Just a few days after Virgin America told regulators that it wants a bigger piece of the domestic market, the airline announced it'll start flights between JFK and McCarran International on September 4. Previously, you had to connect in either LA or San Francisco to fly from New York to Vegas on VA.
It's not a new city, but any expansion to Virgin's route network is much-needed. That said, the carrier will only have one flight a day between the cities. (It leaves JFK at 9:05 am and LAS at 2:15 pm.) It's not the frequency we'd like to see, but the price is right: Fares start at $159 one-way before taxes.
Here's some free advice for anyone starting an airline. If you're going to make YouTube videos, try not to read your script off a cue card. Sadly, we're too late to help out Family Airlines.
The upstart hopes to offer laughably low fares--LAS to LAX for $19--out of its Las Vegas hub by packing passengers into 747s. But that's hardly the best aircraft for short-haul routes in an age of pricey fuel. And let's not mention the fact that McCarran International already hosts a half dozen well-established low cost carriers.
Amazingly, Family Air doesn't seem too worried about escalating fuel prices because as CEO Barry Michaels says
I'm a believer that everything you see or touch should be paid for by advertisers.
So it's gonna be like Skybus, only with old, gas-guzzling planes flown by sketchy pilots? Sounds like a winner!
Seasoned travelers and frequent flyers are familiar with the SmarteCarte brand which offers, for a fee, a metal cart for you to tug your luggage around the airport. (The cart itself sadly doesn't come with that extra "e".) Honestly, we'd rather haul our luggage manually than pay a fee for a cart that is typically free in places like European airports and supermarkets.
Nevertheless, SmarteCarte has designed another way to get money out of beleaguered travelers with their ChargeCarte.
We spotted this machine in the Las Vegas airport the other week. The way it works is that you plug your cellphone (any brand), iPod or MP3 player into the machine and it will rapidly charge it for 30 minutes for $3 while you wait out the delays at the gate. The machine also locks your cellphone/MP3 player into its slot so it can't be stolen. [Ed. Note: Strike that. You have to watch your own phone as there are no locks. Sorry for getting your hopes up.]
Begrudgingly we kinda like this idea simply because we have traveled so many times without our phone chargers. Now if only they had a slot for digital cameras, too; we'd never have to stress about trying to find an obscure camera battery on the streets of Amsterdam again.
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In this summer-turned-fall of airport delays, one thing can help turn a trip from maddening hassle to sufferable necessity: Airport WiFi. If you're going to get stuck in a terminal far from home and far from where you're going, at least you can get online and get some work done (or update your Facebook page). At least, that's our dream.
Some airports claim free WiFi, but it is super tempermental and only exists in one terminal (JFK we are looking at you), some airports hang "We Have WiFi" banners throughout the terminals but in reality they offer a couple hours of access for $9.99, and worst of all, if you are hoping to gain coveted access to a sparse power outlet, they make you sit your ass on the, cold, hard, unforgiving airport floor while you access the web.
Lots of airports still don't even offer WiFi to travelers passing through, and we can't figure out why. In our view, it's another utility that should be provided for free, just like bathrooms and A/C. And more importantly, we find that an airport with reliable, free WiFi gets us planning our trip around such signal-strong airports.
But there's hope. Some large US airports are leading the way, while the real innovation is going on at the country's small airfields. Maybe it's due to less red tape, or maybe they just want to get noticed, but regional and less-used airports usually have the best WiFi.
Kudos, LAS. The last thing we wanted to do was end up saddled next to one of those never winning Wheel of Fortune slot machines while waiting for our red eye back east.
Everyone knows you have to get to the Vegas airport über early just in case you get backed up in one of those never ending, only-in-Vegas, security lines. So what happens when you plow through the non existent security line in no time flat? You are left with a good hour or so to kill. Thankfully, McCarran has your wireless back.
When you're leaving Las Vegas through the McCarren Airport, there's a way for you to leave on a good note. At The 02 Bar, you can pick and choose all sorts of oxygens to inhale. Travel blogger Go Nomad spied on the place last August, watching others as he smoked a cigarette:
With the $15, "Businessman's Special" you even get to keep the nose hose used to suck down flavored O2. The oxygen is sent through tubes of scented water, good for what ails you. Pick and choose relaxation, euphoria, hangover or becoming newly broke with no rent money.
From my spot just across the bar in the smokers lounge I watched various customers breathe deep for relief. It didn't look like many businessmen were stopping by but many sad young male gamblers sure were. It may have had something to do with the exotic looking bartender that worked the O2.
That and the fact that those young male gamblers lost their life savings so any sort of high would have been good, even a contact high.
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by pbb
