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The Hawk Has Landed: Southwest Claims Its LaGuardia Gate

June 29, 2009 at 3:33 PM | 0 Comments

Please commence with your offerings to the LCC gods as finally, finally Southwest Airlines has claimed a stake in the crowded New York City airspace. Both arriving and leaving New York-LaGuardia for the first time this last Sunday, SWA made a literal splash as the airport's firetrucks welcomed the inaugural flight with traditional arcs of water.

Meanwhile in the terminal, Southwest doled out breakfast to hungry passengers, entertained with a lounge singer, and indulged in everybody's favorite form of service with a smile: gift bags.

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Sipping Summer Ale On NYC's New Southwest Porch at Bryant Park

June 26, 2009 at 9:38 AM | 0 Comments

You can butter them up with special events or even free beer, but the real way into the heart of New Yorkers is to do something for the city itself, to give people a new space to explore within this trampled metropolis. Thus, Southwest Airlines' new "Southwest Porch" at Bryant Park has taken off with immediate popularity and there's no doubt it will continue to be a crowd pleaser all summer.

We stopped by yesterday during Southwest's social media party—where they wanted to meet their NYC followers on Twitter and Facebook fans—and we have to be truthful here: the Porch freaking rocks. It just does. How to explain? Perhaps it's the cheery yellow color scheme and lounge-like seating that welcomes everyone, not just those buying drinks. Or maybe it's the novelty of swinging porch seats, adirondacks, and cuisine from star chef Tom Colicchio in the middle of one of NY's best-positioned parks. Really though, it could be all about the special beer: Southwest Summer Ale, which totally ran out yesterday evening.

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Tit For Tat At Southwest: Working WiFi, But 'Big Guy' Passenger Turned Away

June 24, 2009 at 9:42 AM | 4 Comments

Get your credit cards out as Southwest Airlines enters Phase Two of their In-Flight WiFi plan, as today marks the beginning of their charging for it.

Onboard the four planes currently outfitted with Row 44 WiFi, passengers can expect to shell out between $2 to $12 for access, with the final price displayed when your browser is launched and based on flight time and what device used to connect.

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Southwest Airlines Stakes A Foodie Claim In NYC's Bryant Park

June 16, 2009 at 1:42 PM | 2 Comments

Hey, , are you ready to the feel the Southwest Airlines love? With the low-cost airline flying into LaGuardia for the first time on June 28, they're looking to cuddle up to the notoriously stingy city.

And what better way than by feeding New Yorkers some of the celeb chef Tom Colicchio's 'Wichcraft food with a pop-up kiosk in Bryant Park, opening this Friday. At 175 seats, the "Southwest Porch" will have plenty of room for people to nibble on cheese plates and sandwiches with city themes while pondering their next flight to Chicago-Midway or BWI. The porch will even have rocking chairs and porch swings to imbue the park with a laid-back Southwest vibe.

According to the NYT, the special space will be open from 5-9pm Mondays through Thursdays and 12-4pm on Fridays until mid-September. We recommend making a mad dash for a table on Monday nights when the outdoor Bryant Park Film Fest plays; you may just catch "Kramer vs. Kramer" along with your Baltimore soft-shell crab sandwich.

Related Stories:
· Dining On the Porch in Bryant Park [NYT]
· Brand Expansions: 'Wichcraft To Open Bryant Park Pop-Up [Eater]
· Southwest Will Now Be Landing at LaGuardia On June 28 [Jaunted]
· Southwest Airlines Coverage [Jaunted]

[Image: Southwest Airlines]

2009 Airline In-Flight Entertainment Status Update

June 15, 2009 at 1:22 PM | 7 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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Eep! Southwest Has Penguins On A Plane!

June 11, 2009 at 8:45 AM | 3 Comments

Everyone knows the phrase "when pigs fly," but how about killer whales? Southwest Airlines recently celebrated the opening of the new Manta Ride at SeaWorld, and as the official airline of the aquatic amusement park, they flew in with "Shamu One," one of their 737s painted up with the whale livery.

Don't be surprised if you see the belly of this whale flying overhead at more than one airport; Southwest has three of them in their fleet. As a matter of fact, of their 500-strong planes, about 12 of them sport festive paint jobs like the NBA's "Slam Dunk One." But for the Shamu One, the partnership with SeaWorld goes beyond the plane exterior.

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Southwest Luvs Your Pets; 3rd Bags and Unaccompanied Minors Not So Much

May 29, 2009 at 11:32 AM | 1 Comment

Southwest Airlines doesn't charge any frivolous fees for checking online, or checking-in at the airport or even for checking a first or second bag which means we have a whole lot of LUV for them. But we knew the time would come when they would have to tack on some fees where they could.

That's why the airline has announced that it will charge a $25 fee for any unaccompanied minor traveling on its flights. A UM is a child aged give through 11 traveling without an adult. CEO Gary Kelley writes on the Nuts About Southwest Blog:

Up to this point, we’ve been fortunate enough to offer this added service without a charge—even though we carry increasing numbers of Unaccompanied Minors each year—but we simply cannot afford to continue down this same path. There is a substantive cost associated with the extra care needed to safely transport unaccompanied children, including Employee time and administrative work, and these costs can not be ignored any longer, not in today’s economic environment.

The UM fee will start for folks booking tickets on June 1 and for travel starting June 17.

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Guitar Hero Showdown: These Are Your Airlines On Twitter

May 19, 2009 at 9:16 AM | 4 Comments

Last night at an unassuming bar in Midtown Manhattan, we ordered up some mozzarella sticks and raised a beer to the first official Guitar Hero showdown between airline Twitter representatives. It was, as you can imagine, a combination of video games, general nerdiness, and hilarity which made the event a success.

Appropriately enough, the idea for a Guitar Hero match between the two top Twittering airlines of Jetblue and Southwest Airlines gathered strength at the music and media SXSW festival back in March. Both Jetblue's Morgan Johnston and Southwest's Christi Day were there and discovered that they'd both be in Manhattan in May for yet another conference, so why not pep up the festivities?

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Southwest Jet Suffers Tire Fire at Houston-Hobby

May 13, 2009 at 8:38 AM | 4 Comments

Last night was a beautiful evening, that is unless you happened to be channel surfing as we were, and come across Anderson Cooper talking between shots of a Southwest Airlines plane on fire and evacuating passengers via emergency slide.

Of course it wouldn't have been a pleasant end to the day for the passengers aboard Flight 519 from New Orleans to Houston either, as sitting aboard a flaming plane wasn't in the plans.

Upon landing at Houston-Hobby airport, the Southwest jet's tire caught fire and burned steadily through until emergency personnel arrived to the crippled plane on the runway. At that point, the rear left emergency slide deployed to get all 47 passengers and 5 crew out safely.

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JetBlue 'Protects Its Turf' By Adding Boston-BWI Flights

April 23, 2009 at 2:43 PM | 4 Comments

Once upon a time, America's Low Cost Carriers were united in fighting against the big bad airlines by providing cheaper fares and a better flying experience to passengers. Now, the LCCs have turned on each other. And it's not pretty. Actually, wait. Yeah, it is pretty especially if you want cheap flights.

JetBlue not only announced some unreal one-way airfare deals from its SoCal aiports ($99 Burbank to NYC, $29 Long Beach to Vegas) but now The Baltimore Sun reports that JetBlue has just added nonstop service from Boston to Baltimore/Washington International (BWI.) No offense to the folks in Baltimore but this is purely a move to piss off Southwest which has also announced plans for Boston flights in the fall.

One airline analyst said JetBlue is probably trying to protect its turf in Boston. Southwest could also serve people in Florida and other destinations from those same flights, further threatening some of JetBlue's territory.

The flights will begin in September and fly four times a day. And the introductory rate will be $10 cheaper than Southwest's introductory fare. And let's not forget AirTran is already on that route. But if you can choose between SW and JB why would you ever choose AT? No word on whether Virgin America will add BWI to its new Boston gates just yet.

Related Stories:
· JetBlue coming to BWI in September [B'More Sun]
· JetBlue adds BWI, sets stage for showdown with Southwest [USA Today]

Five Air Fare Sales in Case You Get a Tax Refund

April 15, 2009 at 1:41 PM | 0 Comments

Today is Tax Day and if you aren't out protesting in a Tax Day Tea Party, then perhaps you're like us, fantasizing about getting a fat tax refund and spending it on travel. Of course, the only problem is that some of these sales require you to book immediately to take advantage of the deal. So make sure there's room in your budget just in case that rebate doesn't come in like you thought. Below, we've rounded up Five Air Fare Sales in Case You Get a Tax Refund.

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LUV Sex Magic: Justin Timberlake Flies Southwest

April 13, 2009 at 8:56 AM | 1 Comment

Clearly the thrill of low fares doesn't just attract us common folk: Justin Timberlake hopped aboard Southwest Airlines on Friday, and did he have an "A" pass? You bet he did!

Timberlake and a bodyguard were allowed to board the Burbank-Las Vegas flight first, although somehow the singer's buddy still got stuck in the dreaded middle seat. (No, we don't know whether Justin is a window or an aisle.) Timberlake spent the weekend in Vegas, including a stop at the Playboy Club and a private tasting of his new tequila, 901, at Wynn-owned nightclub XS.

Timberlake is rumored to be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro this summer with Lupe Fiasco, a trip for which there are probably no low-cost carrier flights available. But maybe this priceless publicity will buy more time for Southwest's Vegas routes, on which the carrier was, according to the Las Vegas Sun, trimming capacity to better cope with the downturn. At $231 (the price of a round-trip we just pulled off Southwest.com for this weekend), it's the ticket even a non-millionaire can afford.

Related Stories:
· Justin Timberlake: FutureSex/LoveSouthwest [TMZ]
· J.T. promotes 901 and hits Blush, XS and Playboy Club [VegasDeluxe.com]
· To find profit, carrier plans to lose more Vegas flights [Las Vegas Sun]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: TMZ]