American adds paid food at Admirals Clubs

By Joe Brancatelli

American Airlines is rolling out a new pay-to-snack program in its Admirals Club airport lounges. The so-called Amora scheme offers breakfast items, salads, sandwiches, wraps and other items. There is also food packed to go. The program is already available in Austin, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles. … A Servisair lounge has opened beyond security at Montreal Airport. Walk-in guests pay $30 a visit. … Sofitel has opened a 605-room hotel at Heathrow Airport in London. It is connected by a bridge to T5, the airport’s newest terminal. … Airport Angel is a new network of airport clubs. Airport Angel says it offersaccess to more than 200 airport lounges worldwide. The program, which seems aimed predominantly at fliers in the United Kingdom, has three levels of membership ranging from about $130 to $500 a year. … A newly built 150-room Sheraton hotel has opened at New York’s Kennedy Airport. … Clear, the registered-traveler program, has been cleared to resume enrollments. Its ability to add new members was restricted by the Transportation Security Administration in July when Clear misplaced a laptop with unencrypted information.

ROUTE MAP

JetBlue and AirTran juggle their schedules: Although cutbacks at the Big Six carriers get most of the publicity, JetBlue Airways and AirTran Airways are dropping routes, too. The difference? They’re adding some new stuff,too. At JetBlue, the airline is dropping many longer-haul and transcontinental flights. Although it hasn’t announced it, the airline will dump three nonstop routes from Washington/Dulles (Las Vegas, San Diego and Burbank) and two nonstop runs from Boston (San Francisco and San Jose). In their place on the route map are shorter flights: service to Cancun from Tampa (beginning December 18) and Dulles (December 20), and three daily flights between San Francisco and Long Beach beginning November 2. Meanwhile, AirTran is bailing on its Savannah-Atlanta route, which it has flown for more than a decade, dating back to its ValuJet days. In its place? Service to Columbus, Ohio, the home of the now-defunct Skybus. Beginning November 6, AirTran will fly twice a day to Atlanta, once a day to FortMyers and once a day to Orlando. Effective November 20, the airline will also operate a daily route between Orlando and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

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