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Tags: New York City / Southwest Airlines / Beer Travel / Winter Travel / Bryant Park / → All Tags
Slankets, Sliders and Southwest Ale at NYC's Bryant Park
Almost six months ago, Southwest Airlines gave New Yorkers an outright gift: the Southwest Porch, a relaxing, open-air venue in the middle of the city at Bryant Park. During the day, workers from offices in Midtown would sit in the adirondack chairs and on the cushioned lounges to eat their packed lunches, and at night, they can return for a drink and snacks when the bar opens.
The Porch is a pleasant surprise for its lack of pretension and excess of good food choices (being from Top Chef Tom Colicchio' s 'wichcraft chain). We expected it to close down for the winter when the leaves began to fall, but instead the Porch has re-inaugurated itself via a winter menu and introduction of fire pits and slankets, the slankets in celebration of Southwest's recent SkyMall cover.
Tags: Frequent Flyer Miles / Airline Loyalty Progams / Delta / American Airlines / United / Southwest Airlines / Continental / → All Tags
What Kind Of Crazy Loot Can You Score With Your Frequent-Flyer Miles?
Earlier this year we were attempting to cash in some miles from Midwest Airlines accumulated over a lifetime of visiting Mom and Dad, when we noticed something weird: Along with gift certificates and logowear, we were presented with the option of using our surplus miles to buy Amtrak tickets. Well, that's weird: Why would an airline that still handles a generous amount of short-hop regional flights want to remind us that for short distances we could get a guaranteed outlet and more legroom?
Common wisdom holds that frequent-flyer miles just aren't what they used to be, thanks to high occupancies and rampant blackout dates. Not to mention, if you have trouble committing to one airline you probably have a few thousand miles sitting unused with a variety of different companies, with whom you will never fly enough to get the elusive free ticket. So why not cash them in for something wacky instead? With our guide, you'll never forget that trip to Acapulco so long as you have the electric doggy-door opener you bought with its mileage.
After the jump, we break it down by airline
Tags: Travel Snapshot / SkyMall / Snuggies / Southwest Airlines / In-Flight Magazines / → All Tags
Southwest Gets Its Own Special Slanket Skymall Cover Starring Santa!
Everyone loves SkyMall, the ridiculous shopper's catalog found on flights around the world. We're not sure anyone would actually buy anything featured on these pages but if you forgot your reading material, SkyMall will keep you highly entertained during take-off and landing. (For an analytical look at the products featured in SkyMall, we highly recommend perusing through Gadling's extensive SkyMall Monday posts.)
Yet while we're accustomed to seeing ridiculous things inside the pages of SkyMall, we were shocked to find Southwest Airlines on the COVER of a SkyMall magazine. Even worse, everyone pictured in the Southwest cabin is wearing Slankets. Yes, slankets! But that's not all. Guess who's handing out the slankets? SANTA. Southwest + Slankets + Santa = Serendipitous SkyMall Silliness. And in our opinion, the best in-flight magazine cover of the year.
Tags: Air Fare Sales / Southwest Airlines / Cheap Tickets / → All Tags
Fly on Southwest for $25 (or The Price of a Second Checked Bag on a Different Airline)
Yesterday, we bemoaned that airfares were getting more expensive but if you can hop in on this new sale from Southwest, you can fly short distances starting at $25 each way.
The sale starts today and ends at 11:59PST on October 29th and is good for travel between Dec. 2, 2009 and Dec. 16, 2009, or travel between Jan. 5, 2010, and Feb. 10, 2010. And the prices are easy to remember as everything is increments of 25. Flights up to 375 miles start at $25 one-way. Between 375 and 549 miles, fares are $50 one-way. Between 550 and 999 miles, fares are $75 one-way. Flights longer than a 1,000 miles will be the more expensive of the group, starting at about $100 per ticket.
Tags: Green Travel / Southwest Airlines / Airline News / Airlines / Technology / → All Tags
Southwest Adds A 'Green Plane' To Their Fleet As An Eco Test Lab
During yesterday's big news day down at Southwest Airlines' headquarters in Dallas, much more was revealed beyond the ten new routes for 2010, including the reveal of Southwest's new "Green Plane."
Aside from the snazzy new recycling logo added to the usual Southwest heart on the plane, the 737-700 is outfitted with a range of eco-products being tested out by Southwest, since the Green Plane serves as more than just a machine flying passengers place to place, but also as a test lab. It will still be flying it's regular route as flight WN222 between Chicago-Midway and Boston-Logan, so Midwest and Beantown travelers should keep an eye out, although it'll still rotate throughout the system.
Tags: New Routes / Southwest Airlines / Airline News / Airlines / Florida Travel / → All Tags
Southwest Announces 10 Hot New Routes For 2010
While we are all whittling down the last few hours of the work day, Southwest Airlines is throwing a full-blown airline party down at their headquarters in Dallas for their annual Media Day. For those who aren't airline dorks, that means that the low-cost carrier invites members of the press down to Texas to show off new innovations and annouce new routes in person, versus the usual Twitter blast.
Today's news is sure a doozy too: aside from their new "green plane" (more on that tomorrow), Southwest has announced a full 10 new routes beginning in 2010. 10 for 1010; that's cute. Let's break them down, shall we?
Where you'll be flying Southwest to next year, after the jump.
Tags: Prime-Plane-Spotting-Map / Plane Spotting / San Diego Travel / San Diego / SAN / Southwest Airlines / → All Tags
Plane-Spotting In San Diego Could Become A Literal Kiss-And-Fly
Plane spotting everything from legacy carriers to LCCs isn't all that difficult outside of San Diego International Airport with the hilly terrain, but there's one specific spot that lines up so well with the end of one of the runways that we simply must tell you about it. It's a parking garage.
Specifically, it's Aladdin's Parking Garage, at Kettner Boulevard and West Laurel Street, and it's a multi-level airport parking structure situated so perfectly for watching the activity on the runways at the airport. That said, the parking garage doesn't particularly like their reputation as a prime plane spotting location, and there are signs warning of "no loitering." But until they put up signs that warn "no making out," we'll keep coming back for a little literal Kiss-and-Fly.
Tags: Airfare Sales / Southwest Airlines / Travel Deals / → All Tags
Southwest's Airfare Sale Will Fly You To Fall Foliage For $59
Oh autumn leaves, how we love thee. We love thee so much that the simple fact that Southwest Airlines used fall colors to illustrate their airfare sale made us perk up. A $59 one-way flight also helps get our attention too, and SWA is offering such deals on routes like Phoenix to San Diego and Chicago to Columbus, OH.
To score the low prices, you must book by October 13 and travel by February 11, 2010. There are black-out days however: Fridays and Sundays, so if you're willing to fly on a Saturday and return later during the week, then you are in a perfect position to reap the benefits of the fall sale.
In particular, we've got our eyes on their two direct routes from New York-LaGuardia to Baltimore for $59 and Chicago for $109. It's still a fresh route and Southwest is still excited about it, and the enthusiasm is rubbing off on us. Time to dream about fall foliage in Maryland and Illinois...
Related Stories:
· Southwest Special Offers [Southwest]
· Southwest Airlines Coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Southwest]
Tags: Drug Travel / Drugs / American Airlines / Crime / Southwest Airlines / → All Tags
The Cocaine Smugglers Of American Airlines Spotlight Puerto Rico's Drug Problems
They say it never snows in Puerto Rico, but there was a whole bunch of white powder hitting the fan when some crew were arrested over the weekend after their cocaine smuggling operation of over a decade was found out.
According to the AP, the workers, a "mix of baggage handlers and other members of the ground crew, were part of a ring suspected of sending at least 9,000 kilograms (19,840 pounds) of cocaine over the past decade to destinations that include Miami and Orlando, Florida, and New Jersey. Of course this just throws the spotlight onto Puerto Rico as a major stepping stone to the US for drug traffickers, what with the lack of customs since Puerto Rico is already American soil.
Tags: Southwest Airlines / Airline Miles / Frequent Fliers / Mileage Programs / United / American Airlines / Frequent Flyer Programs / → All Tags
Southwest Hopes To Fill Seats By Offering Double Rewards Credits
We all know that airline travel has been down due to the economic situation, and when you combine that with the fall travel season things become very slow. That’s why a few airlines have searched through their marketing box and have pulled out the double frequent flyer miles promotion. American Airlines and United have announced that they’ll be providing double elite-qualifying miles through the middle of December. Those are the miles that get you airline status, and fancy upgrades, but won’t help you add to your frequent flier piggy bank for that dream vacation.
Southwest Airlines usually isn’t a follower of such trends as they kind of pride themselves on going their own way, but they too are now offering a fall travel rewards promotion. It's not a true double Rapid Rewards bonus, because their business select passengers won’t get the full bonus. However, we never spring for business anyway, so we’ll be happy enjoying one bonus credit for one-way trips and two bonus credits for round-trip flights.
Tags: Airline News / Southwest Airlines / BOS / DEN / Airport News / Airlines / → All Tags
Southwest Getting Serious About Logan, Launching Denver-Boston Route
We'll say this for Southwest: when the Dallas-based LCC wants to start a fare war, they sure start a fare war. The airline just got done opening its first routes to Boston and now, less than a month later, they're already expanding their point-to-points into Logan:
Southwest Airlines says it will launch service from Boston to Denver with two daily nonstop round-trips starting Jan. 10. The announcement marks the second addition the Dallas-based, lower-price carrier has made to its offering of destinations at Logan International Airport since it began service here Aug. 16. Southwest has begun taking reservations for flights and is offering introductory fares from Boston to the Denver International Airport as low as $99 each way.
Tags: Southwest Airlines / Airline Fees / Airline News / Overhead Compartments / Boarding Passes / → All Tags
The 'Earlybird Check-in' Gets The Overhead Storage On Southwest
How far would you go for first dibs on overhead bin space? On our recent flight back to New York, our plane ran out of overhead bin storage space for carry-ons just after half of the passengers had boarded, forcing the rest to rearrange last-minute and check what they would have preferred not to. But that is the price you pay for being late to the gate.
In an effort to give passengers what they want—more organized boarding and first access to overhead bins—while getting something they also love (money), Southwest is introducing their "Early Bird Check-in" option.
