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New Route News for the 787, A380, JetBlue, Southwest and More!

Boeing 787s Being Born...

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Japan Airlines:
There’s new stuff to talk about when it comes to where Boeing’s 787 is headed next. Japan Airlines—they’re getting the plane too—just announced where the plane is headed, and it sounds like it’s going to Boston, Moscow, and Beijing. The super long-haul routes will depart from Tokyo-Narita, and the shorter flight over to China will depart from Tokyo-Haneda. For those in the nifty fifty looking to test out the plane, the flights to and from Beantown are scheduled to start doing their thing on April 22 of 2012.

· Turkish Airlines:
They might not need help from Kobe anymore—especially since he hasn’t been playing too much NBA basketball lately—as Turkish Airlines is busy expanding to here and over to there. Their latest new route plans to connect their home in Istanbul with Los Angeles with an additional route—guess things are going well. They’re now up to five flights per week on some pretty snazzy Boeing 777-300ERs, and if all goes well it sounds like the plan is boost things into daily service next March.

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More Seats, More Planes, More Routes from Air France, Hawaiian and Others

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Air France:
For those planning a trip to Paris next summer things just got little easier thanks to the pilots and crew over at Air France. Sure the carrier already flies from Los Angeles to Paris, but now they’re switching things up and using the A380 to link LAX with CDG.

Your winter plans won’t be getting the upgrade, as the plane swap is supposed to start beginning next May. Obviously a lot of stuff can change between now and early next year, but if you’re already looking to pick a flight try your best to score a ride with the big bird—it'll be number four at LAX in case you’re counting.

· Japan Airlines:
Apparently checking out the northern lights can cause quite a boost in tourism, so Japan Airlines is adding some more flights to and from Alaska this winter. They'redesigned for those looking to head into Alaska, but the planes also head back to Japan—just in case you need a little Tokyo. The airline is bumping up service between Japan and the United States from cities like Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, and Tokyo, and it’s all in hopes of checking out that elusive Aurora Borealis. We’re sure the souvenir shops are already ordering extra goodies in advance of the tourist invasion.

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Kobe Bryant Ignores the Kardashians in the Case of Turkish Airlines

We’re not going to take sides in the Kobe Bryant airline spokesperson drama, but we will report that it’s all speed ahead for the Lakers star and his partnership with Turkish Airlines.

Kobe recently hit the soundstage to finish taping of his latest Turkish Airlines commercial which is set to hit the air in the next month or so. In addition to the United States, the new spot will be available in around 80 countries, as the carrier looks to expand their reach around the globe.

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Hijackings / Turkish Airlines / Travel News / Travel Safety / → All Tags

Would-Be Turkish Airlines Hijacker Gets Sat On by Passengers

Forget about the United pilot who spilled coffee on his controls, accidentally activating the hijacking alert button. There was a real hijacking attempt yesterday, and for some reason it's been pretty underreported. Perhaps because the alleged hijacker wasn't successful? Still...

According to BBC News, a Turkish Airlines flight headed from Oslo to Istanbul was flying high like normal, when, suddenly, a passenger towards the rear of the plane donned a mask and held up a radio handset-like device claiming he had a bomb and wanted the plane turned around and taken back to Oslo.

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Southwest, Continental, and Lufthansa Have a Few of This Week's New Routes

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Southwest Airlines:
They haven’t even starting flying to and from the Garden State yet, but Southwest is already adding new nonstop routes to their new home at Newark-Liberty. Beginning next June, the airline is adding three daily flights to Baltimore-Washington and three trips to Denver as well as two flights to Houston and two flights to Phoenix. Not the most exciting locations, but these flights should allow for connections to pretty much anywhere within the Southwest route network. There’s no free beer to celebrate the new route announcement, but maybe they’ll have the first ever in-flight Taylor Ham sandwiches instead.

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Kobe Bryant Becomes the Face of Turkish Airlines, and Kim Kardashian Isn't Happy About It

Airlines in the United States usually don’t have too much extra cash hanging around to sign on famous celebrities and athletes, but that doesn’t appear to be the case for overseas carriers. This week, Turkish Airlines announced that in exchange for a whole bunch of lira, Kobe Bryant would serve as the airline’s global brand ambassador.

For the next two years, Kobe will make appearances and show up in advertisements across the globe to share the benefits of Turkish Airlines with the world. We don’t know if it’s going to make the carrier one of the world's most popular, but at least we now know about their new nonstop service from Los Angeles to Istanbul. There will be four flights per week beginning next March, and we bet Kobe will be on board one of them to shoot hoops at the Atatürk Airport, or in Europe and Asia at the same time.

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The Ultimate Travel Extra: Free City Tours During Layovers for Turkish Airlines Passengers

Here at Jaunted, we are seemingly always discussing the newest (and awesomest) in-flight amenities, airline meals and airport lounges that come part and parcel with the price of your ticket. Alas, there are even more extras to discover during international travel, like the fact that Turkish Airlines takes passengers with long layovers on FREE tours around Istanbul.

It works like this: if you're flying on Turkish and switching flights at Istanbul's Atatürk Airport and you've got a layover of six hours or more, then you can head to the airport's Hotel Information Desk to partake in a free tour with a private guide. Stops on the tours usually include time at the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar. The itineraries do vary, but you can check ahead of time here to see exactly where the tours go and when.

[Image: TurkishAirlines.com]

Airfare Deals / Turkey Travel / Istanbul Travel / Turkish Airlines / IAD / IST / LAX / → All Tags

$751 All-in on Turkish Airlines Direct to Istanbul. You In?

Every so often, we go through serious destination crushes, and we bet you do too. When it was summer in New York City, we were all about looking up airfares to Iceland, but now that it's cold and getting dreary, the exotic entrances. Which means that we've got our eye on Istanbul, and umm yea we're totally going to spend the weekend wasting hours on Wikipedia pages and Netflix documentaries about the city's history and landmarks. Or we could just book a flight and be done with it. That could also happen.

Luckily for travelers who also need a serious escape, Turkish Airlines just launched a sweet fare sale to coincide with the beginning of direct flights between Washington DC, Los Angeles and Istanbul. If you book before December 31 and travel before March 31, 2011, then flights on the DC route are $751 including taxes & fees and $999 on the LA route, same deal.

It's almost as good as that mindblowing Lufthansa sale that ended last week, but with the Turkish Airlines flights, you don't have to switch planes in Germany. These are direct, baby!

Here are all the details on the flights, and we'll (maybe) see you at the Blue Mosque.

[Photo: Bulent-LtBaSpotter]

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Manchester United Kicks Around a Soccer Ball onboard Turkish Airlines

They've called on Kevin Costner and the FC Barcelona soccer team in the past for their TV commercials, but this season Turkish Airlines has upgraded to Manchester United for a hot new spot.

Here at Jaunted, we love us some airline commercials and Turkish doesn't release nearly as many as, say, Southwest. So a new Turkish ad is a rare occasion, and this time they're showing off the spaciousness of their planes (note: in business class) by using the soccer players' best moves. We approve, although we could have done without the strained singing at the end.

Check it out above, and don't forget the Top 5 new airline ads for fall.

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America Soon to See More of Turkish Airlines: Our Chat with CEO Dr. Temel Kotil

What international airline is adding the most new direct routes to the US in the next year? If you guessed Turkish Airlines, you'd be right. The airline's CEO, Dr. Temel Kotil, was in New York City yesterday and we made sure to catch up with him to talk about Turkish's campaign to get more Americans interested in Turkey and their fast-expanding airline.

What Turkish Airlines' CEO Dr. Temel Kotil has to say... · On the next adventure for Turkish Airlines, in the US:
"We want to be the largest company on Earth," says a smiling Dr. Kotil, and although that sounds like the height of ambition, Kotil counters by stating that years ago, when they wanted to be Southern Europe's largest airline and in the top 3 for Europe, that was also counted as too ambitious. But both those goals have now been attained, and to continue expanding, they're looking at the US.

Three new routes will begin in the next several months: Washington DC, Atlanta and Los Angeles to Istanbul. Beyond that, Kotil wants to add twice daily flights from New York and new routes from Detroit, Boston, Houston and Miami.

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Turkish Airlines Flight Attendants Must Lose Weight or Lose Their Jobs

The arguments over overweight flight attendants play out a little differently than the near constant fights that travelers have about overweight passengers. Both are somewhat about safety, but that's roughly where the similarities end. With overweight rowmates, the day-to-day issues are about comfort. People invoke the "what if there's a one-in-a-million crash and I can't get out" argument to sound that much more legitimate (that and they make hay out of, umm, fitting into lavatories).

When airlines suspend overweight flight attendants, like Turkish Airlines just did to 28 of their employees, the safety issue certainly makes an appearance. It's probably even more legitimate than it is with passengers, since crews actually do play a critical role in flight safety even during non-emergencies. But the real issue is about looks, and about how much customers want their Diet Coke served by someone who looks svelte in a uniform, even if half of the suspended crew were men. And airlines aren't even shy about pointing that out.

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Turkish Airlines Joins Premium Economy Club with 'Comfort Class'

More and more airlines have been offering a so-called premium economy option—something in between Business and Economy—to see if that's something their customers will be willing to pay for. The usual amenities include some combination of baggage perks, increased seat space and pitch, and bonus in-flight entertainment.

Virgin Atlantic and British Airways have somewhat led the way on this, with Premium Economy and World Traveller Plus respectively (you can even check out our photo gallery of the Virgin Atlantic version here). Now Turkish Airlines has hopped aboard the premium economy train, offering passengers a new Comfort Class option.

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