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Articles for ‘Business Travel’ Category

New upgrade, club rules; Southwest adds service

Monday, November 16th, 2009

united-planeBy Joe Brancatelli

STAR SIGNS

United Upgrades Upgrades, US Airways Simplifies Club Membership: Continental Airlines joined the Star Alliance at the end of October, so fellow Star carrier United Airlines is bringing its Mileage Plus program in line with Continental’s OnePass plan.

Beginning in the second quarter next year, United will kill its 500-mile upgrade certificates. The new upgrade regimen is somewhat simple: unlimited domestic upgrades based on your elite status in Mileage Plus. Naturally, the top players, Global Services and 1K members, get first dibs.

(more…)

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Lufthansa adding Wi-Fi; hotel deals for businesses

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

(Photo by Hady Khandani/courtesy: Lufthansa)

(Photo by Hady Khandani/courtesy: Lufthansa)

By Joe Brancatelli

THE CONNECTED SKIES

Lufthansa Makes Another Run at In-Flight Internet: Lufthansa was almost alone in mourning the loss of Boeing’s Connexion in-flight Internet service, which ended in 2006 after $1 billion or more in losses. And it’s been searching for a replacement ever since. It may have finally found one.

The German carrier says it will begin using a new service from Panasonic in mid-2010. Unlike Aircell, which uses a ground-to-air system on many U.S. domestic flights, Panasonic uses a satellite-based service. It’s more expensive to install, maintain and use, but it’s the only way to do it over oceans and Lufthansa hopes to re-install what it calls FlyNet on the vast majority of its international fleet.

(more…)

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Free Wi-Fi for holiday travelers

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Wi-Fi will be free at 47 airports during the holiday season, thanks to Google. The search engine company is paying for the service at select airports through January 15. Get details.

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Posted in Business Travel, Flights, Freebies & Discounts, Gadgets & Gizmos, Travel News | No Comments »

Delta’s merge with Northwest; Continental moves to Star Alliance

Monday, October 19th, 2009

By Joe Brancatelli

BY THE NUMBERS: Delta’s “don’t ask don’t tell” policy on Northwest changes airplanestock11

Delta Airlines says that it’s on track to fully integrate Northwest Airlines by the end of the year–and that includes flying under one operating certificate, the key bit of government-issued authority. Generally speaking, the merger has gone smoothly enough, but it looks as if Delta has pooched one of the easiest parts of the integration. Effective with the “winter” schedule that begins on Oct. 24, Delta will rebrand Northwest’s operations with Delta’s DL code and new flight numbers. The changes have been loaded into reservation computers, but Delta hasn’t bothered to alert travelers yet. Not even by the cheapest, easiest method: an explanatory page on the Delta.com and/or NWA.com Web sites. For its part, Delta insists the code and numbering changes “will be a smooth process for customers who will receive notification of flight changes through the normal channels.” It doesn’t say what those normal channels are. (more…)

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Big changes afoot at some major American airports

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

By Joe Brancatelli

AIRPORT REPORT: What Would Eero Think?

The stunning Eero Saarinen terminal at Washington/Dulles Airport is a late 20th century masterpiece of architecture and design. But it’s always been a disaster as an airport terminal trying to keep up with the demands of modern-day air travel. Hence the constant retrofitting and work-arounds that have dominated the facility for the last 30 years.airplanestock11

The latest change: a new below-ground mezzanine level that was constructed to accommodate a 121,000-square-foot security checkpoint facility to process departing passengers. The checkpoints have 16 lanes on the east side, which is dominated by United Airlines and its commuter carriers. There are eight checkpoint lanes on the west side. If you enter Dulles on the ticketing/departure levels, you’ll now see escalators leading down to the checkpoint level. The new mezzanine is only part of the ongoing work at Dulles. A new fourth level below the mezzanine will house the AeroTrain system that will move passengers from Saarinen’s terminal to the remote concourses that were built in recent years. (more…)

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On the road: Travel fees rise, airlines improve comfort

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

DOLLAR WATCH: Surprise! Travel Fees Keep Rising

Frontier Airlines has been busy on the fee front. It has raised its first checked bag fee to $20 and its second checked bag fee to $30. It also lowered some of its ticket-change fees. The supposedly fee-free carrier, Southwest Airlines, has invented an optional new charge. For $10, you can get so-called Early Bird Check-In, which will get you a spot on the boarding line behind Business Select and A-List customers.business_travel

Fees on frequent-travel miles and points are rising as well. Effective December 21, National says it will charge renters 75 cents a day (up from the current 50 cents) if they choose to collect airline miles on their rentals. And American Express has raised the fee for converting Membership Rewards points into frequent flyer miles. The so-called “excise tax offset” charge is now .0006 per point with a maximum of $99 a transaction. That’s up from .0005 cents and $75.

United Airlines continues to find new ways to sell the perks most other carriers offer only to their elite flyers. The Premier Travel plan sells a package of extras–Economy Plus seats, priority line access, admittance to the Red Carpet Club–on a flight-by-flight basis. Prices start at $47 a flight.

GOOD NEWS: Some Roomier Seats in These Gloomier Times

It’s not all gloom and doom up there. At least on some routes, some carriers are ratcheting up the comfort: (more…)

Posted in Business Travel, Flights, On the Road, Orbitz Travel Insider | No Comments »

On the road: Airlines make major route map changes

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

By Joe Brancatelli

WEST COAST ROUTE MAP: A War for the Routes to Florida

  • Virgin America says that it will launch flights to Fort Lauderdale from both Los Angeles and San Francisco beginning on November 18.
  • JetBlue Airways promptly responded it would launch San Francisco-Fort Lauderdale flights beginning on November 19.
  • Alaska Airlines says that it will begin flights from Portland, Oregon, to Chicago/O’Hare on November 16.business_travel1

AIRPORT REPORT: Continental Jiggles Its Route Map to Match Star Alliance Hubs

As you surely know by now, Continental Airlines drops out of the SkyTeam Alliance on October 24 and moves into the Star Alliance on October 27. That also means a rejiggering of Continental’s route map to reduce its service to SkyTeam hubs (including Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City and Memphis) and new flights to Star Alliance hubs.
 (more…)

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Hotel hot sheet: More and More and More Properties

Monday, September 28th, 2009

By Joe Brancatelli

Lest you think the meltdown of the lodging industry would slow the development of new properties, consider this new crop of openings. If there is any bright side to these newbies, consider that several are actually in areas that honestly need new properties. One example: the new Hilton Garden Inn branches in Troy, New York, and Presque Isle, Maine. Then there’s the new 144-room Residence Inn in Yonkers, New York. One property that isn’t opening into a hotel shortfall, however, is the 155-room Aloft, one of Starwood’s new brands, near BWI Airport in Baltimore.business_travel1

Internationally, two new properties of note:  the 272-room InterContinental Kiev in the Ukraine and the 563-room Shangri-La Ningbo in China. Big doings in the luxury segment, too. The 99-room  Jefferson in Washington has reopened after a top-to-bottom renovation of the 1923 Beaux Arts building. The Jefferson is about four blocks from the White House. The Hotel Bel-Air will close on September 30 for a renovation that may take up to two years. And Mandarin Oriental is pulling its name off its hotel in Macau, China. The property has been renamed the Grand Lapa. Radisson has planted its flag on the former Red Lion hotel in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (more…)

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Posted in Business Travel, International Vacations, On the Road, Travel News | No Comments »

Wallet watch: Dig deeper for more airline baggage fees

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

airplanestock11The bean counters who run the airlines continue to claim that their parade of baggage fees is adding to their cash flow. The credulous general media continue to report the claim of a $2 billion influx to the carriers’ bottom line. The truth, of course, is far different: Overall revenue figures conclusively show the airlines that have been fastest to raise baggage fees are also the carriers that have been hemorrhaging revenue the fastest. Still, what do facts matter to airlines that seem content to pave a quick road to their own oblivion? So here are the new bag fees:

  • Virgin America has raised its checked bag fee to $20 each for any bag you check.
  • American, Continental and US Airways have matched the $50 fee for the second checked bags on European flights, a charge pioneered by Delta Air Lines and recently matched by British Airways.
  • US Airways also raised its domestic bag fees. It is now $25 for the first bag and $30 for the second bag if you check them at the airport and $20/$25 if you check them online.
  • Frontier Airlines raised its first checked bag fee to $20 and its second checked bag fee to $30.

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Joe Brancatelli is editor and publisher of JoeSentMe.com, a non-commercial Web site for business travelers. Copyright 2009 by Joe Brancatelli. Licensed by contract for Orbitz use.

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Posted in Business Travel, Flights, Orbitz Travel Insider, Travel News | No Comments »

On the Road: Airlines swap slots, hotels in financial trouble

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

flightsBy Joe Brancatelli

ROUTE MAP

Four Airlines Swap Slots on the East Coast: Thanks to a remarkable series of asset exchanges, several airlines are remaking the East Coast route map. In the big deal, Delta Air Lines and US Airways are trading slots at New York/LaGuardia and Washington/National Airport.

  • US Airways is giving Delta 125 pairs of slots and 11 gates at LaGuardia in exchange for 42 pairs of slots at National. Additionally, US Airways’ Air Shuttle will move to LaGuardia’s Marine Air Terminal while Delta’s Air Shuttle moves to the airport’s central terminals. (more…)

Posted in Business Travel, On the Road, Travel News | No Comments »

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