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San Jose gets another NYC non-stop

Headed to NYC? San Jose flyers will get new JFK non-stops from Delta. (Image: Jim Glab)

A year and a half ago, only one airline offered Silicon Valley travelers daily non-stop service from Mineta San Jose International to New York City. By next summer, there will be four.

Delta just announced it will begin daily service from SJC to its New York JFK hub on June 8, operating one daily roundtrip with a 737-800.

That means San Jose travelers will be able to fly non-stop to Newark on United or Alaska Airlines, and soon on either JetBlue or Delta to JFK. JetBlue started its SJC-JFK service in 2004, while Alaska and United both launched SJC-Newark flights last March.

Delta 737

Delta will use a 737-800 on its new SJC-JFK non-stop. (Chris McGinnis)

The new Delta flight will operate as a red-eye from San Jose, with a 10:35 p.m. departure time and a 7:15 a.m. JFK arrival. The return flight leaves JFK at 8:15 a.m. and gets to SJC at 11:45 a.m. JetBlue’s service is also an eastbound red-eye, while the eastbound United and Alaska flights depart SJC at 6:20 a.m. and 9:14 a.m. respectively.

“We’re hopeful that as they (i.e. Delta) experience success with the red-eye, they will then ultimately feel confident about the revenue potential of adding more daytime service,” an SJC spokesman told Travelskills. “That’s exactly what Delta did in the case of Atlanta service, where 18 months ago we had only a red-eye non-stop to Atlanta, but that was so successful that they now have added two additional daytime non-stops to ATL.”

Still, he added, “In Delta’s case, we’re very pleased that the westbound JFK flight operates in the morning, allowing business travelers to arrive in time for lunch in Silicon Valley. JetBlue’s westbound flight is in the evening, so Delta’s new flight does increase the menu of options available through the day.”

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Routes: United high-density 777s, Delta, Qantas, Air China, Air Canada, Aeromexico

A United 777-200. (Image: Aero Icarus/Wikimedia Commons)

In international route developments, United will start using high-density 777s on some Europe routes; Delta aims to make things smoother for transborder flyers with a new partnership; Qantas kicks off its 787-9 service to LAX next week; Air China begins a new LAX route; Air Canada adds another Australian destination; and Aeromexico tacks on an Atlanta route.

Travel to Europe for some United Airlines passengers is going to get more crowded next year as the airline starts to deploy high-density 777-200s on a few routes out of its Newark hub. The aircraft in question are normally used on domestic routes. According to Airlineroutes.com, United will put the 777s into service between Newark and Barcelona April 23, Newark-Dublin March 10 and Newark-Madrid May 23. (Low-fare Norwegian started EWR-Barcelona flights last summer, and British Airways/Iberia sister company Level plans to begin cheap flights from Boston to Barcelona next spring.)

United has four configurations for its 777-200s, according to Seatguru.com. The three versions previously designated for international routes have 266 to 269 total seats, while the high-density aircraft have 364 (234 economy, 102 Economy Plus and 50 Polaris business class). They manage this difference thanks in part to 10-across seating in economy and Economy Plus instead of the nine-across in the other versions.

A WestJet 737 in special Walt Disney World livery. (Image: WestJet)

As if Delta didn’t have enough joint venture partnerships already (Virgin Atlantic, Air France-KLM, Aeromexico, and a new one recently approved with Korean Air), it’s now planning yet another. The carrier said it has entered into a preliminary memorandum of understanding with Canada’s WestJet to form a new joint venture for transborder service. Joint ventures also imply antitrust immunity, meaning the two carriers would be able to cooperate on pricing and scheduling.

Delta says the JV with WestJet will mean “coordinated flight schedules for new nonstop flights to new destinations, expanded codesharing, and seamless and convenient connections on the airlines’ extensive networks in the U.S. and Canada,” along with “enhanced frequent flyer benefits including reciprocal benefits for top-tier members of both airlines.”

Qantas’ first 787-9 will enter service to LAX next week. (Image: Qantas)

December 15 is the scheduled starting date for Qantas to put a brand new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner into service on its Melbourne-Los Angeles route. It’s the first route for the new Qantas aircraft, and it will replace an Airbus A380. Next March, Qantas will use a new 787-9 to begin the first non-stops between Australia and Europe, on a London-Perth routing. The Qantas 787-9s will have 42 business class seats configured 1-2-1; 28 in premium economy, with a 2-3-2 layout; and 166 in economy, configured 3-3-3 and offering 32-inch pitch.

Speaking of Australia, Air Canada just added its third route to that country, beginning service this week between Vancouver and Melbourne. The carrier uses a 787-9 for the 16-hour flight. Air Canada already flies from Vancouver to Sydney with a 777-200LR, and last summer it began Vancouver-Brisbane service with a 787.

Another new transpacific route that just started this week is Air China’s service between Los Angeles and Shenzhen, a tech-heavy city in China’s Guangdong Province. Air China will use a three-class 787-9 to fly the route three times a week (Monday, Thursday, Saturday), with a 10:50 p.m. departure from LAX. Air China also has three daily flights from LAX to Beijing.

Delta’s joint venture partner Aeromexico has started flying a new route from Delta’s Atlanta hub. The carrier kicked off daily service between ATL and Merida, using a 99-passenger Embraer 190 with business class and regular economy seating.

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Routes: Air Canada to SFO/Sacramento, AA, Aer Lingus, Norwegian, WOW, Copa + more

Air Canada Express will add new U.S. routes with regional jets. (Image: Air Canada/Skyregional)

In international route news, Air Canada and American have both announced plans to expand service between the U.S. and Canada; Aer Lingus comes to Seattle next year; low-cost carriers Norwegian and WOW will increase capacity to the U.S. in 2018; Copa boosts West Coast frequencies; Lufthansa’s Eurowings subsidiary sets more U.S. routes; and Thomas Cook Airlines comes to New York JFK.

Air Canada has unveiled plans to add new service to six U.S. cities next spring, including San Francisco and Sacramento. All the routes will be operated as Air Canada Express, with 76-seat or 50-seat regional jets. On May 1, the airline will kick off daily flights between San Francisco and Edmonton with a 76-seat aircraft, as well as daily Omaha-Toronto service, using a 50-seat plane. May 17 is the launch date for 76-seat regional jet service between Sacramento and Vancouver as well as daily roundtrips between Baltimore/Washington-Montreal and Pittsburgh-Montreal, both served by 50-passenger aircraft. All those routes will operate year-round. Air Canada will also begin seasonal service on May 17 between Providence and Toronto.

American Airlines is also increasing its transborder service to Canada. It will boost its Phoenix-Edmonton schedule from one flight a day to two effective December 15 to April 2. Next spring, American will launch new daily year-round 737 service from its Chicago O’Hare hub to Vancouver starting May 4, and seasonal daily flights from O’Hare to Calgary June 7-September 4, with an American Eagle/Envoy Air E175.  On February 15, American will increase frequencies between New York LaGuardia-Toronto from four a day to five, and on May 4 it will boost its Washington Reagan National-Toronto schedule from two flights a day a day to three. Also on May 4, the airline will lay on a third daily roundtrip between Philadelphia and Ottawa.

Ireland’s Aer Lingus, now a part of International Airlines Group along with British Airways and Iberia, will add a new U.S. West Coast gateway next year when it starts Dublin-Seattle service. The carrier plans a May 18 start for the new route, using a 265-passenger, two-class Airbus A330-200 to operate four flights a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday). Passengers flying back to Seattle will be able to pre-clear U.S. Customs at Dublin. Aer Lingus previously announced plans to start Dublin-Philadelphia service four days a week next March.

Norwegian will put larger 787-9s on U.S.-Barcelona routes next year. (Image: Norwegian)

Faced with new and growing competition from British Airways/Iberia’s Level affiliate, Norwegian plans to increase capacity between the U.S. and Barcelona next year by switching to larger aircraft – specifically, from the current 291-passenger 787-8 to the 344-seat 787-9. The changeover will take place in late March, affecting Norwegian’s two weekly flights from Barcelona to Ft. Lauderdale, three flights a week to Los Angeles and Oakland, and four a week to Newark.

Another low-cost carrier – Iceland’s WOW – will also add more U.S. seats next year, increasing frequencies on its route between Newark Liberty International and Reykjavik from seven flights a week to 13, effective May 29 through September 16. That’s in addition to the airline’s new daily flights out of New York JFK starting April 28.

Panama’s Copa Airlines plans to increase its West Coast capacity this winter. The airline will boost its Panama City-San Francisco schedule from twice-daily service to 18 flights a week starting March 1, and its Panama City-Los Angeles frequencies from three a day to 25 a week effective January 2.

Lufthansa’s Eurowings unit will add U.S. routes in 2018. (Image: Eurowings)

When Lufthansa announced its recently-launched New York JFK-Berlin service (taking over for the defunct Airberlin), it said the route would be turned over next summer to Eurowings, its fast-growing, leisure-oriented subsidiary. Now it has even more transatlantic plans for Eurowings. The carrier will start a new route between JFK and Dusseldorf starting April 28, using a Brussels Airlines A340-300 to operate six flights a week. Lufthansa said Eurowings will also begin Dusseldorf-Miami service three times a week as of May 4, and Dusseldorf-Ft. Myers flights three times a week starting May 3.

Thomas Cook Airlines has launched new service between New York JFK and Manchester, operating three flights a week with an Airbus A330 and fares starting as low as $209 one-way – including a checked bag and in-flight meals. And JetBlue will kick off its fourth Caribbean route from Newark next spring, beginning daily service to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on May 3.

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Even more cheap flights to Europe coming in 2018

Level operates two-class A330s to Europe. (Image: IAG)

Europe just keeps getting cheaper. British Airways/Iberia’s low-cost Level affiliate will expand transatlantic service in 2018, adding flights from Paris, but a sister company already on that route will cease operations.

Citing the “incredible success” of the Barcelona flights started earlier this year by its low-cost Level subsidiary, International Airlines Group (the parent of British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus) said it will begin Level service out of Paris Orly next summer, including two routes to North America. The carrier will also add another U.S. route to Barcelona.

Plans call for Level to base two A330-200s at Paris Orly, starting service July 2 to Montreal three times a week, and adding Newark-Orly service four times a week beginning September 4. The company said it will also begin new Boston-Barcelona flights on March 28, operating up to three times a week through the summer, starting at $149 each way.

IAG said the Newark-Paris flights will also start at $149 one-way. Level already flies to Barcelona from Oakland, and from Los Angeles in the summer. But the decision to open a base for Level at Paris Orly comes with a cost: IAG said it plans to discontinue operations of its OpenSkies airline at the end of next summer.

Don’t miss: Iberia adds new nonstops between SFO and Madrid

An OpenSkies business class seat-bed.(Image: OpenSkies)

OpenSkies, which calls itself a “luxury boutique” airline, flies from both Newark and New York JFK to Paris Orly, targeting business travelers with specially-configured, 100-passenger 757s that have three seating classes. The carrier started flying in 2008 as a subsidiary of British Airways, taking advantage of then-new Open Skies rules allowing European airlines to fly routes between the U.S. and Europe that didn’t require a stop in their home country.

Level’s A330s have two seating classes – economy and premium economy. The airline has five pricing levels with varying services and amenities included, ranging from the most basic fare – which provides only one cabin bag – to its Premium Flex level, which provides a seat in the front cabin, two checked bags and one cabin bag, meal service, seat selection, and the ability to change travel dates or obtain refunds.

Economy seating in a Level A330-200. (Image: Level)

IAG created Level in part as a response to new low-cost competition from airlines like Norwegian and Iceland’s WOW. IAG’s British Airways unit is also striking back at Norwegian by adding higher-capacity aircraft on transatlantic routes to London Gatwick from some U.S. cities served by Norwegian.

In addition to the new Paris-Newark and Paris-Montreal service, Level will also add flights from Orly to the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique starting on July and September respectively.

Don’t miss: Fare war to Paris? 

Even if you don’t plan to fly Level, the move will put pricing pressure on all carriers flying between Europe and the U.S. So maybe getting to Europe will be cheaper next year than it was this year… and this year was pretty cheap!

Have you flown Level yet? Would you? Why or why not? Please leave your comments below. 

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Routes: United beefs up + Alaska adds PIT + American in DC + Spirit’s newest city

United is adding several regional routes in 2018 using Embraer aircraft like this . (Image: United)

In domestic route developments, United announced plans to serve a bevy of new regional markets next year; Alaska will add a big spoke from its Seattle hub; American will expand at Washington Reagan National in 2018; and Spirit grows at Columbus and New Orleans.

United plans to launch new service in 2018 from five major airports to several smaller ones. At its Chicago O’Hare hub, United will begin year-round twice-daily service starting April 9 to El Paso, Tex., and to Wilmington, N.C. (By the way, United said that starting next February, it will implement an “enhanced bank structure” at O’Hare that will mean “shorter connection times and better access to more destinations” for connecting passengers.)

Also beginning April 9 for United will be a daily Denver-Jacksonville flight, and twice-daily service from Los Angeles to both Redmond and Medford, Oregon; from Newark to Elmira, N.Y.; and from Washington Dulles to Wilmington, N.C.

New seasonal service from United, beginning June 7, includes daily flights from O’Hare to Fresno, California; and from LAX to Kalispell and Missoula, Montana (all located near major national parks). All the above flights will use regional jets operated by United Express partners.

Routesonline.com turned up some additional smaller new markets for United Express next year. It said United will launch service on January 30 from Denver to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, twice a day; on February 1 from Denver to North Platte, Nebraska, twice a day; and on February 6 from Denver to Pueblo, Colorado and Liberal, Kansas six times a week. United had previously announced new service from Denver to Moab, Utah starting May 1 and to Vernal, Utah beginning June 1.

Alaska Airlines 737 New Livery

Alaska Airlines is coming to Pittsburgh next year. (Image: Alaska Air)

Alaska Airlines will begin service in September 2018 to the 90th destination from its Seattle hub when it adds a daily 737 flight to Pittsburgh, with an 8:25 a.m. eastbound departure and a return flight leaving Pittsburgh at 5:20 p.m. Currently, there is no non-stop service in the Seattle-Pittsburgh market.

American Airlines plans to add service in various domestic markets next year, including three new routes from Washington Reagan National. New DCA service for American will include a daily CRJ900 flight to Tallahassee starting February 15, and six CRJ200 flights a week to Montgomery, Alabama, as of June 7, both operated by PSA Airlines; and a daily E175 flight from DCA to Little Rock, operated by Republic Airlines. American will also expand its weekend-only service to daily between DCA and Destin/Ft. Walton Beach, Florida starting May 4; and between DCA and Myrtle Beach, S.C. as of April 3.

Elsewhere, American will begin twice-daily flights in April between New York LaGuardia and Portland, Maine, with 50-seat regional jets. And on February 15, American will begin mainline A320 service between its Charlotte hub and Tucson, Arizona, with a very-late-night (12:30 a.m.) eastbound departure time.

Spirit Airlines will add Columbus, Ohio to its system. (Image: Spirit Airlines)

Spirit Airlines announced plans to add Columbus, Ohio to its network on February 15, offering daily, year-round service to Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale and Las Vegas, as well as seasonal daily flights to Tampa and Ft. Myers that will end April 11 and resume November 8. On March 22, Spirit will add seasonal service three times a week from Columbus to New Orleans and Myrtle Beach, continuing through November 7. On March 15, Spirit will also begin daily flights from Richmond, Virginia to Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale. Earlier this month, Spirit launched new daily service from New Orleans to Boston, Newark, Tampa and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

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Southwest adds more Oakland routes in 2018

Image: Southwest

Southwest Airlines’ 2018 schedule will give East Bay business travelers new daily flights to five domestic destinations that currently have no regular non-stop service from Oakland International – including two transcon routes.

In its 2018 summer schedule announcement, the airline said it will introduce daily non-stops on July 8 from Oakland to San Antonio, and on July 15 from OAK to Orlando, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Indianapolis. (Saturday-only non-stops from OAK to Orlando begin April 8.)

Earlier this year, Southwest started offering non-stop seasonal service from Oakland to Newark Liberty International, but based on the success of those flights, the airline now plans to convert that into year-round service, with daily flights due to start April 8, 2018.  (The only other non-stop service from Oakland to the New York City area is on JetBlue, which goes to JFK Airport.)

The new service will give Southwest 33 non-stop destinations out of Oakland.

Southwest at Oakland

Southwest Airlines jets at Oakland International Airport (Photo: Port of Oakland)

Southwest has been steadily ramping up its California operations in recent months, and it has a new promotion for Rapid Rewards members who live in the state. Called California Millions, it will give away millions of Rapid Rewards points to winners. It remains in effect through November 30. Here’s a link to participate.

The airline’s summer schedule for next year also includes new daily non-stops between San Antonio and Ft. Lauderdale starting July 8. On June 6, Southwest will end its daily service between Flint, Michigan and Chicago Midway.

On June 7, Southwest will resume daily seasonal service between Denver-Charleston, S.C., Chicago-San Juan and Omaha-Orlando. And on June 9, it will start new Saturday-only seasonal flights between Boise-Dallas, Denver-Panama City, Fla., and Tulsa-Orlando.

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Routes: Delta at LAX, More Mexico for United, BA 747s, Norwegian, Icelandair,

Delta will use a 777-200LR for LAX flights to Paris and Amsterdam. (Image: Delta)

In international route news, Delta will add new transatlantic routes next year; Norwegian starts up London flights from two western U.S. cities; Icelandair will add U.S. gateways in 2018; Austrian Airlines debuts a new cabin class; British Airways will put 747s on two U.S. routes; United adds a Mexico destination from two cities; Aeromexico replaces Delta on a U.S. route; and new services are coming for Avianca, Azul and WestJet.

Delta said this week it plans to add new service from Los Angeles to two European destinations next year. Effective June 16, Delta will use a 777-200LR to fly from LAX to both Paris and Amsterdam, but it will not offer daily departures on those routes. The Paris flights will operate Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays (eastbound), and the Amsterdam flights on the other four days of the week. Many onward connections at both destinations will be available on Delta partners Air France and KLM. At New York JFK, Delta will start flying five days a week as of May 24 to Ponta Delgada in the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal about 1,000 miles west of Lisbon in the Atlantic Ocean.

At its Atlanta hub, Delta will add seasonal 767 service to Lisbon from May 24 through September 4. And starting May 16, Delta will add a third daily roundtrip between Detroit and Paris CDG (already served by daily flights from Delta and code-share partner Air France). Delta had previously announced new transatlantic service three times a week as of March from JFK to Lagos, Nigeria; Orlando-Amsterdam flights beginning March 30; and Indianapolis-Paris starting May 24.

In other news, Delta this week resumed code-sharing with Russian carrier Aeroflot, putting its DL code onto 14 Aeroflot domestic routes out of Moscow Sheremetyevo. You can see a full list of the affected routes here.

Norwegian Air 787 Dreamliner

Norwegian Air is now flying from Seattle and Denver to London with 787s. (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Low-cost Norwegian has started flying a pair of previously-announced new transatlantic routes. This week it inaugurated daily 787-9 service to London’s Gatwick Airport from Seattle-Tacoma International, as well as twice-weekly (Saturday/Tuesday) 787-9 service from Denver International to Gatwick. The Denver service is scheduled to increase to increase to three flights a week on November 2 with the addition of a Thursday departure from DEN.

Icelandair is expanding its U.S. route network next year, as it faces growing competition from low-cost Icelandic carrier WOW Air. Icelandair will add Dallas/Ft. Worth to its route map in May 2018, offering 757-200 flights to Reykjavik four days a week out of DFW’s Terminal D. (Earlier this month, WOW announced new DFW-Reykjavik service also starting in May 2018, operating three times a week with an A330.) Also coming in mid-May 2018 is new Icelandair service from Cleveland to Reykjavik, operating five days a week with a new two-class 737MAX 8. The day after Icelandair announced its Cleveland route, WOW announced it will also fly Cleveland-Reykjavik, starting May 4 with four flights a week, with fares starting at $99 one-way.

Austrian’s new premium economy seats have 38-inch pitch. (Image: Austrian Airlines)

Austrian Airlines — the Lufthansa subsidiary that flies to Vienna from New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami – unveiled plans to offer premium economy seating, bookable now for flights starting March 6. The new seats will be wider than regular economy and will offer a 38-inch pitch as well as footrests, a 12-inch seatback screen, power outlets and USB ports. Premium economy passengers will be allowed two free checked bags, and will get welcome drinks, amenity kits, and meal service on china.

Touch-screen screens in economy are part of British Airways’ overhaul of its 747s. (Image: British Airways)

You want more chances to fly on a 747 before they all disappear? British Airways still relies on the Boeing jumbos for some long-haul services, and it plans to put a 747-400 onto its London Heathrow-Austin route next spring (effective April 8), replacing the 787-9 it currently uses. And from August 8 through September 30 of next year, according to Routesonline.com, BA will replace an A380 on its Los Angeles-LHR route (BA283/282) with a 747-400.

United Airlines is adding service to Mazatlan, Mexico just in time for the winter holidays. From its Houston hub, United will fly to Mazatlan four times a week from December 21 through April 8, then cut back to weekly Saturday-only service through mid-August. From Chicago O’Hare, United will offer once-a-week Saturday service to Mazatlan from December 23 through April 7. In other Mexico route news, Delta’s existing daily Delta Connection/Skywest CRJ900 service from Salt Lake City to Guadalajara will be replaced in January by daily E190 flights operated by Delta’s new joint venture partner Aeromexico.

Elsewhere in Latin America, Brazil’s Azul will expand its U.S. network in December by adding new service four times a week between Orlando and Belo Horizonte, Brazil; and four flights a week linking Ft. Lauderdale with Belem, Brazil. Avianca’s TACA Airlines unit plans to revive Newark-San Salvador, El Salvador service November 17, operating five flights a week. And Avianca Brasil plans to offer daily flights to Sao Paulo Guarulhos from New York JFK beginning December 15.

And to Canada, Westjet will start flying between Denver and Calgary effective March 8, operating one daily roundtrip with a 737-700.

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United adds 4 new nonstops to Europe

United will fly from San Francisco to Zurich next summer. (Image: Zurich Tourism)

You wanted to book award travel to Europe this summer but couldn’t find any available seats? The earlier you start, the better, and United Airlines has just opened the books on several new seasonal routes to Europe for summer 2018.

The new schedule includes one route from San Francisco – a daily 787-8 flight to Zurich that will operate from June 7 to October 27. Onward connections at Zurich are available on Swiss, United’s Star Alliance partner. (United also offers year-round service to Zurich from Newark and Washington Dulles.) Currently, Swiss flies year-round using its flagship B777-300ER nonstop between SFO and ZRH.

As of today, round trip economy airfares on United’s SFO-ZRH nonstops are about $1,280. Business class is in the $4,400 range.

While there are award seats available on the new route, regrettably I could not find any at the lower “saver” level on the nonstops— a quick scan showed United charging a whopping 130,000 miles roundtrip in economy or 300,000 in business while rates were much lower for one-stop flights. Since these flights were just loaded today, keep an eye out for changes.

I thought United would have added nonstops between SFO and Rome or Milan to go up against the new Norwegian nonstops to Rome across the Bay at Oakland. SFO-Amsterdam would make sense, too, since there’s currently not a Star Alliance partner offering nonstops. We’ve asked United about this and are awaiting a reply.

Will United ever fly between SFO and Rome? Hope so! (Photo: Pixabay)

Other new seasonal routes on the 2018 schedule include:

  • Washington Dulles to Edinburgh, Scotland with a 757 operating daily from May 23 through October 4.
  • Newark to Porto, Portugal, with a daily 757 flight from May 4 through October 4.
  • Newark to Reykjavik, Iceland, also with a 757 flying daily from May 23 to October 4.

In addition to the new routes, United said it will extend some seasonal Europe routes for a longer period in 2018. San Francisco-Munich and Chicago-Edinburgh service next year will operate from May 4 through October 26; and Chicago-Dublin and Washington Dulles-Lisbon flights will be available from April 9 through October 26.

See all details about United’s new summer schedules here. 

In addition to United’s new summer offerings to Iceland, Portugal, Scotland and Switzerland, the airline will start daily service between Los Angeles and Singapore and between New York/Newark and Buenos Aires in October 2017 and in January 2018, will begin daily nonstop service between Houston and Sydney.

Where would YOU like to see United fly next?

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Airport news: Denver, Boston, DFW, Newark, Pittsburgh

Denver International will get more gates, new concessions. (Image: Jim Glab)

In airport news, Denver will add more gates and several new vendors; Boston may charge a fee from drivers who are picking up or dropping off passengers; work is finally finished on a major overhaul of Dallas/Ft. Worth’s Terminal E; Pittsburgh will allow non-travelers into the airside of its terminals; and United has a very exclusive restaurant at Newark.

A Denver city council committee has approved a plan to start adding more gates to the three terminals at Denver International Airport. Assuming approval by the full council, the proposal calls for construction of a total of 26 new passenger gates – four on the west end of Concourse B by 2019, along with 12 more gates on the west end of Concourse A and 10 on the east end of Concourse C by 2020. The gates would accommodate both international and domestic flights. Meanwhile, airport officials said travelers will see 17 new restaurants and stores in the terminals next year. New entrants include six coffee shops across all three terminals (three Starbucks and three Dazbogs); a new Denver Central Market on Concourse A with a bakery, a sushi outlet, a bodega and other food options; a sports bar from Colorado’s New Belgium Brewery on Concourse B; and a new barbecue restaurant and sandwich shop on Concourse A.

How can you reduce traffic congestion at a major airport? The Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Boston Logan, is studying a proposal to start imposing fees on all individual drivers who are picking up or dropping off friends or relatives. Taxi and ride-sharing services already pay airport fees that are passed along to their customers, and the Port Authority sees the imposition of fees on non-commercial drivers as a logical next step, according to the Boston Globe. The report notes that the number of flights at Logan has jumped by more than 15,000 a year since 2015, and the number of non-commercial vehicles dropping off or picking up travelers has reached an estimated 20,000 a day. There was no estimate of how much such a fee might be, or how it would be collected, but the report notes that more than a dozen airports in the U.K. already have similar fees.

Dallas/ Ft. Worth’s Terminal E has been thoroughly renovated. (Image: DFW Airport)

At Dallas/Ft. Worth International, airport officials said work has been completed on a major rehabilitation of Terminal E. The project included the installation of device charging stations for passengers at each of the terminal’s 36 gates. Free wi-fi is available throughout the terminal, and travelers can use the DFW mobile app to check flight information, order food, and find retail locations. Terminal E also got 21 new retail and dining concessions including a 7-Eleven, ice cream bar shop, barbecue restaurant, Dunkin’ Donuts, Chick-fil-A, Auntie Anne’s and more. In addition, the number of parking spaces at Terminal E’s garage increased from 4,036 to 5,941, and new overhead LED beacons alert drivers to open spaces.

United’s “secret” restaurant at Newark is by invitation only. (Image: United)

United Airlines’ latest special perk for special passengers is an invitation-only restaurant in Terminal C at its Newark Liberty International hub, according to a report in Travel + Leisure magazine. The airline reportedly notified select customers in an email that they qualify for dining privileges at the exclusive eatery, which is called ‘CLASSIFIED.” MileagePlus elites who are lucky enough to gain access won’t even be told the location of the restaurant until they book a table, the magazine said, although it is reportedly hidden behind Alain Ducasse’s Saison restaurant. Entrees at the 36-seat restaurant reportedly start at $29 and range up to a maximum price of $98 for a 42-ounce (!) steak.

Pittsburgh International this week became the first domestic airport since 9/11 to allow members of the public into its secure airside facilities even if they are not ticketed passengers, according to Air Transport World. A TSA official told the publication that PIT is the only airport that has such a program, and there are no plans to expand it to others. Non-ticketed persons who want to access the airport’s restaurants and shops, or escort a relative or friend to their gate, must show a driver’s license or passport and have their name checked against the government’s no-fly list. Then they’ll get a stamped “myPITpass” and will have to go through security screening to access the terminals.

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U.S. routes: Southwest, United, Alaska, AA, Delta, JetBlue + more

San Jose Airport

Southwest Airlines is adding new San Jose routes next spring. (Image: Chris McGinnis)

We have a lot of airline route news to catch up on following our August break, so we’ll start with domestic developments. Southwest’s spring schedule additions include several new routes out of San Jose and Sacramento; Alaska also starts new service at San Jose; United will join Alaska in flying out of a new Pacific Northwest airport, and adds a seasonal ski market from San Francisco; American will start new service from Denver, and will put a wide-body on a San Francisco transcon route; Delta’s Salt Lake City hub gets a new spoke, and Las Vegas gets more Hawaii flights; JetBlue grows at Atlanta and Boston; Spirit adds a Las Vegas transcon route; and Frontier expands at San Antonio.

The battle for California is paying off for Golden State travelers with tons of new routes and low fares. Southwest Airlines last week unveiled plans for significant expansion in California next spring. On April 8, the airline will kick off new daily service from San Jose to Boise, St. Louis, Austin, Spokane and Houston Hobby, along with new daily flights from Sacramento to Austin and St. Louis. Southwest will follow that up on May 6 by launching new daily service to Orlando from both San Jose and Sacramento. Officials at SJC said Southwest will also expand existing routes there starting April 8, adding a second daily roundtrip to both Chicago Midway and Dallas Love Field, a fifth to Seattle, a sixth to Phoenix, and a fifth and sixth daily flight from SJC to Portland., along with new Sunday-only service to Albuquerque and New Orleans.

In Florida, Southwest on April 8 will add three daily roundtrips between Ft. Lauderdale and Jacksonville and daily non-stops between Milwaukee and Houston Hobby. On March 8, Southwest is due to discontinue its non-stop flights between Dallas Love Field and Milwaukee, and between Philadelphia and West Palm Beach, and will seasonally suspend service between Oakland-Tucson, Washington Reagan National-Ft. Myers, and Minneapolis/St. Paul-Ft. Lauderdale.

United will join Alaska in flying out of Washington State’s Paine Field next year. (Image: Alaska Airlines)

Travelers in San Francisco and Denver will get a new option for flights to the Seattle area next year with United’s announcement that it will add service from those cities to Paine Field, 23 miles north of Seattle. Starting in the fall of 2018, United said, it plans to start offering six flights a day from Paine to its SFO and DEN hubs. Last spring, Alaska Airlines announced plans to begin the first commercial airline service from Paine Field in the fall of next year, although it didn’t say which routes it would serve. In other route news, United will begin twice-weekly seasonal  service on December 18 between San Francisco and Vail/Eagle, Colorado, with CRJ700s operated by SkyWest. Elsewhere, United/SkyWest on November 1 will begin service six days a week to Clarksburg, West Virginia, from both Chicago O’Hare and Washington Dulles with CRJ200s.

Speaking of Alaska Airlines, that carrier last week kicked off new routes at San Jose, adding daily flights to both Austin and Tucson, using the popular Embraer E175 regional jets. That gives Alaska 31 daily departures at SJC to 18 destinations.

San Jose gates

SJC is expanding, adding two new gates (29 & 30) at the southern end of the Terminal B for use by Alaska Air (Image: SJC)

On October 5, American Airlines is planning to replace the A321 currently used on one of its daily Philadelphia-San Francisco flights (AA722/723) with a wide-body Airbus A330-200. The bigger plane is currently scheduled to keep flying the route through December 14. Next year, beginning June 7, American plans to operate a daily summer flight between Denver and New York JFK with a 737-800. In other news, The Dallas News reports that American will offer 2-4-2 premium economy seating on its Hawaii routes from Dallas/Ft. Worth, using retrofitted 777-200s. The roomier seats are available from DFW to Honolulu and Maui starting in December, and from DFW to Kona beginning next June.

On December 21, Delta plans to begin new daily service between its Salt Lake City hub and Milwaukee, using an E175 operated by SkyWest. Delta is also extending its planned Las Vegas-Honolulu 757 service, which was originally scheduled for daily holiday flights from December 21 to January 14. Now they will continue as Saturday-only service from January 15, increasing to three flights a week February 16.

JetBlue is adding three more Atlanta routes. (Image: Jim Glab)

JetBlue finally broke into the Atlanta market last March, when it started flying five times a day from ATL to its Boston focus city. And now JetBlue has plans to double its Atlanta presence by adding five more daily flights there. Effective March 8, 2018, JetBlue will start flying from Atlanta to New York JFK twice a day, to Ft. Lauderdale twice a day, and to Orlando once a day. Elsewhere, JetBlue announced it will begin new service between Boston and Syracuse on January 4, offering one daily roundtrip with an Embraer 190.

In the ultra-low-cost carrier arena, Spirit Airlines on November 9 will begin daily A320 service between Las Vegas and Newark.  And Frontier Airlines will start operating four flights a week from San Antonio to Washington Dulles on October 6, followed by four a week between San Antonio and Ontario, California beginning October 13.

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Another airline plans $99 U.S.-Europe flights

A Primera Airbus A321neo. (Image: Primera Air)

Ever hear of Primera Air? No reason you should have – it’s a European airline that flies mostly from Scandinavian airports to Mediterranean destinations. But next year it plans to start flying to the U.S. with super-low fares.

Primera will use new two-class, 198-passenger Airbus A321neos to fly from Newark to Paris CDG, London Stansted and Birmingham, and from Boston to the same three destinations, with one-way fares starting at $99.

Its initial schedule calls for daily service on all three Newark routes, and three to four flights a week on the three Boston routes, with various starting dates from April 19 through June 22, 2018.

Image: Primera Air

It’s just one more low-cost competitor in a growing roster of low-cost transatlantic operations that also includes Norwegian Air, Iceland’s WOW, and International Airlines Group’s Level. Like the others, Primera will supplement its ticket revenues with extra fees for various services and amenities.

The carrier said that for its transatlantic flights, it will offer various bundled fares: “Our fare classes range from no-frills to all-inclusive with various combinations of benefits, including baggage, priority seating, your preferred meal, priority boarding, ticket flexibility and comfort seats with extra legroom.”

Don’t miss: United to alter the airline bumping game

Premium cabin seating on Primera’s A321neos. (Image: Primera Air)

Its premium cabin will provide roomer seats with adjustable footrests and more legroom, and premium fares will include a meal service, amenity kit and bottled water.

Primera’s transatlantic fleet will initially consist of eight aircraft. Owned by a consortium of tour companies, Primera initially started out operating charters for its owners, and gradually expanded into scheduled service.

What do you think about all these new European low-fare carriers? Would you fly a single aisle Airbus A321 across the Atlantic? Please leave your comments below. 

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Routes: Delta to China, Mexico deals, Cathay upgrades, Saudi, WOW, United

Delta will use a 777-200LR for its new Atlanta-Shanghai flights. (Image: Delta)

In international route developments, Delta announces a major new transpacific flight and a Mexico route; Saudi Arabian Airlines is the last carrier to be relieved of the laptop ban; Cathay Pacific introduces a new way to upgrade; WOW enters a Midwest market; and United trims some Europe service.

Delta’s three existing U.S. gateways for non-stop flights to Shanghai (Los Angeles, Seattle and Detroit) will be joined by a fourth next year when the airline launches the only non-stop service to Shanghai from Atlanta. Set to begin in July 2018, the new route will allow passengers to connect to more than 50 destinations beyond Shanghai via Delta code-share partner China Eastern Airlines. Delta currently offers two other transpacific non-stop routes from Atlanta, to Seoul and Tokyo. The airline said it will fly the new Shanghai route with a 777-200LR that has 37 Delta One lie-flat seats, 36 seats in Delta Comfort+ and 218 in regular economy.

Aeromexico flights at Mexico City’s Benito Juarez Airport (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Although its new joint venture partner Aeromexico already has several flights a day between Los Angeles and Mexico City, Delta plans to begin its own once-a-day service in that market on December 1. Delta will use an A319 on the route, with a 9:30 a.m. departure from LAX, and plenty of connections available at MEX on Aeromexico.

Speaking of Mexico, Alaska Air’s expansion in the US-to-Mexico market is resulting in some pretty amazing deals. For example with its new MexiCaliRica sale, nonstop roundtrips between Los Angeles or San Francisco and Mexico City are running as cheap as $220 round trip for late August and fall flights. Seattle to Mexico City is just $320 round trip. LAX to Los Cabos is just $240 round trip. Fall is a perfect time to visit Mexico as it cools off and prices tumble. Fares are available on Alaska Air as well as other carriers such as Aeromexico, Delta, United and Volaris on these routes.

Related: US-bound passengers warned to arrive at Mexican airports 3 hours in advance

Middle Eastern carriers were offering loaner laptops to premium passengers. (Image: Qatar Airways)

The U.S. “laptop ban” is now over, as Saudi Arabian Airlines has become the last carrier to have the ban lifted. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said recently that airlines and airports that complied with new, tougher inspection standards could be relieved of the ban – although any airline/airport worldwide that didn’t also increase security practices to meet those new standards could have a laptop ban imposed. This could create some new inconveniences for travelers, however – e.g., CNN said this week that Mexican aviation authorities are now advising passengers on U.S.-bound flights to show up at the airport three hours in advance so their personal electronic devices can be subjected to more stringent inspections. The U.S. ban against carrying laptops and tablets into the passenger cabin was issued in March against carriers operating non-stop flights to the U.S. from 10 airports in the Middle East and North Africa.

Cathay Pacific has introduced a new Upgrade Bid program that lets passengers make cash offers for an upgrade to a business class or premium economy seat. Persons who book through the airline’s website will see an Upgrade Bid eligibility notification on their booking confirmation page, where they can make their best offer for a better seat – although they can change or rescind it up to 50 hours before departure. Successful bidders will be notified by email two or three days in advance. The only U.S. route where the program is currently offered is Chicago-Hong Kong; it is also available on several other routes out of Hong Kong including Amsterdam, Bangkok, Dubai, Rome and Seoul.

Wow Air flies an A321 on its new Chicago O’Hare-Iceland route. (Image: Wow Air)

Iceland’s low-cost carrier WOW Air has started service from another U.S. gateway, operating four flights a week from Chicago O’Hare to Reykjavik, where passengers can connect to major European cities. Frequencies will increase to six a week during August. The carrier is using an A321 on the route

United is planning some changes to its Europe service later this year, all on routes operated with 757s from the carrier’s Newark hub. On October 5, United will discontinue its daily service from Newark to Birmingham, England, and its year-round flights from Newark to destinations in Scotland and Ireland will be changed to seasonal service. Newark-Glasgow flights will be suspended from October 28 to May 3, and Newark-Shannon service will be suspended from November 25 to March 8.

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Routes: Hong Kong, LOT, United, Aeromexico, British Airways, Air India + more

The laptop ban was lifted for Royal Jordanian. (Image: Royal Jordanian)

In the latest international routes news, two more Middle Eastern airlines were removed from the Department of Homeland Security’s “laptop ban” this week; an Asian carrier will start its first U.S. service to Los Angeles; LOT Polish will fly from the U.S. to Hungary; Aeromexico adds a U.S. route at San Jose; United goes year-round on a key European route; British Airways starts flying a Florida route; Denver will get new non-stops to Switzerland; and Air India adds a U.S. gateway.

More Middle Eastern airlines and airports have met the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s new passenger inspection standards to guard against explosives in electronic devices, so this week DHS dropped its laptop ban for them. The latest carriers to allow passengers to carry laptops and tablets into the cabin are Royal Jordanian and Kuwait Airways. Royal Jordanian has 16 flights a week from Amman to New York JFK, Detroit and Chicago, while Kuwait Airways flies from Kuwait to JFK.

Last week, the ban was dropped for Etihad, Emirates, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines.

Hong Kong Airlines will fly a new A350 to Los Angeles. (Image: Airbus)

Hong Kong Airlines, a 10-year-old carrier operating out of (where else?) Hong Kong and partly owned by China’s Hainan Airlines, is due to take delivery of its first Airbus A350-900XWB late this year, and will use it to begin service to the U.S. According to Routesonline.com, the launch is set for December 15. The two-class A350 will fly the LAX-Hong Kong route once a day with a late morning departure from Los Angeles. Hong Kong Airlines currently has a fleet of A320s and A330s as well as code-share agreements with several carriers including Virgin Australia, Asiana, EVA, Hainan and China Eastern.

Budapest will get non-stop service from the U.S. next year. (Image: Jim Glab)

There has been no non-stop service between the U.S. and Budapest, Hungary for the past six years, but that is due to change next spring. Instead of a Hungarian or U.S. carrier, though, the flights will be operated by LOT Polish Airlines. LOT plans to use 787 Dreamliners to fly twice a week from Chicago O’Hare to Budapest starting May 5, and four times a week between New York JFK and Budapest beginning May 3.

At Mineta San Jose International, Aeromexico has kicked off new daily flights to Guadalajara using a 186-passenger 737-800. The southbound flight leaves SJC at 10:15 a.m. and the northbound service departs Guadalajara at 7:15 a.m. Aeromexico is the sixth foreign carrier to start flying to San Jose since 2015. Don’t miss our post about super low fares on this route! 

Instead of ending its seasonal Newark-Rome flights this fall as previously planned, United Airlines now says it will make EWR-FCO a year-round operation. From early November through March, United said, it will fly the route from three to seven times a week. But instead of using the 242-seat 767-400 operating in the peak season, it will switch in November to a 214-seat 767-300 with 30 flat-bed business class seats and 184 economy seats, including 49 Economy Plus extra-legroom seats.

United’s decision might have been influenced by low-cost specialist Norwegian, which plans to begin 787 flights between Newark and Rome four times a week on November 9, increasing to daily frequencies next February. (We’ve asked United why it has not added SFO-Rome nonstops, but have not heard back…)

Speaking of competition against Norwegian, British Airways last week kicked off new service between Ft. Lauderdale and London four days a week, using a 275-passenger 777-200ER with business, premium economy and regular economy seating. But this route doesn’t go to BA’s Heathrow hub – it goes to London Gatwick. Norwegian started flying FLL-Gatwick three years ago.

Edelweiss will add Denver-Zurich flights next summer. (Image: Edelweiss Air)

We recently reported on new service from San Diego to Zurich operated by Edelweiss Air, a leisure affiliate of Lufthansa subsidiary Swiss International Air Lines. Next year, Edelweiss will add service from another western U.S. city: Denver. In June 2018, Edelweiss will start flying twice a week between Denver and Zurich with a 315-passneger A330-300. The carrier will offer evening departures from DEN on Mondays and Fridays

Air India’s newest U.S. gateway is Washington Dulles. Last week, the carrier started non-stop service from IAD to Delhi three times a week (Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays) using a 777-200LR with first, business and economy seating.  The flight takes about 15-1/2 hours. Air India also serves New York JFK, Newark, Chicago and San Francisco, and plans to add Los Angeles service later this year.

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Routes: More United Polaris from SFO + Etihad, ANA, Asiana, SAA, El Al

A typical window seat in United’s new Polaris business class. (Image: United)

In international route developments, United will deploy more 777-300ERs with new Polaris cabins on routes from San Francisco and Newark; Etihad catches a break from the U.S. laptop ban; ANA adds a third daily Los Angeles flight; Asiana will fly a new A350 to San Francisco; South African Airways puts its newest aircraft on all its Washington D.C. flights; El Al will fly its new Dreamliner in a key U.S. market; and Southwest drops a pair of Cuba routes.

So far, United’s full-blown new Polaris business class with flat-bed passenger compartments is only available on its new Boeing 777-300ERs – and it doesn’t have many of them yet. But more are on the way, and the airline is gradually extending the new Polaris cabin to more routes. Routesonline.com reports that United’s latest schedule update shows the 777-300ERs going onto three more routes in the next few months: On September 6, the 777-300ER will replace the 747-400 on United’s San Francisco-Beijing route; on October 6, the new plane will take over SFO-Frankfurt, also from a 747-400; and on October 28, a 777-300ER will replace a 777-200ER on the Newark-Tokyo Narita route.

Last month, United put the new plane onto its SFO-Tokyo Narita route, and SFO-Taipei service is set to begin August 1. It also flies them from SFO to Hong Kong and from Newark to Tel Aviv.

Some bad news on the Polaris front: The new Polaris Lounge at SFO, which was first expected to open in mid 2017 will now open in “late 2017 or early 2018” according to a spokesperson. Stay tuned. (See our previous post about the Polaris lounge here.)

Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been threatening to expand its so-called laptop ban to more airports, it looks like the ban is actually getting smaller. DHS last week laid out new, tougher inspection and security standards for foreign airlines and airports to meet if they don’t want the ban extended to them, and one of the first to meet the new standards is Abu Dhabi-based Etihad. As a result, DHS said it has lifted the laptop ban for Etihad, and passengers can once again carry their personal electronic devices on board. The ban remains in place for non-stop flights to the U.S. from nine other Middle Eastern and North African airports.

Starting October 29, ANA plans to increase its schedule from Los Angeles International to Tokyo, citing “strong demand” in the market and “constant growth in the number of passengers.” The airline said it will increase its LAX-Tokyo Narita schedule from one flight a day to two; ANA also operates one daily roundtrip between LAX and Tokyo Haneda. The new Narita flight will offer a late-evening departure and will use a three-class 777-300ER.

Asiana will put a new A350 onto its San Francisco route. (Image: Airbus)

South Korea’s Asiana Airlines is planning some changes for its San Francisco-Seoul Incheon route. For one thing, instead of using a 777-200ER as previously planned, it will switch to a brand new Airbus A350-900XWB effective August 14. Then when its winter schedule kicks in on October 29, its SFO departure time will switch from daytime to late-evening (11:30 p.m.), making more connections possible at Incheon. The return flight will arrive in SFO in the afternoon.

Earlier this year, South African Airways started flying an Airbus A330-300 with its new Premium Business Class product three times a week between Washington Dulles and Johannesburg via a stop in Dakar, Senegal. Now the airline has increased Dulles service with the new plane to daily frequencies by deploying the A330-300 on its four weekly IAD-Johannesburg flights that operate via Accra, Ghana. The new business class seats recline 180 degrees and all of them offer direct aisle access, power/USB ports and on-demand entertainment systems. The aircraft’s economy section has also been upgraded.

Business class in El Al’s new 787-9 Dreamliner. (Image: El Al)

Israel’s El Al is a little late to the Dreamliner game, but it has set the schedule for deployment of its first 787-9s starting later this year. For U.S. passengers, El Al will put the plane into service six times a week beginning October 29 on its Newark-Tel Aviv route (the same route where United recently started flying its new 777-300ER), gradually increasing frequencies to 11 a week by next March. El Al will also deploy the 787-9 on its Tel Aviv-London Heathrow route starting September 12, and Tel Aviv-Hong Kong beginning March 18 of next year. El Al’s 787-9s will have a three-class configuration including a new premium economy class. Here’s a visual preview of the interiors.

The bloom is off the rose for all the new Cuba routes that U.S. carriers introduced some months ago. The latest pullback is from Southwest, which said it will discontinue its daily Ft. Lauderdale-Varadero and Ft. Lauderdale-Santa Clara, Cuba, service on September, and instead will focus on its Havana service.  Southwest flies to Havana twice a day from Ft. Lauderdale and once a day from Tampa, and has applied for rights to a third daily FLL-Havana flight. The airline said it dropped the other two routes because its analysis “confirmed that there is not a clear path to sustainability serving these markets, particularly with the continuing prohibition in U.S. law on tourism to Cuba for American citizens.”

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Airport news: Houston, LAX, Newark, Ft. Lauderdale, Seattle

United’s Concourse C North at Houston Bush Intercontinental (Image: United)

In airport news, United plans some operational changes at Houston Bush Intercontinental; Los Angeles International gets a popular new eatery for Delta flyers; Newark’s Terminal C adds several dining options; Southwest opens an international concourse at Ft. Lauderdale; and Seattle issues leases for several new concessions.

United Airlines said this week it will change its scheduling at Houston Bush Intercontinental  this fall to offer “shorter, more convenient connection times and better access to more destinations.” Specifically, United plans to “rebank” its flight operations at IAH on October 29, shifting from the current 10 daily flight banks to eight. (A flight bank is a window of concentrated arrivals and departures.) Besides making for shorter connections, the airline said, the change will let it better utilize its 90 gates at IAH and “use aircraft more effectively throughout the entire country.” And in 2018, United said, it will finish its $277 million investment in the airport’s C North concourse, offering more spacious gate areas, improved technology and new dining options.

Delta’s Terminal 3 at LAX gets a Shake Shack. (Image: Shake Shack)

Los Angeles International’s Terminal 3, part of Delta’s new home at the airport, is opening a new comfort food mecca this week: Shake Shack. The fast-growing fast-food favorite started with one location in New York City 13 years ago and now has 130 worldwide (including 80 in the U.S.). Its specialty is hamburgers (all-natural, antibiotic-free Angus beef), but it also offers chicken, hot dogs, fries, frozen custard and breakfast sandwiches. It’s open from 4:30 a.m. to midnight. The chain opened its first Los Angeles location last year in West Hollywood and now has five in the area.

That long-term overhaul of concessions at Newark Liberty International’s Terminal C – United’s hub – has opened three more dining venues. But there are actually six, because these new Terminal C eateries have one identity for breakfast and then change to a different one for lunch and dinner. For lunch/dinner, the new venues include Wabi-Sabi (Asian street food), Notorious P.I.G. (barbecue, of course) and Uptop Pizzeria (build your own pie). Earlier in the day, they serve up something totally different as Crepe Juliet, Flip Flop Pancake Shop and Breakfast Boli. Two months ago, the terminal opened two other split-personality eateries – Eggy Weggy and Supreme Bowl in the mornings, then Custom Burger and Philly Cheesesteaks later in the day.

Southwest’s Concourse A at Ft. Lauderdale Airport. (Image: Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport)

Southwest Airlines is due to cut the ribbon this week on its new Concourse A  linked to Terminal 1 at Ft.Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which will house the airline’s growing international operation at FLL. The new concourse has five gates that can handle both international and domestic flights, as well as a Customs and Immigration facility. It has several new shops and eateries – and even a pet restroom. Southwest flies to Nassau and to Cuba from FLL, and this month added new routes to Belize City, Grand Cayman, Cancun and Montego Bay. It plans to start service in November from FLL to Providenciales in the Turks & Caicos.

Travelers at Seattle-Tacoma International can look forward to plenty of new food and beverage options in the months ahead. The airport has just awarded leases for a couple of dozen new outlets, representing all kinds of global cuisine and branches of local favorites, as well as new retail stores. The biggest is probably the Marche Food Hall, which will be in Concourse A at Gates A5 and A6. It will include a juice bar, a bakery, an ice cream shop, a burger restaurant, a coffee shop and a beer bar. Other new options will include two locations of Starbucks Urban Market (selling news publications, sundries and travel necessities as well as the usual Starbucks fare) and eateries ranging from Asian to Italian to Alaskan seafood and more. You can see a full list here. The airport plans to boost the number of retail outlets and restaurants from the current 86 to 135 in the years to come.

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United adds 11 new nonstops to Hawaii

United Hawaii

Cruising into Lihue Airport on Kauai from SFO on United will get easier with two flights per day (Chris McGinnis)

United is making a big grab for the lucrative Hawaii market, adding 11 new nonstops from the mainland, and adding even more lie-flat seats on overnight flights. It is also making its Denver hub a major, year-round gateway to Hawaii from the midwest.

More flights usually results two things important to frequent travelers: lower fares and more opportunities to redeem points to get to paradise. However, demand for Hawaii trips has increased so much recently that the additional capacity might not result in significantly lower fares or redemptions. Time will tell. However, it never hurts to set up fare alerts and keep an eye out for cheaper mileage redemptions in light of this announcement.

With the addition of the 11 flights, United says that it now offers the most flights between the mainland and Hawaii than any other carrier.

But flights to Hawaii are not cheap! Looking at August roundtrips in United economy class, Chicago-Maui and Denver-Maui are running a cool $1,400. Houston-Maui is $930. Cheapest SFO-Maui is $460, and LAX-Maui is about $570.

United adding more lie-flat seats on Hawaii flights (Chris McGinnis)

Starting this summer, all overnight flights between Hawaii and Chicago, Denver, Houston, Newark and Washington will have lie-flat seats up front. (Hawaiian Airlines is now offering lie-flat seats on some of its mainland-to-Hawaii flights. American recently added lie-flat seats on flights between Honolulu, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Delta flies lie-flat between ATL and Honolulu. United has had lie-flat seats on its SFO-Lihue 757 flights for a while now, but it appears that those flights, as well as most all non-Honolulu flights will be be served with 737s from SFO.)

Here’s what’s coming starting December 20 (these are in addition to existing Honolulu flights):

  • Denver’s seasonal flights to Kona, Lihue and Maui will convert to daily, year-round service.
  • From San Francisco, Maui nonstops increase from three to five times per day. Lihue increases to two per day. Kona increases from twice to three times per day.
  • Chicago-Maui service increases to 5x per week, up from 3x.
  • From Los Angeles, Kona and Maui get three flights per day, up from two and Hilo gets daily roundtrips

United’s expanded service to Hawaii starting Dec 20 (Image: United)

How do you fly to Hawaii? Have you been lately? How much did you pay…or how many miles did you redeem to get there? I recently snagged SFO-LIH for 45,000 United miles, which felt like a steal. You?

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Routes: JetBlue to Europe + AA, Delta, Norwegian, United, Avianca, Etihad

Will a larger Mint cabin on a new A321 model make Europe flights work for JetBlue? (Image: JetBlue)

In international route developments, JetBlue sees possibilities for Europe with new planes, more Mint; American’s new premium economy seating spreads to more routes; Delta kicks off Seoul service from its home base; Norwegian begins Barcelona flights this week; United drops a U.S.-South America route and Avianca adds one; and Etihad goes all-A380 on a key U.S. route.

JetBlue is in the midst of an analysis about how it can operate profitably on routes to Europe, according to an article in The Motley Fool, and the carrier reportedly sees two keys to making transatlantic flights work. One is the right aircraft – and JetBlue has taken steps in that direction by amending an aircraft order with Airbus to secure some A321LRs starting in 2019. With their longer range, those planes would let JetBlue fly from its Boston and New York JFK bases to major cities in western Europe. (How customers would react to a transatlantic flight on a single-aisle plane is another matter.)

The second key is competing not against ultra-low-cost operations like Norwegian and WOW, but against mainstream airlines’ premium cabins by offering business travelers a front cabin with more flat-bed Mint seats than the 16 that its domestic flights offer.  JetBlue sees its domestic Mint deployment as a major competitive success story, and wants to repeat it.  “Airbus’ Cabin-Flex concept will give airlines full discretion on how big to make their premium cabins by rearranging the locations of the emergency exits,” the article noted, and JetBlue is said to be looking at boosting Mint seating to 22 if it goes transatlantic.

American’s new Premium Economy section, with 2-3-2 leather seats, is coming to more routes later his year. (Image: American Airlines)

We noted recently that American Airlines has started installing its new international premium economy seating on its 777-200ERs, and Airlineroute.com reports that the carrier is taking reservations for premium economy travel starting December 15 on a number of routes. (The new section has initially been available only on select routes where AA uses new 787-9s.) In mid-December, the premium economy seats will be available on AA’s 777-200ER routes from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Buenos Aires, Frankfurt and Tokyo Narita; from Los Angeles to Tokyo Narita and Tokyo Haneda; and from Miami to Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Santiago (Chile).

Delta has launched new daily transpacific service from its Atlanta hub to Seoul Incheon, supplementing the daily flight in the same market operated by its partner Korean Air. The Delta flight uses a 777-200LR featuring a Delta One cabin with 37 lie-flat seats; 36 Comfort+ extra-legroom economy seats; and 218 main cabin seats in a nine-across layout. All seats have power ports and entertainment on demand, and satellite Wi-Fi is available.

Low-cost transatlantic specialist Norwegian kicked off three new U.S. routes this week, all of them to Barcelona with 787 Dreamliners. The carrier is operating twice a week to Barcelona from Los Angeles (increasing to three a week in August); twice a week from Newark (going up to four a week in August); and twice a week from Oakland (increasing to three in August). Norwegian’s Oakland-Barcelona route is already facing competition from new entrant Level, a low-cost subsidiary of British Airways/Iberia parent International Airlines Group.

Venezuela has been going through unprecedented political and economic turmoil in recent months, and travel to that country has suffered as a result. The latest evidence: United Airlines plans to end its daily flights to Caracas from Houston Bush Intercontinental effective July 1. United is just the latest of several carriers that have suspended Venezuela flights, in part because they have had trouble getting money from ticket sales out of the country.

Avianca added A319 service to Boston from Bogota. (Image: Avianca)

Avianca has launched new U.S. service between Bogota, Colombia and Boston Logan. The Star Alliance member flies the route four times a week from Terminal E at BOS, using a two-class A319 with 12 business class seats and 108 in economy. The flight operates on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from Boston, and is the only non-stop service between the two cities.

Etihad Airways has put an Airbus A380 onto its second daily New York JFK-Abu Dhabi  flight, replacing a 777-300ER. The other daily flight has been using an A380 since late 2015, so the aircraft change makes JFK-Abu Dhabi one of the airline’s few all-A380 routes, along with Abu Dhabi-London and Abu Dhabi-Sydney.

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Routes: United, JetBlue, AA, Emirates, Air China, El Al, LOT Polish

United will add service to Buenos Aires from Newark. (Image: Buenos Aires Tourism)

In international route news, United is adding a South American route from Newark; JetBlue expands Mexico City service and strengthens ties with Icelandair; American will sell premium economy seats from Chicago to Paris; Emirates trims its JFK schedule; Air China changes its mind about a new LAX route; El Al comes to Florida; and LOT adds Newark service.

United Airlines said it will begin new year-round daily service on October 28 between its Newark hub and Buenos Aires, Argentina. The route will use a 767-300 with business class, Economy Plus and regular economy seating. And both northbound and southbound flights will be red-eyes, with a 9:50 p.m. EWR departure and a 9 p.m. Buenos Aires departure time. United also said it will increase service between Newark and Bogota, Colombia from one flight a day to two for the summer season, June 8-August 14.

JetBlue will increase capacity between Florida and Mexico City  effective September 6, boosting its schedules from one flight a day to two from both Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando, offering early morning and midday southbound departures on both routes.  Meanwhile, JetBlue has also enhanced its partnership with Icelandair to include frequent flyer reciprocity. Members of JetBlue’s TrueBlue program can now earn points on Icelandair flights, and vice-versa for Icelandair Saga Club members flying on JetBlue.

American’s new premium economy seating is on 787-9s in select markets. (Image: American Airlines).

American Airlines is reportedly planning to put a 787-9 equipped with its new premium economy cabin into service this summer between Chicago O’Hare and Paris. It’s currently offered only on a few routes out of Dallas/Ft. Worth. But the ORD-Paris debut of the new cabin is only for a short period: July 5 to August 5. American normally uses a 787-8 on the route.

A few weeks ago, Emirates said it was cutting frequencies on its routes from Dubai to five U.S. destinations (Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Seattle, Los Angeles and Boston), partly because the U.S. ban on in-flight electronic devices aboard inbound flights was taking a big toll on bookings. And now it is adding New York JFK to that list. According to Routesonline.com, Emirates will trim its Dubai-JFK non-stop schedule from three flights a day to two effective June 4 through at least the end of June.  The carrier also offers one-stop JFK-Dubai service via Milan.

Air China apparently never started taking reservations on the new Los Angeles-Shenzen service that it planned to start flying July 6, and it’s a good thing – because the carrier has now pulled the route from its schedule, Routesonline.com said. Air China had planned to operate the service three times a week with a 787-9.

El Al will start Tel Aviv service from Miami this fall. (Image: Israel Ministry of Tourism)

Miami will go back onto El Al’s route map in November, when it plans to start flying MIA-Tel Aviv three times a week. The Israeli carrier discontinued Miami service in 2008. Its other U.S. gateways include Boston, New York JFK, Newark and Los Angeles.

The newest U.S. route for LOT Polish Airlines is Newark-Warsaw, which it recently started flying four times a week with a two-class 767-300. It will upgrade the route to a three-class 787 in August, and boost frequencies to five a week.

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Routes: Seattle and SFO; Delta, WOW, AA, Emirates, United, BA + more

Sir Richard Branson frolics at Seattle-Tacoma as Virgin Atlantic starts service there. (Image: Virgin Atlantic)

In international route news, Virgin Atlantic starts a pair of west coast routes; Delta resumes a transatlantic route and adds a South American one; Iceland’s WOW brings its low-fare service to the Midwest; American puts a new cabin class on sale; Emirates scales back at LAX but British Airways grows there; United starts two seasonal routes to Rome; Finnair drops a U.S. gateway; and Copa doubles down at O’Hare.

Virgin Atlantic Airways this week kicked off its new service to Seattle, using a 787-9 for its daily flights to London Heathrow. Virgin’s operations in the U.S. are closely coordinated with joint venture partner Delta, and Virgin’s new Seattle service replaces Delta’s daily flight to London. Delta was using a 767, so Virgin’s 787-9 increases capacity on the route by 50 seats a day. Also this week, Virgin Atlantic introduced new seasonal service from San Francisco International to Manchester, using an A330-300. That route operates three days a week (Tuesday, Friday and Sunday). It’s the only SFO-Manchester non-stop service, but it won’t be for long: On May 14, U.K. leisure carrier Thomas Cook Airlines will begin two flights a week with an A330-200. All this is in addition to British Airways four daily nonstops from the Bay Area to London!

Delta will fly to the beaches of Rio from JFK starting in December (Image: VisitBrazil.com)

Delta will expand its South America reach later this year with new daily service between New York JFK and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, slated to launch December 21. Using a 210-passenger 767-300 with Delta One flatbed seats, Delta will offer onward connections at Rio to 23 Brazilian destinations thanks to its Brazilian partner GOL. Meanwhile, Delta this week resumed service on the Atlanta-Brussels route, flying five times a week (increasing to daily during summer) with a 767-400. Delta had suspended the route a year ago after the Brussels terror attacks, although it maintained daily flights to Brussels from JFK.

On July 13, Icelandic low-cost carrier WOW will add another U.S. gateway, starting service four days a week to Reykjavik from Chicago O’Hare. The carrier said it is offering one-way base fares starting as low as $99 (plus extras) from ORD to Iceland, or $149 for connections to major European capitals. The flights will operate Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays using an A321-300 with 30-inch seat pitch (or 34 inches for an additional fee).

American’s new premium economy seating is on 787-9s in select markets. (Image: American Airlines).

American Airlines’ new international premium economy seats, currently available on a few routes out of Dallas/Ft. Worth, have been used for upgrades during their rollout. But now the airline is putting the new cabin category on sale for travel beginning May 4. AA’s premium economy class is on its new 787-9s from DFW to Paris, Madrid, Sao Paulo and Seoul. Seats are 19 inches wide with 38 inches of pitch (vs. 33-34 inches in Main Cabin Extra) in a 2-3-2 layout.

Is that U.S. laptop ban starting to hurt business for the big Middle Eastern carriers? Routesonline.com reports that Emirates is “temporarily adjusting” its schedule between Los Angeles and Dubai, cutting service from two flights a day to one from May 1 through June 30.

But Routesonline.com says that British Airways is planning an increased schedule from LAX to London Heathrow, bringing on a third daily flight effective October 29. The additional frequency will use a 787-9. On the same date, BA will boost its New Orleans-LHR schedule from four flights a week to five. Meanwhile, BA this week introduced its biggest bird – the 469-passenger A380-800 – into the aircraft mix on its Boston-London route, where the giant jet operates Mondays and Fridays.

United’s seasonal international schedule adjustments start to kick in next week. On April 4, the carrier will begin seasonal service from Newark to Rome and from Washington Dulles to Rome, both using 767s. The Newark flights continue through November 8, while the Dulles schedule is in place through October 27. Also on April 4, United will lay on extra frequencies from Newark to Paris, Dublin and London.

Trying to get from Miami to Helsinki this summer? Forget Finnair, which is suspending service on that route from May 1 through September 30, according to Routesonline.com. The Finnish carrier is also cutting back Chicago-Helsinki frequencies from five flights a week to three.

Panama’s Copa Airlines is doubling its service from Chicago O’Hare to Panama City effective June 1, when it will supplement its existing daily morning departure with a midafternoon flight out of ORD. Copa has onward service from its Panama City hub to 50 destinations in Latin America.

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Mineta San Jose Airport: New transcon routes and more

San Jose SJC Terminal B

San Jose getting even more new nonstops to East Coast! (Photo: SJC)

Bay Area business travelers are seeing new flights at all three major airports in the region as passenger traffic keeps increasing, but one of them is adding new capacity at a faster rate than any airport in the country.

That airport is Mineta San Jose International (SJC), where total passenger traffic last year soared above the 10 million mark to 10.8 million, a gain of more than 10 percent over the previous year. For international passengers, the annual increase was more than 68 percent over 2015 as more carriers added transatlantic and transpacific service from SJC.

The number of airline seats flying in and out of SJC during March was up almost 20 percent over the same month a year ago. The average increase for U.S. airports was under 5 percent.

The capacity boom at Mineta San Jose is continuing this month with new transcontinental service – in fact, the same route — from two airlines. March 9 was the launch date for United’s new daily non-stops to its Newark Liberty hub, and three days later, Alaska Airlines inaugurated its own daily flights to EWR. United also started up twice-daily service to its big hub at Chicago O’Hare.

You can find more details about new San Jose routes here.

More planes, more flights, more passengers than ever at SJC (Photo: SJC)

With the tremendous growth in the nation’s technology sector, Mineta San Jose is positioning itself as the gateway airport for Silicon Valley business travelers, since the companies that collective name refers to are mostly just a few miles up the Highway 101 from SJC in towns like Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto. It’s closer not only in highway miles, but especially in drive time thanks to its distance from the congested San Francisco peninsula (and its crowded airport).

Those new transcons from United and Alaska are just a few of the new services coming to SJC in late winter and spring. In mid-March, Alaska added California Corridor service between Mineta San Jose and the Los Angeles area’s uncrowded Hollywood-Burbank Airport, with three daily roundtrips. And in May, SJC will welcome seasonal daily service from American Airlines to its Charlotte, N.C. hub, as well as a third daily roundtrip to Atlanta being added to Delta’s schedule. On June 4, Southwest is due to begin daily roundtrips from Mineta San Jose to Reno.

And later this year, Alaska Airlines will begin new daily E175 service from SJC to Austin and Tucson (both starting August 28), and four flights a day to Los Angeles International (beginning September 20).

On the hunt for colorful planes? Look no further than San Jose! (Photo: SJC)

More international flights are coming as well. Aeromexico is set to start flying once a day from SJC to its Guadalajara hub on July 1. And on May 2, Air Canada will add a third daily frequency to its SJC-Vancouver route. That’s all in addition to the big bump in international options for business travelers that came to SJC last year, including Air China’s non-stops to Shanghai, British Airways’ flights to London Heathrow, and Lufthansa’s to Frankfurt.

It’s easier than ever now for South Bay road warriors to get to Europe or Asia from SJC without a connection.

Have you flown in or out of San Jose lately? Why or why not? Are you more likely to give SJC a try now that it’s added this slew of new flights? Please leave your comments below. 

This post is sponsored by Mineta San Jose International Airport  

San Jose Airport banner

Disclosure: Thank you for reading TravelSkills! We will periodically create posts or send out messages like this one from commercial partners about topics relevant to frequent travel.  Our sponsors’ support, and yours, help us keep TravelSkills a free publication. 


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Reader Report: United Economy Plus on new B777-300ER

Economy Plus

United’s Economy Plus on the new Boeing 777-300ER packs ’em in at 10-abreast (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

United has done a great job promoting the posh Polaris business class product on its brand new Boeing 777-300ER jets. But what’s going on behind the curtain in economy class is probably more important to a larger group of flyers.

This week we heard from a TravelSkills reader who flew Economy Plus between Newark and San Francisco on the new bird and sent us some thoughts on the experience.

First a little background:  United currently has two Boeing 777-300ERs and says it will put a total of 14 of its new 777-300ERs into service during 2017. The aircraft will be configured with 60 Polaris business class seats in a 1-2-1 layout; 102 Economy Plus seats in a 3-4-3 layout; and 204 regular economy seats also in a 3-4-3 layout. Yes, that is 10-across, which seems to be the emerging economy class standard on new B777s at many carriers, including Air France, American, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Qatar, and SWISS, among others.

United is rumored to be considering a “true” premium economy seat since both Delta and American have announced their intentions to do so. But there is nothing definitive from United so far. For now, Economy Plus on United is an economy seat with three extra inches of legroom.

If you have not read it already, here’s our first look at all three classes on United’s B777-300ER.

United Economy Plus

First three rows of United Economy Plus on a B777-300ER- does not appear that bad when it’s empty (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Between now and May 4, United will fly a B777-300ER between San Francisco and Newark six days per week. Late last month it deployed a second B777-300ER on SFO-Newark which means there are now two flying the route (but only through March 8). On March 25,  the aircraft will replace a 747-400 on the very competitive San Francisco-Hong Kong route (also serve by Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines).

Here’s United’s B777-300ER on Seatguru.com

So, what’s that Economy Plus section like? Here what our reader (who asked to remain anonymous) had to say:

I’m a regular reader of TravelSkills based in SF (thanks Chris for the interesting and helpful columns!) and after your post, I decided to try to new 777-300ER for a flight from EWR to SFO [5-6 hours]. Business class looked great, but I flew in Economy Plus, so here’s my review from the cheap seats.

Pros: The lighting is great. The seats are new and outfitted well (including power at every seat). Wifi actually worked pretty well on this flight.

Economy Plus United

Economy Plus on United’s B777-300ER has 34 inches of pitch (Chris McGinnis)

Cons: The economy seats are just too narrow, making the flying experience miserable. I’m not a large person, and I’ve generally enjoyed UA E+, even on long trips. (For example, I flew on a UA 787 Dreamliner SFO-SYD last month in E+ and thought it was actually quite nice.) But my experience in E+ on the 777-300ER was awful.

I found it very difficult to work, and my neighbors and I got to know each other much better than I think any of us would have wanted. You are literally pushed up against the next passenger. Admittedly, my flight was full, and I expect that it would have been a very different experience with an open seat next to me. But with high load factors these days, you can’t count on an open seat next to you.

34 inches of pitch in United Economy Plus- 31 inches in regular economy (Chris McGinnis)

Bottom Line: I understand that United is going to add these planes to its SFO-Hong Kong route and other long haul flights. I flew SFO-HKG on a UA 747 last year, and I thought it was fine (although a bit aged and admittedly not nearly as nice as United’s 787). But I absolutely would not fly a UA 777-300ER in E+ on a long route [14.5 hours] like that.

In fact, based on my experience yesterday, I will actively avoid the UA 777-300ER in E+ on any route and would pay a premium to take a different plane, make a stop, or take another carrier to avoid these absurdly cramped seats.

Economy Plus United B777-300ER

Economy Plus rows 19-22 just behind business class and in front of a bank of lavs (Chris McGinnis)

Thanks for your Reader Report! If you would like to contribute a Reader Report to TravelSkills, check out our Reader Report guidelines.

If you have not read it already, here’s our first look at all three classes on United’s B777-300ER.

Have you flown in a 10-abreast configuration on a B777 yet? Would you fly in United’s? Please leave your comments below. 

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Routes: Norwegian, WOW, Emirates, United, Air China + more

A Boeing 737 MAX in Norwegian livery. (Image: Boeing)

In international route developments, Norwegian adds more flights from the east coast to Europe; WOW Air increases frequencies to the west coast; Emirates kicks off controversial new U.S. route; United expands code-sharing with Asiana; Air China adds a Los Angeles route; Southwest begins a new international service from Denver; and Avianca increases its U.S. schedule.

Norwegian Air hasn’t even started its new 737 MAX low-fare service from the U.S. east coast yet and already it is adding more routes. In addition to those already scheduled to Ireland and Scotland (with fares starting at $65 one way), Norwegian also plans to add twice-weekly flights to Bergen, Norway, from both Providence., R.I. and from Stewart Airport in Newburgh, N.Y.  The airline has also filed its winter schedules for Paris Charles de Gaulle, where it will switch from 787-8s to 787-9s starting October 29. Norwegian’s Paris schedule calls for six flights a week from New York JFK (down from daily in the summer), four a week from Los Angeles, two from Ft. Lauderdale and one from Orlando.

Also increasing its U.S. service is low-fare rival WOW Air, which offers connecting flights to Europe through its Reykjavik hub. WOW told Air Transport World that its service to Reykjavik from San Francisco and Los Angeles will be increased to daily frequencies with its summer 2017 schedule. The carrier has been running five flights a week from San Francisco and four from LAX. WOW is installing premium seating in its A330-300s, which it uses for the west coast routes.

Emirates is using a 777-300ER on its new Dubai-Athens-Newark route. (Image: Emirates)

Emirates this week launched its promised new service from Newark to Athens, continuing to Dubai, and was greeted at Newark Airport with a protest staged by 200 United Airlines employees. United, Delta and American are adamantly opposed to U.S. route expansion by the Middle East Big Three airlines – Emirates, Etihad and Qatar – and are conducting an intensive lobbying effort with the Trump Administration to block new service for those carriers. The U.S. airlines allege that their Mideast rivals are subsidized by their governments, thus challenging Trump’s pledge to put American companies first in the face of foreign competition.

United Airlines will expand its code-sharing agreement with Star Alliance partner Asiana Airlines on March 17, when United’s code will go onto Asiana’s daily Chicago O’Hare-Seoul Incheon flights.  At the same time, Asiana will put its code onto 16 domestic United routes out of ORD.

Air China will use a 787 on new LAX-Shenzen service. (Image: Air China)

Got business in Shenzen, China? Air China has filed a schedule for new service to Shenzen from Los Angeles International, due to begin July 6. Air China – a Star Alliance member — will fly the route three days a week, using a 787-9 Dreamliner.  Speaking of Shenzen, China’s Xiamen Airlines has trimmed back its Seattle-Shenzen-Xiamen 787-8 service from three flights a week to two, a seasonal reduction continuing through May 22.

Two minor players in the foundering US-Cuba market, Silver Airways and Frontier,  have announced they are pulling out completely later this spring. Other carriers have cut back on flights as the market finds its legs…and waits to see what the Trump administration has in store.

Southwest Airlines has started its newest international route: The carrier has started flying from Denver International to Belize City, Belize. It’s currently operating as Saturday-only service, but Southwest will boost it to Saturday and Sunday flights for the summer, June 4 to August 14.

Avianca’s Los Angeles-Bogota route, which has been operating four times a week, will increase to daily frequency starting March 26. The carrier uses a two-class 787 on the route. Meanwhile, the Colombian carrier also plans a new U.S. route. It will begin Bogota-Boston service on June 2, operating four flights a week with an A319.

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Routes: Swiss to SFO + Lufthansa, Aeromexico, Hainan, Delta/KLM, Air Canada

Economy class on SWISS’s new 777-300ER. (Image: SWISS)

In international route developments, Swiss will increase San Francisco service and lay on more 777-300ERs to the U.S. this summer; Lufthansa sets the date for its first new A350 service to the U.S.; Aeromexico brings a new route to San Jose; Hainan Airlines adds a pair of routes from Los Angeles; Delta code-shares on more KLM flights; Air Canada adds a new Vancouver route and reshuffles Ottawa service.

Lufthansa subsidiary Swiss International’s newly issued summer schedule calls for an increase in San Francisco-Zurich frequencies from the current three 777-300ER flights  a week to daily service beginning April 22. All the flights will use the carrier’s new 777-300ERs. Swiss already uses the new aircraft on its Los Angeles-Zurich route, and said that between June and October of this year, it will also deploy the new aircraft on six of its 12 weekly flights between Zurich and Chicago O’Hare. Take a tour of “the new SWISS flagship” here. 

Lufthansa recently took delivery of its second A350 from Airbus and it’s headed to Boston. (Image: Lufthansa)

Lufthansa has taken delivery of its second brand-new Airbus A350-900, and it has set March 14 as the date when that aircraft will start flying between Munich and Boston. (The first one recently started flying from Munich to Delhi, India, and the third will go onto the Munich-Mumbai route starting in late April.) Innovations on the Lufthansa A350 include an in-flight entertainment system that lets passengers create their own programming playlists from an app before leaving home, and LED technology that makes it possible to provide two dozen different lighting schemes in the cabin.

The latest international carrier to announce new service to San Jose is Aeromexico. The Mexican airline set a July 1 start for new service between SJC and its Guadalajara hub, operating six 737 flights a week (not on Tuesdays). The flight will depart San Jose at 10:15 a.m.

Hainan Airlines is adding two 787 routes from Los Angeles. (Image: Simon Auger/Flickr)

China’s Hainan Airlines has started taking reservations for new service from Los Angeles to two destinations in western China. On March 15, it will begin service between LAX and Chengdu, followed on March 21 by new flights from LAX to Chonqing. Both routes will operate twice a week, and both will use 787-8s.

Delta continues to expand its roster of code-share flights with joint venture partner KLM. Beginning March 26, according to Routesonline.com, Delta’s code will go onto KLM’s flights between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Amsterdam. Also getting Delta codes will be KLM flights beyond Amsterdam to Milan Malpensa; Graz, Austria; Gdansk, Poland; Freetown, Sierra Leone and Monrovia, Liberia; Split, Croatia; and the Italian destinations of Catania, Sicily, and Cagliari, Sardinia.

Air Canada’s Jazz unit has started new daily non-stops between Vancouver and Dallas/Ft. Worth, using two-class CRJ-705s. On the east coast, meanwhile, Air Canada said it has ended its three daily flights between Ottawa and New York LaGuardia, but will add three flights a day between Ottawa and Newark beginning March 26. (Meanwhile, Delta is poised to pick up the slack from LGA, starting twice-daily service to Ottawa as of April 2.) In other news, Air Canada will use a 787-9 on one (AC737/738) of its six daily San Francisco-Toronto flights for the summer season, beginning June 1.

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United: 2nd Polaris route + SFO-Munich + more domestic flights

Munich Munchen airport

United will add non-stops from San Francisco to Munich (Photo: Flughafen Munchen)

With United executives promising in recent weeks that the company would focus on building up its domestic network, the carrier just announced 47 new daily roundtrips will be added to its summer schedule, almost all of them in domestic markets.

The one new international route included in the announcement is San Francisco-Munich, which will operate on a seasonal daily basis starting May 24. United will use a 787 on the route (which is already served by United’s Star Alliance partner Lufthansa).

On another key international route – Newark to Tel Aviv – United said it will up-gauge one of its two daily flights to a new 777-300ER, equipped with the airline’s new Polaris business class. That change, which takes effect May 5, will make EWR-TLV the second international route to get the new aircraft. (The first will be SFO-Hong Kong, where a 777-300ER will replace United’s 747-400 service starting March 25.)

New domestic routes added to United’s schedule include five from its San Francisco hub, six from Chicago O’Hare, two from Denver, and one each from Newark and Washington Dulles. MileagePlus members should be aware that because these routes were just announced, there should be plenty of award seat availability right now.

United Polaris

United’s new Polaris cabin on the B777-300ER, going onto the Newark-Tel Aviv route in May. (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

The new San Francisco routes, all starting June 8, include three flights a day to Santa Rosa, California (a very short route – 65 miles as the crow flies); two a day to Spokane; and new daily service to Cincinnati, Detroit and Hartford Bradley. The announcement did not specify the aircraft types on each route.

From Chicago O’Hare, United will begin three daily roundtrips to Rochester, Minn., and three a day to Champaign/Urbana, Ill., beginning June 8. On the same day, it will start new daily service from ORD to Charlottesville, Va.; Reno; and Spokane. And on August 1, United will begin twice-daily service from O’Hare to Columbia, Mo.

Other new routes include twice-daily flights from Washington Dulles to Springfield, Mo.; daily service between Newark-Sacramento; daily flights from Denver to San Luis Obispo, Calif., all starting June 8; and daily Denver-Columbia, Mo., service beginning August 1.

United is adding a new route from Denver International to Hawaii (Image: Jim Glab)

The company also plans to expand some existing routes from seasonal winter service to year-round operations this summer. Effective June 8, that includes San Francisco-New Orleans, Chicago-Tucson, Dulles-Ft. Lauderdale, Newark-Salt Lake City and Denver-Kona. On July 1, service from San Francisco to Kalispell, Mont. (gateway to Glacier National Park) also becomes year-round.

United also said it plans to increase frequencies in 15 existing markets. United will boost its Atlanta schedule to eight flights a day from both Washington Dulles and Newark. Newark-Detroit goes up to seven daily roundtrips. The new daily frequencies in other markets include Denver-Albuquerque (5); Denver-Ft. Lauderdale (2); Denver-Orlando (4); Denver-Tampa (2); Newark-Portland, Ore. (2); Dulles-Jacksonville (3); Dulles-Providence (4); Dulles-Portland, Me. (4); Dulles-Roanoke, Va. (3); Dulles-Charleston (S.C.), 3; Chicago-Ft. Lauderdale (3); and Chicago-Ft., Myers (2).

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Delta overhauls two Sky Clubs (photos)

Delta’s renovated Sky Club at Newark Liberty International. (Image: Delta)

Delta Sky Club members and guests will get a new and improved airport lounge experience now that renovations are finished for the clubs at Minneapolis-St. Paul and Newark Liberty International.

At MSP, the Delta Sky Club – located between Concourses F and G – now has an enhanced food service area and a self-service beverage area, along with Starbucks coffee. The amount of work space for members has been increased, and the seating area has been expanded. The 13,000 square foot MSP club has 340 seats.

Improvements at the Newark Sky Club include a new food and beverage area and the installation of more accessible charging ports around the facility. The Sky Club at EWR is post-security in Terminal B, offering seating for 160 travelers in 5,600 square feet.

The latest Sky Club improvements come shortly after the airline finished an expansion of its lounge at Raleigh-Durham International. Last year, Delta opened new Sky Club locations at Denver International, Atlanta’s Concourse B and Seattle’s Concourse A.

Here are more photos of the renovated club at Newark:

(Image: Delta)

(Image: Delta)

And here’s the overhauled Sky Club at Minneapolis-St. Paul:

(Image: Delta)

(Image: Delta)

(Image: Delta)

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Routes: United, Alaska at San Jose + American, Delta, Spirit

United will use 737-800s for new San Jose routes. (Chris McGinnis)

In domestic route developments, new transcontinental flights are due to start at San Jose over the next few weeks; United kicks off a transcon to Florida from San Francisco International; American launches a new California route from its Phoenix hub; Delta links two southern business centers; and Spirit comes to Pittsburgh.

Previously announced plans by United and Alaska Airlines to expand at Mineta San Jose will get off the ground next month. United’s schedule calls for the launch of new service from SJC to two of its hubs: Chicago O’Hare and Newark. The carrier will operate two flights a day between SJC and O’Hare, and one daily roundtrip to Newark Liberty International, using 737-800s. Both routes begin March 9. SJC-O’Hare is already served by American, and Southwest flies from SJC to Chicago Midway.

Just three days after United starts its SJC-Newark service, Alaska Airlines is due to begin service on the very same route, with one daily roundtrip. Both the United and Alaska flights will have early-morning eastbound departures. The only other New York-area non-stop service from San Jose is a JetBlue redeye to JFK. Alaska is also slated to klick off new service from San Jose to Hollywood Burbank Airport on March 16, with three daily roundtrips.

United also started SFO-Tampa service. (Image: Tampa International)

San Jose-Newark isn’t the only new Bay Area transcon route for United. The carrier recently began a daily 737-800 roundtrip from San Francisco International to Tampa, with an 8:30 a.m. departure from SFO. Chris was on the inaugural flight; you can read his report here. In other news, United plans to beef up capacity on its San Francisco-Boston route by using a 777-200ER for two of its six daily flights, up from one flight today, according to Routesonline.com.

California’s Sonoma County got a new air link recently when American Airlines kicked off new daily American Eagle service to its Phoenix hub from Santa Rosa’s Charles M. Schulz Airport. American uses a two-class, 70-seat CRJ-700 on the route.

Delta has set a June 12 start for new service linking Nashville with Raleigh-Durham. The Delta Connection service will operate twice a day with SkyWest Airlines CRJ-900s that have 12 seats in first class, 12 in Delta Comfort+ and 52 in the main cabin. It’s Delta’s latest announcement of increased service at RDU; the carrier is due to begin RDU-Austin flights in March and RDU-Seattle in June; last fall, it added daily service from RDU to Newark and to Washington Reagan National.

Spirit Airlines is adding new service from Pittsburgh to seven cities. (Image: Spirit Airlines)

Spirit Airlines said it will add Pittsburgh International as the 61st airport on its route map this spring, with plans to start flying from PIT to seven cities. On May 25, the carrier will begin daily PIT-Dallas/Ft. Worth year-round service, as well as seasonal daily flights from PIT to Myrtle Beach. It will add three weekly flights from PIT to Ft. Lauderdale on June 15, followed by daily service to Orlando and Las Vegas beginning June 22, and daily flights to Houston and Los Angeles starting July 13.

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Routes: AA, AirAsia X, Southwest, Airberlin, South African Airways + more

American plans to use a 777-200 on its LAX-Beijing route if it ever gets slots from the service. (Image: AA)

American plans to use a 777-200 on its LAX-Beijing route if it ever gets slots from the service. (Image: AA)

In international route developments, American tries to save LAX-Beijing service; Air AsiaX sets its first U.S. route; Southwest starts Oakland-Mexico flights; Airberlin gets aircraft for more U.S. flights and ends a code-share partnership; South African Airways brings a new aircraft with an improved business class to its Washington Dulles route; United expands its Newark-London schedule; and Volaris comes to Miami.

We reported a few weeks ago that American Airlines’ plan to begin daily Los Angeles-Beijing service had hit a big snag because China wouldn’t give it any slots at Beijing’s Capital International Airport. American has been facing a March 16 deadline set by the U.S. Transportation Department to start flying the route, but now it has asked DOT for a one-year extension. AA said in its filing that it has been in regular contact with Chinese aviation officials about the slot situation, and that it is going to send a senior executive to China to discuss the matter. American told DOT it “fully expects” that its efforts will eventually be successful.

Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia X has settled on Honolulu as its first U.S. destination following the recent FAA decision to let it fly to this country. The carrier plans to fly four times a week from Kuala Lumpur to Honolulu via a two-hour stopover in Osaka, Japan, starting June 28. The airline has set introductory base fares as low as $112 each way to KL (including taxes and fees), or $673 for its flat-bed premium seats, with a purchase deadline of February 26.

Southwest at Oakland

Southwest Airlines jets at Oakland International Airport (Photo: Port of Oakland)

Southwest Airlines this week kicked off its first international service out of Oakland International Airport, operating daily flights from OAK to both Puerto Vallarta and San Jose del Cabo/Los Cabos. The airport is expanding its International Arrivals Building this year in anticipation of a significant increase in international traffic, officials said. The work should be finished in the third quarter.

Airberlin has acquired three more Airbus A330-200s that it said will allow it to continue building up its service between the U.S. and its German hubs at Berlin and Dusseldorf.  The airline announced a few months ago that it plans to begin new non-stops in May between Los Angeles-Berlin four times a week and San Francisco-Berlin three times a week. It already operates from both U.S. airports to Dusseldorf during the summer. It also said it would expand Miami and New York frequencies to Berlin and add Orlando-Dusseldorf service. And now Routesonline.com is reporting that Airberlin will extend some seasonal routes to year-round service starting this fall, including San Francisco-Berlin and SFO-Dusseldorf, both operating four times a week, as well as Orlando-Dusseldorf (five times a week) and Boston-Dusseldorf (four a week). In other news, American Airlines plans to end its code-sharing agreement with Airberlin effective March 26. Both are members of the Oneworld alliance.

The new business class on South African Airways' A330-300. (Image: SAA)

The new business class on South African Airways’ A330-300. (Image: SAA)

South African Airways has started flying a new Airbus A330-300 on its three weekly flights between Washington Dulles and Johannesburg via Dakar, Senegal, and in June it will add the new aircraft to its four weekly IAD-JNB flights that operate via Accra, Ghana. The SAA A330-300 includes an upgraded 46-seat business class product with flat-bed seats in a 1-2-1 layout, an improved on-demand entertainment system and power and USB ports at each seat. The aircraft has a 203-seat economy class with a 2-4-2 configuration.

United Airlines plans to add a sixth daily roundtrip to its Newark-London Heathrow route for the summer season, effective April 5 to October 28. The extra flight, departing EWR at 9:30 p.m. and arriving in London at 9:40 a.m., will use a two-class 767-300.

Mexican low-cost carrier Volaris this month added Miami International to its route map, kicking off daily A320 service to Mexico City and four flights a week to Guadalajara.

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Airport Update: Dallas/Ft. Worth, Boston, Chicago Midway, Houston, Long Beach

Dallas/Ft. Worth's renovated Terminal A. (Image: DFW Airport)

Dallas/Ft. Worth’s renovated Terminal A. (Image: DFW Airport)

In airports news, Boston Logan finally gets Lyft and UberX; Dallas/Ft. Worth finishes a big overhaul of Terminal A; Chicago Midway will revamp passenger concessions and security; new retail and dining options come to United’s Houston Bush Intercontinental hub; and Long Beach blocks international flights. And in case you missed our big update on the goings on at Los Angeles LAX, see this.

Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport said work is now finished on its renovation of DFW’s 26-gate Terminal A. The work involved expansion of three security checkpoints, the addition of more kiosks for passenger self-check-in, and the addition of 50 percent more space for passenger concessions, “located largely near checkpoints and Skylink stations,” the airport said. New restaurants include Salt Lick Barbecue, the Dallas Cowboys Club, Lorena Garcia Tapas y Cocina and Ling & Louie’s Asian Fusion. New retail stores include Brookstone, Tumi, an iStore and Teavana. A new Terminal A parking garage features an electronic parking guidance system: “Overhead LED beacons spotlight open parking spaces and the system alerts customers to available parking on other levels of the upgraded facility,” the airport said.

Get $20 off your first LYFT ride! Click here!

Get $20 off your first LYFT ride! Click here!

Finally! Starting today (Feb 1) UberX and Lyft have been given the all clear to pick up and drop off passengers at Boston Logan Airport. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve descended into a crowded mess at BOS ground transportation with a bunch of travelers staring into their phones saying, “wait, you mean I can’t get my Uber or Lyft at Boston Airport? This is crazy!” Logan was one of the last large airports in the country that didn’t allow the ride sharing services. 

Big changes are in the works for Chicago’s Midway Airport, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The newspaper said the planned $248 million project will increase the number of security checkpoint lanes from 17 to 27, and will widen the pedestrian bridge over Cicero Avenue from 60 feet to 300 feet, creating a new security hall with 20,000 square feet of new concession space. Total concession space at MDW will grow from the current 26,000 square feet to almost 70,000, with many outlets focused on offering “Taste of Chicago” cuisine. The project would also give the airport 1,400 new premium parking spaces.

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Rendering of new Tanglewood Grille at Houston Bush Intercontinental, with lots of iPads. (Image: OTG)

Rendering of new Tanglewood Grille at Houston Bush Intercontinental, with lots of iPads. (Image: OTG)

Plenty of new dining options are coming to the United hub at Houston Bush Intercontinental, where the airline is teaming up with concessions specialist OTG (the same firm United used to overhaul Terminal C at Newark) to develop new restaurants in Terminals C-South and E, in addition to five new eateries opening early this year in C-North that were previously announced. C-South and E will get eight new restaurants, “all inspired by local Houston chefs and flavors,” OTG said. And matching the concession overhaul at United’s Newark hub, the Houston project also involves the installation of 8,000 iPads “seamlessly integrated into the customer experience” at restaurants and gate lounges in all three terminals, the company noted. Terminal C-South will get a restaurant specializing in meatballs; a taqueria; and a ranch-to-table burger spot. Terminal E is adding a southern barbeque outlet; an Italian restaurant; a sushi and ramen bar; a steaks-burgers-and-seafood eatery; and a craft brewery with bar food.

The Long Beach, California City Council has rejected an application from JetBlue Airways to build a modest-sized (15,000 square feet) Customs and Border Protection facility at the city’s airport. The decision effectively kills JetBlue’s plans to add international flights from Long Beach, its west coast focus city. JetBlue had anticipated operating six to eight international flights a day; the city has set a ceiling of 50 flights a day at the airport, limited to operations between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.

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Routes: Emirates nonstop NYC to Athens, JAL, Southwest, Delta, Iberia, Qatar

Emirates will begin the only year-round non-stops between the U.S. and Athens. (Image: Jim Glab)

Emirates will begin the only year-round non-stops between the U.S. and Athens. (Image: Jim Glab)

In international route news, Emirates will introduce a new option between the U.S. and Europe; Japan Airlines adds a Haneda flight from New York; Southwest will serve an international market from San Diego; Delta drops a Taiwan route but adds new code-shares to Southeast Asia; Iberia starts selling a new premium economy class; and Qatar Airways sets a date for new Las Vegas flights.

Dubai-based Emirates is moving into a new U.S.-Europe market on March 12, when it plans to begin year-round daily service between Newark Liberty International and Athens; the flight continues to Dubai. The airline already flies between New York JFK and Dubai four times a day. Plus it flies nonstop between JFK and Milan. Emirates noted that there has been no year-round, non-stop service between the U.S. and Greece since 2012 (US carriers offer summer seasonal service only). Emirates fares for March-April flights start at $600 roundtrip. The carrier will serve the route with a 777-300ER that offers first class, business class and economy seating. Predictably, Delta, United and American said the announcement shows that Emirates is “flagrantly violating” the Open Skies agreement between the United Arab Emirates and the U.S., and said they will call on President Trump to block Emirates from the route. Will he? This should be interesting…

Japan Airlines will begin service between New York JFK and Tokyo's close-in Haneda Airport. (Image: Haneda Airport)

Japan Airlines will begin service between New York JFK and Tokyo’s close-in Haneda Airport. (Image: Haneda Airport)

Japan Airlines, which already flies twice a day between Tokyo Narita and New York JFK, said it will add a new daily non-stop between JFK and Tokyo’s close-in Haneda Airport beginning April 1. The company said the new service will give customers more connecting options to domestic flights in Japan via Haneda. The new route will use a coveted daytime international departure slot at Haneda. JAL also said it will change aircraft on its evening departure from Narita to JFK, switching from a 787-8 to a larger, four-class 777-300ER.

Southwest Airlines said it will begin its first international service from San Diego on April 25, when it launches new service to San Jose del Cabo/Los Cabos. Through January 26, Southwest is offering introductory fares on the new route starting at $104 one-way. Flights from Oakland to Cabo and Puerto Vallarta begin in February.

Delta’s route from Seattle to Tokyo Narita to Taiwan will be shortened after May 24 when the carrier reportedly plans to drop the Narita-Taiwan segment. Meanwhile, Routesonline.com reports that Delta will soon – perhaps as soon as this week – start to put its DL code onto partner KLM’s fights from Amsterdam to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Iberia's new Premium Economy seating. (Image: Iberia)

Iberia’s new Premium Economy seating. (Image: Iberia)

Iberia, a subsidiary of British Airways’ International Airlines Group and a member of the BA-American Airlines joint venture, announced the opening of reservations for its new long-haul Premium Economy seating class. The company said the new section is going into 21 of its aircraft, including eight A330-300s and 13 A340-600s; it will also be in A350-900s to be delivered after 2018. Premium Economy will be available for travel starting in May 2017 on Iberia’s routes to Madrid from New York and Chicago, starting in August for Miami-Madrid flights, and beginning in September for Boston-Madrid service. For bookings made before January 31, roundtrip fares start at $1,299. The new seating has increased recline, 37-inch pitch, greater seat width (19 inches) than regular economy, adjustable head and foot rests, 12-inch HD video screens (vs. 9 inches in economy), international Wi-Fi, a free drink, upgraded meal service, amenities kit, and allowance for two checked bags.

Qatar Airways has set January 8, 2018 as the launch date for its planned new service between Las Vegas and Doha, Qatar. Earlier, the airline has said it would start flying to Las Vegas in 2017, although it didn’t give a specific date. Qatar Airways plans to fly the Las Vegas route four times a week, using a 777-200LR. Las Vegas will the airline’s 11th U.S. gateway.

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Routes: United, China Southern, Hainan, Alaska, Hong Kong Airlines, LOT

United is boosting capacity on its new route from SFO to Auckland. (Image:

United is scaling back its six-month-old route from SFO to Auckland. (Image: Aucklandnz.com)

In international route developments, United will scale back its San Francisco-Auckland and LAX-London service; China Southern will boost capacity to San Francisco; China’s Hainan Airlines seeks two more U.S. routes; Alaska Airlines begins Cuba flights from the West Coast; Hong Kong Airlines schedules its first service to North America; and LOT Polish will resume a Chicago route.

Is there too much new capacity between the U.S. and New Zealand? United Airlines has decided to suspend its San Francisco-Auckland flight this spring and turn it into a seasonal route. United will halt the 787 service April 16 and pick it up again October 28, according to Routesonline.com. But then on December 16, 2017, United will boost frequencies on the route from seven a week to 10, using a 777-200ER. United kicked off the SFO-Auckland route last summer, just after American started flying from Los Angeles to Auckland. And a little over a year ago, Air New Zealand added a new Houston-Auckland route.

In other news, United has dropped plans to add a second Los Angeles-London Heathrow to its schedule this year. The second flight had been scheduled to begin April 4, but United apparently had second thoughts about committing more seats to a crowded market, with five other airlines already offering non-stop service between Los Angeles and London. And from its Newark hub, United this week ended its daily service to Belfast, Northern Ireland, as it previously announced. The Belfast Telegraph reports that Belfast Airport officials are in talks with several other carriers to add a U.S. route.

China Southern to launch new SFO nonstops in December (Photo: Wikimedia)

China Southern will add more seats from San Francisco to Guangzhou (Photo: Wikimedia)

China Southern Airlines has filed plans to increase capacity to San Francisco from Guangzhou, Routesonline.com reports. It will start by changing aircraft as of March 26 from 787-8s to larger 777-300ERs on its four weekly non-stop flights from Guangzhou to SFO and its three flights a week from Guangzhou to SFO via a stop in Wuhan. Then on June 21 it will increase frequencies on the non-stop route from four flights a week to six.

Hainan wants to add 787 flights from Chengdu to LAX and New York. (Photo: San Jose Airport)

Hainan wants to add 787 flights from Chongqing to LAX and New York. (Photo: San Jose Airport)

China’s Hainan Airlines, which has several U.S. routes already, wants two more. The carrier has applied with U.S. authorities to start flying two or three times a week from Chongqing to Los Angeles within the next few months, followed by a similar schedule from Chongqing to New York JFK in the second quarter, using 787s on both routes. Hainan already flies to Beijing from San Jose, Chicago and Seattle, and to Shanghai from Seattle and Boston.

Alaska Airlines has finally launched its new Havana service, becoming the only airline to fly to the Cuban capital from the West Coast. The daily service originates in Seattle, then stops in Los Angeles before continuing non-stop to Havana. The 737-900ER flight leaves SEA at 5 a.m. and departs LAX at 8:50 a.m. Chris was on the inaugural, and will file a report shortly.

Hong Kong Airlines, which has a route network all around East and Southeast Asia as well as Australia and New Zealand, plans to begin its first transpacific service to North America this summer. The airline said it will star flying once a day on June 30 between its Hong Kong base and Vancouver, using an Airbus A330.

LOT Polish Airlines has set a July 2 start for new service between Chicago O’Hare and Krakow, operating one flight a week on the route with a 787-8.

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Southwest announces 22 new routes

Southwest will boost capacity by 3.5 percent this year. (Image: Jim Glab)

Southwest will boost capacity by 3.5 percent this year. (Image: Jim Glab)

Southwest Airlines said its summer schedule, which starts June 4, will feature 22 new domestic and international routes, including some from the Bay Area as well as an expanded Caribbean network based at Ft. Lauderdale and a new presence at Cincinnati.

The company said it expects to increase its overall capacity this year by 3.5 percent (measured in available seat-miles) compared to 2016.

The airline’s new service on the West Coast includes three flights a day between San Francisco International-Portland and one a day between San Jose-Reno, along with seasonal non-stop service from Oakland to Newark Liberty International. At San Diego, Southwest will begin new daily flights to Boise and Salt Lake City, as well as seasonal service to Newark, Spokane and Indianapolis.

However, California’s Orange County Register reported that Southwest will trim its operations at John Wayne Airport due to a shift in capacity allocations among airlines there. Southwest this week ended its Orange County-Mexico City service, the newspaper said, and on January 14 it will eliminate flights from John Wayne to Austin, Kansas City, Portland, St. Louis and Seattle, followed by the end of Puerto Vallarta flights April 25.

At Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood, Southwest said it expects to cut the ribbon in early June on a new international concourse, designated Concourse A in Terminal 1. The facility will serve passengers on flights to eight international destinations, including four new ones: Montego Bay, Jamaica; Belize; Cancun, Mexico; and (subject to government approval) Grand Cayman. Southwest already flies from FLL to Nassau, Bahamas and the Cuban destinations of Havana, Varadero and Santa Clara.

Southwest's ecxpanded Caribbean network put of Ft. Lauderdale. (Image: Southwest)

Southwest’s expanded Caribbean network out of Ft. Lauderdale. (Image: Southwest)

Other new service from Ft. Lauderdale starting June 4 includes daily intra-Florida service to Orlando and daily flights to Washington Dulles and Philadelphia. Elsewhere in Florida, Southwest will kick off two daily non-stops between Tampa-New York LaGuardia and weekend flights between Pensacola and Denver.

Another big focus in Southwest’s summer schedule is Ohio, where it will begin service at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport with five flights a day to Chicago Midway and three a day to Baltimore/Washington. At Cleveland, the airline will add service to Atlanta and a second daily roundtrip to St. Louis. On the losing end of the schedule changes in Ohio are Dayton and Akron-Canton, where Southwest will terminate its service.

Elsewhere in the Midwest, Southwest’s summer schedule includes new service between Indianapolis-Newark twice a day and Nashville-Minneapolis once a day.

The airline is offering introductory sale fares on many of the routes for travel this summer. The sale fares’ booking deadline is January 26. Sample one-way starting sale fares include: San Francisco-Portland, $49; San Jose-Reno, $39; San Diego-Boise, $89; Ft. Lauderdale-Washington Dulles, $69; Ft. Lauderdale-Cancun, $89; and Ft. Lauderdale-Montego Bay, $99.

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Routes: Air Canada, Virgin Atlantic, Hainan, United, AA, Delta, Volaris

Air Canada will use regional jets like the Embraer 190 on new U.S. routes. (Image: Air Canada)

Air Canada will use regional jets like the Embraer 190 on new U.S. routes. (Image: Air Canada)

In international route news, Air Canada will add some new transborder routes next year; Virgin Atlantic will drop a key U.S.-London service; China’s Hainan Airlines applies for rights to two U.S. cities; United suspends two Europe routes this winter and one next summer; American goes all-787 on a London route; Volaris adds two U.S.-Mexico routes and Delta drops one.

Air Canada said it plans to add or expand half a dozen U.S. routes next spring, using regional jets on all of them. On May 1, the airline will begin new daily service from Toronto to San Antonio and Memphis, and its Vancouver to Phoenix service will be expanded from seasonal to year-round. On the same date, Air Canada will start seasonal Toronto-Savannah, Ga., flights for the summer, operating six times a week through October 15. On May 18, Air Canada will begin twice-daily flights between Vancouver and Denver, and on May 26 it will add daily flights between Montreal and Dallas/Ft. Worth.

Virgin Atlantic’s summer Chicago-London Heathrow flights, which last year operated from mid-May through mid-October, will not resume in 2017, according to Routesonline.com. Virgin said suspension of the Chicago flights will allow it to add a third daily Los Angeles-London flight, as previously announced.

Don’t miss! Transcon fares plunge to around $200 round trip

Hainan wants to add 787 flights from Chengdu to LAX and New York. (Photo: San Jose Airport)

Hainan wants to add 787 flights from Chengdu to LAX and New York. (Photo: San Jose Airport)

What’s the big attraction of Chengdu, in central China’s Sichuan province? For one thing, it has a population exceeding 10 million. China’s Hainan Airlines has asked the U.S. Transportation Department for rights to fly to Chengdu twice a week from Los Angeles in the first quarter of 2017, and three times a week from New York in the second quarter, using 787s on both routes. It already has the approval of China’s government. Chengdu is already served by United from San Francisco, by China Eastern from LAX via Nanjing and Sichuan Airlines from LACX via Hangzhou.

United Airlines plans a temporary suspension of two routes to Germany this winter, according to Routesonline.com. United will drop its four weekly Newark-Hamburg 767 flights from January 9 through May 4, and its five weekly Houston-Munich 767 roundtrips from January 10 through April 3. And next summer, United has reportedly decided not to offer previously planned seasonal daily 757 flights between Newark and Oslo, which had been scheduled to operate from May 5 to September 5.

The main cabin on an America Airlines 787. (Image: American)

The main cabin on an America Airlines 787. (Image: American)

American Airlines, which currently uses 767s and 777s on its Chicago O’Hare-London Heathrow route, reportedly plans to change over to all 787-8 Dreamliners for those flights beginning March 5. The airline’s three daily ORD-LHR flights will be supplemented with a fourth daily 787 roundtrip for the summer starting April 4. AA also will replace its daily 767-300ER flight from O’Hare to Dublin with a 787-8 from July 5 through October 4.

Delta’s daily Los Angeles-Guadalajara 737-800 flight is due to be discontinued February 1. But Mexican low-cost carrier Volaris continues to expand transborder service. This month, it started daily A320 roundtrips from Monterrey to Denver, and in March it is due to launch twice-weekly service from Guadalajara to Milwaukee.

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United reveals first Polaris business class routes

United Polaris

Polaris pod seating with alternating row seat arrangement goes domestic first, then transpac (Photo: Scott Hintz)

United Airlines has revealed the initial schedule for introduction of the 777-300ERs equipped with its new Polaris business class cabin, and San Francisco figures prominently in the rollout.

The first scheduled service of a Polaris-equipped 777-300ER will be on a domestic route, linking United’s San Francisco and Newark Liberty International hubs. The new aircraft will fly six days a week from February 16 through May 4, the airline said.

On March 25, the new aircraft will make its international scheduled service debut, replacing a 747-400 on the very competitive San Francisco-Hong Kong route, where Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific both offer non-stop service.

Seatmap of United's newest bird: The Boeing 777-300ER CLICK for details

Seatmap of United’s newest bird: The Boeing 777-300ER CLICK for details

 

The Boeing 777-300ER will have 60 business class seats— that’s up from around 50 in its 747s and 777-200s.  Both Economy Plus and regular economy seating will be 10-across, configured 3-4-3. Economy Plus will offer 34 inches of pitch vs. 31 inches for regular economy. Currently, United’s 777s are 9 across in economy class.

But United Polaris flyers in SFO won’t get the full experience when the new 777-300ER lands there– a spokesperson tells TravelSkills that phase 1 of the Polaris lounge will be complete by midyear, with the lounge renovation complete by the end of 2017. More details on the SFO lounge scene here.

The new Polaris business class provides seating in a “suite-like pod,” United said, with direct aisle access for all passengers. Seats recline 180 degrees, and are 6 feet 6 inches long and 23 inches wide, with one-touch lumbar support, A/C power, two USB ports, a 16-inch high-def video screen, privacy dividers for the middle seats, mood lighting, and an electronic “do not disturb” sign.  The front cabin also has a marble-topped bar where passengers can get drinks and snacks.

United Polaris

Polaris seat storage cubby, noise cancelling headphones, and power ports, amenity kit (Photo: Scott Hintz)

United said it expects to put all 14 of its new 777-300ERs into service during 2017. The aircraft will be configured with 60 Polaris business class seats in a 1-2-1 layout; 102 Economy Plus seats; and 204 regular economy seats.

No word yet on what the other Polaris outfitted routes will be.

Satellite Wi-Fi will be available for purchase, and the economy cabin will offer on-demand entertainment via seatback screens or streaming to personal electronic devices.

United this month started to deploy the new Polaris amenities and services for its business class flyers; here’s a post we ran last month detailing the changes. Of course, the full effect of Polaris won’t be felt until the new seats debut in February.

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Airport news: Newark, JFK, San Francisco, Baltimore, Miami

A fast screening lane like this one at Atlanta has opened in United's Newark Liberty International hub. (Image: Delta)

A fast screening lane like this one at Atlanta has opened in United’s Newark Liberty International hub. (Image: Delta)

In airport news, Newark is the latest facility to start using automated TSA screening lanes to speed up the inspection process; British Airways plans a big upgrade of its terminal at New York JFK; healthy snack machines are coming to San Francisco International; Baltimore/Washington International opens a new connector between two concourses and a new security checkpoint; and Miami International adds a bunch of new shops and restaurants in its North Terminal.

United Airlines and the Transportation Security Administration have opened the first of 17 automated screening lanes coming to United’s hub at Newark Liberty International. Like the other automated lanes popping up around the country, the Newark lane allows several passengers to load their items into bins simultaneously; has an automated conveyor belt that pulls the bins into the x-ray machine instead of requiring travelers to push them; shunts questionable items off onto a separate belt for more detailed inspection without slowing down other passengers; and offers bins that are 25 percent larger than other lanes. The new automated lanes are expected to reduce screening wait times by 30 percent.

British Airways announced plans to spend $110 million improving its airport facilities in the U.S., and the bulk of that amount – more than $65 million – will be spent on its Terminal 7 at New York JFK. The airline said the JFK terminal will get an overhaul of check-in, security and gate areas as well as upgrades to its first class and business class lounges. The rest of the funding will be used for improvements to British Airways’ airport lounges at San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Houston and Seattle. (A BA spokesperson told TravelSkills that there’s no current update or timeline for the long-awaited expansion of its lounge at SFO’s International Terminal A.)

Healthy snack vending machines copmingto SFO will accept smartphone payment systems. (Image: Gillys Vending)

Healthy snack vending machines coming to SFO will accept smartphone payment systems. (Image: Gilly Vending)

Want to grab a quick snack at San Francisco International? You’ll get more healthy choices starting next year thanks to the airport’s new contract with Gilly Vending. The company said its vending machines will be stocked with “organic, gluten-free, low-salt, sugar-free and low-calorie” product selections. “The offerings in the new multi-year contract will highlight only‎ premium quality snack products from recognized brands packed with an abundance of nutrients and antioxidants which are proven to boost energy and stamina such as dried fruits, coconut chips, carob, quinoa, chia, nuts and whole grains,” Gilly said. Yum! What’s more, the machines will accept cashless pay systems including Google, Android and Apple Pay.

The new D/E Connector and security checkpoint at BWI. (Image: Baltimore Washington Airport)

The new D/E Connector and security checkpoint at BWI. (Image: Baltimore Washington Airport)

Baltimore/Washington International Airport has opened a new secure connector linking its Concourse D with its international Concourse E. The $125 million expansion project also includes a new security checkpoint for domestic and international passengers, as well as new passenger concessions and restrooms. The airport plans to eliminate the old security checkpoints for the D and E concourses. Other aspects of the project include an outdoor patio with airfield views, and a children’s play area. The connector will serve as an art gallery for displays of the work of local artists. Officials noted that BWI’s passenger traffic hit a record 24 million in 2015 and is continuing to grow this year.

Officials at Miami International have cut the ribbon on the North Terminal Marketplace – a collection of 10 new restaurants and shops intended to give travelers “a multi-cultural taste of Miami,” the airport said. Located between Gates D-26 and D-29, the marketplace includes a pizzeria; a Caribbean specialty restaurant; singer Gloria Estefan’s Estefan Kitchen Express; a farm-to-table restaurant called Fig and Fennel; an empanadas outlet; a seafood deli; and retail shops selling cigars, Miami Marlins merchandise, designer porcelain dolls, and fashions from Perry Ellis.

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Routes: Delta, United, Alaska, Southwest, Spirit

The interior of Delta's new Airbus A321. (Image; Delta)

The interior of Delta’s new Airbus A321. (Image; Delta)

In domestic route developments, Delta will put new aircraft types on routes to San Francisco, Portland and San Diego; Alaska adds a couple of transcontinental markets; Southwest grows at Austin and Denver; and Spirit jumps into four Ohio-Florida markets.

Delta this year started to take delivery of new Airbus A321s, and according to Routesonline.com, customers in San Francisco and Portland will start to see them in 2017. The site said Delta’s advance schedule shows the new plane being introduced on a few of its many San Francisco-Atlanta flights starting in early March, and replacing the 737-900ER on its Portland-Detroit service starting in June. Delta said the A321s will feature big, pivoting overhead bins; next-generation seats in all three seating categories; large entertainment screens; USB and power ports; and LED lighting that changes with the phase of flight. (The A321 is the plane that seems to be replacing the aging Boeing 757, which is no longer being made.)

Meanwhile, following the recent news that JetBlue plans to extend its front-cabin Mint service onto the New York-San Diego route next August, thepointsguy.com reports that Delta apparently will be putting a 757 with front-cabin lie-flat seats onto one daily flight in the same market effective in June 2017. (Update: Airlineroute.net tells us that Delta had this aircraft on a SAN-JFK flight this past summer as well.) It’s the same aircraft type Delta uses for the lucrative JFK-San Francisco/Los Angeles routes. JetBlue has embarked on a long-term expansion of Mint service onto more transcon routes. Similarly, United has deployed a couple widebody B777-200s on SFO-BOS (but with standard first, not lie-flat) to take on JetBlue’s Mint expansion.

screen-shot-2016-11-16-at-10-49-35-am

Alaska Airlines 737 New Livery

Alaska Airlines is adding more transcontinental flights. (Image: Alaska Air)

Speaking of San Diego and transcontinental routes, Alaska Airlines just announced a new one: The carrier said it will begin daily roundtrips between San Diego and Baltimore/Washington International starting March 15. The eastbound leg will be a red-eye. Alaska already flies to BWI from Los Angeles and Seattle, and its other San Diego transcons include Boston, Orlando, and new service to Newark starting next week. Last week, Alaska also kicked off a new daily roundtrip between Portland and Newark. Next spring, Alaska will start San Jose-Newark service as well. In other news, Alaska just began weekly seasonal service on Saturdays between Bellingham, Washington and Kona, Hawaii.

Southwest Airlines will begin new service on March 13 linking Kansas City with Austin, offering one daily roundtrip. Southwest also plans to expand its limited service between Denver and Albany, N.Y. The airline currently flies that route on weekends only, and just on a seasonal basis, but on April 25 it will make Denver-Albany a year-round route with daily flights.

Spirit Airlines has added Ohio’s Akron-Canton Airport as the newest dot on its route map. Last week, Spirit launched daily flights from Akron-Canton to Orlando, Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale and Ft. Myers. The Tampa and Ft. Myers routes will be seasonal only. Next spring, Spirit will add seasonal flights from Akron-Canton to Myrtle Beach and year-round service to Las Vegas.

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Routes: SFO, LAX, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Miami, Newark, JFK

United is boosting capacity on its new route from SFO to Auckland. (Image:

United is boosting capacity on its new route from SFO to Auckland. (Image: Aucklandnz.com)

In the latest international route news, United boosts capacity on a new transpacific route out of San Francisco but drops a transatlantic route; a Chinese carrier starts new flights to Los Angeles; Chicago O’Hare gets a new route to Taiwan; low-cost Icelandic carrier WOW adds another U.S. gateway; KLM revives Miami flights; and Delta resumes service to a Canadian destination.

United Airlines just started its San Francisco-Auckland service in early July (after a 13-year hiatus), but now the New Zealand Herald reports that the airline is increasing capacity on the route. It said United has boosted flight frequencies between SFO-Auckland from five a week to daily service, and has also switched out the 787-8 it was using on the route to a larger 777. SFO-AKL fares are currently in the $1,000 roundtrip range, but occasionally dip slightly below that.

Across the Atlantic, meanwhile, United plans to drop its current service linking Newark with Belfast, Northern Ireland effective January 9. Why? Because the subsidy paid to United over the last three years ran out. The cancellation has caused much consternation as it was the only nonstop link between Northern Ireland and the US.

At Los Angeles International, Chinese carrier Sichuan Airlines is due to start new service on December 6 to Jinan, with continuing same-plane service to Chengdu. The carrier will use an Airbus A330-200 for the service, which will operate twice a week, according to Routesonline.com. News of the new route comes just a couple of weeks after Sichuan Airlines, with little fanfare, kicked off its first U.S. route; in mid-October it started flying, also twice a week with an A330, from LAX to Hangzhou with continuing service to Chengdu.

EVA's "Hello Kitty" 777-300ER now flies between Houton and Taipei. (Image: EVA)

One of EVA’s  777-300ERs  has “Hello, Kitty” livery. (Image: EVA)

Taiwan’s EVA Air last week started flying between Taipei and Chicago O’Hare, operating four flights a week with a 777-300ER. EVA offers extensive connections beyond Taipei to other Asian destinations, including 27 cities in mainland China. EVA also flies to New York, San Francisco, Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver.

Wow Air, Iceland’s fast-growing low-cost airline, will add yet another U.S. gateway on June 17, when it begins service from Pittsburgh International to its hub at Reykjavik’s Keflavik Airport with an Airbus A321. The carrier will offer fares starting as low as $99 each way to Iceland, with connecting service starting at $149 each way to European destinations including Paris, London, Frankfurt and others – plus add-on ancillary fees, of course.

WOW Air

Wow Air will use a narrow-body for new Pittsburgh service. (Photo: WOW Air)

KLM, which dropped service to Miami in 2011, started it up again last week. The Dutch airline is offering three flights a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays) from Miami to Amsterdam Schiphol using an Airbus A330-200. The seasonal service will continue through June 2017.

Delta Air Lines will revive service from its New York JFK hub to Halifax, Nova Scotia, effective January 9. The carrier said it will use a 76-seat CRJ-900 on the route, offering first class, Comfort+ and regular economy seating.

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Routes: United at San Jose + Delta, JetBlue, American, Virgin America

United will fly E175s from San Jose to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. (Image: United)

United will fly E175s from San Jose to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. (Image: United)

In domestic route developments, United will offer special service out of San Jose for a big convention in January; Delta adds an Austin route and expands in the Twin Cities; JetBlue is about to jump into the fray on one of the northeast’s busiest routes; American exits three Philadelphia markets; and Virgin America will operate a pair of seasonal services out of New York City.

With a nod to the big temporary demand coming out of Silicon Valley, United Airlines plans to operate a virtual shuttle service for techies going to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next January. According to Airlineroute.net, United Express/SkyWest will offer seven daily roundtrips between SJC and Las Vegas from January 4 through January 9 only, using Embraer 175s. The temporary United service will offer an alternative to Southwest’s heavy schedule in the SJC-LAS market.

Austin Bergstrom Airport will get new Delta service to Raleigh-Durham. (Im,age: City of Austin)

Austin Bergstrom Airport will get new Delta service to Raleigh-Durham. (Image: City of Austin)

Delta has set a March 9 starting date for new daily service linking Austin, Texas with its growing Raleigh-Durham base. The carrier said Austin is the “largest unserved non-stop market” from RDU. The flights will be operated by Delta Connection/GoJet with a 76-seat, two-class CRJ-900.

Meanwhile, Delta also announced some additional service out of its Minneapolis-St. Paul hub next year. A key development for SkyMiles summer vacationers: Delta’s winter seasonal service from MSP to Honolulu, which begins on October 29, will now continue operating continuously through Labor Day 2017 instead of stopping in April as previously planned. Also coming from Delta at MSP next summer: The addition of a third daily flight to San Jose, a sixth to Phoenix, and a second to Richmond.

JetBlue will use E190s for its new LaGuardia_Boston flights. (Image: JetBlue)

JetBlue will use E190s for its new LaGuardia-Boston flights. (Image: JetBlue)

October 31 is the launch date for JetBlue’s entry into the busy New York LaGuardia-Boston market, which is dominated by the Delta and American shuttle operations. JetBlue plans to offer six daily roundtrips between LGA and BOS, using E190 aircraft with 100 seats, including 16 in JetBlue’s Even More Space section and 84 in regular economy. The entry into the LaGuardia market will make JetBlue the only airline serving Boston from all three New York-area airports. In another part of the country, JetBlue recently started daily service between New Orleans and Ft. Lauderdale, in competition with Southwest and Spirit.

As part of an ongoing rethinking of the Philadelphia hub it inherited from US Airways, American Airlines plans to end service next February in three regional markets. Getting the axe are AA’s three daily CRJ200 fights between PHL and Newark, along with its twice-daily service from Philadelphia to Binghamton., N.Y. and Elmira, N.Y.

Virgin America said this week it plans to bring back service next month in two seasonal markets out of New York JFK. On November 1, it will begin daily non-stops between JFK and Ft. Lauderdale, and on November 19, it will begin service between JFK and Palm Springs, California.

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Routes: LOT at LAX, AA seats, KLM popup, 2 new US cities for Icelandair

LOT Polish will use a 787 for new Los Angeles service in 2017. (Image: LOT Polish)

LOT Polish will use a 787 for new Los Angeles service in 2017. (Image: LOT Polish)

In international route news, LOT Polish Airlines will begin new service to Los Angeles and Newark; American Airlines officially launches its new international premium economy class in a few weeks; British Airways drops a Philadelphia flight but American adds one; KLM will fly to Minneapolis-St. Paul and offers San Franciscans a 787 sneak peek; and Icelandair plans to open up two more U.S. gateways.

LOT Polish Airlines will kick off the first non-stop service between the West Coast and Poland on April 3, 2017 when it begins service between Los Angeles International and Warsaw. LOT will fly the LAX route four times a week using a 787-8 Dreamliner. Also in April, the Polish carrier will resume service from Warsaw to Newark Liberty International, a hub for its Star Alliance partner United.  The Newark flights will begin April 28, initially operating three times a week with a leased 767-300ER, but switching to a 787 in August. With the addition of Newark flights, LOT will trim its 2017 summer schedule out of New York JFK from 12 flights a week to nine.

American's new Premium Economy section will have leather seats in a 2-3-2 layout. (Image: American Airlines)

American’s new Premium Economy section will have leather seats in a 2-3-2 layout. (Image: American Airlines)

When American Airlines puts its new 787-9s into international service next month, they’ll come equipped with the carrier’s new premium economy cabin – a first for U.S. airlines on international routes.  The first flights to offer the premium cabin will be from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Sao Paulo on November 3 and from DFW to Madrid on November 4. The premium economy service is in addition to (and priced higher than) the airline’s extra-legroom seating in the regular economy cabin. Premium economy seats have a 38-inch pitch, greater width than regular economy, adjustable headrests and footrests, larger video screens, noise-reducing headphones, free drinks and more.

British Airways’ longstanding Philadelphia schedule of two daily flights to London Heathrow will change in March 2017 when it drops one of them – the 10 p.m. departure. But joint venture partner American Airlines will pick up the slack, boosting its own PHL-LHR schedule from one flight a day to two.

Delta’s transatlantic joint venture partner KLM plans to kick off service on March 27 from Delta’s Minneapolis-St. Paul hub to Amsterdam using an Airbus A330 for three flights a week (Monday, Wednesday, Saturday). It hasn’t flown the MSP-Amsterdam route for 15 years, according to Airlineroute.com. Delta serves the route with two to three flights a day. Elsewhere, KLM is about to resume Miami service, as previously announced. October 30 is the launch date for the carrier’s three weekly flights from MIA to Amsterdam, which will continue through March 23 with a two-class A330.

KLM 787

Business class seats on KLM’s 787 Dreamliner (Photo: KLM)

In San Francisco, meanwhile, KLM is inviting travelers to visit a Pop-Up location that the carrier will open at Union Square (445A Sutter Street) October 14 to 22, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Pop-Up’s purpose is to promote KLM’s 787 Dreamliner, which it put onto its SFO route a few months ago. Visitors can experience the airline’s World Business Class and a virtual reality simulation of the 787, and will get a chance to win free tickets to Amsterdam.

Icelandair will expand its U.S. network in 2017 with the addition of two new gateways. The carrier will begin seasonal summer service to Reykjavik from Philadelphia four days a week beginning May 30, along with year-round flights from Tampa twice a week starting September 6. Also for the 2017 summer season, Icelandair will boost Denver-Reykjavik service from seven to nine weekly flights from June 1 through mid-September; and will increase its Portland schedule from three a week to four on May 20, adding a fifth weekly flight June 14 through August 31.

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Airport news: Newark, Seattle, Phoenix, Dulles, Boston

United's hub operation at Washington Dulles got a new lease on life. (Image: metropolitan Washington Airports Authority)

United’s hub operation at Washington Dulles got a new lease on life. (Image: metropolitan Washington Airports Authority)

In airport news this week, Seattle Tacoma International is giving a preview of what its new international arrivals facility will look like; Phoenix Sky Harbor will inform travelers about the waiting times for TSA lines; a unique restaurant concept is coming to Newark Liberty; United signs a new lease at Washington Dulles, and Turkish Airlines opens a lounge there; and Virgin America switches terminals at Boston Logan.

Those recurring rumors that United Airlines is about to get rid of its Washington Dulles hub have been put to rest by the news that United has signed an extension of its lease at IAD, guaranteeing it will keep a big presence there through 2025. There had been speculation that United might shift more of its East Coast connecting traffic and international flights to Newark. In other developments at Washington Dulles, Turkish Airlines has its first U.S. airport premium lounge there. The 5,000 square foot facility has showers, free Wi-Fi, a buffet, business area with six Cs, and a selection of newspapers and magazines.

The Port of Seattle has released renderings of the new international arrivals facility (IAF) to be built at Seattle-Tacoma International, due for completion in 2019. Citing a “dramatic increase” in the number of international flights at SEA’s South Satellite, the Port said the existing federal inspections area at the airport is already beyond peak capacity. The 450,000-square-foot IAF will be east of the current Concourse A, and will be linked to the South Satellite by a 900-foot elevated walkway across the top of Concourse A. “Creation of a secure international corridor on Concourse A will mean more gates for arriving international flights with a direct connection to the IAF,” the Port said. The facility will increase the number of international widebody-capable gates from 12 to 20; increase the number of Passport booths and kiosks from 30 to 80; increase bag carousels from four to seven; and reduce minimum connecting times from 90 to 75 minutes. Here’s a link to a gallery of images for the new IAF, and an animated fly-through video.

A rendering of the interior of Seattle's new international arrivals facility. (Image: Port of Seattle)

A rendering of the interior of Seattle’s new international arrivals facility. (Image: Port of Seattle)

Flying out of Phoenix Sky Harbor? You can now see what the waiting times are for TSA security lines before you head to the airport, if you’re leaving from Terminal 2 or 4. The airport now posts security waiting times on its website (www.skyharbor.com), on flight information displays in the terminals and at PHX Sky Train stations, and on visual paging screens in the terminals. “This amenity will be especially helpful for customers traveling through Terminal 4, since passengers can use any of the four security checkpoints in that terminal to access any gate,” the airport noted, adding that T4 handles 80 percent of the airport’s customers. The service will add T3 data later this year. Note: The waiting times are for regular TSA lines, not PreCheck.

The new Daily restaurant at Newark's Terminal C. (Image: OTG)

The new Daily restaurant at Newark’s Terminal C. (Image: OTG)

The newest dining venue to open at United’s Newark Terminal C hub – part of the facility’s ongoing $120 million redevelopment — is called Daily, described by concessions partner OTG as “the world’s first airport restaurant where the entire menu changes every day.” Why? In order to present the freshest possible cuisine, the restaurant will base its menu on the produce, meats and fish currently available from nearby farmers’ markets. (Which has us a little concerned considering what’s near Newark Airport 😉 The centerpiece is a wood-burning grill for preparing meat and fish entrees. Other new venues recently opened at EWR Terminal C include Saison, a French bistro; Riviera, with French country dining; Little Purse, serving up dumpling and noodle dishes; and Tacquila, specializing in street tacos.

At Boston Logan, Virgin America has moved its operations from Terminal B to Terminal C, in order to be close to merger partner Alaska Airlines. Virgin flies from BOS to San Francisco and Los Angeles, while Alaska has flights to Seattle, Portland and San Diego. Spirit Airlines has also relocated at BOS to Gates B37-38 from another part of Terminal B.

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Airlines start rolling out Havana schedules, fares

Cuba cars

Vintage cars serve as tourist taxis in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolucion (Chris McGinnis)

One Caribbean capital is about to experience what could be the biggest influx of new airline service from the U.S. of all times. In early July, the Transportation Department approved routes to Havana, Cuba for several U.S. airlines. Those route awards were finalized in late August, and airlines have started to announce their inaugural service dates for late fall and winter. Some are still subject to Cuban government approvals.

Alaska Airlines, which will have the only non-stop service to Havana from the West Coast, has set a January 5 start for its new Los Angeles-Havana flights, which will depart LAX at 8:50 a.m. The flight will originate in Seattle. Roundtrip fares from LAX start at $490.

Because the purpose of a traveler’s visit must fall within one of a dozen specific categories, and other formalities and requirements must be met, Alaska has posted  a handy blog page with details for customers to know before they book their flight. Alaska said it is working with Cuba Travel Services to help customers obtain visas, accommodations and ground transportation at the destination.

Here is a link to the U.S. government’s official restrictions on travel to Cuba; scroll down to Page 10 to find specifics of the 12 categories of travel.

Havana nonstops

Nonstops to Havana from U.S. airlines. (Image: Great Circle Mapper)

Delta has targeted December 1 for the launch of daily flights to Havana from Miami and New York JFK along with one-stop service from Atlanta. For travel in February, we found roundtrip fares starting at $200 from Miami, $410 from JFK and $452 from Atlanta.

United Airlines has set a November 29 start for daily non-stops from Newark to Havana, followed on December 3 by weekly Saturday service from Houston Bush Intercontinental to the Cuban capital. Fares in January start at $413 roundtrip from Newark and $513 from Houston.

November 30 is the target date for American Airlines’ new daily flight to Havana from its Charlotte hub. American was also awarded rights for four daily roundtrips from Miami, although it hasn’t yet announced a starting date for those. January roundtrip fares start at $421 from Charlotte.

Shave in Cuba

Chris getting a shave in Cienfuegos, Cuba in May 2016

Frontier Airlines on December 1 is expected to start daily service from Miami to Havana, and will offer connections to that flight from Denver and Las Vegas.

Other new Havana routes expected to start in the next few months include JetBlue service from JFK, Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando; Southwest Airlines flights from Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa; and Spirit Airlines from Ft. Lauderdale. Several airlines have already started or are about to launch service on routes to secondary cities and beach resorts in Cuba; those routes were awarded earlier.

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Routes: New JetBlue transcon + more Mint, Delta, OneJet, United, AA

JetBlue will add Los Angeles-Orlando flights. (Image: Jim Glab)

JetBlue will add Los Angeles-Orlando flights. (Image: Jim Glab)

In domestic route news, JetBlue announced a new transcontinental route out of Los Angeles and has scheduled more transcon Mint service; Delta Connection starts using new jets on the West Coast and wants more; small-plane OneJet adds another Pittsburgh route; United expands Puerto Rico capacity with big jets; and American adds a New England route out of LaGuardia.

JetBlue has announced a January 5 start for new transcontinental service between Los Angeles and Orlando, operating one daily A320 roundtrip (the eastbound segment will be a redeye). That will give the airline a total of 17 daily departures at LAX, including service to all four of its focus cities in the northeast and Florida. Meanwhile, JetBlue said the next expansion of its premium-cabin Mint service will come on May 15, when it will introduce Mint on both of its daily flights between San Francisco and Ft. Lauderdale. Mint is already slated to debut on JetBlue’s LAX-Ft. Lauderdale flights on March 20. In other news, JetBlue said it is expanding its partnership with Cape Air, putting its B6 code onto the latter’s flights from Boston and San Juan to small airports in the northeast and in the Caribbean.

Delta Connection/SkyWest is putting upgraded E175s into West Coast service. (Image: delta)

Delta Connection/SkyWest is putting upgraded E175s into West Coast service. (Image: delta)

Delta Connection partner SkyWest has started flying the first of several new, upgraded Embraer 175s for Delta on the West Coast. SkyWest will be getting 19 of the new jets, to be used mainly as Delta Connection aircraft on the latter’s West Coast Shuttle routes linking Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The 76-seat E175s offer in-seat power outlets, seats similar to those on Delta mainline flights, faster Wi-Fi and ambient lighting. “This brand new E175 comes with all the trim and finishes of a mainline aircraft on a plane with 76 seats,” a Delta official said. “We designed the interior of this aircraft, in cooperation with SkyWest Airlines and Embraer, for a consistent brand experience.”

Meanwhile, Bloomberg News reports this week that Delta wants to buy up to 50 new aircraft in the 70- to 76-seat range, part of a continuing effort to replace smaller 50-seat planes in its regional fleet. The report noted that over the past three years, Delta has eliminated half of the 309 50-seat jets in its Delta Connection fleet. The big hurdle for the new planes: Delta must obtain the approval of its pilots’ union, which has veto power over any plan for new, larger regional aircraft to be flown by Delta’s partner carriers instead of Delta itself.

OneJet uses small Hawker 400XPs on short-haul routes. (Image: OneJet)

OneJet uses small Hawker 400XPs on short-haul routes. (Image: OneJet)

OneJet, a small but growing operator that specializes in “nonstop travel in small and medium size markets, at relatively low cost,” will add new service between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati on October 19, with two flights a day. The carrier has been growing at PIT, where it also offers flights to Hartford, Indianapolis, Louisville and Milwaukee. The company uses small Hawker 400XP jets and concentrates on underserved markets of less than 700 miles.

United Airlines said it will give a big capacity boost to its route between Newark Liberty International and San Juan, Puerto Rico this winter. The carrier plans to increase its EWR-San Juan schedule from one flight a week to six – using a 344-passenger 777.

American Airlines will expand its presence at Burlington, Vermont on December 15, launching a new daily flight to New York LaGuardia and a second daily flight to its Charlotte hub.

Don’t miss out on these popular TravelSkills posts! Kicking support animals off planes | Shocked passenger refuses to pay $3 for water | Marriott-Starwood: Higher prices, better rewards | The 10,000 points question! | Eye-catching maps explain state of the world | Test your planespotting skills! )

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Routes: Finnair to SFO, Delta, Virgin Australia, Austrian, AA, SAS + more

Finnair will use an A330 on its San Francisco route. (Image: Finnair)

Finnair will use an A330 on its San Francisco route. (Image: Finnair)

In international route news, Finnair will add San Francisco service next year; Delta expands sales of Comfort+ seats and Caribbean code-sharing, Virgin Australia will revive Melbourne service, Austrian Airlines is coming to Los Angeles, American suspends some Europe flights, SAS comes to Miami Aer Lingus adds a pair of gateways, United code-shares to India, and a Mexican carrier adds three U.S. routes.

Finland’s national carrier is coming to San Francisco next year. Finnair said it will operate seasonal SFO-Helsinki flights three times a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays) from June 1 through September 30, using an A330. The new service will be a part of the transatlantic joint venture that includes Oneworld partners American, British Airways and Iberia as well as Finnair. “Thanks to Helsinki’s geographical location, Finnair’s new northern route to San Francisco will offer competitive travel times for customers from Scandinavia, the Baltics, Russia as well as from many European cities,” a spokesperson said. Finnair currently flies to New York, Chicago and Miami. At first glance, SFO-HEL roundtrip economy fares appear to be in the steep $1,900 range, but we’ll be on the lookout for lower introductory promo fares.

Delta said it has expanded the sale of its extra-legroom Comfort+ economy seating to a number of international routes, including: from the U.S. and Canada to Latin America and the Caribbean (except Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Chile); between North America and Asia-Pacific destinations (except China and Hong Kong); and on flights within the Asia-Pacific region (except China and Hong Kong). Last fall, Delta created a new fare category for Comfort+ and started selling it for travel within the U.S. and Canada. Meanwhile, Delta has expanded its agreement with Caribbean-based Seaborne Airlines to allow single-ticketing for connections through San Juan to St. Croix, Anguilla and Beef Island in the British Virgin Islands; and between St. Thomas and St. Croix.

The new business class on a Virgin Australia 777-300. (Image: Virgin Australia)

The new business class on a Virgin Australia 777-300. (Image: Virgin Australia)

Virgin Australia has set a launch date of April 4, 2017 for a revival of service between Los Angeles and Melbourne. On the same date, it will trim LAX-Brisbane schedules from seven flights a week to six. The carrier also flies from LAX to Sydney. Its transpacific operations are part of a joint venture with Delta. Virgin said it will fly the LAX-Melbourne route five times a week (no westbound departures on Wednesdays or Mondays), using a 777-300ER.

Los Angeles will get another new international route beginning April 10, 2017, when Austrian Airlines plans to launch up to six flights a week between LAX and Vienna, using a 777.  The 12 and a half hour seasonal flight will depart Los Angeles daily except Sundays at 3:05 p.m. Austrian, a part of the Lufthansa Group, also flies to New York JFK, Newark, Chicago, Washington D.C. and Miami.

American Airlines plans to cut back its international schedule out of Philadelphia. After ending its Philadelphia-Brussels service last month, American now says its seasonal PHL-Zurich service, which ends September 30, will not be revived next year; and its year-round PHL-Frankfurt flights will now operate seasonally, with no service from October 30 through April 5. AA also plans to drop its twice-weekly Philadelphia-Halifax flights in January.  Elsewhere, American will suspend Chicago O’Hare-Paris CDG flights from December 5 through December 13, and from January 10 to March 25; and its New York JFK-Manchester flights from January 9 through March 29.

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On September 28, SAS is introducing new non-stop service from Miami International to Copenhagen and Oslo. The carrier will offer flights to Copenhagen on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays; and to Oslo on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Aer Lingus is adding two U.S. routes this month. (Image: Aer Lingus)

Aer Lingus is adding two U.S. routes this month. (Image: Aer Lingus)

Aer Lingus this month introduced new daily year-round service between Dublin and Newark Liberty International, using an Airbus A330. And on September 28, the Irish carrier is slated to inaugurate a new route linking Hartford, Connecticut with Dublin, operating four days a week (Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday) with a 757.

United flyers will get a new option for travel from the West Coast to India next month. United is putting its code onto Star Alliance partner Air Canada’s new Vancouver-Delhi seasonal service, which will operate from October 20 through April 6.

Mexican low-cost carrier Interjet will expand its transborder network this fall with a trio of new U.S. routes. On October 20, it will inaugurate twice-daily service between Mexico City and Los Angeles, followed on November 10 by a daily Las Vegas-Mexico City roundtrip and on November 17 by two daily Mexico City-Chicago O’Hare flights. The airline will use Airbus A320s for all the flights.

Don’t miss out on these popular TravelSkills posts! Shocked passenger refuses to pay $3 for water | More Delta SkyMiles for Asian trips | Tips from a Hawaiian Vacation | JetBlue-Delta slugfest means lower fares | Test your planespotting skills! )

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International routes update: Delta, Air China, United, Hainan, Turkish, Southwest, American + more

Air China will use an A330-200 between San Jose and Shanghai. (Image: Mehdi Nazarinia/Wikimedia Commons)

Air China will use an A330-200 between San Jose and Shanghai. (Image: Mehdi Nazarinia/Wikimedia Commons)

In international routes news, Air China comes to San Jose; Delta is dropping routes to Tokyo and Moscow; Las Vegas gets a Beijing flight; Southwest and American plan new service to Mexico from LAX; LaCompagnie suspends London flights; Copa doubles up on San Francisco service; Air Canada trims San Diego-Vancouver capacity; Turkish trims flights to US and EVA adds more seats from Seattle to Taipei. Also, stay tuned to TravelSkills for some really good route news for Oakland coming out this Thursday.

Mineta San Jose International Airport added another international route last week when Air China kicked off new service from SJC to Shanghai – the airline’s only route to Shanghai from North America. Air China is using a two-class, 237-seat Airbus A330-200 on the route, departing San Jose on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Departure time from SJC is 1:30 p.m. for the 12.5-hour flight, with arrival in Shanghai at 4:40 p.m. the next day.

Delta, which recently won new rights to operate daytime flights to Tokyo’s close-in Haneda Airport from Los Angeles and Minneapolis-St. Paul, said it plans to discontinue its daily New York JFK-Tokyo Narita service on October 2. On October 3, Delta will axe its daily Narita-Osaka flight, and on October 29 it will end its daily Narita-Bangkok service. The airline will still fly to Narita from Seattle, Portland, Detroit and Atlanta. Meanwhile, Delta this week suspended its New York-Moscow non-stop service for the season, with plans to resume the flights in May 2017.

Las Vegas will also get new service to China by year’s end. Hainan Airlines has applied for government approval to fly three times a week between Las Vegas and Beijing, with a starting date of December 2. Hainan has been growing its U.S. presence in recent months, and currently flies from San Jose to Beijing, Los Angeles to Changsha, and Seattle to Beijing and Shanghai.

(We’re back from summer vacation! In case you missed our other recent round-up posts, here they are: Domestic Routes Roundup | Tips from a Hawaiian Vacation | August’s most important travel news)

Southwest will add three routes from LAX to Mexico. (Image: Jim Glab)

Southwest will add three routes from LAX to Mexico. (Image: Jim Glab)

Both American Airlines and Southwest Airlines apparently see room for growth in the Los Angeles-Mexico market. American is planning to start new daily 737-800 flights on December 15 from LAX to both Cancun and Puerto Vallarta. And Southwest on December 4 will launch twice-daily service from LAX to both Cancun and San Jose del Cabo, as well as one flight a day between LAX and Puerto Vallarta. Meanwhile, Mexican low-cost carrier Volaris plans to begin new service December 1 between Denver and Monterrey, Mexico, operating two A320 flights a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays).

United is switching up equipment on key routes between SFO and Europe for the winter season starting October 30. On SFO-London it will run two 777-200ERs instead of the current 777 and 787 Dreamliner. On SFO-Paris, the current 767-300ER will be replaced with a 787.

Panama’s Copa Airlines, a member of United’s Star Alliance, plans to increase service between Panama City and United’s San Francisco hub. Effective November 1, Copa will increase its schedule on the route from one to two 737-800 flights a day. (Regrettably both departures from SFO are red-eyes, arriving Panama City in the morning.)

All-business-class La Compagnie blames Brexit for dropping Newark-London flights. (Image: La Compagnie)

All-business-class La Compagnie blames Brexit for dropping Newark-London flights. (Image: La Compagnie)

La Compagnie, a niche carrier that offers transatlantic all-business-class flights with 74-seat 757s, said that it will drop its route linking Newark with London’s Luton Airport effective September 25. In October, the carrier will add a second daily flight to its Newark-Paris CDG route. In explaining its decision to drop Newark-London service, La Compagnie said that the recent decision by British voters to take the U.K. out of the European Union – aka Brexit – “has created an unprecedented level of legal and economic uncertainty for airlines that service Great Britain.” 

Taiwan’s EVA Air will boost capacity this fall on its route to Taipei from Seattle. The carrier plans to add a second flight three days a week, for a total of 10 a week, beginning November 19. EVA will use a 777-300ER for the extra flights.

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines is cutting back on weekly frequencies, but not to SFO, pictured here (Chris McGinnis)

Turkish Airlines is reducing frequencies to several US cities in the wake of the downturn in demand due to recent events as well as the slower winter season ahead. Airline Routes is reporting service cutbacks (but no elimination of service) between Istanbul and Atlanta, Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami.

Air Canada currently operates an Air Canada Rouge A319 on its daily San Diego-Vancouver route.  But the carrier plans to temporarily suspend the route effective October 17, and when it resumes service December 14, it will downsize to a CRJ-705 operated by Air Canada Express. Elsewhere in Canada, Westjet plans to convert its seasonal Calgary-New York JFK service into a year-round route, operating six flights a week when its winter schedule begins October 30.

(We’re back from summer vacation! In case you missed our other recent round-up posts, here they are: Domestic Routes Roundup | Tips from a Hawaiian Vacation | August’s most important travel news)

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Routes Roundup: United, Delta, JetBlue, AA, Southwest, Alaska, Frontier

United SFO

United & Delta adding even more flights at SFO (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

There’s plenty of domestic route news to catch up on from the last few weeks. United and Delta are adding routes from San Francisco; Alaska and Delta are doing the same at Seattle; United is growing at San Jose; JetBlue is adding service at Long Beach; and new routes are coming at American, Southwest and Frontier. (We’ll post an international routes update later this week.)

At San Francisco, United plans to begin service next spring to both Detroit and Cincinnati. Effective June 8, the airline will operate one daily A319 roundtrip in each market, competing against Delta. And from December 17 through April 1, United will fly once a week (on Saturdays) with a CRJ-700 from San Francisco to Kalispell, Montana.

United also revealed plans to bulk up at San Jose by adding new 737-800 flights starting March 9 from SJC to its hubs at Chicago O’Hare and Newark. The carrier will fly twice a day to O’Hare and once a day to Newark. (United’s planned San Jose-Newark flight will begin just three days before Alaska Airlines’ recently announced new service on the same route, which will have the same departure time from SJC.) American and Southwest both fly from SJC to Chicago, and JetBlue serves the SJC-New York JFK market. Meanwhile, United on September 7 is due to launch new service to Chattanooga, Tenn., from both Newark and Chicago O’Hare, with two daily flights in each market.

In October, United will discontinue its existing twice-daily intra-California service between San Francisco and Santa Maria, which is operated by United Express/Skywest with a CRJ-200. On the other coast, United set a November 29 termination date for its twice-daily United Express service between Newark and Binghamton, New York.  But on December 16, United plans to resume seasonal flights between its Washington Dulles hub and Ft. Lauderdale, with one flight a day through January 4, then two a day until May 4.

(We’re back from summer vacation! In case you missed our other recent round-up posts, here they are: Tips from a Hawaiian Vacation | August’s most important travel news)

Delta's premium economy seat, Economy Comfort (Photo: Delta)

Delta adding SFO-Boston nonstops using a 757s (Photo: Delta)

Delta has unveiled plans for a growth spurt at Boston next spring, including a resumption of Boston-San Francisco service. The carrier will offer two BOS-SFO flights a day, using 757-200s, beginning June 8. On the same date, Delta will double its Boston-Seattle schedule from one daily flight to two. Delta will also begin new Delta Connection/Endeavor Air service between Boston and Nashville, with one daily flight using a two-class CRJ-900. Also coming from Delta is new service from Seattle to Eugene, Oregon, with three daily CRJ-700 flights beginning April 1; and a new daily roundtrip between Seattle and Raleigh-Durham effective June 8.

Long Beach, California will get more service from JetBlue next year. The carrier set a January 4 launch for new Long Beach-San Jose service, where it will offer four daily roundtrips. The airline will also beef up its schedules on existing Long Beach routes, adding three more flights a day to Las Vegas, one extra departure to San Francisco, and one more to Salt Lake City. (The Bay Area will also get new service to Long Beach from Southwest in June, when the carrier is set to launch four flights a day from Oakland.) Elsewhere on its system, JetBlue plans to add new daily service on January 12 between Chicago O’Hare and Ft. Lauderdale, but on January 11 it will discontinue service between O’Hare and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

JetBlue will begin San Jose-Long Beach flights in 2017. (Image: Jim Glab)

JetBlue will begin San Jose-Long Beach flights in January. (Image: Jim Glab)

Alaska Airlines will continue to build up its Seattle hub next spring with the addition of two more routes to the Midwest. On April 13, Alaska will kick off new daily service from SEA to Wichita, Kans., with a SkyWest Embraer 175; and on May 11 it will add new daily 737 roundtrips between SEA and Indianapolis.

The spring schedule from Southwest Airlines, which begins in March, includes new daily service between Houston Hobby and Omaha, along with new twice-daily flights between Newark and Ft. Lauderdale. At the same time, the airline will begin seasonal daily service linking Las Vegas with Minneapolis-St. Paul.

SkyWest, operating as American Eagle, will begin new daily service November 4 linking AA’s Phoenix hub with St. George, Utah. The flight will use a 50-seat CRJ-200. On the east coast, American has scheduled a December 15 start for new American Eagle/Republic Airlines service between New York’s Westchester County Airport and Miami, offering two flights a day with two-class E-175s.

Ultra-low-cost Frontier Airlines plans a December 6 expansion at Phoenix, where it will begin service to Milwaukee and St. Louis, each with four flights a week; and to Nashville and Des Moines, each with three flights a week.

On December 15, American will launch daily roundtrips from Phoenix to Santa Fe and Sioux Falls. The Santa Fe flights will use a SkyWest CRJ 700, and the Sioux Falls service will be operated by a Mesa Airlines CRJ 900.

–Chris McGinnis

(We’re back from summer vacation! In case you missed our other recent round-up posts, here they are: Tips from a Hawaiian Vacation | August’s most important travel news)

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Routes: United, Virgin America, Spirit, Frontier

United will use 737s on two new Florida nonstops (Image: Tampa International)

New nonstops to connect bay cities (Image: Tampa International)

In domestic route news, there’s lots of extra capacity coming to Florida, including new United routes from San Francisco and Spirit Airlines routes from Ohio, plus a new Florida destination for Frontier Airlines. Meanwhile, Virgin America plans to increase  capacity from the West Coast to Newark Liberty International Airport.

United will use 737s on new San Francisco routes to Florida. (Image: United)

United will use 737s on new San Francisco routes to Florida. (Image: United)

United’s newest domestic routes from San Francisco will be to Florida, starting in late fall and winter. The airline said it plans to begin a daily San Francisco-Miami flight on December 16, reviving a route that it dropped 12 years ago. United will also introduce a daily SFO-Tampa flight beginning February 16. Both routes will use 737s.

Just a few days after Alaska Airlines announced some new routes to Newark, Virgin America said it will also take advantage of the FAA’s plan to open up more slots at that airport this fall. Effective November 18, Virgin plans to increase Newark frequencies from three flights a day to four from both San Francisco and Los Angeles. The extra SFO flight is scheduled for a 9:40 a.m. departure from San Francisco, while the fourth LAX departure will be at 7 a.m.

Spirit Airlines is adding new service from Ohio to Florida (Image: Spirit Airlines)

Spirit Airlines is adding new service from Ohio to Florida (Image: Spirit Airlines)

Spirit Airlines plans a big expansion of service at Akron/Canton, adding four Florida destinations beginning November 10. The schedule includes new daily flights from Akron to Ft. Lauderdale and to Orlando, along with seasonal service from Akron to Ft. Myers four days a week and to Tampa three days a week. On the same date, meanwhile, Spirit will also suspend service between Cleveland and Dallas/Ft. Worth, changing that route from year-round to seasonal; the DFW flights will begin again on April 26.

Punta Gorda, Florida is about 25 miles north of Ft. Myers, and it has an airport that’s a lot less busy than the latter city’s Southwest Florida International; Punta Gorda is currently served only by Allegiant Airlines. So Punta Gorda is the newest airport that will go onto Frontier Airlines’ route map. On October 30, Frontier will add new service to Punta Gorda from Trenton, N.J., operating year-round four days a week. On the same date, Frontier will begin seasonal service three days a week between Punta Gorda-Philadelphia and Punta Gorda-Chicago O’Hare, continuing through April.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: How to get the BEST summer fare deals | One airline fee fading fast | Trip Report: Aer Lingus Economy Class | 5 top jobs for frequent travelers  | First class phase out coming soon

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Routes: Alaska, JetSuite, Southwest, United, American, Spirit, Frontier

Alaska Airlines 737 New Livery

Alaska Airlines will add several routes into Newark (Image: Alaska Air)

In domestic route news, Alaska will add several routes into Newark; JetSuite plans a new California Corridor route; Southwest has its eye on Long Beach-Las Vegas service; United and American grow at Memphis; and Frontier and Spirit expand their Florida presence.

Taking advantage of the FAA’s decision to open up more takeoff and landing slots at Newark Liberty International Airport this fall, Alaska Airlines said it plans to add new flights there from four West Coast cities. On November 10, Alaska will begin one daily roundtrip from Portland to Newark, followed on November 21 by a new daily flight from San Diego to Newark; neither of the eastbound flights will be red-eyes. Then in 2017, Alaska will add a daily flight from San Jose to Newark on March 12, along with a third daily Seattle-Newark roundtrip beginning May 14.

Alaska also said it will begin twice-weekly seasonal service between Portland and Sun Valley, Idaho, operating from December 17 to April 1 and again from June 14 to September 16, 2017, using a Horizon Air Q400 turboprop.

JetSuiteX will add another California Corridor route. (Image: JetSuite)

JetSuiteX will add another California Corridor route. (Image: JetSuite)

Earlier this year, a private jet operator called JetSuite launched a new service between Burbank and Concord, California (just east of San Francisco) called JetSuiteX, selling single seats on scheduled departures of 30-seat Embraer 135s. And now the company plans to add a new JetSuiteX route on August 15, linking Burbank and San Jose with 12 weekly roundtrips and introductory fares as low as $99.

Last month, Southwest Airlines added Long Beach, California to its route map, launching four daily roundtrips to Oakland. And now Southwest plans to add daily Long Beach-Las Vegas flights beginning September 18, with introductory fares starting at $39. But the Long Beach-Las Vegas service is only scheduled to continue through the end of December.

American and United are planning to increase capacity out of Memphis, according to the Memphis Business Journal. It said that on August 23, American will replace smaller regional jets and an MD-82 with 160-seat 737s for its two daily Memphis-Dallas/Ft. Worth flights; and on October 6, it will add a fourth daily weekday flight between Memphis and Washington Reagan National. On October 31, the publication reported, United plans to replace a CRJ-700 with a 166-seat 737 for one of its two daily Memphis-Denver flights. This month, American eclipsed Delta as Memphis’ largest carrier.

Spirit Airlines is expanding its Florida network. (Photo: Spirit)

Spirit Airlines is expanding its Florida network. (Photo: Spirit)

Spirit Airlines will boost its presence at Orlando this fall, adding daily service to five cities, including Boston and Philadelphia starting October 7; Kansas City beginning November 10; and Niagara Falls and Plattsburgh, N.Y. as of November 17. Also on November 10, Spirit will kick off new daily non-stops from Baltimore/Washington to both Tampa and Fort Myers, Fla.

On October 30, Frontier Airlines is planning to launch daily roundtrips from San Diego to Orlando, as well as three weekly flights linking Orlando with Des Moines, Iowa. Meanwhile, Frontier will also trim its schedule at Pittsburgh at the end of October, discontinuing service to Atlanta and to Chicago O’Hare.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: How to get the BEST summer fare deals | One airline fee fading fast | Trip Report: Aer Lingus Economy Class | 5 top jobs for frequent travelers  | First class phase out coming soon

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United gets on TSA’s speedy screening lines bandwagon

New TSA lanes at ATL let up to five travelers load bins at once. (Image: Delta)

New TSA lanes at ATL let up to five travelers load bins at once. (Image: Delta)

As the Transportation Security Administration continues its efforts to get travelers through airport screening faster, United Airlines is the latest carrier to unveil plans for new “automated” screening lanes at key hub airports.

Delta was the first carrier on board with the new program, when it cooperated with TSA in the installation of new screening equipment and procedures at a TSA checkpoint in Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson earlier this year. Then a few weeks ago, American Airlines announced similar plans for its screening lanes at Phoenix Sky Harbor this fall, to be followed by Chicago O’Hare, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Los Angeles, and Miami International.  And now United plans to bring the “automated” lanes to its hubs as well, starting with Newark Liberty this fall and then to Chicago O’Hare and Los Angeles International.

United’s plans also call for the reconfiguration and consolidation of passenger screening checkpoints at Newark, O’Hare and Los Angeles. That includes combining four existing checkpoints at Newark’s Terminal C into one centralized facility with 17 lanes.

The new lanes feature automated belts that extend back farther so that passengers don’t have to keep pushing the bins of their belongings into the x-ray machines, and they allow up to five travelers at once to put their bins onto the belt, instead of doing it one at a time. The systems also have new conveyor belts that return empty bins back to the head of the screening line so that TSA employees don’t have to do it. If a passenger’s bag is determined to need a closer look after being x-rayed, that bag is automatically shunted off the main belt for further inspection without holding up the line.

United's Terminal C at Newark will be the first of its hubs to get the new screening lines. (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

United’s Terminal C at Newark will be the first of its hubs to get the new screening lines. (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Based on the results of the new screening configuration at Atlanta’s airport, TSA said the revised equipment and procedures should reduce line time for screening by 30 percent.

United will also work with TSA in opening up a temporary PreCheck enrollment center in downtown Chicago’s Willis Tower next month, followed by new permanent enrollment centers at its hub airports in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Newark and Chicago.

And the above installations could be just the beginning. TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger told USA Today that the agency hopes to see up to 60 of the new screening lanes in place at the nation’s busiest airports by the end of the year.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: How to get the BEST summer fare deals | One airline fee fading fast | Trip Report: Aer Lingus Economy Class | 5 top jobs for frequent travelers  | First class phase out coming soon

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New Routes: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Newark, JFK, San Diego

Hangzhou, China is United's newest transpacific destination. (Image: City of Hangzhou)

Hangzhou, China is United’s newest transpacific destination. (Image: City of Hangzhou)

In international route developments, United kicks off another transpacific route from San Francisco to China’s Silicon Valley; Turkish Airlines and Philippine Airlines boost capacity in a key west coast market; an African carrier begins service to Newark; New York JFK welcomes a new European airline; and a Mexican carrier drops a San Diego route, but adds a new one from SFO.

July 13 is the launch date for United Airlines’ fifth route to mainland China and its 14th transpacific route from San Francisco International. That’s the day when United begins new service from SFO to Hangzhou, the capital of China’s Zhejiang Province. The carrier will fly the route three days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Saturday) with a 787-9, departing SFO at 2:15 p.m. for the almost 13-hour flight. Hangzhou is about 102 miles southwest of Shanghai. Regarding Hangzhou, United says it is a city of nearly 9 million on China’s southeastern coast, is one of the country’s Seven Ancient Capitals and today boasts a vibrant and entrepreneurial business climate. Known as the “Silicon Valley in Paradise,” Hangzhou has a growing reputation for innovation in technology and e-commerce, and is an important manufacturing and logistics base for coastal China.

Ethiopian is using a 787 on its new Newark route. (Image: Ethiopian Airlines)

Ethiopian is using a 787 on its new Newark route. (Image: Ethiopian Airlines)

Ethiopian Airlines last week revived the Newark route that it abandoned in 2004. It is now flying between Newark and Addis Ababa via a stop in Lome, Togo, three times a week, using a 787 Dreamliner. Connections are available from both Lome and Addis Ababa to other African destinations. Ethiopian also flies to Addis Ababa from Washington D.C. and from Los Angeles via Dublin. It plans to add a fourth weekly flight on the Newark route starting August 5.

Need to get to Belgrade? Air Serbia has kicked off the first direct service between Belgrade and the U.S. in 24 years, with a new route to New York JFK. Air Serbia is a reincarnation of the former Yugoslavian carrier JAT, aided by a big capital injection from Etihad Airways, which owns 49 percent of Air Serbia.  The Serbian airline is flying to JFK-Belgrade route five times a week, using a two-class A330-200 leased from India’s Jet Airways – which is also partially owned by Etihad.

Turkish Airlines is using a 777-300ER on its new Atlanta route. (Image: Boeing

Turkish Airlines is using a 777-300ER on its expanded LA service. (Image: Boeing

A couple of airlines are adding more flights to their Los Angeles schedules. Turkish Airlines, citing “growing consumer demand,” this week boosted frequencies on its LAX-Istanbul route from seven a week to 11, adding second eastbound flights on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The carrier will use 777-300ERs, representing a total capacity increase of 64 percent.  Meanwhile, Airlineroute.net reports that Philippine Airlines plans to upgrade its Los Angeles-Manila schedule from the current four flights a week to daily service starting December 6, with a 777-300ER replacing the Airbus A340-300 that the airline currently uses on the LAX route.

Mexico’s low-cost carrier Volaris is ending its service to San Diego from Mexico City after a six-year run. It’s currently down to four A320 flights a week on the route, and will drop that to two a week on August 18, before eliminating the route August 28. On July 1, Volaris launched nonstops between SFO and Guadalajara.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: How to get the BEST summer fare deals | One airline fee fading fast | Trip Report: Aer Lingus Economy Class | 5 top jobs for frequent travelers  | First class phase out coming soon

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Havana, Cuba airline tickets from US cities coming soon

Havana

Refrigerator magnets from a recent trip to Havana (Chris McGinnis)

Last month, the U.S. Transportation Department awarded U.S. carriers new route rights to serve secondary cities in Cuba, but not the biggest plum – Havana.

This week, DOT finally acted on all the requests it had from U.S. airlines to operate regular scheduled service to the Cuban capital, awarding Havana routes to eight airlines for flights that are likely to start sometime this fall.

The preliminary route awards are still subject a public comment period before being finalized. Tickets are not yet on sale, but should be later this summer. Right now, round trip charter flights from Miami to Havana are running at about $450 round trip, a price that we expect to drop significantly when competition cranks up in the fall.

The only Havana route from the West Coast went to Alaska Airlines, which will operate daily non-stops from Los Angeles using a two-class, 181-passenger 737-900ER. The flight will originate in Seattle, offering same-plane service top Cuba. Alaska said it expects to begin the service by year’s end. From LAX or SFO, current fares to Havana via Mexico City (Aeromexico) or Panama City (Copa) are about $625 round trip.

Recent: Curious about Cuba? Don’t miss this!

Cuba cars

Vintage cars serve as tourist taxis in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolucion (Chris McGinnis)

Most of the new routes will be from the eastern U.S., especially Florida. The exception to that rule was DOT’s selection of United to operate Houston-Havana flights, but only once a week. United will also operate daily non-stops to Havana from its Newark hub.

American Airlines will offer four daily roundtrips to Havana from Miami and one a day from Charlotte; Delta’s new route authority includes daily roundtrips to Havana from Atlanta, New York JFK and Miami; JetBlue won rights for two daily flights from Ft. Lauderdale and one each from New York JFK and Orlando; Southwest’s new route authority provides for two daily roundtrips from Ft. Lauderdale and one from Tampa; Spirit Airlines got two daily Ft. Lauderdale-Havana flights; and Frontier will be allowed a single daily flight from Miami to Havana.

Don’t miss: Cruising into Cuba: It’s complicated!

Havana nonstops

Nonstops to Havana from US cities announced today (Image: Great Circle Mapper)

Technically, the U.S. still does not allow for simple tourist travel to Cuba; Americans who go there must fall into one of 12 categories approved by the government, including things like journalistic activity, professional research and meetings, educational activities and so on. Here’s a link to the Treasury Department’s rules for travel to Cuba.

Have you been to Cuba yet? Will you go in the near future? Why or why not? Please leave your comments below!

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: How to get the BEST summer fare deals | One airline fee fading fast | Trip Report: Aer Lingus Economy Class | 5 top jobs for frequent travelers  | First class phase out coming soon

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Routes: Alaska, American, JetBlue, Frontier, Allegiant

Alaska Airlines 737 New Livery

Alaska Airlines will add a new trancon route. (Image: Alaska Air)

In domestic route developments, Alaska Airlines will add a new transcontinental route as well as service to another California city; American plans to trim capacity for its Northeast Corridor shuttle service; JetBlue sets a starting date for more transcontinental service with Mint-equipped aircraft; Frontier adds a pair of routes from Las Vegas; and Allegiant enters new markets from Newark and Oakland.

Alaska Airlines has scheduled a March 16 start for new daily non-stop 737 service linking Portland, Oregon with Orlando – the only non-stops between those two cities. Meanwhile, Alaska also said it will add new service effective April 13 between its Seattle hub and San Luis Obispo, California. That route will be flown for Alaska once a day by SkyWest using a 76-passenger E175 with first class, Preferred Pus and main cabin seating.

American Airlines plans to adjust capacity this fall on the Northeast Corridor shuttle service that it inherited from US Airways. Starting November 4, the carrier will reduce the number of daily shuttle flights between New York LaGuardia and Boston from 16 to 15, and will trim the schedule between LGA and Washington Reagan National from 16 to 13 daily roundtrips. In addition, American will begin to use Embraer 175s operated by Republic Airlines on five daily LGA-Boston flights and on eight LGA-Washington flights; the rest will continue to user larger E190s.

JetBlue will add more Mint flights on transcon routes this fall. (Image: JetBlue)

JetBlue is slowly expanding its premium cabin Mint service to more routes. (Image: JetBlue)

As JetBlue continues the gradual expansion of its Mint premium cabin service to more markets, it has reportedly set a date for the start of Mint flights on the Los Angeles-Ft. Lauderdale route. According to airlineroute.net, JetBlue will introduce Mint service on one of its two daily LAX-FLL flights on March 20, and will offer it on both flights by April 20. The carrier has expanded Mint from its JFK-LAX and JFK-San Francisco routes to San Francisco-Boston, with plans to add LAX-Boston this fall; next year, Mint should appear on select routes from Seattle, San Diego and Las Vegas as well.

Low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines is growing at Las Vegas McCarran, with plans to add new daily service from there to both Nashville and Tampa starting September 6. Using 150-seat A319s. And on October 30, Frontier will begin new daily flights between Colorado Springs and Orlando.

Another low-cost carrier, Allegiant, plans to launch the only non-stop service between Oakland and El Paso, Texas on October 6, offering two flights a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. Meanwhile, Allegiant also plans to move into United’s Newark hub in November after the airport opens up more takeoff and landing slots. Allegiant will fly from Newark to Cincinnati, Savannah (Georgia), Asheville (N.C.) and Knoxville.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: How to get the BEST summer fare deals | One airline fee fading fast | Trip Report: Aer Lingus Economy Class | 5 top jobs for frequent travelers  | First class phase out coming soon

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Routes: San Francisco, LAX, Houston, San Jose, New York, Washington, Chicago

United will use a 787 for a second daily SFO-London flight. (Image: United)

United will use a 787 for a second daily SFO-London flight. (Image: United)

In international route news, United will boost its London schedules from San Francisco and Los Angeles while cutting back from Houston; also, United this week launches its promised New Zealand service; Lufthansa kicks off its delayed San Jose inaugural; Brussels Airlines rolls out a premium economy class; Wow Air adds another U.S. gateway; and a Mexican low-cost carrier adds a Chicago route.

United Airlines announced plans to add a second daily San Francisco-London Heathrow flight to its schedule starting October 30. The new LHR flight (UA900/901) will depart San Francisco at 4:15 p.m., using a 219-passenger 787-8 with BusinessFirst, Economy Plus and regular economy seating. Also on October 30, United will trim its schedule from Houston Bush Intercontinental to London from three daily flights to two, although it will use larger 777-200s on the remaining IAH flights instead of the current 767-300s and 787s. Then next spring (effective April 5), the airline will lay on a second daily Los Angeles-LHR flight (UA60/61), using a 252-seat 787-9. That flight will leave LAX at 3:10 p.m.

Meanwhile, July 1 is the launch date for United’s newest transpacific route, from San Francisco to Auckland , New Zealand. The carrier will use a 787-8 to fly the route three days a week, then will expand capacity starting October 28 to daily frequencies that use a larger 787-9. United has slated a 10:45 p.m. departure time from SFO for the 13-hour, 10-minute (westbound) flight. United will operate the route as part of its Star Alliance partnership with Air New Zealand.

Lufthansa will use an A340-300 on its new San Jose-Frankfurt route. (Image: BriYYZ/Wikimedia Commons)

Lufthansa will use an A340-300 on its new San Jose-Frankfurt route. (Image: BriYYZ/Wikimedia Commons)

Another new Bay Area international route starting up this week is Lufthansa’s non-stop service from Frankfurt to San Jose. Originally planned to begin on April 29, it is now set for a July 1 launch.  Lufthansa will operate the route five days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday), using an Airbus A340-300 with business class, economy, and premium economy seating.  This plane, which is smaller than the A340-600 on SFO-Munich,  has 18 business class seats, 19 premium economy seats and 261 economy seats– no first class. Even though SeatGuru.com shows the seats on the A340-300 to be of the old “angled lie flat” variety, a Lufthansa spokesperson tells TravelSkills that the planes have been reconfigured with the carrier’s latest, greatest true lie-flat offering, like what you’ll find on its A380 and A340 flying from SFO. Currently, fares from both SFO and SJC to Frankfurt appear to be identical: about $5,200 round trip in business class, $2,700 in premium economy, and about $1,300 for economy. 

Brussels Airlines is adding premium economy seating to its U.S. A330 flights. (Image: Brussels Airlines)

Brussels Airlines is adding premium economy seating to its U.S. A330 flights. (Image: Brussels Airlines)

International premium economy seating continues to proliferate; the latest carrier to add that feature is Brussels Airlines, which is due to start offering it July 1 on the Airbus A330s that it flies to its U.S. gateways (New York JFK and Washington Dulles) from Brussels. The new seating option, located in the first four rows of the economy cabin, offers extra legroom and seats that recline more than twice as far as regular economy seats. It also provides enhanced in-flight services and amenities.  The carrier is offering the new seating for a surcharge of $139 one-way until September 15, when the price will rise to $169.

Elsewhere in the New York area, Icelandic low-cost carrier Wow Air – which recently started flying from San Francisco and Los Angeles — said it will add Newark Liberty International to its route map on November 25, offering daily flights to Reykjavik and connections to the U.K. and Europe. The airline will use A321s or A330s on the new route, depending on the season. One-way fares to Iceland will start at $99, with service to European capitals from as little as $149.

Mexico’s low-cost Volaris Airlines has kicked off a new route linking Chicago O’Hare with Monterrey, Mexico. The carrier will operate the service twice a week (Mondays and Fridays), using a 174-passenger Airbus A320.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: How to get the BEST summer fare deals | One airline fee fading fast | Trip Report: Aer Lingus Economy Class | 5 top jobs for frequent travelers  | First class phase out coming soon

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Routes: San Francisco, Portland, Atlanta, Houston, Washington D.C. + more

United this week kicks off San Francisco-Singapore non-stops. (Image: Grand Hyatt Singapore)

United this week kicks off San Francisco-Singapore non-stops. (Image: Grand Hyatt Singapore)

There’s a lot of news about international air routes this week. United is due to start a record-breaking transpacific service on June 1, and will increase frequencies on another long-haul route out of San Francisco; United is also launching seasonal Europe routes from the East Coast and dropping its only service to Africa. Meanwhile, Delta will revise its partnership arrangement with Virgin Atlantic in 2017, and will add a new transatlantic route from Portland; Atlanta welcomes new service from a Middle Eastern carrier; Swiss delays the deployment of its fancy new wide-body to San Francisco; and low-cost carrier Norwegian adds a Las Vegas route.

On June 1, United is due to begin the longest scheduled route by any U.S. carrier – an 8,446-mile flight from San Francisco to Singapore. United will use a 787-9 Dreamliner for the new service, which will save travelers an estimated four hours in each direction compared with existing one-stop or connecting flights. The schedule calls for an 11:25 p.m. departure from SFO for the 15.5-hour westbound flight (16.3 hours eastbound). In another long-haul development from San Francisco, United said that starting October 8, it will increase frequencies on its SFO-Tel Aviv route from three a week to daily service; United also uses a 787-9 on that route.

In other international route news at United, the carrier is blaming a slump in global energy markets as well as government currency restrictions for its decision to terminate its daily flights from Houston Bush Intercontinental to Lagos, Nigeria after June 30. Meanwhile, United has started seasonal summer flights to Europe from the East Coast, offering daily service from its Newark hub to Athens (using a 767-300), and daily flights from Washington Dulles to Barcelona (with a 767-400) and to Lisbon (using a 757-200).

Portland International will get its first London non-stops from Delta next spring. (Image: Jim Glab)

Portland International will get its first London non-stops from Delta next spring. (Image: Jim Glab)

Delta just announced a new transatlantic route for 2017, with plans to start operating seasonal service between Portland and London Heathrow effective May 26-October 29. It will fly the route four days a week with a 767-300ER. Delta said it will also revise its joint scheduling arrangement with partner Virgin Atlantic next year. The existing Delta flight from Seattle to London will switch over to a Virgin Atlantic 787-9 starting March 26, increasing capacity by 50 seats a day; on the same date, Virgin’s single daily fight from Detroit to London will be replaced by a second daily Delta flight. And on May 25, Virgin will take over Delta’s New York JFK-Manchester route, with Delta picking it up again the following winter; and Delta will take over one of Virgin’s two daily Atlanta-London frequencies, giving Delta a total of three a day and Virgin just one.

In other news, Delta last week kicked off new year-round service from New York JFK to Edinburgh, Scotland. Delta started the route with a 757-200ER, but will switch to a larger 767-300ER for flights from June 8 to September 5.

Qatar Airways will use an A380 super-jumbo for its Atlanta inaugural flight.(Image: Qatar Airways)

Qatar Airways will use an A380 super-jumbo for its Atlanta inaugural flight.(Image: Qatar Airways)

 As we’ve mentioned before, June 1 is the launch date for new Qatar Airways service from Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson to Doha, Qatar – a move that has seriously irritated Delta. Although Qatar’s plans call for a 777 to fly the route on a regular basis, it reportedly intends to use an Airbus A380 for the maiden voyage. So far, Qatar is still a member of the Oneworld global alliance, which should make for easy connections at ATL with American Airlines flights.

According to Routesonline.com, which tracks airlines’ official schedule filings, Swiss has decided to push back the deployment of its fancy new 777-300ER on the San Francisco-Zurich route. Instead of bringing the new aircraft into SFO service on August 30 as previously planned, the aircraft won’t start flying the route until February 16, 2017. Meanwhile, on October 30, Swiss will put a 777-300ER into service between Zurich and Miami on four of its 14 weekly flights in that market, replacing an A330-300.

Low-cost European carrier Norwegian plans to expand its presence at Las Vegas on October 31 when it begins new twice-weekly flights to London Gatwick, using a 787 and offering introductory one-way fares as low as $199 (plus add-ons, of course). Norwegian already flies from Las Vegas to Copenhagen and Stockholm, and plans to add LAS-Oslo flights in November.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: United’s newest, longest flight + Tipping Uber drivers + Qantas 747 Trip Report + Confusion over PreCheck policies + No-fee earlier flights

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Summer flight delays: What are the odds?

Your chances of a summer flight delay are much greater at some airports than others. (Image: Jim Glab)

Your chances of a summer flight delay are much greater at some airports than others. (Image: Jim Glab)

It’s bad enough that travelers have to wait in extra-long security checkpoint lines this summer. But there’s a good chance they’ll encounter flight delays as well – although the odds of that happening vary considerably from one airport to another.

The website MileCards.com examined government data on airlines’ on-time performance at the nation’s 50 busiest airports during the summer months over the years 2010-2015 and concluded that your flight is least likely to arrive on time if you fly into Newark or San Francisco this summer.

Those two airports had a summer on-time flight arrival rate of just 68.4 percent. By contrast, the on-time arrival rate for Honolulu – the number-one ranked airport – was 86.4 percent, followed by Salt Lake City at 86.2 percent and Seattle and 83.1 percent.

The study determined that June is the worst month for flight delays, with an overall on-time arrival rate of 75.4 percent during the six-year study period. (That’s even worse than January at 77.4 percent.) The best month for on-time flight operations was September, with an on-time rate of 83.9 percent.

According to MileCards.com, the problem at San Francisco is fog delays, while flights at Newark must contend with congestion and summer thunderstorms. Speaking of Newark, three of the five worst airports for summer delays were in the New York area: The on-time arrival rate over the six-year study period was 70.3 percent at LaGuardia and 73.4 percent at JFK. (The other airport in the top five worst for summer delays was Chicago O’Hare at 72.7 percent.)

Source: MileCards.com

Source: MileCards.com

Other sources of frustration for summer travelers are long waits to take off once you’ve boarded, and delays in getting to the arrival gate after the plane has landed.

MileCards.com said that four of the five airports with the longest waits to take off were in the northeast: New York JFK was the worst, with an average taxi-out time of 29.8 minutes, followed by LaGuardia (28.0 minutes), Philadelphia (23.5) and Newark (22.6). The fifth was Atlanta, with a wait time of 20.1 minutes.

On the other end of the trip, there were five airports that showed average taxi-in times to the gate that exceeded 10 minutes. They were Los Angeles (10.7 minutes), Chicago O’Hare (10.5), Dallas/Ft. Worth (10.5), Atlanta (10.0) and JFK (10.0).

MileCards.com created what it calls a “Misery Score” for each airport using a formula that combines all three of the above rankings. Newark won the title of “most miserable airport for summer travel” with a Misery Score of 95, followed by LGA, ORD and JFK, which each scored 94. The least miserable airports for summer travel, MileCards.com calculated, are San Jose and Portland, with Misery Scores of 11 and 12 respectively.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: United’s newest, longest flight + Tipping Uber drivers + Qantas 747 Trip Report + Confusion over PreCheck policies + No-fee earlier flights

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Airport ride news: Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Austin & New York

Ride-sharing pick-ups at the Phoenix airport should begin this summer. (Image: Phoenix Sky Harbor International)

Ride-sharing pick-ups at the Phoenix airport are set to begin June 18. (Image: Phoenix Sky Harbor International)

Travelers to Phoenix Sky Harbor will be able to summon Uber and Lyft rides starting next month; an Uber/Lyft competitor expands to five Texas airports; and specialty rental firm Silvercar adds an east coast airport location.

The Phoenix city council has voted in favor of a proposal to let Uber, Lyft and other app-based ride-hailing companies start picking up passengers at Sky Harbor International Airport effective June 18. Uber and Lyft have been negotiating with city officials for almost a year before the approval finally came through. The city initially demanded that drivers undergo a fingerprint check, but that requirement was not included in the final agreement. The agreement imposes a special fee for airport pick-ups of $3.25 for vehicles that carry up to eight passengers.

Another app-based ride-hailing service, Wingz, has expanded into the Texas market, adding new service at Dallas/Ft. Worth, Dallas Love Field, Houston Intercontinental, Houston Hobby and Austin. The difference between Wingz and its two larger competitors is that Wingz does not use surge pricing, so that its rates might be higher than Uber and Lyft’s base rates, but lower than their prices during periods of peak demand. A Wingz executive told the Dallas Business Journal that a three-passenger ride from DFW to downtown Dallas would cost about $42. Wiingz also allows repeat customers to request a specific driver if they want to. Wingz also operates at five Los Angeles-area airports and three in the Bay Area, as well as San Diego, Seattle, Sacramento, Phoenix and Denver.

Note: In Austin, Uber & Lyft have left the house

(Photo: Silvercar)

(Photo: Silvercar)

Silvercar, a boutique car rental firm that has a fleet of nothing but fully-loaded silver Audi A4s, has opened a location serving Newark Liberty International Airport. Silvercar uses a mobile app for reservations and rental transactions. At EWR, the company is basing its cars at the WallyPark location. It has also opened a rental outlet in Brooklyn, at the McCarren Hotel & Pool in the Williamsburg district. Silvercar already has a Manhattan outlet, as well as airport locations in Austin, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas. Denver, Miami, Phoenix, Ft. Lauderdale and Chicago.

Have you used Silvercar? What did you think? 

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: United’s newest, longest flight + Tipping Uber drivers + Qantas 747 Trip Report + Confusion over PreCheck policies + No-fee earlier flights

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Ipad invasion at airports

OTG Philadelphia

Better food, design and more iPads coming to PHL’s Terminal B and elsewhere (Image: OTG)

I remember when Delta dolled up its food and beverage offerings at New York LaGuardia, adding a host of nice new restaurants and bars. In addition to the good grub was a new addition: hundreds of Apple iPads at nearly every table or bar in the airport to be used to order food or browse the web. It was quite a spectacle. Delta expanded the high-tech offering when it took over US Airways gates there at LGA last year.

Now the invasion of the iPad is spreading to other key airports.

Have you been through United’s newly Terminal C at Newark? The iPads are ubiquitous, as is the plethora of new dining and drinking options popping up in restaurant spaces and new cafe-style options smack in the middle of corridors, taking over areas once occupied by moving sidewalks. (see below)

United is busy glitzing up facilities at Newark for the arrival of p.s. flights in October (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

United adding new dining options in Newark Airport corridors (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Healthier food, better shopping, and of course, more iPads, will soon pop up near United gates Houston Intercontinental, and near American gates at Philadelphia International’s Terminal B. The company behind all these improvements is OTG, an award-winning restaurateur with 250 restaurants in 11 airports under its belt.

In Houston, OTG will oversee all food, beverage and retail operations in United’s Terminal B South, Terminal C (including the new C North Concourse coming in 2017) and Terminal E. OTG says that it plans to install a whopping 8,000 (!) iPads throughout the airport, from which customers will find news and info and be able to order food and drink. At some outlets they will have the option of paying for it with MileagePlus points.

OTG Houston

Big, bright dining and iPad ordering coming to Houston IAH (Image: OTG)

At American’s gate areas at Philadelphia’s Terminal B, OTG will phase in a few temporary “pop up” dining options to offer a taste of what’s to come as it builds out the full experience over the next two years. OTG will also introduce iPads at gate areas where passengers can order food and drink to be delivered from nearby airport restaurants. When complete, passengers will be able to use more than 1,000 iPads located at restaurants, lounges or gate areas.  In addition, OTG says that it will install about 1,000 sorely needed power outlets in gate areas.

Ipads are cool, but some travelers may miss the human touch. Scott Mackenzie over at TravelCodex told TravelSkills: “I hate that I can’t do something simple, like order a beer, without using a tablet. Last time it took 20 minutes for a server to receive my order and then tell me it was unavailable.”

Have you used an iPad to order food or drink at the airport recently? What did you think? Please leave your comments below.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: United’s newest, longest flight + Tipping Uber drivers + Qantas 747 Trip Report + Confusion over PreCheck policies + No-fee earlier flights

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Routes: Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, Chicago, Newark, Honolulu, JFK

Delta has started new service from Raleigh-Durham to Paris. (Image: Jim Glab)

Delta has started new service from Raleigh-Durham to Paris. (Image: Jim Glab)

In the latest international route developments, Delta adds a European route from Raleigh-Durham; Turkish Airlines makes its Atlanta debut; Japan’s ANA will add a pair of U.S. routes  to Tokyo Haneda as American carriers wait for word on new Haneda slots, with Hawaiian Airlines the first winner; Air India plans new Newark service via London; and Air China boosts Newark frequencies.

It’s not really a big Delta hub, but Delta is the largest airline at Raleigh-Durham, so the carrier has started  new daily flights from RDU to Paris Charles de Gaulle. Delta is using a 164-seat 757-200ER on the new route to Paris, where customers can connect to 75 onward destinations thanks to Delta’s joint venture partners Air France, KM and Alitalia.

Turkish Airlines is using a 777-300ER on its new Atlanta route. (Image: Boeing

Turkish Airlines is using a 777-300ER on its new Atlanta route. (Image: Boeing)

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport rolled out the water cannon this week to welcome the first flight there from Turkish Airlines. The Turkish carrier will offer daily service on the Atlanta-Istanbul route with a 777-300ER. It’s the ninth U.S. gateway for Turkish Airlines, along with New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Miami, Boston and Washington Dulles. Delta was supposed to resume seasonal service this month between New York JFK and Istanbul, but it decided last month to suspend that service, citing security concerns.

Tokyo Haneda Airport is on the airline industry’s mind these days as the U.S. Department of Transportation is expected to announce any time now which U.S. carriers will get new daytime slots there. Since Haneda opened up to transpacific flights, U.S. carriers have been restricted to arrivals and departures late at night or very early in the morning, which made it difficult to attract passengers, even though Haneda is much closer to downtown Tokyo than Narita Airport.

My Instgram photo of the week! Do you follow me? Click on the pic! (Chris McGinnis)

Tokyo-bound tails at Honolulu International (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

But an amended agreement with Japan will open up some daytime slots at Haneda starting October 30, and the big U.S. carriers have been clamoring for those much-desired rights. In its first decision on Haneda, DOT granted Hawaiian Airlines rights to serve Haneda from Honolulu and Kona – but mostly because it was willing to accept an overnight slot. Hawaiian plans to fly the route four times a week from Honolulu and three from Kona, but the starting date hasn’t yet been set. And even though the new daytime slots haven’t yet been awarded, Delta and United have already started taking reservations for new schedules this fall on their Los Angeles-Haneda and San Francisco-Haneda routes respectively.

Meanwhile, Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) already won new daytime slots at Haneda, and said it will use them starting October 30 for daily flights from New York JFK and Chicago O’Hare. ANA also flies to Haneda from Los Angeles, Honolulu and Vancouver.

August 15 is the starting date for Air India service from Ahmedabad to Newark Liberty International, a route that it will fly three times a week with a 787-8. The new service will operate via a stop at London Heathrow. Also at Newark, Air China plans to increase frequencies from four a week to seven on its EWR-Beijing route from July 22 through August 24. It also serves New York JFK.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: United’s newest, longest flight + Tipping Uber drivers + Qantas 747 Trip Report + Confusion over PreCheck policies + No-fee earlier flights

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Uber/Lyft news: Newark, Twin Cities, Miami, Denver

Uber and Lyft rides will soon be legal in Miami -- including its airport. (Image: Marc Averette/Wikimedia Commons)

Uber and Lyft rides will soon be legal in Miami — including its airport. (Image: Marc Averette/Wikimedia Commons)

Ride-hailing is caught in a tangle of competing regulators at Newark Airport; airport pick-ups start at Minneapolis-St. Paul International; ride-sharing wins a big vote in Miami; and an Uber car races the new train to Denver International.

Ride-hailing firms have been going through tough negotiations with Newark’s city council to win the right to pick up passengers at Newark Liberty International Airport – at one point the city threatened to have police tow the cars of their drivers at EWR — and now a new agreement has been reached between Uber and the city. It would require Uber to pay Newark $3 million up front for airport access, plus $10 million over 10 years. Drivers would get a separate staging area at EWR but could not wait at the terminals. But there are two problems. First, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey claims it has control of who can operate at the airport, not the city, and said it might try to block the deal. And second, Newark’s Terminal A is actually inside the border of the city of Elizabeth, N.J., and the city council there is considering an ordinance that would ban ride-sharing firms from picking up passengers at that terminal.

Despite heavy opposition from local taxi companies, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has started allowing UberX drivers to pick up passengers at the airport. The deal imposes a $6 pick-up fee on drivers. Passengers who summon an UberX car can meet up with it at a designated area in the airport’s Ground Transportation Center. The higher-priced Uber Black cars had already been operating at MSP.

In Florida, Miami Dade County Commissioners have passed an ordinance that will allow Uber and Lyft to operate legally in the county – including Miami International Airport – starting in 10 days. In fact, ride-hailing cars have been operating there for many months without official approval, with drivers sometimes asking riders to sit in the front seat to avoid suspicion. But in the process, they racked up some $4 million in fines, with enforcement especially tough at the airport. Uber and Lyft drivers can only be at the airport if they are summoned by a rider; they can’t hang out there waiting for a fare. The new rules also allow licensed taxis to charge less than their posted rates in order to compete.

In Denver, a new airport train started operating last month between Union Station downtown and Denver International Airport. So a local TV station decided to run a test comparing an Uber ride to DEN with a trip on the new A Line train. Results: The train, which makes six intermediate stops between downtown and the airport, took 37 minutes – about what its schedule calls for. An Uber driver made the trip from Union Station in 26 minutes. So Uber won on travel time by 11 minutes. But the cost? A ticket on the train goes for $9; the Uber ride was just under $44.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: United’s newest, longest flight + Tipping Uber drivers + Qantas 747 Trip Report + Confusion over PreCheck policies + No-fee earlier flights

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Routes: AA, Alaska, United, Delta, Frontier, OneJet, JetSmarter

Alaska Airlines and American are launching a big code-sharing expansion. (Image: Jim Glab)

Alaska Airlines and American are launching a big code-sharing expansion. (Image: Jim Glab)

In domestic route news, American and Alaska expand code-sharing, and AA adds a Washington D.C. route; United sets a pair of new San Francisco routes and seasonal service out of Newark; Delta ends a year-round Alaska option; Frontier starts a big expansion at Atlanta and Chicago; a small carrier begins two new Pittsburgh routes; and a private jet charter service begins Atlanta-area operations.

With Delta keeping the pressure on Alaska Airlines at the latter’s Seattle hub, Alaska and American Airlines are planning a significant expansion of their code-sharing partnership. Effective April 28, American will put its AA code on Alaska flights from Seattle to Atlanta, Charleston (S.C.), Nashville, New York JFK, Raleigh, Sun Valley and Washington Reagan National, as well as Alaska flights from Los Angeles to Baltimore/Washington, Monterey, Salt Lake City and Washington Reagan National. Then on May 15, Alaska’s code will show up on 14 AA routes out of Charlotte, nine out of Chicago O’Hare, 27 out of Dallas/Ft. Worth, and scores of additional AA routes out of Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington Reagan National. In other developments, American plans a July 5 start for new daily service between Washington Reagan National and Lansing, Michigan, using a two-class, 76-seat American Eagle regional jet.

On September 8, United Airlines plans to add a new spoke from its San Francisco hub by launching daily service to Omaha, Nebraska with a 76-seat Embraer E175. United already flies to Omaha from its Denver, Chicago, Houston and Newark hubs. In another SFO schedule enhancement, United will operate seasonal daily service to Aspen, Colorado from June 9 through August 15. Meanwhile, United also plans to add seasonal service from its Newark hub to Bangor, Maine from July 1 through October 29 using a 50-seat regional jet.

Turkish Airlines inaugural flight with San Francisco mural arrives at SFO (Chris McGinnis)

Turkish Airlines landing at San Francisco International Airport (Chris McGinnis)

Delta has suspended its seasonal New York – Istanbul flights due to security concerns, weak bookings and cancellations. However, Turkish Airlines’ daily ATL-Istanbul flights are set to begin on May 16. Last fall, Delta decided to operate its Seattle-Juneau, Alaska route on a year-round basis, but now the airline has changed its mind. Delta now plans to end SEA-Juneau flights on August 31, with a resumption of seasonal service in 2017.

Low-cost Frontier Airlines has kicked off a big wave of new routes. At Atlanta, Frontier this month started flying to Houston, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Raleigh-Durham, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, St. Louis and Memphis, and resumed seasonal service to Austin, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Indianapolis and Trenton. At Chicago O’Hare, Frontier started flying to Charlotte, Kansas City, Nashville, Portland, St. Augustine (Fla.), Seattle and Minneapolis-St. Paul, and revived seasonal flights to Austin, Philadelphia, Washington Dulles, Raleigh-Durham and Trenton. Frontier also added new service from Cleveland to Portland (Ore.), Los Angeles, San Francisco and Philadelphia. Many of the new flights operate just a few days a week.

JetSmarter

A new private jet option for Atlanta’s northside (Image: JetSmarter)

The private jet company JetSmarter plans to begin Atlanta-area operations on May 3, offering twice-weekly flights to and from Westchester County, N.Y. and weekly roundtrips to Ft. Lauderdale. The flights operate out of DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK), using Falcon 2000 jets that seat up to 10 passengers. The company uses app-based reservations; it charges a $3,500 initiation fee and an annual membership fee of $9,675, but imposes no other cost for its flights.

OneJet, which specializes in serving small to medium-sized markets with small jets, will expand at Pittsburgh in June, launching twice-daily roundtrips to Hartford on June 8 and two daily roundtrips to Milwaukee beginning June 14. The company will also double its Pittsburgh-Indianapolis schedule from two flights a day to four as of June 14. OneJet promises its customers TSA PreCheck access, expedited boarding and high-speed in-fight Wi-Fi.

 

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: United’s newest, longest flight + Tipping Uber drivers + Qantas 747 Trip Report + Confusion over PreCheck policies + No-fee earlier flights

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Uber-Lyft updates for Newark, Boston, Seattle, New Orleans, Los Angeles

Uber at the airport in Newark still a question mark (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Uber at the airport in Newark still a question mark (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

In the latest news about Uber, Lyft and other ride sharing operators, the ongoing controversy about passenger pick-ups at Newark Airport is apparently not close to resolution; an entrepreneur in Boston plans to launch a whole new kind of ride-sharing for skittish customers; passenger pick-ups officially begin at two major airports; and L.A. taxi drivers are feeling the pain.

All eyes of ride-sharing drivers in northern New Jersey will be on the Newark City Council next week as it plans to vote on new fees for those operators – and the proposed fees have caused some outrage. The city’s plan is to assess a $500 annual fee on drivers to operate in Newark, plus an additional $1,000 fee for the right to pick up passengers at Newark Liberty International Airport and at Newark Penn Station. An Uber executive told NJ.com that if the fee ordinance is approved, Uber will simply stop operating in Newark. Earlier, Newark officials had threatened to tow the cars of ride-sharing drivers if they caught them at Newark Airport.

A former Uber driver in Boston, taking note of occasional news reports about crime and violence committed by or upon the service’s vehicle operators, plans to start a new ride-sharing service specifically for customers who might feel vulnerable or threatened. The new operation, called Chariot for Women, will use only female drivers and will restrict its customer base to women and children under 13. The only thing that might stand in its way, according to the Washington Post, is the question of whether it is legal to restrict service by age and/or gender.

Ride-sharing apps continue to make inroads at airports -- with some exceptions. (Image: Uber)

Ride-sharing apps continue to make inroads at airports — with some exceptions. (Image: Uber)

It’s official: UberX and Lyft have started picking up passengers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport under a one-year pilot program approved by the Port of Seattle. UberPool, Uber’s car-pooling service, has also started operating at Sea-Tac. A writer for GeekWire tried out the new option, and found only one problem: Difficulty locating the passenger pick-up area on the third floor of the parking garage. “I knew the pick-up area was staged on the third floor of the parking garage. But for anyone else arriving at the airport trying to find their Uber or Lyft driver, this is difficult to locate because there are no signs pointing people to the pickup area until you exit the terminal and enter the third floor of the parking garage,” the writer noted.

UberX last week started picking up arriving passengers at New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong International Airport, and Mayor Mitch Landrieu said in a Tweet that “more ride-sharing companies will follow.” Uber said the minimum cost of a ride between the airport and downtown is $33, subject to surge pricing increases, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Drivers will wait for their customers in a designated app-based ride services area on the upper level of the airport’s Ground Transportation Center.

Taxi drivers have long complained that ride-sharing apps are costing them business, and a report in the Los Angeles Times suggests they are right. It cites statistics from the city’s Department of Transportation showing that in 2012 – just before Uber and Lyft started operating in the city – taxis operated a total of 8.4 million trips. In 2015, that number dropped to 6 million. The story cited a cab company manager who said taxi drivers take-home pay has dropped from $800 per week a few years ago to $400-$500 now. And the number of licensed taxi drivers in the city has declined by 586 over the past three years, with some of them defecting to ride-sharing services.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: United’s newest, longest flight + Tipping Uber drivers + Qantas 747 Trip Report + Confusion over PreCheck policies + No-fee earlier flights

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Routes: San Jose, San Francisco, Atlanta, Newark, Philadelphia, Miami

It's all systems go for Air China's San Jose-Singapore service. (Image: Shangri-La Hotels)

It’s all systems go for Air China’s San Jose-Shanghai service. (Image: Shangri-La Hotels)

In international route developments, Air China gets a green light for its planned San Jose service; Virgin Atlantic goes all-787 at San Francisco; Atlanta loses a European route and Philadelphia gains one; Newark gets new service to Africa; American adds two markets from Philadelphia and drops two from Miami.

 The U.S. Government has given its approval for new Air China service between San Jose and Shanghai Pudong. The carrier plans to fly the route three days a week starting June 16 with a two-class, 237-seat Airbus A330-200. It will be San Jose’s second China route following Hainan Airlines’ inauguration of San Jose-Beijing service last year.

Virgin Atlantic's brand new Dreamliner touched down at ATL this week (Photo: Hartsfield-Jackson)

All Dreamliners all the time for Virgin Atlantic (Photo: Hartsfield-Jackson)

At San Francisco International, meanwhile, the route-watching site Airlineroute.net reports that Virgin Atlantic plans to transition to all-Dreamliner service later this year. It said that starting September 4, Virgin Atlantic will replace the aging A340-600 currently operating one of its two London flights (VS019/020) with a 787-9; the other flight already uses a Dreamliner.

Although the troubles at Brussels Airport are settling down, it looks like passenger demand from the U.S. took a big hit. Delta has resumed its New York JFK-Brussels flights, but said it has decided to suspend the resumption of Atlanta-Brussels service until March 2017. Meanwhile, United Airlines has ditched plans to add a second daily Newark-Brussels flight that had been due to begin on May 5, according to Airlineroute.net.

Newark will get a new route to Africa, however. Ethiopian Airlines reportedly plans to shift its three weekly New York flights from JFK Airport to Newark, starting July 3 and lasting at least through October. Ethiopian’s 787-8 flights to Addis Ababa operate via a stop in the West African capital of Lome, Togo.

Mmmm. Easier access to summer salads in Greece (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Mmmm. Easier access to summer salads in Greece (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

At its Philadelphia International hub, American Airlines plans a May 6 revival of seasonal flights to Athens. The daily service will use an A330-300 with 27 business class seats and 259 in economy. Also at PHL, American has resumed daily flights to Bermuda. At its Latin American hub in Miami, however, American reportedly plans to scale back service to Brazil by eliminating Miami-Recife and Miami-Salvador de Bahia flights effective May 3 and 4 respectively.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: United’s newest, longest flight + Tipping Uber drivers + Qantas 747 Trip Report + Confusion over PreCheck policies + No-fee earlier flights

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Uber, Lyft progress at Newark, Atlanta, Phoenix airports

The Maynard H. Jackson Jr. Terminal at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson. (Image: Atlanta Airport)

The Maynard H. Jackson Jr. Terminal at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson. (Image: Atlanta Airport)

Although they often meet with stiff resistance from local officials and taxi drivers, ride-sharing services Uber and Lyft continue to make slow but certain progress in their fight for the right to pick up passengers at major airports. Three of the latest battlegrounds are Newark, Atlanta and Phoenix.

We reported recently that Newark’s city prosecutor had threatened to have police start towing the vehicles of Uber and Lyft drivers this week if they were caught waiting for passengers at Newark Liberty International Airport. But now there’s apparently been a change of heart. According to local media, Newark public safety officials have now promised that the city will not start towing cars at the airport, and said they would meet with the city prosecutor and his staff in a bid to work things out. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey also said it would not act against the ride-sharing drivers. UPDATE: It seems the City of Newark has flip-flopped on this and the ban is back on according to NY Post (We will monitor status)

Airport officials at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson are said to be getting close to announcing a plan that would allow ride-sharing services to make passenger pick-ups legally at the nation’s busiest airport. Some drivers have reportedly been operating on the sly at ATL, taking the risk of getting a ticket, but a firm plan to legitimize ride-sharing pick-ups has been long overdue. According to Atlanta’s WSB-TV, airport officials are expected to “soon go public” with an approval plan. Noting that such a plan is half a year behind schedule due to rabid opposition from taxi drivers, the station quoted an airport spokesperson as saying that there is clear customer demand for ride-sharing, and that the airport is “fine-tuning” legislation to legalize pick-ups at ATL. The station said the airport is expected to designate pick-up spots for Uber and Lyft drivers, and noted that police have routinely been patrolling the cell phone waiting area, telling ride-share drivers to move out.

The Phoenix Aviation Advisory Board has passed a new policy for ground transportation at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport that would clear the way for UberX and Lyft to pick up arriving passengers. The measure still requires approval by the City Council, where it faces opposition from taxi services and other ground transportation providers (although it has public support from Arizona Governor Doug Ducey). The proposal would require drivers to pay a fee for each pick-up, but would ease up on some of the security requirements that officials had been demanding, like a fingerprint background check for drivers. According to the Arizona Republic, the ride-sharing services could start picking up arrivals at PHX by this summer.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about:  Should I tip my Uber driver? + Boeing 747 nearing its end? + Bargain hunters travel guide for 2016 + World’s best airline lounge? + Fares to Europe tumble 

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Airports: Uber at Newark, O’Hare gates, Atlanta pods, Miami app

Might consider the AirTran instead of Uber at Newark (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Might consider the AirTran instead of Uber at Newark (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

In airport news, Uber drivers at Newark get an official warning; Chicago O’Hare will finally start to see new aircraft gates being built; and Miami International releases an updated smartphone app that uses geo-location to assist passengers.

With all of United’s transcontinental p.s. flights from the West Coast now flying into Newark instead of New York JFK, arriving passengers might just instinctively tap their Uber app for an airport pickup upon landing. But that could be a problem in a couple of weeks. According to local media in New Jersey, the chief prosecutor for the city of Newark has sent a letter to Uber headquarters setting a February 22 deadline for Uber’s drivers to stop picking up passengers at Newark Airport. If they don’t, they could have their vehicles towed by police and face “civil and criminal penalties,” the letter said. The same warning applied to Uber drivers working at Newark’s Penn Station. (Although Newark, LaGuardia and JFK airports are all operated by the New York/New Jersey Port Authority, the rules governing ground transportation are set separately by Newark for Newark Airport and New York City for LaGuardia and JFK. The two New York airports do permit Uber pickups if the driver is licensed by the city.) Last month, Newark’s licensed taxi drivers staged a big anti-Uber protest at the airport.

Earlier this month, Chicago city officials announced plans for a huge infrastructure project at O’Hare Airport, including construction of a sixth runway, and some critics reiterated the complaints they made after the fifth runway was completed – namely, that building more runways to increase capacity isn’t going to do much good unless there are more places to park airplanes. But now the city is moving to start fixing the gate shortage, announcing a deal with American Airlines that will allow the carrier to build five new gates at O’Hare’s Terminal 3. The new gates, due to be finished by 2018, will be added to T3’s Concourse L. That will increase the total gate count for American at O’Hare’s Terminal 3 from 66 to 71. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, they represent the first significant construction of new gates at the airport since 1993.

It's a new thing at Atlanta's airport. Can you guess what it's for? (Image: Mamava)

It’s a new thing at Atlanta’s airport. Can you guess what it’s for? (Image: Mamava)

Nursing mothers never have it easy when they travel, but Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport is trying to give them a break. The airport has set up four “lactation pods” that mothers can use for nursing or breast milk pumping in privacy. The stations are located past the security checkpoints near Gates T-7, B-5, D-34 and F-5, and another one will soon be added pre-security in the airport’s Domestic Terminal. The pods, designed by a company called Mamava, can be locked form the inside and provide seating, a changing table, and an electrical outlet for pumps.  

Miami International Airport is going super high-tech with an upgraded version of its smartphone app, called MIA Airport Official 2.0. The airport has installed more than 500 Bluetooth data beacons so that app users can simply scan their boarding pass to get turn- by-turn directions to their departure gate or other locations, estimated walking times, real-time flight updates and shopping/dining suggestions, based on their personal profile. Users can also get weather information for anywhere in the world, and can use a “near me” feature that identifies the closest dining and shopping outlets. “Future enhancements will include notifications for special offers from the user’s preferred shops and restaurants at MIA, the ability to reserve parking, and estimated security checkpoint wait times,” a spokesman said. The app is available at the Google Play and Apple App stores. MIA has put up a Youtube video explaining the new app.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about:  Boeing 747 nearing its end? + “Targeted” for an upgrade? + 5 newest biz class hotels in New York + TSA PreCheck is exploding + Bargain hunters travel guide for 2016 

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Is Newark America’s worst airport?

Despite dramatic recent improvements to United's Concourse C Newark ranked last in passenger satisfaction among large airports. (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Despite dramatic recent improvements to United’s Concourse C, Newark ranked last in passenger satisfaction among large airports. (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

United Airlines is spending millions on improvements to its Terminal C hub at Newark Liberty International Airport, and for passengers, the work can’t be finished soon enough: A big new consumer survey finds Newark ranks at the bottom of all large U.S. airports in passenger satisfaction.

In fact, many U.S. airports have been spending lots of money on expansions and improvements in recent years, and it’s apparently having a generally positive  impact on travelers. A new J.D. Power survey of 21,000 North American travelers — its first poll on airport satisfaction since 2010 — found that on a 1,000-point scale, passengers’ overall satisfaction with large airports has gone up 54 points in the past five years, to 719, while the score for medium-sized facilities jumped 69 points, to 752.

That’s not to say there aren’t still big differences from one airport to another. The survey found that among large airports, Oregon‘s Portland International scored highest in satisfaction (791), just ahead of Tampa (776) and Las Vegas McCarran (759). By contrast, the lowest-scoring large airports were some of the nation’s busiest: Newark (646), LaGuardia (655), Los Angeles International (670) and Chicago O’Hare (680). Atlanta’s giant Hartsfield-Jackson ranked 8th with a 742 score, while San Francisco was in the middle of the pack at 721.

Related: Trip Report- United p.s. business class SFO-EWR 

Among medium-sized airports, Cleveland was at the bottom of the satisfaction list with a score of 698, just below Houston Hobby (700) and Hawaii’s Kahului (705). The highest-rated mid-sized facilities were Dallas Love Field and Southwest Florida International (both at 792), followed by Indianapolis and Raleigh-Durham (both at 789) and Jacksonville (787).

Oregon's Portland International scored first place as the nation's favorite large airport. (Image: Jim Glab)

Oregon’s Portland International scored first place as the nation’s favorite large airport. (Image: Jim Glab)

What makes a passenger decide that one airport is great while another is awful? J.D. Power found that key factors include retail concessions, security screening and gate areas. Airports that have added more new restaurants, bars, stores and other services “are realizing significant gains in overall customer satisfaction,” a J.D. Power official said.

The survey found an inverse correlation between passenger satisfaction levels and the amount of time it took them to go through check-in and security. And clean vs. messy gate areas can make a difference of almost 200 points in passengers’ satisfaction with the airport’s terminal facilities, J.D. Power said.

“Making sure travelers can hear flight announcements and having ample seating and outlets for charging electronics around a gate also lift satisfaction with terminal facilities by more than 130 index points,” the company said.

Another interesting finding: Older travelers tend to spend the most time in airports (an hour or more), but they spend a lot less money there ($7-$10) than Millennials and GenXers ($25 and $18 respectively), who are in airports on average for less than 50 minutes.

Check out the total listings below in the two charts from J.D. Power’s 2015 North American Airport Satisfaction Study.

Readers: What do you consider to be the country’s best and worst large and medium-sized airports? Do you agree with the J.D. Power findings? What can make or break your satisfaction with an airport? Post comments below.

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Briefs: New Virgin planes, Delta PJs, MileagePlus store, JetBlue’s app

Virgin America's new Airbus A321neos will hold 24 percent more passengers than its A320s. (Image: Airbus)_

Virgin America’s new Airbus A321neos will hold 24 percent more passengers than its A320s. (Image: Airbus)

Virgin America is ordering some new, larger aircraft; Delta is offering free pajama/lounge suits to some long-haul passengers; United MileagePlus members can shop with miles in a real store; and JetBlue has a new and improved version of its app.

With a fleet that has always relied on Airbus A319s and A320s, Virgin America announced it is moving on up to the next-generation Airbus A321neo. The carrier has initially ordered 10 of the next-generation planes for delivery starting in early 2017. Besides reducing fuel burn by 20 percent compared with the current Virgin fleet, the A321neos will be have a greater passenger capacity thanks to a longer fuselage. The Virgin configuration will hold 185 seats, about 24 percent more than its current A320 models.

Delta's new front cabin loungewear only comes in gray. (Image: Delta)

Delta’s new front cabin loungewear only comes in gray. (Image: Delta)

Delta has a new amenity for passengers traveling in the Delta One cabin on flights from Los Angeles to Sydney and Shanghai: In-flight sleepwear/loungewear, so you don’t have to get your nice clothes all wrinkled on those ultra-long trips. The unisex cotton loungewear only comes in gray, with a choice of two sizes: small/medium or large/extra large. They’re available now on the LAX-Sydney and LAX-Shanghai flights, and will be introduced in March 2016 on all Delta flights between the U.S. and China, including Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing.

United's Miles Store at Newark Terminal C.(Image: OTG)

United’s Miles Store at Newark Terminal C.(Image: OTG)

Don’t have time for holiday shopping? If you’re a United MileagePlus member, you can shop and pay for your purchases with miles at an actual retail store during this holiday season. United’s new Miles Shop, created by airport restaurant and retail specialist OTG, is in Terminal C at United’s Newark hub. A variety of gifts and electronics are on the shelves, including luggage, headphones, books, travel kits and power adapters, as well as kids’ toys and clothes. Items are prices from 600 to 50,000 miles. If you pay the old-fashioned way (i.e., cash or credit), you’ll earn 5 miles per dollar spent.

JetBlue said that its iPhone and Android apps have been improved: Customers can now use the apps to select and change seat assignments after check-in, buy ‘Even More Space’ seats and other ancillary services, cancel a check-in for rebooking, and use the phone’s camera to input credit card and passport information. JetBlue also released a new app for the iPad, designed for its larger screen. Besides accessing the usual customer service functions, iPad users can also use the new app to browse through destination guides for many of JetBlue’s 93 destinations.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about:  New Oakland-London route + Big hotel acquisition + Uber at Las Vegas McCarran + American’s international Premium Economy service + Healthy eating for travelers

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Trip Report: United p.s. business class SFO>EWR

Only a select few see behind the frosted glass of United's Global Services lounge (Chris McGinnis)

Only a select few see behind the frosted glass of United’s Global Services lounge (Chris McGinnis)

In October, United moved its transcontinental p.s. flight operations from JFK to its hub at Newark Liberty International.

Shortly after the switchover,  United invited TravelSkills on a quick turnaround trip (Thurs-Sat) to check out the new route, and experience what it’s like to fly p.s. BusinessFirst into Newark instead of our well-worn path to JFK.

Checking fares on United.com today (Dec 3, 2015) for trips this coming January– we found them as low as $1,050 round trip in BusinessFirst, and as low as $247 round trip in economy class. January is typically one of the slowest months of the year for travel so these low fares will not last.

C’mon and take a ride with us…

United's exclusive Global Service entrance in Terminal 3 (Chris McGinnis)

United’s exclusive Global Services entrance in Terminal 3 (Chris McGinnis)

Even though I’m Premier Gold with United, on this trip the airline set me up to travel as if I were Global Services, which meant access to the secret lounge behind the frosted glass next to SFO T3 Premier security lines, and a lot of personalized attention.

Inside the Global Services check in area (Chris McGinnis)

Inside the Global Services check in area (Chris McGinnis)

Global Services passengers enter TSA Security through a special door (center, above) that provides access to the front of the line– whether or not they have TSA PreCheck.

Big new views from TSA security checkpoint now that construction walls are down.

Big new views from SFO’s Terminal 3 TSA security checkpoint now that construction walls are down.

 

Big blue glass doors at the entry to United's brand new Club (Chris McGinnis)

Eye catching blue hued glass doors at the entry to United’s brand new Club (Chris McGinnis)

I arrived at the airport later than expected, so was unable to check in the new United Club at SFO… luckily I had seen it two days before for the grand opening.  You can see it, too, in this TravelSkills “first look” post.

My ticket to ride up front in United's p.s. BusinessFirst cabin (Chris McGinnis)

My ticket to ride up front in United’s p.s. BusinessFirst cabin (Chris McGinnis)

 

This p.s. flight departed from gate 81 in the old part of Terminal 3 (Chris McGinnis)

This p.s. flight departed from gate 81 in the old part of Terminal 3 (Chris McGinnis)

I was surprised that this p.s. flight departed out of the older Gate 81 at SFO- I thought United would consolidate its p.s. flights out of the much nicer new T3E boarding area. Nonetheless, there was a United agent at the gate waiting for me (due to my temporary GS status)- she thanked me for my business and made sure I got on board with no hassles. Since I was late for this flight, I was the last to board– which is why the gate area looks so deserted 🙂

United p.s. Boeing 757-200 at SFO (Chris McGinnis)

United uses only Boeing 757-200s on its p.s. flights from SFO and LAX to Newark. But there are two versions. The original United version has 28 BusinessFirst seats, the other (old international Continental 757) has just 16. See Seatguru for 24 seat p.s. version and 16 seat international version. The 28 seat version is equipped with Gogo inflight internet. The international version has United’s own Panasonic wi-fi, which is confusing.

Always a welcome sign when boarding (Chris McGinnis)

Always a welcome sign when boarding (Chris McGinnis)

On this United flight, I forgot to follow my own advice about buying a $16 Gogo day pass to redeem once I got on board. That mistake ended up costing me $40 to get wi-fi on this five hour flight. If you don’t know about the $16 pre-pay option, read this TravelSkills post, How to Save $$ on inflight wi-fi!

United B757-200 with 24 BusinessFirst seats- mine was 1E

United B757-200 with 24 BusinessFirst seats- mine was 1E

 

United p.s. BusinessFirst seats 1E & 1F (Chris McGinnis)

United p.s. BusinessFirst seats 1E & 1F (Chris McGinnis)

Business first seats are big, wide. comfortable and clean with oversize video screens, and lie-flat functionality. I really like this seat, and to me its only fault is the awkward over-the-shoulder position of the power outlets. For those who want to sleep, flight attendants provide duvets, big fluffy pillows and eye masks.

United breakfast menu for p.s. BusinessFirst cabin (Chris McGinnis)

United breakfast menu for p.s. BusinessFirst cabin (Chris McGinnis)

On the SFO>EWR flight, passengers chose from a printed menu. On the return EWR>SFO, no menus were provided.

Hot towel service before meals (Chris McGinnis)

Hot towel service before meals (Chris McGinnis)

 

Coffee, juice and mimosas on this early morning flight (Chris McGinnis)

Coffee, juice and mimosas on this early morning flight (Chris McGinnis)

 

Map showing trip progress from SFO to EWR (Chris McGinnis)

Map showing trip progress from SFO to EWR (Chris McGinnis)

One of the best things about United’s BusinessFirst is the huge inflight entertainment screen and a broad range of good movies and TV shows to watch. Its colorful moving map is my primary entertainment option. I can watch it for hours 🙂

The shiniest lav bowl ever on this United 757 (Chris McGinnis)

The shiniest lav bowl ever on this United 757 (Chris McGinnis)

In my experience, a quick trip to the lavatory always provides a glimpse into how an airline is run. In this case, I was greeted with the shiniest lav bowl I’ve ever seen. I asked a United PR contact if shiny lav bowls are a new “little thing” designed to surprise and delight customers. He was not sure. But I have to say I was pretty  impressed! Have you ever seen one this shiny? I could not help but snap a photo!

New Cowshed inflight potions and lotions (Chris McGinnis)

New Cowshed inflight potions and lotions in business first lavatories (Chris McGinnis)

 

The forward BusinessFirst cabin on United p.s. 757 (Chris McGinnis)

The forward BusinessFirst cabin on United p.s. 757 (Chris McGinnis)

 

Economy class on United p.s. 757 (Chris McGinnis)

Economy class on United p.s. 757 (Chris McGinnis)

 

SkyMall is back- now part of United Hemispheres magazine (Chris McGinnis)

SkyMall is back- now part of United Hemispheres magazine (Chris McGinnis)

Flipping through Hemispheres, I found that SkyMall is back! And now an insert at the back of the magazine.

SkyMall is a special section in the back of Hemisheres mag (Chris McGinnis)

SkyMall is a special section in the back of Hemisheres mag (Chris McGinnis)

 

Breakfast starters on United p.s. BusinessFirst (Chris McGinnis)

Breakfast starters on United p.s. BusinessFirst (Chris McGinnis)

Meal service started somewhere over Utah with fruit and yogurt. Not pictured are hot biscuits and jam or cinnamon rolls offered from a basket.

Rustic quiche and potatoes on United p.s. (Chris McGinnis)

Rustic quiche, sausage and potatoes on United p.s. (Chris McGinnis)

I chose the rustic quiche for my main. As with most United business class meals I’ve had recently, it was very good, well-portioned and satisfying.

Waffles with blueberries and whipped cream and ham on United p.s. SFO-EWR (Chris McGinnis)

Waffles with blueberries and whipped cream and ham on United p.s. SFO-EWR (Chris McGinnis)

My seatmate ordered the waffles and allowed me to take a photo of his plate. (I’m sure the guy thought I was a freak since I was taking photos of everything…everything… on this flight.)

Screenshot of Gogo sign on page (Chris McGinnis)

Screenshot of Gogo sign on page (Chris McGinnis)

As stated above, I forgot to pre-purchase a Gogo all day pass before we took off. What’s irritating here is that I was only provided with two pricing options. We were already two hours into the flight when I fired up the laptop, so I felt ripped off paying $40. I felt equally ripped when asked to pay $11 for a half hour. What happened to the option to buy just one hour? Who knows. In any case, the connection was nice and fast, so I can’t complain too much.

Hot cookies on United p.s. SFO EWR (Chris McGinnis)

Hot cookies on United p.s. SFO EWR (Chris McGinnis)

A nice final touch to a very easy flight: Hot chocolate chip cookies that filled the plane with an amazing aroma. But that’s too much sugar for me, so I had to pass. A savory end-of-flight snack option would be a nice addition.

United Global Services agents greet GS member as the get off the plane (Chris McGinnis)

United Global Services agents greet GS member as they get off the plane (Chris McGinnis)

Remember how I said I was set up as a Global Services member for this flight? When I got off the plane at Terminal C in Newark, this agent was there to greet me and ask if I needed any assistance with bags or transportation or directions. I asked her how to get to the AirTrain and connect to the train to Manhattan/Penn Station. She provided concise and easy directions, and I was on my way with carryon wheeled bag and briefcase in tow.

New dining and retail outlets under construction in EWR Terminal C (Chris McGinnis)

New dining and retail outlets under construction in EWR Terminal C (Chris McGinnis)

United’s Terminal C at Newark is still a big construction zone, with the center of many corridors walled off to accommodate work on new dining and retail options which will soon open in areas once inhabited by moving sidewalks. (Stay tuned to TravelSkills for Part 2 of this Trip Report– we’ll take an in depth look at United’s facilities at EWR Terminal C)

Newark's intra-terminal rail system is called AirTrain (Chris McGinnis)

Newark’s intra-terminal rail system is called AirTrain (Chris McGinnis)

The first step toward Manhattan is getting on the intra-terminal AirTrain for a slow ride over to the NJ Transit station to catch a train to Penn Station on 34th Street in Manhattan near Madison Square Garden. Train fare from Newark Airport to Penn Station is $12 each way, and you buy tickets from kiosks in the station.

Inside a car on Newark's AirTrain system (Chris McGinnis)

Inside a car on Newark’s AirTrain system (Chris McGinnis)

Thankfully, United’s Terminal C is the last airport stop as the AirTran makes its way to the car rental center and finally, the Newark International Airport station where you change trains for the trip to Manhattan. (It’s quite a long ride to the station if you arrive at United’s Terminal A.)

New Jersey Transit trains take passengers from Newark Airport to Penn Station in Manhattan (Chris McGinnis)

New Jersey Transit trains take passengers from Newark Airport to Penn Station in Manhattan (Chris McGinnis)

While the journey from EWR Terminal C to Penn Station required a lot of walking, stairs, turnstiles and elevators, it was relatively painless and seemed much faster than the traffic clogged arrivals I’ve experienced when taking Uber from JFK. (I’ve yet to try the train option from JFK.)

My flight from SFO arrived EWR at 4 p.m. on a rainy Thursday and I was in Manhattan’s Penn Station by 5 pm. That’s fast, considering it was rush hour…and raining. That rain messed with arrival at my final destination: the Parker Meridien hotel on 56th Street in midtown.

When came up out of the station at 34th Street, getting a cab in the rain was impossible, so it was back down to the subway, then a wait in line to buy a fare card, then another wait in line for a train during rush hour, a packed ride to 59th St, and then a wet walk to the hotel. So total time from plane door to hotel room door ended up at about two hours.

My return trip to EWR was much better. I got up on a sunny Saturday morning, grabbed an Uber to the airport, and made amazing time: From hotel curb on 56th Street to EWR United Club front door in just 35 minutes!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this Trip Report for a look at my ride from Manhattan to Newark, my United Club experience and the flight on United’s other version of p.s. on the EWR-SFO leg.

–Chris McGinnis

Disclosure: United covered the cost of Chris’s BusinessFirst flight to EWR; TravelSkills covered transfers, inflight wi-fi, hotels and meals on the two-day trip.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: World’s largest passenger plane + Get on earlier flight without paying fee + New overseas plan from Verizon + Avoid surge pricing

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Feds: United monopolizing Newark

United controls almost three-fourths of the takeoff/landing slots at Newark Liberty International Airport. (Image: new York/New Jersey Port Authority)

United controls almost three-fourths of the takeoff/landing slots at Newark Liberty International Airport. (Image: New York/New Jersey Port Authority)

This all sounds like Tony Soprano trying to defend his New Jersey turf from rival gangs and the prying eyes of federal investigators. Just sayin’….

United and Delta last summer announced plans to swap takeoff/landing slots in the New York market, with Delta giving up 24 slots at Newark Airport to United in exchange for 24 United slots at JFK Airport. But now the federal government’s competition watchdogs have stepped in to try to block the deal, claiming that United is building up too much market power at its Newark hub.

Those slots are enough for 12 flights a day. United last month gave up its JFK operations, moving its “p.s.” premium service Los Angeles and San Francisco flights to Newark, but even if it is successful, the Justice Department’s suit —  filed this week in a New Jersey federal court — is unlikely to affect that move.

Indeed, one of the arguments in DOJ’s complaint is that United already has more slots than it needs at Newark — up to 82 United slots a day go unused, the agency said in its complaint. DOJ suggested that United’s only reason for wanting more slots at Newark is to prevent competitors from getting their hands on them. (Newark Airport, LaGuardia and JFK are all slot-controlled, i.e. filled to capacity, so the only way airlines can gain access to them is by buying or trading for slots from an incumbent carrier.)

The government has established a daily limit of 1,233 slots at Newark, DOJ noted, and United currently controls 902 of them, or 73 percent — mostly acquired in its 2010 merger with Continental. The number two airline at Newark, American, only has 70, and Delta has just 64. So United has more unused slots at Newark than any other airline’s total number of slots.

To win Justice Department approval of its Continental merger, United agreed to give up 36 slots at Newark to Southwest — but then tried to buy them back in 2014. And earlier this year, United proposed a swap with American that would give United 18 slots at Newark. Both efforts were dropped when the Justice Department objected.

The proposed transaction with Delta would “substantially reduce the likelihood of entry or expansion by other airlines at Newark,” DOJ said in its complaint. “As the third largest slot holder at Newark, Delta is one of the most promising sources of slots for new entrants seeking to serve the airport…. In the hands of anyone other than United, these slots would result in more competition for United at Newark. By contrast, if the slots are acquired by United, such competition is foreclosed.”

The Justice Department’s action comes just a week after five smaller carriers — Virgin America, Spirit, Frontier, Alaska and Allegiant — sent a letter to the FAA and the Transportation Department complaining about their inability to add flights to the three New York-area airports because the slots there are mostly held by legacy carriers that refuse to give them up.

Does it feel like the major carriers exert too much control over the New York City market? Which airport do you prefer to use most? Why? Please leave your comments below. 

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NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: Trip Report: Singapore Airlines + 5 ways to save using Uber/Lyft  +Best/worst airports for Thanksgiving + Trans-Pac fare war? 

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Airlines want better access to New York

Smaller airlines are concerned that they can't gain access to New York's airports. (Image: Jim Glab)

Smaller airlines are concerned that they can’t gain access to New York’s airports. (Image: Jim Glab)

Although smaller, low-cost airlines in the U.S. have been growing much faster than their giant rivals, they have been mostly stymied in their desire to gain access to the nation’s biggest air travel market: New York. So they’re pushing for a change in the rules.

Five airlines — Virgin America, Spirit, Frontier, Alaska and Allegiant —sent a letter this week  to the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Department asking government officials to come up with a solution to the carriers’ relative lack of access to LaGuardia, JFK and Newark airports. All three airports are slot-constrained — i.e., they are operating at full capacity, so the only way for an airline to get a new slot pair is to buy it from an incumbent, or trade for one somewhere else.

Current rules that govern the allocation of takeoff and landing slots at the three airports expire in about a year, and the FAA earlier this year started a rulemaking proceeding that is considering how to amend them.

The five carriers argue that with the consolidation of the major airlines in recent years, the only way to promote competition and to keep fares at a reasonable level in the New York market is to allow smaller and/or low-fare airlines to fly there from more cities.

The proposed rule changes that the FAA is looking at include a requirement that an airline would have to use every allocated slot 80 percent of the time “for the same flight or series of flights throughout the scheduling season” if it wants to keep the slot. (Current usage rules don’t require airlines to account for each slot individually.)

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The FAA has also proposed various alternatives for creating a secondary market for the purchase, sale or exchange of slots at the New York airports, and would require the Transportation department to review each proposed transaction for its impact on competition.

The slot allocation procedures at New York airports are separate from the ongoing discussions at the New York-New Jersey Port Authority about whether to lift or amend the perimeter rule at LaGuardia, which limits flights out of that airport to no more than 1,500 miles. That’s why you can’t currently fly non-stop between LaGuardia and the West Coast — although that could change, especially with the huge redevelopment of LGA that’s coming.

Readers: Should New York airports allow more smaller carriers in? Would you fly them? 

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: Global Entry gets more global + New York’s lowest ranked hotels +Best/worst hotel programs for awards + More flat seats

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United p.s. + New routes + Global Entry + NYC hotels + Flat seats

Two cabins in business class for a total of 28 seats on United p.s. (Chris McGinnis)

Starting today, you’ll fly like this on United p.s. to/from Newark, not JFK (Chris McGinnis)

TravelSkills’ 10 most popular posts over the last week (descending order):

1 Shorter lines, please! Global Entry gets more global

2 Difficult times: United CEO drama continues

3 Airline updates: More Aer Lingus + JetBlue’s Caribbean outreach + AA drops a route + United shuffles fleet

4 Know your benefits: Best/worst hotel programs for rewardsWeekend Edition

5 Once you lie flat, you never go back 🙂  Hawaiian Airlines goes flat

6 This is rank: New York City’s rankest hotels

7 With flying colors: American Airlines passes big merger test

8 Sometimes we wonder: Is business travel worth it?

9 Growing apart: Delta-Alaska Airlines ‘partnership’ getting colder

10 Deal alert: British Airways 2-day biz class sale (expired)

Big switcheroo: United moves all p.s. flights to Newark this weekend. Here’s why we think it makes sense. But not everyone agrees with us 🙂 See comments. Funny that United is not making any noise about this move at all…we’d expect fanfare, but nope. Thoughts?

Can you guess where I grabbed this snap of a lovely airport day bed? Stay tuned!

Can you guess where I grabbed this snap of a lovely airport day bed? Stay tuned!

A few newsy nuggets from other sources that we missed on TravelSkills this week:

Avis adds a number of new 2016 models to its rental fleet.

Uber tests streaming live sports to backseat tablets in four cities.

American will explore a no-frills fare option next year.

Copa suspends status match program

Study finds U.S. cities with highest and lowest rental car rates.

Four Seasons moves to free unlimited wi-fi

Finally! ATL to get A380 gate at new International Concourse F

Love geography? You’ll enjoy this cool quiz… Senegal & Laos stumped me

United to move to single payment platform for all inflight wi-fi 

UberX, Lyft are STILL not operating at LAX. Why?

Would you fly Jet Purple Airwayz? (We hope not)

Double Marriott Rewards points when using MileagePlus credit card

Plans for a second Atlanta airport revealed: One airline interested

Which airlines are best/worst for paying claims for operational mishaps? 

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: Global Entry gets more global + New York’s lowest ranked hotels +Best/worst hotel programs for awards + More flat seats

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Delta to Paris + Lufthansa to Florida + Beijing-Newark + BA First class

Delta will add a new southeastern gateway for transatlantic service next year. (Image: Jim Glab)

Delta will add a new southeastern gateway for transatlantic service next year. (Image: Jim Glab)

In route news, Delta will begin a new non-hub route to Paris; Lufthansa starts flying to another U.S. gateway; Air China adds a U.S. destination; Norwegian will start a pair of routes to Ireland; and British Airways upgrades its San Diego route.

Delta has scheduled a May 12 start for new service linking North Carolina’s Research Triangle to Europe, with daily flights between Raleigh-Durham and Paris Charles de Gaulle. The airline will use a 164-seat 757-200ER. Meanwhile, Delta also said it will increase service effective May 26 between New York JFK and Tel Aviv, boosting frequencies from seven to 11 a week. The new flights will use a 777-200ER equipped with in-flight Wi-Fi. Delta said that Tel Aviv is its third-largest transatlantic market from New York. (American recently announced it will drop its only Tel Aviv route — from Philadelphia — in January.)

Lufthansa has started flying to its 18th U.S. destination with the inauguration of service between Tampa and Frankfurt. The airline will operate five weekly flights on the route until October 25, when it will reduce the number to four. Lufthansa is using a 298-seat A340-300 with business class, premium economy and regular economy seating. The aircraft is equipped with the carrier’s FlyNet broadband Internet service.

Although it already flies twice a day from New York JFK to Beijing, Air China will give tri-state area travelers the option of Newark departures starting October 26. The airline said it will operate the route four times a week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) with a three-class 777-300ER. On September 29, Air China is due to launch new non-stops between Montreal and Beijing.

European low-cost carrier Norwegian, which recently announced plans to start service next year from Boston to Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen, plans to add another BOS route as well. In May 2016, the carrier will kick off new service between Boston and Cork, Ireland, with flights operating four or five times a week using a 737-800. The route will be operated by the company’s Irish subsidiary, Norwegian Air International. And in 2017, Norwegian intends to begin service between Cork and New York.

On March 27 of next year, British Airways will upgrade the equipment on its San Diego-London Heathrow route from a 777-200 to a 777-300. The difference? The -300 can take 24 more passengers, and it has something the -200 lacks: a first class cabin. The 777-300 will offer 14 seats in first class, 56 in business, 44 in premium economy and 183 in regular economy.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: SFO could get world’s longest flight + PreCheck: Fewer free rides + Plight of the tall traveler + Photos: New United first class seat + 6 secrets for snagging low fares

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United’s improved app: Airport maps and margaritas

United is installing Bluetooth beacon technology at Newark. (Image: Newark Airport)

United is installing Bluetooth beacon technology at Newark. (Image: Newark Airport)

You know how you can use the map apps on your smartphone during a road trip not only to find your way, but to find what’s around you? United is taking that same functionality inside the airport with its latest app enhancement. And it’s also speeding up the flight rebooking process.

The airline said the latest iteration of its mobile app features interactive maps for travelers passing through its hub airports at Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco and Washington Dulles. More airports will be added in the months ahead. The improvements are initially available for iOS devices, with Android app enhancements coming soon.

United's new airport map app. (Image: United)

United’s new airport map app. (Image: United)

With the new searchable maps, travelers can look for the nearest airport vendors or services in a variety of categories, like restaurants, ATMs, and so on. Outside the airport terminal, the app will also help users find their way to car rental outlets and airport hotels.

“If customers have a boarding pass stored in the app, the map will automatically default to start navigation at that specific gate location,” United said. “Alternatively, the user can place a pin at his or her current location to indicate where he or she is in the airport. The app will guide customers to their desired destinations within the terminal, estimating walk times to make flight connections that much easier.”

At United’s Newark Liberty International hub — where the airline is undertaking a massive renovation of Terminal C, and where it plans to move its JFK-LAX and JFK-SFO p.s. transcon flights this fall — United is taking the concept to another level. There, it will install Bluetooth low-energy beacons so that the airport map can automatically pinpoint the user’s current location in the airport. Thus the user doesn’t have to pin it himself.

The ability of Bluetooth location-specific beacons to interact with smartphone apps is fast becoming the next big thing in allowing vendors to target messages to consumers in their immediate area.

So, for example, an airport Mexican restaurant that your are standing near could beam a message to you that it has two-for-one margaritas- something that you may not know unless you are using the app.

Meanwhile, United said the new improvements to its mobile app also include quicker options for rebooking flights when a traveler is faced with a cancellation or lengthy delay. “Through a few clicks in the app, customers may choose from a variety of flight options including alternate airports or, if a confirmed seat isn’t available on their preferred flights, add themselves to a standby list for an earlier flight,” a spokesman said.

In other developments, United said that by the end of next week, free personal device streaming entertainment options will be available on all of its 120 Wi-Fi equipped E170, E175 and CRJ700 two-cabin United Express regional jets. It is also adding more streaming content from HBO, including the full seasons of Game of Thrones, Entourage and True Detective, along with new music videos and concert performances from Vevo.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: Upgraded Hilton HHonors app + New perks for Starwood/AmEx cardholders + Alaska/AA airport lounge benefits + New international routes


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Delta to Shanghai + Air France upgrades + Air China adds Newark + AA aircraft changes

Delta is using a 777-200LR for its new LAX-Shanghai flights. (Image: Delta)

Delta is using a 777-200LR for its new LAX-Shanghai flights. (Image: Delta)

In international route news this week, Delta has kicked off a new transpacific route; Air France deploys its new 777s to a pair of U.S. destinations; Air China adds a new gateway on the East Coast; and American changes planes on two South American routes.

  • Delta this week started up its new service between Los Angeles and Shanghai, using a 291-seat 777-200LR for the daily non-stops. The airline will use Shanghai Pudong to capitalize on its partnerships with Chinese carriers — including SkyTeam allies China Eastern and China Southern — offering its transpacific customers connections beyond Shanghai to more than two dozen other cities in China.
First class on an update Air France B777- CLICK image for immersive view

First class on an updated Air France B777- CLICK image for immersive view

  • Los Angeles and Washington Dulles are the latest U.S. gateways to benefit from the newest upgrades to Air France’s transatlantic 777 fleet. Aircraft flying from those airports to Paris now feature the carrier’s new and improved business class cabin, as well as upgraded seating for economy and Premium Economy travelers. Air France said customer satisfaction scores on routes where the upgraded 777s were already offered (including New York) have gone up significantly. Check out this cool Google Maps immersive view of the cabin.
  • Air China — a member of United’s global Star Alliance — plans to begin new U.S. service to United’s Newark hub from Beijing starting October 26, according to airlineroute.net, which tracks service filings. The Chinese carrier will initially fly the route four times a week with a 777-300ER.
  • American Airlines continues to change aircraft on some key international routes. In the latest development, AA will reportedly change from three-class aircraft to two-class 777-200ERs between New York JFK-Rio de Janeiro effective August 18, and from JFK to Buenos Aires starting November 5.
Business class on a refurbed Air France B777 (Google Maps view)

Business class on a refurbed Air France B777 (Google Maps view)

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: Upgrades on United + TripAdvsior punked + Hotel resort fees okayed + 80,000 Marriott points + More!

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United shifts p.s. flights to Newark; leaves JFK

Two cabins in business class for a total of 28 seats

More of United’s big p.s. seats like these coming to its Newark hub (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

On October 25, United Airlines will depart JFK for good and move its popular p.s. transcontinental flights to its Newark-Liberty International Airport hub.

United will maintain a presence at La Guardia with 37 daily flights, but its primary NYC focus will now be at Newark.

The move makes sense and I wonder why it has taken this long to happen.

It makes sense for business travelers, especially those who work, live or stay at hotels in southern or western Manhattan, because the commute to and from Newark Airport is faster and easier than the long traffic-clogged slog from JFK. During peak traffic hours, the rail link between EWR and Manhattan is a solid alternative, but I would not classify it as “easy” especially if you have large bags.

Uber flat rates between EWR and Manhattan are $65 for UberX ($5 more than JFK rates), $100 for UberBLACK (same as JFK rates). Taxi fares range from $50 to $75.

Uber's flat rates

Uber’s flat rates at Newark and JFK

The move to Newark also makes sense for business class passengers connecting at United’s big Newark hub for flights to Europe– those flying p.s. business class will now get lie-flat comfort on the transcon portion of the journey, too.

The same goes for passengers departing Newark and connecting to United’s transpac flights from San Francisco International. All lie-flat, all the time.

Related: Raft of new service for premium fliers at SFO

In Newark and San Francisco, Global Services members get their own private check in lounges and dedicated security lines. Plus, those with tight connections can get rides across the tarmac in Mercedes SUVs.

Plus, with United’s p.s. 757’s flying in and out of Newark, there will be more Economy Plus seats and all flights will have Gogo wi-fi.

There are 7 rows of Economy Plus (36" pitch) and 12 rows of standard economy (31")

On United p.s. flights, there are  7 rows of Economy Plus (36″ pitch) and 12 rows of standard economy (31″) Photo: Chris McGinnis

United says it is “making a multi-million dollar investment to renovate United’s Terminal C lobby” at Newark to accommodate the new p.s. flights.

The airline will fly up to 17 daily round trips Newark-San Francisco and up to 15 daily round trips Newark-Los Angeles.

Related: Trip Report: JetBlue Mint Class SFO-JFK

United says it has entered into two separate transactions: Delta Air Lines plans to acquire United’s JFK slots, and United plans to acquire slots from Delta in Newark.

United says that it will pull several 757s off of transatlantic service at EWR and move them to p.s. flights and replace those with widebody 767 flights to and from Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin and Hamburg.

Downside: Newark’s miserable on time performance.

United

What do you think about United’s move from JFK to Newark? Are you more of less likely to fly United into Newark than JFK? Please leave your comments below! 

–Chris McGinnis

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: Android users book cheap hotels + Gogo prices rise 50 percent  + CLEAR goes cardless + Cool gasoline price heat map + More!

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Lots of new airline routes rolling out

A Hainan Airlines 787 like this one is coming to San Jose. (Image: Simon Auger/Flickr)

A Hainan Airlines 787 like this one is coming to San Jose. (Image: Simon Auger/Flickr)

In route news, both San Jose and Houston will get new transpacific routes in the next few weeks; JetBlue blows into Lake Tahoe; United kicks off a new U.K. service from Newark; and Orlando and New Orleans will see new Latin American routes.

  • China’s Hainan Airlines is set to launch its newest U.S. route on June 15 when it begins new 787 Dreamliner service between Beijing and San Jose. The airport is converting Gates 17/18 in Terminal B to accommodate the new international service.
  • JetBlue is adding summer and holiday season nonstops between New York JFK and Reno/Tahoe, the carrier’s 89th destination. Daily service will operate between June 18, 2015 and September 11, 2015, as well as between November 25, 2015 and January 4, 2016.
  • June 12 is the launch date for All Nippon Airways’ new route from Houston Bush Intercontinental to Tokyo Narita. ANA, a partner in the global Star Alliance with United — which has a hub at Houston — will use a 777-300ER for the daily flights.

Related: ANA’s Dreamliner ride to Tokyo!

  • The city of Newcastle in northeastern England has its first-ever non-stop air service to the U.S. following United’s launch of service this week between Newcastle and Newark. The seasonal service will operate five times a week until September. Newcastle is about five hours north of London on the road to Edinburgh.
  • Azul Brazilian Airlines plans to expand its route network to the U.S. on November 16, when it will start service between Orlando and Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The flights will operate five days a week through December 13, then increase to daily frequency.

NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: Airport smoking ban? + Trip Report: Aer Lingus + Terminal shuffle at Heathrow + More Uber at airports


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New look for Newark + United goes Android + New Delta look at LAX + Fee at Hilton/Marriott

Which country boasts this gorgeous passport design? See below

Which country boasts this gorgeous design on passport pages including the North Star, Moon and Northern Lights? Scroll to bottom for full story!

AIRLINES

Just in time for the busy holidays, United has (finally) extended its new onboard streaming service to Android users. Apple iPhone and iPad users (as well as those on any laptop)  have been able to give the new service a try since last spring.  To use it, you must first download the United app from the Google Play or Apple App store in order to watch a variety free TV shows and movies while in flight on nearly 200 United aircraft, including its entire Airbus A319, Airbus A320 and Boeing 747 fleets and its Boeing 777 flying between the mainland and Hawaii. For the full story on inflight streaming, see this recent TravelSkills post: BYOD Entertainment on Planes. Have you tried United’s inflight streaming product yet? How did that go for you? 

You are reading Part 2 of this week’s Catch Up in Travel News from TravelSkills. Here’s Part 1

AIRPORTS

NEW RAIL LINK UP & RUNNING.  BART’s new Oakland airport service got off to a wet start last Saturday — with crews forced to squeegee off rain that had blown in and flooded the airport station platform — but nothing could dampen the enthusiasm of its jubilant first-day riders, according to SFgate.com “It was great, it was wonderful, it was easy, quick and cheap,” said one rider. New automated trains will transport riders from BART’s Coliseum station to the new Oakland Airport station every five minutes during peak hours; the ride takes eight minutes. The ride from the Coliseum station to/from downtown SF takes about 25 minutes. BART fares between the new Oakland Airport station and downtown San Francisco are $10.05.  More… 

A rendering of the future look for United's Concourse C in Newark (Image: OTG)

A rendering of the future look for United’s Concourse C in Newark (Image: OTG)

Big-name chefs coming to EWR. United Airlines and development partner OTG Management have revealed more plans for the ongoing overhaul of Terminal C at Newark Liberty International Airport. Not only is the revamped facility bringing in new restaurants from a number of high-visibility chefs, but travelers will be able to use their MileagePlus miles to pay for food and drinks through some of the 6,000 iPads that will be deployed in the terminal’s restaurants, bars and gate areas. The headliner restaurant will be chef Alaine Ducasse’s Saison, a French bistro; others include a French country eatery from Alex Guarnaschelli; an Italian steakhouse from Mario Carbone, and a surf bar and sushi outlet from Josh Capon.

Taxi turmoil at SFO. Organized taxi drivers clogged up the roadways outside passenger terminals at San Francisco International one night last week to protest the airport’s recent decisions to let app-based ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft operate there. And members of the Taxi Workers Alliance are threatening to repeat the curbside chaos at SFO “again and again” unless the airport changes its policy. Meanwhile, a top Uber executive stirred up a mini-scandal after word leaked out that he had threatened to start digging up dirt on journalists who write negative stories about the company. Would negative publicity about Uber make you less likely to use their service? Put your comments below.

Extra Bonus! Here’s an easy way to top off your Chase Ultimate Rewards balance with 20,000 points!
Delta's Sky Prority lobby at LAX efore (above) and after (below)

Delta’s Sky Prority lobby at LAX efore (above) and after (below)

Lobby remake at LAX. Delta has finished the renovation of its Sky Priority lobby at Los Angeles International’s Terminal 5. Take a look at the before and after photos.

HOTELS

New fees coming at Hilton, Marriott. Effective January 1, Hilton and Marriott will impose a new standard cancellation fee — a single night’s room rate — on no-show guests unless they have cancelled their bookings at least the day before scheduled arrival. If individual hotels within the groups already have more restrictive cancellation policies, those will remain in effect. Not all chains are adopting a uniform policy; e.g., things are unchanged at Best Western, a spokesperson said, where cancellation policies vary by the rate booked and the individual hotel’s policy; policies are listed under each rate bookable on bw.com.

This is what Norway's passport pages look like in normal light. (Image: Neue)

This is what Norway’s passport pages look like in normal light. (Image: Neue)

This is what the pages of Norway’s new passport look like in normal light. The darker image above (scroll to top), which reveals the north star and northern lights, is only visible under UV light. Beautiful! (Full story from CNN here)

You are reading Part 2 of this week’s Catch Up in Travel News from TravelSkills. Here’s Part 1

-Jim Glab & Chris McGinnis

In Case You Missed It…

  • Olefactory stimulants: Chris lists his favorite travel smells. What are yours?
>>Take a peek at what you may have missed on TravelSkills.com this week! <<

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Extra Bonus! Here’s an easy way to top off your Chase Ultimate Rewards balance with 20,000 points!

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Taxi usage down 65% + Newark, LAX upgrades + Plush transfers at DEN + TSA wait times decline

United's upgraded terminal at Newark could soon look a lot like this one-- which is Delta's a La Guardia. (Photo: OTG)

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)

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)

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)

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.

Are you in the market for a new credit card? Looking for a fat points or mileage bonus to sweeten your balance? Then check out our BEST CREDIT CARDS FOR BUSINESS TRAVELERS and scoop up the deals!

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

CLICK>>Take a scroll thru what you may have missed on TravelSkills.com this week! <CLICK

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Catching up on Bay Area Travel News, March 17 2013

In this issue: New flights to Newark; free mags at Bay Area airports; new lie-flat seats to Japan; more car sharing at Bay Area Airports; take our POLL about car-sharing!; how to jump in a seat on a private jet.

Jersey in Noe Valley (Chris McGinnis)

Jersey in Noe Valley (Chris McGinnis)

25% OFF JERSEYLICIOUS FLIGHTS. To celebrate its new nonstops between SFO/LAX and Newark, New Jersey (EWR), Virgin America is offering a nice 25% discount on a future flight  to or from EWR. (somewhat restricted– no Fridays or Sundays). To get the discount, you must enter its “Fly Like a Boss” Facebook campaign. You can also win a chance to fly on the inaugural LAX-EWR run with Richard Branson and Mashable’s Peter Cashmore. Details here. Virgin says that since it announced the launch of EWR flights, fares on the EWR-West Coast routes have dropped by as much as 30 percent “and travelers now have an airline option that guarantees Wi-Fi, live TV and new aircraft on every flight.” Current roundtrip fares on the SFO-EWR run for mid-May flights are about $365. Virgin is also offering a double or triple points promo on flights between now and June 30, but you have to register to get the bonus.

FREE PREMIUM MAGS AT SFO/OAK/SJC. Here’s a helpful new app for TravelSkills Readers (BATs) who frequently find themselves stuck at the airport during delays, yearning for a good read, but hesitating to weigh down their bags with heavy magazines. The new Foli iPad app offers free access to premium magazine content (the stuff that’s normally behind a pay wall at glossies like Vogue, Car & Driver, GQ or Bon Appetit)—but it only works at the airport. Foli uses geolocation technology to limit access to Bay Area airports only—as well as a few coffee shops and hotels.  Download the Foli app for free at the iTunes store. It’s definitely worth a download because you never know when the fog will roll in.

Delta's flat bed seating on a 767. (Photo: Delta Air Lines)

Delta’s flat bed seating on its Boeing 767s. (Photo: Delta Air Lines)

MORE LIE-FLAT SEATS TO JAPAN. Starting April 1, Delta will offer business class seats that recline to a full 180 degree flat bed for sleeping on its Boeing 767-300ER flights between SFO and Tokyo Narita. That means that all business class seats on all airlines (United, ANA, Delta) on the heavily traveled SFO-NRT route are now flat.  Japan Airlines flies between SFO and the closer-to-downtown Tokyo Haneda Airport, but offers the less popular “angled lie flat” business class seat.  (Did you know that JAL’s SFO-Haneda flights are numbered 001 and 002?) Headed to Tokyo? Then be sure and check out my latest dispatch from the Land of the Rising Sun for BBC: Business Trip: Tokyo.

Are YOU signed up for BAT updates? If not, why not? Email in the upper right column, please! 

One of BMW's electric DriveNow cars in SF (Photo: DriveNow)

One of BMW’s electric DriveNow cars in SF (Photo: DriveNow)

DRIVING TO SFO. TravelSkills recently included mention of FlightCar’s car sharing service but we’ve heard from readers about other similar options. For example, DriveNow is a car sharing service that allows travelers to drive all-electric BMW cars from several locations in and around downtown San Francisco to parking lots near SFO or Oakland airports for less than the average cost of airport shuttle services and more than 50% cheaper than cab fares. The first 30 minutes costs $12 and then 32 cents for every additional minute. (There’s a $39 fee to join the car sharing service.) The service is part of BMW’s sustainable transportation initiative and currently only available in the Bay Area. A similar car sharing service for airport trips called Hubber is in the works, too, with locations at SFO and LAX expected to open this April.

DRIVING TO/FROM NYC AIRPORTS. Hertz on Demand has a similar service in New York City—members can drive a Hertz car between airports and several locations in Manhattan for less than half of what you’d pay a cab or car service…and with the Hertz plan, there is no membership fee. (Hertz on Demand has a location in downtown SF, but currently does not offer one-way drop offs at local airports.)

What do you think about new car-sharing options for airport transfers?

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A Gulfstream IV (Photo: Nima Pirzadeh)

A plush Gulfstream IV awaits private-jetsetters (Photo: Nima Pirzadeh)

PRIVATE JET SHARING, TOO. Since we are on the topic of sharing transportation, let’s take a look at a brand new service called Jumpseat, which has been billed as “the Airbnb for private jets.” Since many seats on private jets fly empty, Jumpseat is a new app that connects people looking to share those seats with those looking to fly, producing significant savings for both parties. Shopping is free and takes only a few clicks. Registered members can book a JumpSeat without paying a membership fee. For example, when I recently searched for flights from the Bay Area, I found several flights in March and April from San Jose to Santa Ana, CA available for $1000-$2,250 each way. In March, there’s a nice big Citation X jet flying from LA to Eagle (Vail), Colorado with two seats available at $5000 each. Eight seats on a March flight from New York to Aspen on a posh Hawker 4000 are going for $20,000 each. Flying private is not cheap, but there are few hassles—no airport security, for example, when using private jet terminals. Interested? Then check out this article about it on Forbes.com.

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Catching up on Bay Area Travel News (March 10 2013)

Virgin America wingtip over downtown San Francisco (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Virgin America wingtip over downtown San Francisco (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

AIRLINES (OVER) REACT TO VIRGIN MOVES? It’s interesting to see how other airlines have reacted to Virgin America’s recent, and relatively minor expansion plans.

>For example, a day after Virgin’s announcement of plans to serve the San Jose-Los Angeles LAX market, Delta announced it would jump on the route, too, but with regional jets versus mainline aircraft offered by Virgin and Southwest. Alaska serves the route with a turboprop.

>Within days of Virgin’s announcement of a single daily nonstop between SFO and Austin, United countered with the addition of TWO more nonstops on the route, for a total of six daily (beware, most of those 3-4 hour hauls are on United’s regional jets). JetBlue also jumped into the fray with one additional daily SFO-AUS flight with continuing service to Ft. Lauderdale.

>Anchorage? After Virgin announced a single daily flight, United came back by increasing its daily summer season flights from just one to two daily.

>Back in December, Virgin announced new nonstops (3x daily) to United’s fortress hub at Newark starting on April 2. Notice how United (over) reacted to that? It increased daily SFO-EWR nonstops to 16 each way (!) from the current seven per day starting June 6. (Hat tip to routesonline.com for staying on top of all these changes!)

VIRGIN CONTRACTING TOO. Despite new routes, Virgin, which is still struggling to get into the black, is trimming schedules to cities it already serves. Examples: Starting May 1, SFO-Cancun is reduced to once weekly; SFO-Ft Lauderdale reduced to once daily instead of twice; SFO-New York JFK down to four daily instead of five. Orlando down from daily to just 4x per week. Philly: once daily down from twice. Washington Dulles down to three daily from four.

NEW NONSTOP TO SHANGHAI. Currently, only United offers nonstops (on a B747) on the red-hot route between SFO and Shanghai. But China Eastern Airlines cranks up new daily nonstop service between SFO and Shanghai (PVG) on April 26 using an Airbus A330. Currently, it’s US website is down and its San Francisco office is just getting established, so stay tuned for more information as we get it. SFO-PVG Fares are already declining—coach is down to just $1100 round trip compared to about $2,200 prior to MU’s arrival. Business Class is now about $4,500 round trip. China Eastern recently joined the SkyTeam alliance. Last year it won “World’s most improved airline” from the SkyTrax World Airline Awards. Have you flown China Eastern? How was it?

TIPS FOR USING PHONES OVERSEAS. One of the most-viewed posts on TravelSkills over the last year was our primer on saving money when using smart phones overseas. CNN liked it, too, and interviewed BAT editor Chris McGinnis about it at SFO. Check it out here:

VIRGIN AMERICA, SINGAPORE RECIPROCATE. Starting this month, members of Virgin’s Elevate program can earn and burn their points when flying Singapore Airlines. Since Virgin’s program is revenue (points)-based…and Singapore’s is miles-based, it gets complicated. Here’s a helpful breakdown of the deal from The Wandering Aramean blog. To celebrate the launch of the partnership, Virgin America is offering the chance for one Elevate member to win two round-trip economy class tickets on Singapore Airlines to Hong Kong or Seoul.  You’ll earn 500 Elevate points just for entering the Win a Stylish Ride on Singapore Airlines contest on Virgin’s Facebook page.

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NICE WORK, UNITED. Did you catch this bittersweet tale about how United held a flight for a San Francisco man whose mother was dying in Texas? He made it to Lubbock just in time, thanks to the work of United crews.

NO HASSLE TRAVEL TRIFECTA ON KCBS. My post last week about how using the “no hassle travel trifecta” could alleviate worry about impending slowdowns at airport security and immigration lines due to the sequester received a ton of play locally. KCBS called BAT editor Chris McGinnis for a chat about the strategy. You can listen in here!

BRITISH AIRWAYS A380. British Airways is deploying its first big Airbus A380 to California on October 15. Alas, it’s going to LAX instead of SFO. But nonetheless, BA’s Executive VP Simon Talling-Smith reached out to TravelSkills with some interesting info:  When it comes to configuration, BA is putting all premium class seats (14 in first and 97 in business) at the front of the plane, on both the main and upper decks—this makes for a quieter flight, and faster boarding/deboarding. (Most other carriers have business class on the upper deck—front to back.) BA says that it knows that premium passengers don’t like to fly at the back of the plane, even if in a business class seat. BA’s move represents the first time an A380 will be deployed between the US and London. LAX is BA’s second largest market after NYC. Introductory roundtrip business class fares between LAX and London will be just $3,800 round trip. Premium economy is $1380; coach is $830. Currently, BA does not have plans to bring its A380 to SFO. Would you add an extra leg from SFO to LAX in order to jump on this big new bird?

BritishAirwaysA380SeatMap

 

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PLEASE, RECRUIT YOUR FRIENDS. If you like TravelSkills, would you please tell your friends and colleagues about it? The ONLY way we grow is via word of mouth from happy readers. Like every online publication, we need more eyeballs and appreciate your support.  Here’s something you can copy and paste into an email TODAY!

Have you ever heard about TravelSkills—TravelSkills– for frequent travelers? It’s a free local travel blog that I subscribe to. It’s full of helpful news and advice for frequent travelers who live in the Bay Area…just like us. For example, I first learned that PreCheck was coming to SFO, or that Virgin America was matching United Premier status from TravelSkills. I think it’s definitely something you could use. See “Subscribe” in the upper right margin of the blog, or just sign up right here. Thanks! ADD: *Your signature*

 

 


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Virgin America adds 20th city

Today Virgin America announced that it would begin nonstop service to Newark from both San Francisco International and and Los Angeles International on April 2.

Newark will be the carrier’s 20th destination. Introductory fares are running at about $150 each way, including taxes and fees. Virgin will operate three round trip flights per day from SFO and LAX. Flights from SFO will depart at 8 am, 3:15 pm and 9:15pm. Returns from Newark depart at 11:05 am, 2:05 pm and 9:05 pm.

Virgin says that the addition of Newark to its network means it will now serve eight of the top ten business markets from both SFO and LAX. Over the last year it seems that Virgin’s goal has been to blanket the “megalopolis” which extends from Washington DC to Boston with flights from the west coast– it now serves both Washington DC airports (Reagan and Dulles), Philadelphia, Newark, JFK and Boston.

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Given Virgin’s recently well publicized growing pains, I asked, “Why Newark?” since it already serves the NYC metro area with JFK flights. Plus, Philly is only a couple hours south by car.

Here’s how a spokesperson explained it to TravelSkills:

>”Newark is a high fare destination with very little competition on the long-haul routes from the West Coast that are Virgin America’s focus – that’s why we’ve persisted  for nearly five years in our efforts to serve Newark.”

>”Newark is also a massive market for business travelers.  For San Francisco business travelers, Newark is the second largest market behind New York’s JFK.  And from Los Angeles, Newark is just behind New York’s JFK and Washington DC and tied with Chicago’s O’Hare in terms of business travel demand.”

>”Our service will also be the only WiFi-enabled low-fare service from Newark to the largest airports on the West Coast.”

Currently, United offers seven round trips per day between SFO and EWR using a combination of A320, B757 and B737 aircraft. Looking at mid-January itineraries, its flights are priced at about $375 round trip today. United Mileage Plus members earn a fat 5,130 miles per round trip on this route.

So the big question here is: If you’ve been flying United to Newark, will you switch to Virgin America? Why or why not? Please leave your comments below! 

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Sponsor:  

For a limited period, San Francisco passengers will have the opportunity to experience spacious luxury onboard the world’s largest commercial aircraft, the Airbus A380 on flights to Asia.  Between December 28, 2012 and March 24, 2013, Singapore Airlines will pop into town with daily “Pop-Up” A380 flights between San Francisco and Singapore via Hong Kong.  Flip through this slideshow to see its famous Suites and the widest Business Class seats in the sky.

SQ1 departs SFO at 10:50 pm and arrives in Hong Kong at 5:50 am two days later. Flight time is about 13 hours to Hong Kong, and with another 3.5 hours to Singapore, you’ll have plenty of time to soak up the luxury and explore the 1000+ onboard entertainment options.  SQ2 arrives daily in SFO at 7:45 pm on the same day it departs from Singapore and Hong Kong.

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