{"id":445,"date":"2008-03-19T11:54:23","date_gmt":"2008-03-19T16:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/on-the-road-with-joe-brancatelli-5\/"},"modified":"2016-12-17T21:44:45","modified_gmt":"2016-12-18T03:44:45","slug":"on-the-road-with-joe-brancatelli-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/on-the-road-with-joe-brancatelli-5\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Road with Joe Brancatelli"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rw_image\"<\/a><\/em>Joe Brancatelli is editor and publisher of JoeSentMe.com<\/a><\/strong>, a
\nnon-commercial Web site for business travelers.<\/em><\/p>\n

INTERNATIONAL ITINERARY: Get ready for the Heathrow land rush<\/strong><\/p>\n

British Airways<\/strong> opens Terminal Five at London\/Heathrow Airport<\/strong> on March 27, just two days before the U.S.-E.U. Open Skies treaty becomes effective. The result? An unprecedented land rush at Heathrow. As British Airways begins a month-long effort to consolidate most of its flights<\/a><\/strong> at Terminal 5, U.S. carriers once shut out of Heathrow will pile in.<\/p>\n

Beginning on March 29, Continental<\/strong><\/a> will launch Heathrow flights<\/a><\/strong> from its Newark and Houston\/Intercontinental hubs; Delta Air Lines<\/strong><\/a> will add flights from hubs in Atlanta and New York’s Kennedy Airport; US Airways<\/strong> will launch from Philadelphia; and Northwest<\/strong><\/a> will fly from its Detroit and Minneapolis\/St. Paul hubs.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Air France<\/strong> and Delta<\/strong> will code-share on new service between Los Angeles and Heathrow, and United Airlines<\/strong> will add new flights<\/a><\/strong> from its Denver hub. But that’s not all. By the end of April, American Airlines<\/strong><\/a> will shift its Dallas\/Fort Worth and Raleigh-Durham flights from London\/Gatwick. Also moving from Gatwick to Heathrow: BA’s DFW and Houston flights. And in case you didn’t have enough Heathrow options, Northwest says it will launch flights from Seattle in June. Meanwhile, back at Heathrow’s Terminal 5, British Airways says its flights from Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco move on that March 27 opening day. The other BA flights from the United States will switch to Terminal 5 from Terminal 4 on April 30. <\/p>\n

FARE FINDER: Bargains and bank-breaking destinations this month<\/strong>
The best bargains on the route map late this month are likely to be in Florida<\/strong><\/a> and the Caribbean<\/strong><\/a>. Now that the weather is finally warming up nationwide, U.S. travelers begin abandoning their dreams of flights to sunnier climes. Right after the Easter and Passover holidays, watch for falling airfares<\/a><\/strong> to Florida and the Caribbean. And pay attention to hotel and resort deals as hoteliers offer room-rate reductions and value-added packages to keep their properties full. The best bargains will last until about late June.<\/p>\n

The last of the winter fare sales to Europe<\/strong><\/a> (and especially London<\/strong><\/a>) will dominate the international landscape during the next few weeks. Prices won’t be as low as they were in dreary February, of course. And the airlines may not give much notice of sales — the lowest prices may only be available for purchase a day or two at a time–but the bargains will be the best you’ll see until November. And beware of promotions for an "April in Paris" getaway. The lyrics of the popular song notwithstanding, it’s actually chilly and rainy in the City of Light in April. But that doesn’t stop some travel<\/a><\/strong> packagersfrom selling the melodic fantasy of "chestnuts in blossom" and "holiday tables under the trees."<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

ROUTE MAP: JetBlue and AirTran connect dots and add cities<\/strong>
\nThe high cost of fuel — in case you hadn’t heard, oil has hit the $110 a
\nbarrel mark — has put the brakes on most carriers’ domestic expansion
\nplans, but JetBlue Airways and AirTran Airways continue to build their
\nnetworks. JetBlue<\/strong> is filling in the dots on its route map and will
\nlaunch flights to four cities from Austin<\/strong>: Long Beach<\/strong>, Fort Lauderdale<\/strong>,
\nOrlando<\/strong> and San Francisco<\/strong>. The flights begin May 1. The airline<\/a><\/strong> will
\nalso begin Salt Lake City-Las Vegas<\/strong> service on the same day.<\/p>\n

Over at
\nAirTran<\/strong>, the news is new cities. It will begin flying from Burlington,
\nVermont<\/strong>, on May 21 with flights to Baltimore\/Washington. On June 11, it
\nwill begin service to San Antonio<\/strong> with four daily flights<\/a><\/strong> to its
\nAtlanta hub.<\/p>\n

Say goodbye to ATA Airlines’ hub at Chicago’s Midway
\nAirport. It will dump the remainder of its domestic flights from Midway
\non April 14 and drop the last of its international service on June 7.<\/p>\n

Continental Airlines<\/strong><\/a><\/strong> fliers at Newark Airport take note: Commuter
\nflights are being relocated to Terminal Aso that Continental can
\nconsolidate mainline service in Terminal C. That means a bus ride
\nbetween terminals if you are making a connection.<\/p>\n


\nAIRPORT REPORT: Northwest finds a home in Hartford<\/strong>
Northwest Airlines<\/strong><\/a><\/strong> continues to build up service in Hartford,
\nConnecticut<\/strong>. Beginning June 15, it will offer a daily commuter flight
\nto its Memphis hub. Northwest will also launch Airbus A319 flights
\nbetween Detroit and Salt Lake City beginning on June 5.<\/p>\n

Austrian
\nAirlines<\/strong> says that it will resume flights<\/a><\/strong> from its Vienna hub to Erbil,
\nin Kurdish Iraq. The flights begin again on April 2; Austrian launched
\nthe service in December, 2006, but suspended them last August. … Still
\nEos Airlines, which currently flies from Kennedy to London\/Stansted
\nusing planes equipped with just 48 seat-beds, is adding two new
\nairports. It will add a Newark-Stansted flight on May 5 and a
\nStansted-Dubai route on July 6. … Gulfport-Biloxi Airport will offer a
\nregistered-traveler program. It has hired Vigilant Systems, which
\noperates the program in Jacksonville, Florida. … The first airport
\nlocation of Bruegger’s Bagels<\/a><\/strong> has opened in Terminal 2 in Cincinnati. A
\nsecond location, at Boston\/Logan, should open this month and a third
\noutlet, in Raleigh\/Durham, is due this summer. \u2026 The one bag carry-on
\nrule has been lifted at London’s Gatwick Airport. But beware: Not all
\nairlines using Gatwick are permitting you to carry on two bags again.<\/p>\n


\nNEED TO KNOW: On-the-road intelligenceto help you travel smarter<\/strong>

\nStarwood Preferred Guest<\/strong>, the frequent travel<\/a><\/strong> program of Sheraton,
\nWestin, W and other hotels<\/a><\/strong>, is reclassifying about 235 properties
\naround the world. Only about a dozen will cost fewer points to claim a
\nfree night. The more than 200 others will all cost substantially more
\npoints for a free night.<\/p>\n

Delta will launch service to Georgetown,
\nGuyana, on June 2, a month earlier than planned. It will also move up
\nthe start date of its New York\/Kennedy-Lyon, France, flights to June 3.
\nTo make room for these changes — and frequency increases on routes to
\nVenice; Cape Town; Paris\/Orly; and Malaga, Spain — Delta will delay the
\nlaunch of New York\/Kennedy flights<\/a><\/strong> to Lagos, Nigeria, and Nairobi,
\nKenya. Both of those routes will now start in December.<\/p>\n

Singapore
\nAirlines<\/strong>‘ ultra-long-haul nonstops to Singapore from Newark and Los
\nAngeles are in for a big change. The 18-hour flights are switching to
\nan all-business-class configuration. Effective late in the spring, the
\nAirbus A345 flights<\/a><\/strong> will be outfitted with just 100 business-class
\nseats. No first or no coach cabins.<\/p>\n

Related Orbitz resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n