK. California’s Surf Air, which charges a flat fee starting at $1,750 a month for unlimited flights in its Pilatus turboprops, is expanding to two more airports — Carlsbad’s McClellan-Palomar (CRQ) north of San Diego on November 18 and Oakland (OAK) on December 15, with flights to Hawthorne, Santa Barbara and other locations. “Both markets were added based on the high current and potential member demand–with more than 100 deposits already placed for membership in these regions and relatively limited service by other carriers to either market,” Surf Air said.
Love your United FA, then say so via the carrier’s website (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
Thank your flight attendants. Members of the flight crew seem to be regularly bashed by frequent fliers more times than they are appreciated. Here is a way you can quickly send your message praising a flight attendant who served you well on a recent flight via United’s web site. Although this topic is primarily for passengers of United Airlines, other airlines are discussed in this MilePoint string as well. Have you thanked a flight attendant lately?
HOTELS
The brand new Conrad Seoul hotel is on the south side of the Han River which bisects the city (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
TravelSkills editor Chris McGinnis just returned from a business trip to Seoul, South Korea with a big batch of great pics and news about this burgeoning, modern, high-tech (and quirky) Asian city. Stay tuned for a few fun trip reports and another in our series of new hotel updates. Have you been to Seoul recently? What did you think? Please leave comments below or email Chris.
The first Virgin Hotel will be located in this Chicago building. (Virgin Hotels)
First Virgin Hotel opening soon. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group has been working for years on a hotel subsidiary, and its first property — in downtown Chicago — is set to open January 15. The 250-room property (including 42 suites) is in the Old Dearborn Bank Building at 203 N. Wabash. Rooms start at $209 and bookings are open now through a new website at http://virginhotels.com.
In Case You Missed It…
>Looks like a major renovation is in store for New York’s iconic Waldorf-Astoria following its sale by Hilton to a Chinese insurance company for nearly $2 billion.
>Airline lounge memberships: Why they’re not for everyone.
>Try these tips for catching some Zs in your hotel room.
>Eight essential tips for business trips to San Francisco.
>>Take a peek at what you may have missed on TravelSkills.com this week! <<
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American has two ways to officially recognize outstanding Flight Attendant (and other employee) performers. Passengers can send a email to customer service through their webpage and your praise gets routed to the employee as well as their supervisors. I’ve been told this is taken into account in decisions on promotions and merit raises. Elites are also given a supply of “Applause” coupons which employees who receive them enter the numeric code on the coupon into a employee website. This enters them into a contest where winners receive miles for positive space awards (and now I think they get cash). Regardless their supervisory chain also sees they’ve received a coupon when each one is logged in. AA has been doing this for years and every one I’ve given out has been met with sincere gratitude.
Thanks for the link about thanking the flight attendants. I always thank the flight attendants with a smile when I leave the plane, and if they did a good job I will stop and tell them that their efforts really made the flight pleasant for me. They usually blush, gush, or shush (with modesty).
Your photo of United’s business class seats made me laugh. As I’m sure you know, United’s business class on some planes has 4 business-class seats all together in a row. On long flights, all four passengers pull up their blankets to nap… and it looks just like 4 strangers in a single bed under one blanket. I remember how jarring this was to me the first time I saw it and how I couldn’t stop laughing.