Tag: DCA

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Is Virgin America Secretly Psyching Up to Launch Hawaii Flights?

May 14, 2012 at 4:46 PM | by | Comments (6)

Okay, who wants to go to Hawaii? Really, the better question would be who doesn't to go to Hawaii? Even though it seems all the state can do is cry about how they need more tourists, airlines have been upping their island game all season. Heck, Hawaiian Airlines is gearing up to begin NYC-Honolulu direct service next month, while that Mokulele thing is doing some other island-hoppy stuff and now we may be able to throw Virgin America an "aloha."

The SFO-based low-cost airline is flying their birds back and forth between San Francisco and Hawaii already...but not with paying passengers. Instead, the FAA is onboard as, according to the NYCAviation discussion board, the airline's Airbus A320s undergo ETOPS trials.

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Where to Go with Your Tax Refund: Washington DC

April 19, 2012 at 12:38 PM | by | Comments (0)

Tax day has come and gone, and you're probably excited to get the direct deposit of your big fat tax refund. Probably. The economy may be on its way back up, but you should try to stretch that tax refund as far as you can...like with a little "you did a great job last year" trip.

Now that the stress and worry of tax day is over, you can focus on more important things, like where to go with that tax refund. Ultimately, the government returned your money, and it might be patriotic to spend that money in our nation's capital. Washington DC isn't all stuffy politicians, but it can require some stuffed pockets.

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The TSA Won't Be Fooled by Your Fake ID Again

April 16, 2012 at 2:58 PM | by | Comments (0)

Fake boarding passes and fake IDs have been an obvious hole in TSA's security theater for over half a decade. We know it's been that long since we wrote about it a bit in 2008 and then at length in 2009 and then offhandedly in in 2011. That whole time terrorists were able to evade the no-fly list either by getting a fake ID that matched their real boarding pass or by generating a fake boarding pass that matched their real ID. Options!

Perhaps realizing that the situation was not conducive either to objective security or to the public's perceptions of the agency's reliability, TSA announced last fall that they would be rolling out new machines to bust fake IDs and boarding passes. Fast forward half a year later, and they're now actually doing it.

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Buying Flights in Bulk: JetBlue's New $699 'Go Pack'

April 10, 2012 at 10:40 AM | by | Comments (0)

Buying flights in bulk—is this the next new thing? Virgin America tried it out last year with a Gilt City deal that saw a pack of 3 roundtrip short-haul flights going for $427, all the way on up to 10 long-haul roundtrips for $3,585. Well, the originators of the All-You-Can-Jet idea—JetBlue—are kicking off spring travel with a bulk deal of their very own. The only catch? You have to really love flying between Boston and Washington DC.

The deal is quite simple:
· Buy a "Go Pack" of 10 one-way flights between Boston (BOS) and all Washington, DC airports—Washington-Reagan (DCA), Washington-Dulles (IAD), Baltimore (BWI).
· Pay $699, plus $7 in taxes for each flight (so it's $776 total).
· Fly your 10 flights between April 23 through June 27, 2012.
· Earn a lump sum 4,200 TrueBlue miles

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Inside the US Airways Club at Washington DC's Reagan National Airport

November 29, 2011 at 4:00 PM | by | Comments (2)

Have you ever entered a fancier doctor's office and been directed to "take a seat," and then looked around and thought, "hey, this isn't all that bad?" Of course you have; an experience like this is common enough, but what isn't so common is finding that exact same feel in an airline lounge.

Every so often we fly through Washington DC's Reagan National Airport and, this last time, we actually had enough of a layover to warrant spending some time drinking the complimentary coffee and soaking up the tarmac views from the US Airways Club in Concourse C.

Getting there: The lounge is after security, but up an elevator before you head down the concourse to the gates. A simple silver plaque lets you know this, and upstairs you'll hit the regular reception desk. It's here however that you may encounter problems if you're a Star Alliance Gold member, but not with US Airways. The receptionist at first wouldn't allow us entry, because we weren't traveling on an international ticket.

WRONG. Star Alliance Gold members (*of airlines other than Continental, United and US Airways) are allowed up there, so long as they're traveling on a Star Alliance flight in any class that day. Explaining the right to enter a lounge is not only embarrassing but it also immediately sours our impression of the place.

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Three Hours at DCA and We Spot Four Special Airplanes

Where: Washington Reagan National Airport [map], Washington, DC, United States
November 10, 2011 at 4:51 PM | by | Comments (0)

When we have to fly US Airways we don't exactly jump for joy. After all, we've not had the best of luck getting our luggage back or even convincing friends the airline still exists. There's not a whole lot of options for one-ways from Detroit-Metro to New York-LaGuardia however, and thus we occasionally find ourselves stuck on a layover at Reagan-National Airport.

After yesterday's experience plane spotting from the US Airways club overlooking the C gates though, we must admit that we regret it doesn't more often. Four—count 'em—four special liveries were on the tarmac. We were like a kid in a candy store (an adult in an airport—ha).

Above is US Air's retro ode to PSA (Pacific Southwest Airlines) whom they merged with back in 1987. The plane is smiling! Here's the other three we snapped:

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A 9-Foot-Tall Ronald Reagan Will Watch You Run for Your Flight at DCA

November 7, 2011 at 2:15 PM | by | Comments (0)

Get ready to wave at—or high-five—former President Ronald Reagan on your way to and from the airport this holiday season.

Reagan National Airport in DC has just added a nine-foot-tall bronze statue outside the entrance to the airport. Just in case you’re not too familiar with presidential history—he wasn’t really that tall. Anyway, this is like the fourth likeness of the former president dedicated this year, as 2011 is the 100th anniversary of his birth.

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Japan Explains 'Grope and Change' TSA Policy

September 28, 2011 at 2:22 PM | by | Comments (0)

On one hand, it's a little bold for Japanese comics to be spoofing American behavior on the same week that Japanese scientists are showcasing their hilariously disturbing pregnancy simulator vest around the country. Japan doesn't have a lock on Jaunted's weird travel category, but they're not exactly under-represented either (not one but two separate posts just about weird bras!) So a little bit of cross-cultural modesty is called for here.

On the other hand, the Washington Post did just publish a story about a TSA agent who got somewhat flummoxed by something "shiny." Literally. Too sparkly!

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Forget Plastic Wings! Air Wisconsin Gives First Flight Certificates

June 8, 2011 at 12:47 PM | by | Comment (1)

We have a really excellent series here at Jaunted (if we do say ourselves), called "My First Flight." Readers like you are invited to send us the story of your first trip in the skies, which we'll share on the site, because everyone's got to have a first time and it makes for a truly enjoyable read. The thing is, these stories come years and years after the first flight, when the moment has been relegated to the memory bank. It's not often that we hear from a newbie to the skies...until now. Kinda.

Yesterday while traveling on a regular ol' flight from DTW to DCA, we were witness to a tiny baby's very first plane trip. It was onboard a half-full Air Wisconsin Canadair Regional Jet that seats max 50 people, so this little girl could have disturbed everyone with her crying. Alas, she didn't cry one bit; instead, she spent the little-over-one-hour flight happily smiling at her mom and making courteous little giggles at the flight attendant's cooing. For her perfect behavior, the FA awarded the baby with a Certificate of First Flight.

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Travel Rant: US Airways' Incandescent Incompetence with a Single Checked Luggage

January 12, 2011 at 3:31 PM | by | Comments (0)


Some old school US Airways planes

Who doesn't love a good travel rant? Well we're here to make you day with a sweet little rant from Jaunted writer Omri, who had the pleasure of checking a bag and having it lost in transit. It sucks, sure, but then it became a nightmare. Now let's get to the ranting...

Welcome to Part I of our two-part series on the borderline comedic but mindblowingly frustrating experience we're having with US Airways. Last Sunday they were supposed to get us from Washington DC to Los Angeles on a couple of morning flights, with everything being wrapped up by about 10am. Fast forward to 7:30pm Sunday night and we've gone through four flights at three airports on two airlines, all over 14 hours...and the airline lost our luggage. The emphasis is on lost because—had they merely delayed our luggage—we wouldn't need two different posts to peel back the many layers of airline incompetence on display.

But we do need two posts, because this has been such a learning experience and—if we here at Jaunted are about anything—we're all about learning. So today we'll go over what happened and the things we learned about the airports we "visited." And on Friday we'll dive into our in-depth investigation of their baggage recovery policy, complete with stonewalling by US Airway's press people. Preview: outsourcing baggage recovery services to India is fun for everyone, except anyone who loses baggage.

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Snowpocalypse! East Coast Blizzard Causes Epic Shutdown

December 27, 2010 at 11:11 AM | by | Comments (0)

We thought Midwest (not to mention UK) air traffic two weeks ago was a total mess, and that things couldn't get much worse. Turns out we called that putt a little too early. If you're reading this right now, you're not suffering power outages like the 60,000 people in Massachusetts or the 16,000 people in New York or the 2,300 people in Rhode Island or the 40,000 people in Canada. So congratulations on that we suppose.

You're also not reading this from a New York airport, since those have been shut since last night. JFK, EWR, and LGA aren't projected to reopen until 4pm EST today, at which point they will have been offline for about about 24 hours each. That shouldn't be a problem, since it's not like a lot of people live in that region or like this was a weekend where lots of people were vacationing.

Ditto for the wave of airport cancellations that hit all three DC airports, plus Boston, Charlotte, Philadelphia, etc etc. Amtrak between New York and Boston is also shut down, so if you were desperately hoping to get to Logan and take the train into New York—which you probably couldn't do anyway—that won't work either.

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Wow, Chicago's O'Hare Airport is a Total Mess Right Now

Where: Chicago O'Hare Airport [map], Chicago, IL, United States
December 13, 2010 at 1:14 PM | by | Comments (2)

Regarding the monumental clusterfark going on in the Midwest, the Associated Press just posted a story optimistically headlined "Illinois recovers from windy winter storm." Yeah listen. We were in O'Hare last night, and we saw what the board looked like, and we read about the thousands of canceled flights...and we're not so sure about that.

We were in ORD as part of an itinerary that began in London and concluded at DCA-Reagan National. Why would we go through Chicago, which isn't between those two cities, to get between those two cities? Because that's how American Airlines wanted it. What they didn't mention at booking time was that they'd be canceling our Chicago to DC flight six or seven hours before takeoff, which means that the physical plane failed to get off the ground from wherever it was originally coming from. "Cascading failure," is what the engineers call it.

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