Jaunted

Oneworld / Airline Alliances / Airline News / American Airlines / US Airways / LAN / TAM / LATAM / Qatar Airways / Malaysia Airlines / Sri Lankan Airlines / → All Tags

What's Up with the Oneworld Airline Alliance in 2013

There's been some big, exciting news in the aviation world, and some bankruptcies and some mergers that cross the lines of traditional airline alliances. These shake-ups will redraw alliance lines and might affect your ability to earn and burn frequent flyer miles to your dream destination. Let's discuss Oneworld since the recent American and US Airways merger will mean the most for US-based travelers.

We already know that the New American will be sticking with Oneworld, which means the inevitable departure of US Airways from Star Alliance. In general, this doesn't open up a wealth of new US destinations, but it actually expands an already thorough South American network and opens a few new European cities to Oneworld.

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Events / Free Stuff / Miami Travel / Art Basel Miami Beach 2012 / Design Travel / LAN / TAM / Street Art Travel / → All Tags

Four Awesome (and Free!) Art Basel Miami Beach Events Open to All

YAY—it's Saturday! Let's talk Art Basel Miami Beach. The annual contemporary art event—which encompasses several art fairs, art installations around the city, and a gajillion parties—brings in the big spenders and the struggling creatives alike for four days of fun in the sun.

The official dates are Thursday-Sunday, December 6-9, but it's this weekend that sees the most interest from people outside the art & design industries. Yes, even regular people can attend. Though tickets to hit any of the main fairs cost double digits, there's plenty gratis happenings for a sweet taste of this infamous event.

Here's our four favorite free events, open to all:

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Airfare Deals / LAN / TAM / Virgin America / CES 2013 / CES / Private Jets / Gilt / AirTran / Cyber Monday / → All Tags

The Only Three Cyber Monday Airfare Sales We Care About

As much as it pains us to type the words "Cyber Monday," it's true that there are enough travel deals out there to make the term stick a bit. Here's a few worth mentioning:

· Virgin America private jet to CES:
$49,000 gets you VX's #nerdbird, an A320 that'll bear a design of your choosing for one month. Oh yeah, and you'll get a roundtrip flight for 136 guests from San Francisco to Las Vegas for 2013 CES—the world's largest consumer electronics show—on that plane.

The trip will come complete with free onboard Gogo WiFi, Elevate Silver status for all guests, Elevate Gold for the purchaser +1, and all 136 CES passes and keynote tickets will be taken care of. We seriously dare you to find a private jet company that can beat this deal. They just can't, especially when it comes to the addition of the custom livery! Buy it on Gilt City. AMEX Centurion cards were practically made for moments like this.

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Travel Deals / Black Friday / Sales / Cathay Pacific / Cruise Travel / Airfare / Celebrity Cruises / LAN / TAM / Cyber Monday / → All Tags

Four Cyber Monday Travel Deals to Salivate Over Now

We know you've planned your itinerary for overindulgence this week, but there’s still time to tweak things a little bit in advance of the shopping bonanzas known as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Sure you can head out into the dark of the early morning hours in search of a discounted television, computer, or toaster, or you can just fire up the laptop, tablet, or phone and look for some travel deals. We’re not exactly sure who will be offering what—that’s the surprise of Black Friday—but here’s some hints.

· Cathay Pacific is doing something, but we’re not sure exactly what. They have a landing page set up and ready to go promising a “Black Friday Exclusive,” and requesting us to check back with them at midnight on November 23. A little research reveals that it may be a 15% off airfare deal. Expect the discount to apply for travel through February 2013, and it sounds like those booking tickets will even be entered into a special contest.

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Airline News / TAM / First Class Travel / In-Flight Comfort / B777 / Brazil Travel / Wallpaper* / → All Tags

TAM Introduces a Homey New First Class Cabin and We Likey

Cue the oohs and ahhs with this new first class seat from our friends way south of the border, TAM. The airline has unveiled its plans for an overhauled premium cabin for its new 777s they will take delivery of later this year.

The concept the refreshed cabin wants to convey is "From Home To Home." Basically this means they've created a comfy living space with all the the bells and whistles of a typical comfy space in your own home. Each of the four seats in first class will sport a wide seat, individual closets, a lamp, dining table, cushions, and a Nespresso service for in mid-flight pick-me-up. From the looks of it, the seat could pass for an executive office with its wood-grain, calming grey and splash of spring green.

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In-Flight WiFi / OnAir / TAM / Airline News / WiFi / Technology / South America Travel / Brazil Travel / → All Tags

TAM Tweaks Their In-Flight WiFi to Include Long-Haul Flights

It’s been some time since we heard about TAM Airlines and their new in-flight technology, but now is a perfect moment to revisit the topic as they’re beginning to expand their travel tech.

While in-flight WiFi is available on certain short-haul trips, the big news is that TAM is now bringing the magic of in-flight accessibility to some of their long-haul flights as well. They’ll be using OnAir to provide all the behind-the-scenes magic, as they start to equip their Boeing 777s along with Airbus A330s and A350s. In total there should be roughly 80 jets when the mechanics, electricians, and engineers finally hang up their wrenches and wire cutters.

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In-Flight WiFi / OnAir / TAM / Airline News / WiFi / Technology / South America Travel / Brazil Travel / → All Tags

In-Flight Phone Calls and Texting Hit Brazil's TAM Airlines

Jeez, it wasn't all that long ago when In-Flight WiFi seemed like it would be a rare dream occurrence, but then the airlines really got with it and set their sights on connectivity solutions for passengers. The newest airline to join the in-flight WiFi club is Brazil's TAM, who recently announced that internet is now available on select Airbus A321s, operating between Guarulhos, Recife, Natal, Fortaleza and Porto Alegre.

But wait! TAM's partnership with OnAir for this connectivity is more than just the internet; passengers can now also make and receive phone calls and send and receive text messages on GPRS networks from their GSM phones. Of course your plane must be at cruising altitude before you can hit "power," but once you are, up to 8 passengers can use the calling and texting signal at once.

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Airline Mergers / Airline News / Airlines / LAN / TAM / Airline Industry / LATAM / → All Tags

South America's TAM and LAN Airlines to Combine Letters, Planes and Pilots

There’s a little bit of alphabet soup going on south of the equator. LAN Airlines of Chile and TAM Airlines or Brazil are thinking about shacking up to serve as South America’s largest airline. We do need to get to Brazil for the summer Olympics, so maybe we’ll get to check out the combined airline sooner than later.

Together the combined airline will be known as LATAM Airlines Group, and will include the two airlines as well as some affiliates and cargo operations. Like all airline mergers and buddying up there’s all kind of rules and regulations to follow, so it’s far from a done deal just yet. Both airlines need to work out all the details, but they did pass notes and confirmed that they like each other by circling yes—so we think they’ll be good-to-go.

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