Greetings from New York City on a beautiful fall day peering out from the Parker Meridien hotel (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
AIRLINES
Virgin shares soar in IPO. And the airline could, too. This is going to be really fun to watch. Virgin America shares hit the market 
on Friday morning at $23 each, and took off to reach $30 by the end of the day. That makes Virgin worth about $1.3 billion. Now, with about $220 million in net proceeds, Virgin is going to add new planes, new routes and hopefully more frequencies in key business markets. CEO David Cush said that Virgin will add five new planes in 2015 and another five in 2016. He also said the SF-based carrier has a few other “tricks up its sleeve.” Talk of new flights to Hawaii has re-emerged. With Southwest taking AirTran’s business class seats out of the SFO-ATL market, I’d love to see two-class Virgin dive in. Where would YOU like to see Virgin America (see current destinations) expand? And would you be willing to give up your legacy carrier frequent flyer miles to try it? Please leave your comments below.
Lufthansa’s premium economy starts this week. That new Premium Economy Class at Lufthansa is opening up nine days sooner than expected. The carrier said that starting November 22, the new section will be available on all of its 747-8 routes, including Frankfurt to Chicago, LAX and Washington Dulles. Besides the extra in-flight comforts, passengers will get twice the free checked bag allowance of regular economy, and for a 25 euro fee ($31), Premium Economy passengers can access the business class lounge before departure. Currently, United does not allow redemption of MileagePlus miles for Lufthansa (or any Star Alliance) premium economy. Lufthansa is offering a 15 percent discount on Premium Economy bookings until December 9. Take a look at Lufthansa’s new seat in this TravelSkills post: 20 different business class seats in one room
One of three rooms in the Etihad First Class “Residence” onboard its A380s (Etihad)
$20,000 first class suites going fast. Would you pay $20,000 one way to fly in a private first class suite the size of some Manhattan apartments? Etihad Airways says these super-premium accommodations on its A380s — called The Residence — are selling out, in spite of the stratospheric price tag. Each one has a private shower, living area, bedroom — and the services of a butler. Meanwhile, other leading international carriers have upgraded their own front cabins to meet strong demand from global business moguls.
I captured this image of the Asiana B777 wreckage when my Delta flight from Atlanta landed at SFO the day after the crash (Chris McGinnis)
Asiana SFO flights suspended. The South Korean government has ordered Asiana Airlines to halt its daily service to San Francisco from Seoul Incheon for 45 days as a penalty for the airline’s crash of a 777 during its landing at SFO in July 2013, in which three passengers died and scores were injured. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board blamed the crash on errors by one of the pilots, who was unfamiliar with all the automated systems on the 777. Asiana said it will appeal the suspension, which could delay implementation of the order.
Related: Korean Air Trip Reports- SFO-Seoul on a B777 & Seoul-Atlanta on an A380
International route news: Etihad Airways, which begins daily San Francisco-Abu Dhabi non-stops November 18, said its upcoming Dallas/Ft. Worth route, beginning with three flights a week on December 3, will increase to daily on April 16; Etihad is a code-share partner with American …
>Emirates will put a fourth daily flight, using an A380, onto its Dubai-New York JFK route on March 8, timed to maximize connections with partner JetBlue. The carrier also said it intends to put the A380 super-jumbo onto more U.S. routes; it introduced the plane on its DFW route last month, and will do the same in December with San Francisco and Houston. Emirates will have 68 A380s in operation by the end of 2015 compared with 55 today according to Bloomberg …
>British Airways will replace the 777 on its Denver-London route with a four-class 747 starting in March (including its new 14-suite first class design) …
>El Al will introduce Boston-Tel Aviv service three times a week starting in June 2015 …
>On May 1, Aer Lingus will begin new seasonal service from Washington Dulles to Dublin four times a week …
>Lufthansa will add Tampa to its route network in September 2015, using an A340-300 for flights to Frankfurt.
Popular: 20+ TravelSkills readers have signed up for these oddball credit card offers that reap big rewards. Have you?
The new Eastern Airlines has painted its first jet, a 737-800. Brings back memories, no?
Something old, something new: PEOPLExpress, Eastern. The new incarnation of PEOPLExpress Airlines appears to be in trouble: Media reports indicate officials at Virginia’s Newport News/Williamsburg Airport are trying to evict the carrier from its home base, citing $100,000 in unpaid bills … The old Eastern Airlines name is also being revived in Miami. The “new” Eastern has started recruiting flight attendants, although it doesn’t yet have FAA certification. The company said it plans to operate 737-800s, but will initially serve only as a charter airline.
United’s holiday shopper lounges. Chase and United Airlines will soon open special VIP lounges for holiday shoppers in San Francisco and New Jersey. Available to Chase United cardholders, they’ll offer gift wrapping, refreshments, TVs, Wi-Fi and more, with locations at the Westfield San Francisco Centre (November 24-December 24) and The Mall at Short Hills (November 22-December 24).
Lake Tahoe at sunset (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
Love Lake Tahoe? Then come chat about it! TravelSkills editor Chris McGinnis will be talking about his favorite place to get away from it all MONDAY at 3 pm ET. Take a cool virtual tour here and come chat with us and FlipKey today! On Twitter, look for the #TakeMeThereTahoe hashtag at 3 pm ET, Noon PT today!
In Case You Missed It…
- Delta customers have new options (a secret passageway?) at San Francisco International.
- Chris evaluates Korean Air’s San Francisco-Seoul 777 service.
- Check out these Honolulu hotels for business travelers.
Stay tuned! Part 2 of this weekly “Catch Up” will post tomorrow morning…
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Joey Derbyshire says
January 1, 2016 at 11:31 pmDoes that actually apply to all airlines , who have ever had a pilot error crash? I’m very afraid of there won’t be any more safes airlines left. I always consult to https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=z-djuN2quPqQ.k9TQUCI2ps8E. They always confirm me and then I book any flight for me.
Brad says
November 17, 2014 at 5:10 pmI’d like to see Virgin fly to Hawaii — and not just Honolulu. I’d also like to see more regular service to Mexico, particularly destinations that United and Alaska don’t already serve.
DrewT says
November 17, 2014 at 10:21 amSo I’m not quite sure here… how does not allowing Asiana to fly to SFO really hurt them other than the lost revenue for those flights — it seems like it hurts the travelers on those flights more than it hurts the airline — because now they may have to fight for a seat on another carrier, which may cost more $$, etc… unless the order will mandate that Asiana has to pay for those new flights as well…
Chris McGinnis says
November 17, 2014 at 8:58 amGiven Delta’s investment in Virgin Atlantic, I would not be surprised to see this happen. –Chris
John R. Grout says
November 17, 2014 at 8:16 amAsiana’s management took no responsibility for training and testing the competency of pilots with visual flight rules even though such familiarity is a basic part of flying in North American airspace… a failure that rises to the level of criminal, not merely civil, negligence under these circumstances.
Wmdb says
November 17, 2014 at 12:59 amVirgin America needs to link up with Delta. There are a lot of us underserved by DL and the FF link up would have me flying Virgin America.
Kirk says
November 16, 2014 at 6:37 pmDoes that apply to all airlines who have ever had a pilot error crash? I’m afraid there won’t be many airlines left
Carl CJ says
November 16, 2014 at 6:27 pmVirgin America SFO to New Orleans!
John R. Grout says
November 16, 2014 at 5:08 pmAsiana shouldn’t just be suspended… they should be barred.
garydpdx says
November 16, 2014 at 11:21 amI have two former colleagues on the west coast who fly LCC’s (Southwest, Virgin, Alaska) for US domestic but still reach Silver or Gold on United from international trips. Pre-merger, United didn’t have an official 75K level but Mr. Gold never made it anyways, and prefers the LCC experience over making a run for platinum on the new United and falling short.