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Another Week, Another Round Of Airfare Price Hikes

October 26, 2009 at 2:09 PM | by Omri | 0 Comments

In case you had any lingering doubts, the airline industry wants you to know that the Summer Of Low Fares is officially over. Continental may have dumped Delta for Star Alliance partnerships - and in case you're wondering that's still a total mess - but the two airlines seemed simpatico last week when they simultaneously announced price hikes.

Those increases, which functionally included airlines in two out of three alliances, caused other companies to take notice. That led to another round of industry-wide fare hikes, making this the second time in as many weeks that ticket prices have increased:

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SAS Airlines' New Paperless Boarding Passes Will Help You Shop Duty-Free

October 19, 2009 at 4:03 PM | by Omri | 0 Comments

SAS Airlines has joined the growing list of airlines allowing customers to check in with paperless 2D bar codes stored on their mobile. Passengers can have the boarding passes delivered either by SMS or via the SAS mobile site. The service will be available on domestic flights within Scandinavia and Finland, Intra Scandinavian flights, flights to Europe and Asia, and even some flights back from Europe:

SAS Scandinavian Airlines is now offering its passengers the convenience of mobile boarding passes. This means SAS customers can now travel using only their mobile phone and with an ID card/passport... The mobile boarding pass contains a 2D bar code that can be read electronically at the airport. The 2D bar code can be used to get baggage tags from the SAS Self Service kiosks, at security screening, duty-free shopping, entering SAS lounges and when boarding.

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Continental Is Filling Their In-Flight Television With Loads Of Channels

October 14, 2009 at 9:28 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

Good in-flight entertainment can make even the most uncomfortable flight bearable. Even if it’s just a loop of a couple movies we’ve already seen, as long as there is something flickering on the back of the seat in front of us we’re pretty happy. That’s why we’ve been pretty eager to follow the progress of Continental Airlines’ installation of DirecTV service across much of their domestic fleet. Now, even before they’ve finished, they are already adding a few improvements.

Apparently not happy with an already awesome amount of channel offerings, they’re upping the ante with nearly 100 different channels. LiveTV, the company that supplies the TV magic, reached a deal with Viacom for some additional channels. That means Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and MTV will all be yours for the viewing from the comfort of your middle seat. We’ll probably book flights for Tuesday evenings just so we won’t miss the double feature of The City and The Hills.

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The Airline Holiday Travel Grinch Strikes Again

October 12, 2009 at 9:11 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

We thought this would happen, and we’re not too thrilled about it: The holiday surcharge that was introduced last month on some airlines has slowly crept into new dates as well. At first it was just Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day; however, now it seems like every major holiday except for Flag Day is associated with a $10 each way fee.

According to fare tracking website FareCompare, some airlines have now added additional dates in which these holiday fees apply. November 30; December 19, 26, and 27; March 14, 20, 21, and 28; April 11; and May 28 all now may increase your airfare cost by about $20 round trip when the surcharges are tacked on.

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Continental Has Joined The Holiday Fee Club Too

October 5, 2009 at 9:07 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

Remember last week when the airlines wanted to punish us for wanting to travel home for the holidays? Well, one of the few fee holdouts has caved and is planning to join the holiday fee club. Continental Airlines announced that they too would be adding a $10 surcharge for flying on the Sunday after Thanksgiving as well as January 2 and 3.

So far the holiday fees are just hanging around Turkey Day and New Year’s Day; however, we wouldn’t be surprised if they slowly start to creep into the days leading up to Christmas as well. When the airlines start to cut into our Christmas present spending budget, we’ll be sure to let you know.

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Continental and US Airways Hike Checked Bag Fee To $50

August 27, 2009 at 10:26 AM | by JetSetCD | 2 Comments

Do you know that song from Cabaret that goes: "Money makes the world go around, the world go around?" Well, these days the lyrics should be amended to "money makes the airlines fly round the world, round the world." You see, yet another baggage fee hike went into affect yesterday, and it'll no doubt cause even more headaches at check-in.

Now raising second checked bag fees on international flights up to $50 each way, Continental Airlines and US Airways join Delta and American Airlines in such skyway robbery. For US Airways, the new charges apply to tickets purchased beginning yesterday for travel on Oct. 7 or later, while Continental's fee applies to flights between US and Europe and akes effect for tickets purchased today for travel on or after Sept. 15.

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Passengers Forced To Be Cramped Campers Aboard Regional Jet

August 10, 2009 at 8:54 AM | by kjb | 4 Comments

Over the weekend about 50 passengers experienced airplane hell aboard a Continental Airlines regional jet stuck on the tarmac. Everybody was headed to Minnesota’s Twin Cities, but thunderstorms in the area forced the plane to take a pit stop in Rochester to wait out the storm and get some gas. However, the pit stop that started around midnight lasted until the next morning, and everyone was forced to snuggle tightly in the cabin of the plane.

Passengers obviously were less than thrilled, and one flyer let everyone know that the smells of the toilets and babies aboard the ExpressJet plane were getting pretty bad. Unfortunately, the situation sounds pretty typical. The crew couldn’t do much since they were over their legally allowed hours for the day, the security screeners at the Rochester airport had gone for the day, and all the passengers got to eat were a couple bags of pretzels.

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Continental's Switch To Star Alliance Going About As Smoothly As You'd Expect

August 7, 2009 at 12:01 PM | by Omri | 0 Comments

So there's no definite window between ending SkyTeam perks and starting Star Alliance sharing, and no absolute date on when code sharing will end. Oh, also Continental has no firm idea for how lounge reciprocity and loyalty points will work. Thankfully The Transnational investigates:

'With our final flight on 24 October, we will leave SkyTeam,' said outgoing Continental CEO Larry Kellner. 'We will be in Star just as fast as we can be after that. We just can't do anything until we get out of SkyTeam to jointly market with Star partners. It won't be seamless; it will be a couple days in transition.'

It also requires ending codeshare flights and joint corporate programs. On the former, some code shares with Delta and Northwest already have been discontinued, Kellner said, and 'all drop off [by] the end of July.' 'We have to be careful not to get ahead of ourselves,' he said. 'We aren't ready yet to project when we will be up and running.'

On the plus side, Continental recently installed in-flight TV, so at least they've got that going for them.

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No Need For SkyMall, Continental Committing to In-Flight TV

July 31, 2009 at 8:59 AM | by kjb | 1 Comment

There’s still a few months before Continental joins their new buddies in the Star Alliance, but they are already putting their new airline family to shame. US Airways and United are certainly not known for their in-flight entertainment offerings, but Continental is pushing forward to make a name for themselves when it comes to television in the sky.

The airline has finished installation of their new DirecTV service on 19 of their Boeing 737-900ER aircraft, which is a good start, but they’ve still got a lot of other planes to get through. They’re hoping to wrap things up by early 2011 on most of their domestic fleet. Just remember that you’ll have to pony up $6 to watch television from the comfort of your coach seat.

Apparently installing in-flight TV is way more expensive that adding the magic that is in-flight WiFi. The CEO of LiveTV reports that installation costs about $1 to $1.5 million per plane, while WiFi usually only costs between $100,000 and $250,000. The television entertainment system also adds about 1,000 pounds to the plane, which of course, costs more at the gas station.

We’ll keep you updated as to when you can ensure your next Continental flight has TV, but for now, keep last season’s 30 Rock ready to go on your iPod.

Related Stories:
· Continental Installing Live Satellite TV on Planes [USA Today]
· Continental Airlines - Status of DirecTV Installation [Official Site]
· Continental coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: athomson]

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LAX Direct To Havana From $689; Cuba Libres Not Included

Where: Cuba
July 1, 2009 at 10:32 AM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

Light a cigar in celebration, since yesterday marked the first day of direct flights to Havana, Cuba from LAX. Obama relaxed travel restrictions to Cuba back in April, allowing people to visit their relatives in Cuba and resume educational and journalistic travel to the Communist nation, but it takes some time to put the direct flights into place to get them there.

According to USA Today's Today In the Sky, the weekly flights are chartered by Cuba Travel Services of Long Beach, and flown on a Continental Airlines 737-800, which can accomodate 150 passengers, Perhaps Continental should consider putting their retro-liveried planes on this route just for kicks.

If your papers are in order, you can book one of the roundtrips starting at $689 and settle in for the five-hour flight landing in Havana at 7:25pm EST, perfect timing for dinner with the family you haven't seen in forever or just for kicking back with a few cuba libres.

Related Stories:
· Continental begins flights between LAX, Havana Today [Today In the Sky]
· Obama eases Cuba travel restrictions [CNN]
· Cuba Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Samuel Negredo]

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Continental Celebrates 75th Anniversary By Buying Their Own Present

June 29, 2009 at 9:17 AM | by kjb | 1 Comment

Continental Airlines is getting ready to celebrate their 75th anniversary on July 15, and they’ve ordered themselves a pretty nice birthday present: a brand spanking new Boeing 737-900ER. This fresh jet will have a retro paint job known as “The Blue Skyway,” a livery originally slapped onto the side of the company’s planes in 1947 and chosen to be on the newest plane by the company's employees.

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2009 Airline In-Flight Entertainment Status Update

June 15, 2009 at 1:22 PM | by JetSetCD | 11 Comments

2009 has been the year when the US Domestic air carriers have really begun to step up their in-flight entertainment systems. We are no longer in the post-WWII era where airlines can cling to an occasional projector movie during longer flights. Furthermore, the CRT drop-down world is very close to extinction as well. These days seat back LCD screens and IFEC (c is for connectivity) are all the rage and most US airlines are expanding their offerings accordingly.

Of course, younger airlines with a smaller fleet have a built-in advantage here (fewer and newer planes), but that doesn't change the increasing demand from passengers for better, more reliable IFEC options. It could even be argued that customers are more likely to accept higher ancillary fees for things like extra luggage and pets if they can kick back with a killer IFEC on the flight.

Just this weekend we heard a JetBlue customer comment to her friend at baggage claim:

We sat on the tarmac for an hour at JFK, but by the time I watched three shows I was where I needed to be -- how can you beat that?

It seems in todays world, all delays might even be close to forgiven if you can get caught up on Jon and Kate Plus Eight while you wait.

Click here for our 2009 IFEC Chart and see how the airlines stack up against each other.

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