Jaunted

Travel Snapshots / Livery / United / Continental / ORD / Oprah Winfrey / Boeing / 757 / → All Tags

Oprah-Spotting at O'Hare

It's a very rare thing to catch a glimpse of Oprah at O'Hare Airport these days, especially since the woman has had her own $42 million custom-built Bombardier Global Express XRS jet for several years, but we did it—we spotted her recently out on the tarmac at ORD.

What we saw was United's "Oprah The Farewell Season" plane, a special livery just for one Boeing 757 which was unveiled back in November 2010. Of course we were there to see her off into the sky for the first time—check out those pics here—and it's great to see she's still out there even though Oprah's Final Season comes to an end in just about two weeks.

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In-Flight WiFi / United / Continental / Travel Tech / Technology / LiveTV / WiFi / Gogo / Airline News / Airlines / → All Tags

Better Late Than Never, Continental to Get 200 Planes with In-Flight WiFi

Better late than never, hm? That's what we're saying this week after United/Continental made the announcement that they're going for the whole in-flight WiFi thing. Specifically, United will be expanding their trial program from 14 757s to over 200 of Continental's domestic 737s and 757s, which they plan to have up and ready for your in-flight Facebooking next year.

Now here's the real news: although United's original 14 planes with connectivity used Gogo's in-flight WiFi service (the current industry leader), they've switched allegiance to outfit the upcoming 200+ planes with LiveTV, a subsidiary of JetBlue. It actually makes perfect sense, however, because the 200+ planes already have LiveTV for its in-flight DirectTV. Now that LiveTV also offers satellite in-flight WiFi, Continental is just adding that in.

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All Kinds of New Routes This Week from the Likes of Alaska Airlines, American, and Continental

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Alaska Airlines:
If you’ve been waiting for Alaska Airlines to start even more flights to paradise, your wait is now over. Starting this Sunday—that’s March 27 for you calendar fans—nonstop service will begin between San Jose and Lihue on the island of Kauai. If you prefer leaving from Oakland, they’ve got you covered there as well, as the same destination is available beginning the following day on March 28. The San Jose flights will operate thrice per week while the Oakland planes go back and fourth four times per week. Just remember your sun block!

· Continental:
The mighty airline power that is the new United will be adding a new option south of the border beginning over the summer. Starting at June 9, Bay Area travelers will be getting a nonstop option to Guadalajara, Mexico from San Francisco. The flight will technically be a Continental branded flight for now, but we all know that their true United colors will shine through sooner than later. Flights will run every day, and will be completed thanks to some help from Boeing 737-800 jets—adios!

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Literary Travel / Technology / Apple / Travel Magazines / In-Flight Magazines / In-Flight Entertainment / iPad / iPad 2 / Travel Tech / Travel Gadgets / Lists / ANA / Malaysia Airlines / United / Continental / Lufthansa / → All Tags

Don't Check the Seatback; These Airline In-Flight Magazines are on Your iPad

Pay attention, because you may never hear us admit this again: in-flight magazines aren't all that bad. Actually, some are quite good! We've been known to actually take them home and read the articles or—gasp—rip out pages and magnet them to our fridge for future reference. If you're a closet fan of in-flight magazines like we are, then this is your time, friend; more and more airlines are moving their print rags to be in more than just your seat-back pocket, but in your iPad too (and iPad 2).

Here's the airlines and their iTunes-downloadable iPad magazines:

United/Continental Hemispheres: This is the newest player on the scene, as the merger airline only launched their iPad version earlier this month. March is the first issue, featuring the Mexican Riviera and Peru's culinary scene. Happily it makes great use of iPad's interactive features, allowing for 360-degree image views, videos and direct links to buy advertised products (of course advertised creatively). Hemisphere is free to download direct from iTunes HERE.

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Airline News / United / Mobile Boarding Passes / Continental / Boarding Passes / → All Tags

You Can Finally Use a Mobile Boarding Pass on United's International Flights

We've said it once and we'll say it again: Mobile Boarding Passes are God's gift to modern air travel. Thankfully, many airlines agree with us and have continued to advance their programs, like United, who today announced that their mobile boarding passes now work for select international flights, as well as domestic.

To quickly give some background, a mobile boarding pass is a page or code downloaded or texted to your smartphone. You scan it to get through security, and it's again scanned at the gate (see a picture of the scanning here) to allow you to board your flight. No printing and no fumbling around with loose sheets of paper necessary. A modern miracle. It was first embraced with European carriers like SAS and Lufthansa, the latter of whom even have installed self-scan turnstiles at some boarding gates at German airports.

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Europe is This Week's Big Winner When It Comes to New Routes

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Continental(...and United):
The combined force that is the new United is bringing us their fifth nonstop option into Germany. United and Continental—although for now it’s technically Continental—are teaming up to launch nonstop service between Newark and Stuttgart. We’re thinking tickets should be on sale soon—if not already—as the new flights start up on June 9. Just beware that the flights will be operated by Boeing 757s, which means only one aisle of airplane space to stretch your legs during the overnight flight! The new flights will run back and forth seven days a week.

· Spirit Airlines:
You know how we feel about Spirit Airlines, but we still have to let you know what they’re up to. After all, even with all the fees slapped onto some of their tickets, they still can be a great deal. So the new option is between Chicago-O’Hare and Atlantic City. Sure, it’s not exactly Las Vegas, but when you need some gambling and a dose of Jersey—it’ll do. The flights run five days a week right now, but after April 1 things run every day.

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Continental Eliminates Free In-Flight Snacks!

Just last year Continental was still serving free food—as in real meals on a tray—in the back of the plane, but it looks like even the pretzels will now be eliminated from the in-flight service. Sure, they’re not filling and are hardly a meal replacement, but it kind of bums us out. They made the in-flight Diet Coke taste that much more refreshing!

As of March 1 the snacks were taken away from all coach passengers on most domestic and North American routes, and apparently that’s going to save the airline $2.5 million a year. We realize that’s a lot of money, but still, we’re not thrilled about the decision. Although we do understand that it’s probably more of a change to align themselves with United, who don't serve freebie foodstuffs either.

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Continental and United, uh, Unite with Their Newest Ad Campaign

Apparently slow and steady wins the race when it comes to the United and Continental merger. We already knew that Continental will be adding more legroom to their fleet in the near future, but now it looks like the latest news involves the most recent advertising campaign.

The new advertisements are just part of an interim campaign—done by the same guys and gals that are responsible for the Aflac duck—until next year when another campaign will become official. However, this is the first time that the two become one when it comes to trying to grab our travel dollars.

United is ditching their whimsical illustrations in favor of the plain and simple. Expect new commercials on the horizon, but for now print ads should start appearing outside your hotel room door in USA Today.

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Head to Denver, Maui, and Turks and Caicos on This Week's New Routes

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· United Airlines:
They’re still busy painting lots of planes, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have time to deal with other stuff too. United Airlines just brought back a flight that has been gone for quite some time, and we’re glad to see it as an option. There’s now nonstop flights between San Francisco and New Orleans—things were discontinued not too long after Hurricane Katrina. The new flight began yesterday, and assuming all goes well, we’re thinking that it will be sticking around for quite some time.

· Alaska Airlines:
Bad news for fans of the “Nerd Bird,” as Alaska Airlines is discontinuing nonstop service between San Jose and Austin as of May 6, but at least it will continue through this year’s SXSW festival. It’s not all bad though, as this apparently has allowed for a few more flights to somewhere even better. As of June, both San Jose and Oakland will get daily service—now it’s just a few times a week—to Kahului, Maui. We guess with the good comes the bad.

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Get Ready to Stretch Your Legs Aboard Continental in 2012

Your knees and legs have nothing to fear about the United and Continental merger. There was some worry that United’s Economy Plus seating options would go the way of the dinosaurs, but it looks like both sides of the airline marriage have agreed to keep some of their stretched out seats.

Economy Plus gives you about five inches extra of legroom—for a fee of course—and Continental is now planning to add the extended seating options to its share of the new United fleet. There’s a lot of other work to be done in the interim, so don’t expect Continental planes to offer the extra legroom option until 2012. Hopefully there’ll be a couple planes sneaking out of the hangar a little early so we can stretch our legs before then.

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Airline Mergers / United / Continental / Airlines / Airline News / Airline Lounges / → All Tags

Expect the United and Continental Merger to Move Full Speed Ahead in 2011

So far things have gone pretty smoothly when it comes to the United and Continental merger, and that’s likely why we haven’t heard anything too exciting from either side. There’s been some new paint jobs—we still think it’s boring—but it looks as though 2011 will be the year when the airlines really meld together, and for the better.

Later this year,the United and Continental airport lounges merge, and they have an exciting new name—United Club. Ya, we weren’t that pumped about it either, but at least they didn’t go with something that seemed forced. It’s certainly not clever, but there won’t be any confusion from frequent fliers on each side of the merger looking to down a few free beers along with a sidecar of peanuts. Expect the new signs to arrive during the third quarter of this year.

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New Routes / Airlines / Airline News / Vision Airlines / Delta / Qantas / Spirit Airlines / Continental / → All Tags

Qantas, Delta, and Vision Airlines Have Just Some of This Week's New Routes

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Qantas:
We’re not sure if it has anything to do with Oprah, but Qantas is adding a new city to its route network. The kangaroo carrier will start service from Sydney to Dallas/Ft. Worth beginning on May 16. Qantas will send Boeing 747s back and forth four times a week, but eventually things might be upgraded to daily service. The only downer is that San Francisco is losing its Sydney route on Qantas to make room for the new Texas connection.

· Continental:
The country still might have a lot of work ahead of it after last year’s earthquake, but Continental is betting that there’s plenty of interest in visiting Haiti in 2011. The airline is planning to startup some nonstop service between Newark and Port-Au-Prince, starting June 9. To begin, flights will just run on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, but as of July 1 flights will become a daily option. Everything is still pending government approval, but we’re thinking it’s a safe bet if they’re already announcing it.

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