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Expedia Shocks Travel Industry And Customers, Actually Lowers Fees

November 6, 2009 at 5:24 PM | by Omri | 0 Comments

Expedia just announced they're waiving their $20 fee for the 7% of Americans who book their itineraries over the phone, establishing themselves in a niche and sticking a finger in the eyes of competitors. Airline centers mostly charge $5-$35 for telephone bookings—Southwest is the only exception—while Orbitz and Travelocity charge $25 per ticket. Priceline doesn't even offer that option.

This won't be much use to us, since our calls to booking agents are limited to rants about the impossibility of reserving rewards travel these days. But Expedia had already eliminated flight booking fees online, and it's nice to see anyone cutting any fee for any reason, no matter how marginal or symbolic the gesture:

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Delta Gives Free In-Flight WiFi For The Holidays To Trick You Into Shopping eBay

November 6, 2009 at 4:45 PM | by Omri | 0 Comments

If Google made a smart business decision by facilitating free holiday in-flight wifi on Virgin America—more Internet users means more revenue for Google—then the deal eBay just sealed with Delta is positively inspired. Starting Nov. 24 and lasting through a week, the auction site/retail outlet/digital store will be providing passengers with a free promotional code so they can get online via Gogo.

The only catch is that the first thing those passengers will see as they soar online through the crowded skies is the eBay frontpage. The better to do their holiday shopping, you see:

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AirTran Paints Its Planes To Celebrate The Birds Of The NFL

November 6, 2009 at 8:48 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

Fans of the Baltimore Ravens and Atlanta Falcons now have an easy pick when it comes to choosing their favorite airline—it has to be AirTran. The airline that loves in-flight WiFi has just released a Boeing 717 dubbed Ravens One from the hangar, and the plane is ready to shuttle fans to away games around the country.

Just a couple weeks ago, the airline pulled the masking tape off another plane dedicated to the Atlanta Falcons. It’s fitting that AirTran has a thing for football teams named after birds. However, the airline is also planning to release a plane with an Indianapolis Colts livery in just a few weeks. From what we’ve seen of Peyton Manning’s acting skills in commercials, we have little doubt that he’ll be the featured pitchman for the Colts’ new plane.

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Ryanair Taunts British Airways: 'We're (About To Be) #1!'

November 5, 2009 at 4:15 PM | by Omri | 0 Comments

It's no secret that Ryanair has translated their "Customers Suck" philosophy into one quarter of breakout profits after another.

It's also no secret that we kind of loathe them and everything they stand for (excepting low airfare), which makes this particular story, about how the low cost carrier is poised to pass British Airways as the largest airline in the UK, as predictable as it is aggravating. Try to contain your shock when we tell you that they're being obnoxiously smug about the whole thing:

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Five Ways To Top Off Your Frequent Flyer Miles Without Leaving The Ground

November 5, 2009 at 9:44 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

We all have some frequent flyer miles hanging around in various accounts, but it seems like there’s never enough to finally book that award ticket to paradise. Well we’re here to help: we’ve compiled five of the best ways to top off your mileage account and gain some extra miles without even leaving the ground. Everyone wants to be able to make it rain with excess miles, and with a little work and creativity, you’ll be doing just that.

· Get Something To Eat:
Most airlines have programs where linking a credit card to a dining program awards you with airline miles when you hit up your favorite restaurant. Obviously it’s not every restaurant out there, so your favorite Applebee’s might be out of the picture. However, if you find a couple favorite spots you frequent anyway, it will be worth the minimal effort to get the bonus. AAdvantage Dining will give you five miles for every dollar you spend, and you’ll even get 1,500 bonus miles for signing up and spending $25. If you prefer Delta-flavored miles check out SkyMiles Dining. It’s the same deal: five miles per dollar spent and certain establishments will reward you with double miles.

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Air New Zealand Wants To Sell Us A Coach-Middle-Seat-Bed Thing

November 5, 2009 at 8:39 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

We might be a little premature in declaring a new travel trend, but it appears that selling empty middle seats is the new checked baggage fee. WestJet recently shed a little light on plans to make passengers a little more comfy while cashing in at the same time. Now Air New Zealand, the airline that loves wacky stuff like in-flight dating and body paint, is looking to do the same thing.

As part of a total makeover of the airline—they’re looking to change up their livery and uniforms among other things—they want to sell empty middle seats to coach passengers. If the seat next to you is empty it will be yours as long as you are willing to part with $150. You’ll even be allowed to fully stretch out, as apparently the two seats will slide forward to make some sort of economy bed. They are still hush hush about all the details, and they want to wait until next year before revealing all the secrets about the new seating configurations.

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How To Send The Kids Elsewhere For The Holidays: Airline Fees For Solo Kid Flyers

November 4, 2009 at 2:23 PM | by kjb | 0 Comments

Somehow you actually got out of your family obligations this holiday season; however, you still need to get rid of the kiddies before you’re truly free to head out to Caribbean. That’s why we did a little homework for you. Unfortunately, you have to still do the hard part and ask Grandma if she’d mind watching the kids during their entire Christmas break. Even if you get the go ahead from the relatives, be prepared to pony up some cash, because sending the kids on a solo mission isn’t cheap.

· Delta
Delta has a lot of rules when it comes to sending little Timmy out on his own for the first time. Kids must be between 5 and 14 years old, but if they are younger than 7 they can only fly on nonstop flights—otherwise they’d definitely miss their connections. If your kid is between fifteen and seventeen, and you want to embarrass them, Delta will kindly look after them too. There’s a bunch of other rules and regulations here. Bottom line, it’s going to cost you $100 each way to get your kid out of your hair. However, they’ll only charge you one fee if you have one or more kids from the same immediate family traveling—Octomom is already on the line.

There's plenty more fees and rules after the jump.

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WestJet Launches Cuba And St. Maarten, Non-Stops Away From Canadian Winter

November 3, 2009 at 4:54 PM | by Omri | 0 Comments

Starting from last Sunday, Toronto travelers in search of warmth have had two new options courtesy of Canadian low cost carrier WestJet. Last week the airline announced they were launching nonstops to Varadero, Cuba and St Maarten, and the first flights duly took off over the weekend.

The company issued separate press releases for the St Maarten and Cuba routes, each identical except for the obviously made up location-specific quotes from Hugh Dunleavy, WestJet Executive Vice-President of Strategy and Planning. That doesn't make WestJet's announcement any less exciting. It just kind of made us giggle.

Both new routes have flights three times per week, and both last only until April 29, 2010. Presumably that's the date they expect Toronto to thaw, with all the consequences for demand that would portend. They're promising more "sun destination" announcements in the coming days though, so maybe those will last past the winter months.

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Porter Airlines Is Looking To Expand...To Myrtle Beach?

November 3, 2009 at 9:40 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

We kind of knew that Porter Airlines would be eyeing new routes, but we expected that they’d be looking somewhere in the northern part of the US or elsewhere in Canada. Well we were wrong and the airline is looking to head south in search of warmer weather and Waffle House. Their shortlist for new routes now includes Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, among other destinations in the US.

Apparently there hasn’t been an official decision or announcement, but according to the head honcho at Porter, Robert Deluce, his company is in “serious discussions” with some places in the US. Besides the tourist traps of Myrtle Beach, the little airline that could also has its eyes on Washington, DC and Philadelphia. It looks like they want to expand before Air Canada Jazz restarts service on their home turf.

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Why, Of Course: Business School Graduates Would Like To Work for Air France

Where: France
November 2, 2009 at 4:12 PM | by juliana | 1 Comment

We get a lot of press releases in our inboxes and while most of them are credible, quite a few of them have nothing or very little to do with travel. Depending on our mood, the latter kind either causes us to laugh or to curse the high heavens that created spambots. But every so often there is one from a credible source that makes us go, "Seriously?"

Like this one from Air France which just announced that their airline ranks first "in the 2009 Top 50 Most Attractive Employers for Junior Executives from business schools."

Apparently, over 7,000 junior executives were polled about the most attractive firms they would like to work for, among 136 firms that were proposed. These junior executives were graduates from major French business schools and universities with one to eight years of working experience. (Note: it did not say if they still had jobs in this down economy.) However, when the IT and science engineering school graduates wee polled, they ranked Air France in 8th place.

Perhaps this special announcement was a distraction from the whole pilot insensitivity that made the news last year. And we're not so sure we'd put much faith in these results. Afterall, business class tickets are pretty pricey these days and people would do all sorts of things for a free ride.

Related Stories:
· Air France Pilots Having Trouble Focusing On Priorities After Criticism Over Safety Practices [Jaunted]
· Air France [Official Site]

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Airfares Plummeting, Airlines Sinking Faster Than Ever

October 30, 2009 at 10:24 AM | by Omri | 0 Comments

If you're trying to figure out why airlines like American keep reporting mindblowing revenue declines over 2008, the airfare figures for last quarter are out. How desperate were airlines to get any kind of passenger at any kind of price? Desperate enough to drop their prices to 1998 levels.

That means that airlines are more skittish about their current market position than they were after 9/11. As a reminder, that was a terrorist act which involved airplanes and therefore shook people's confidence in airplanes which are the things that airline companies fly. The price dip over the last few months has been worse than that, pointing to an industry that's out of options to get people buying tickets.

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WestJet Figures Out Way To Monetize Empty Seats

Where: Canada
October 26, 2009 at 4:29 PM | by Omri | 0 Comments

For one reason or another, Canadian low cost carrier WestJet flies planes to Hawaii at less than full capacity. Being an airline, and an LCC at that, they've naturally come up with a way to use that reality to charge passengers. Customers who prefer to have an empty seat next to them - and who doesn't - will now be able to pay to lock in that privilege:

WestJet’s simple solution is to leave the middle seat empty in the first eight to ten rows of its Boeing 737-700s flying between Calgary and Hawaii. The company says there will be a small price increase for passengers wanting the extra elbow room... The empty seats are actually necessary to make the flight to Hawaii... The company’s 737-700s have been flying the shorter non-stop route between Vancouver and Hawaii for several years now. But the airplane... can’t make the longer flight from Calgary to Hawaii with a full passenger load because of range limitations based on the fuel it can carry.

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