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Tags: Airfare Wars / Southwest / JetBlue / Boston / BOS / Airline News / LCCs / → All Tags
JetBlue Retaliates To Southwest's Latest Boston Escalation
Now this is just getting silly. The dustup at Logan was already the most interesting battle in the airline industry, with Southwest turning the turf war into a bloodbath and pushing out major carriers like US Airways. JetBlue—which considers Boston home turf—isn't going to be shoved aside as easily. They're retaliating by increasing their Boston flights by a full 30 percent.
Southwest recently broadsided JetBlue and AirTran by adding two daily roundtrips, for a total of seven, between Boston and Baltimore. That bumped up the total number of BOS-BWI dailies to 20. Given that 20 is probably way more than necessary, an outside observer might guess that Southwest was just trying to spite their rivals.
Tags: Airfare Wars / Southwest / JetBlue / Boston / BOS / AirTran / BWI / Airline News / LCCs / → All Tags
Southwest Intensifies Boston Turf War With JetBlue And AirTran
The outlook for the 2010 airline industry is unremittingly bleak, but you wouldn't know it from the way that Southwest is acting. The low cost carrier is adding 104 flights to its spring schedule. In the process they're turning the Boston turf war they started with JetBlue and AirTran into a full-blown bloodbath:
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: Airline News / AirTran / BOS / JetBlue / Southwest / → All Tags
Southwest Triggers Turf War And Lower Prices By Landing In Boston
Southwest began flying out of Boston-Logan last Sunday, a move that their CEO once declared would never ever happen. Nonetheless, we weren't particularly surprised: we flagged the expansion back in April when they announced their routes, and again a few weeks ago when AirTran gave them a "welcome to Boston" by announcing free WiFi for Boston flights.
What is much more interesting is what the move means for the LCC niche and the airline industry as a whole, two different markets that are increasingly difficult to untangle.
The Wall Street Journal just published a must-read article on the industry, taking Southwest's expansion as the centerpiece and moving on from there:
Tags: AirTran / WiFi / In-Flight WiFi / Airline News / BOS / Southwest / → All Tags
Take That Southwest: AirTran To Offer Free WiFi From Boston in August
For those who haven’t been taking notes, Southwest Airlines is set to take off from Logan Airport in Boston starting halfway through August. Hopefully their low cost model will help lower flight prices out of Beantown; it has already brought some freebies to flyers thanks to a little friendly competition.
AirTran knows the stakes are high, so they are offering free WiFi aboard all their flights that travel between BOS and BWI—one of Southwest’s main routes. The free in-flight WiFi will be available for the whole month of August, in hopes that travelers will choose their WiFi planes over the other guys.
Tags: New Routes / Airline News / BOS / Porter Airlines / → All Tags
Porter, The Little Airline That Could, Adds Boston Route
This is the story of a little airline that could; Porter Airlines has expanded service against all odds. Their original route, from Toronto City Airport to Newark, has sprouted into a full few destinations from Toronto including Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax and more. They even made the jump across the border last fall with the addition of service to Chicago-Midway.
This month brings some new meat for Porter fans to chew: they'll begin flights to Boston-Logan from Toronto three times daily on September 14.
Long a favorite airline of Monocle magazine, Porter seems to favor slow and steady expansion. We've been dying to try them out, but we're going to need a better reason to head to Toronto than "just cause" if we're paying $99+ each way without taxes and fees ($306 total).
Related Stories:
· Porter Airlines Announces Service To Boston [Porter Airlines]
· Porter Airlines Coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Eric Begin]
Tags: New Routes / Airline News / Southwest / BOS / → All Tags
Southwest Announces Its Boston Flight Schedule
Like all good airline nerds, we've been eagerly anticipating Southwest's flight schedule out of Boston and today we're happy not only to know where SW is flying from Beantown but also when.
Starting on August 16 the airline that LUVs its customers will be departing from Logan Airport ten times per day. They're going to head to Chicago's Midway Airport five times daily, while another another five planes fly down to Baltimore-Washington Airport each day as well. Since these are both major hubs for the airline, you'll pretty much be able to get anywhere you'd like.
Fares for these new routes will start at $89 each-way from Chicago, and $49 each-way from Baltimore. To take advantage of these opening day rates you need to book them by April 20, and finish your trip before October 29. Of course taxes, fees, and other stuff is extra—Fridays and Sundays are excluded from the deal.
Now, let's just hope they have some new in-flight WiFi news up their sleeves soon, we're dying to know more over here.
Related Stories:
·Southwest Airlines Announces Fares and Flights To/From Boston Logan [Official Site]
·Southwest To Begin Service to Boston [Chicago Sun-Times]
·Southwest coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Southwest Airlines / Virgin America / New Routes / BOS / Travel News / → All Tags
Hey Virgin America, Guess What? Southwest Flying Out of Boston Too
Airline fight at three o'clock in the parking lot! Fight, fight, fight....
Ok so the rivalry between Southwest and Virgin America isn't exactly like the fights between the metalheads and the preppies that you witnessed in high school but it's close.
Just last week Virgin kicked off their new service from Boston Logan International Airport and now today, Southwest has announced their service from BOS starting in the Fall of 2009. Here are some scant details from the press release:
The carrier has not released specific service details, saying only that it will begin with a conservative number of flights that will complement its 64 airport network. Southwest Airlines Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO Gary Kelly shared the news with Southwest Employees at a Company event in Chicago last night.
You can see the short clip of Kelly (sans Pats cheerleader outfit) announcing the new route above or here.
Tags: Upscale Airport Restaurants / BOS / Todd English / Restaurants / → All Tags
Todd English's Bonfire Sets Logan Ablaze
No one's going to fault Boston's Logan International Airport for being too flashy; the whole place exudes a comfortable shabbiness akin to an aunt's living room. Chef Todd English must have flown through there one too many times when he decided to put a steakhouse there, but is it more prime rib or Salisbury steak?
Located through security in terminal B near the American Airlines gates, Bonfire is the namesake of English's well regarded Back Bay restaurant attached to the Park Plaza Hotel. English started his career with Olives in nearby Charlestown and is Eva Longoria's partner in Beso, her Mexican-American restaurant in Los Angeles.
Beyond the audacity of putting a steakhouse in what's normally the plastic-knife zone, Bonfire's reviews are definitely mixed, with one Yelper asking: "Why would you purchase a large space at the airport and then fill it with such terrible food, Todd?" Still, Bonfire was successful enough that English opened another location at New York's JFK Airport in Terminal 7 (the United terminal) last fall.
Have you eaten at either of these fancy flight fooderies? We'd love to know your review.
Related Stories:
· Todd English Makes Us a Gild Hall Hotel Meal for $8 [HC]
· Martin Scorsese, "The Departed"'s Oscar Victory Tour Guide [Jaunted]
· 2008: New NYC Restaurant: The Libertine (an English creation) [Jaunted]
[Photo: Boston.com]
Tags: New Airline Routes / Virgin America / Charles Ogilvie / BOS / LAX / SFO / → All Tags
Virgin America Lands in Boston, Jaunted Gets a History Lesson
If you have been following our tweets, you know that last night we attended Virgin America's "Revolution is in the Air" @ the Liberty Hotel in Boston. The event marked the beginning of Virgin America service from BOS to LAX and SFO (we found fares yesterday for as low as $198 round trip).
Last nights party featured some New England Patriot cheerleaders, Richard Branson, and other "local celebrities" as they were billed, which much to our surprise turned out not to be a Wahlberg of any kind (Maria Menounos was the aforementioned celebrity). However, the big news for long time Jaunted readers is that Virgin America's original director of in-flight entertainment, Charles Ogilvie, cirrently Panasonic's Executive Director in Shanghai was in town and able to chill with us at this event.
Charles brought his Mom Ann Godfrey (pictured here) to the soirée. Turns out Charles has quite a history in the aviation world. Ann's Dad founded Godfrey Field, which is now BGR (Bangor International). Back in the day, Edward Rawson Godfrey welcomed Amelia Earhart to his airport. Very cool.
Tags: Airfare Sales / JetBlue / LAX / JFK / BOS / New Routes / → All Tags
JetBlue's LAX Service is All About the Benjamins
So they've gone and actually done it: JetBlue has announced cross-country service from Los Angeles to both Boston and New York-JFK beginning in June; no more arriving to Long Beach and trudging out to rent a car just to make it into LA proper.
These much-desired new routes arrive a whole year after JetBlue originally announced they would, and they've got their minds right to make it up to us for staying patient.
If you're California dreaming already, then jump aboard one of the first flights on the new routes with JetBlue's celebratory fare sale. For $105, or a little over a solid Benjamin, you can travel one-way on the LAX-JKF or LAX-BOS routes, which is a huge improvement over the usual Long Beach fares starting at $149 each way.
Discounted airfare is great since we need it so badly right now, but if we had our way, we'd make JetBlue bring back the epic sale they held when they began the Chicago routes. A ridiculously low $35 each way meant we were criss-crossing the country quite a bit that year; ah, those were the days.
Related Stories:
· JetBlue Travel Deals [Official Site]
· JetBlue to Launch Long-Awaited LAX Service [Jaunted]
· JetBlue Starting Transcontinental Service [Jaunted]
Tags: New Routes / Airline News / Air Azores / Travel News / BOS / → All Tags
Azores Express Has a Thing for Boston: More Routes
Boston is having all the airline fun these days, and the new routes just keep on coming with the addition of extra flights on Azores Express from Boston Logan to Lisbon, Portugal. What at first seems like a pretty standard transatlantic flight to Europe will however include a stopover on San Miguel Island in the Azores, meaning the more adventurous travelers of Beantown can finally get the volcanic action they desire.
This new Sunday route to the Azores will begin on April 5, to be followed by an additional Boston-Lisbon direct on July 1. Azores vacations may begin to compete with the west coast for Bostonians, as flying time to San Miguel is only four hours. Despite the short flight, the roundtrip airfare reflects the exotic route, beginning at $710 plus tax. The nonstop flight will be priced at $816 plus tax.
For those east coasters aching for a European vacation but tempted by the usual budget Cancun deals, this flight may make all the difference.
Related Stories:
· Azores Express/SATA Airlines [Official Site]
· WTF is Terceira, Portugal? [Jaunted]
· Airline News coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Miguel Van Dijk Grilo]
