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If Continental Combines With United, They'd Oust Delta As World's Largest Carrier

November 12, 2009 at 8:39 AM | by kjb | 3 Comments

Continental Airlines has made a pretty smooth transition over to the Star Alliance. We’ve been talking about them dumping their former pals at SkyTeam for some new friends for quite a bit, but now the airline might just be rekindling an old flame.

Rumors from the past have once again been brought to the surface regarding Continental Airlines shacking up with United Airlines. Apparently now that the two major carriers are all cozy with one another in their new alliance they might just want to take their relationship to the next level. The head honcho over at Continental said last week that the airline hasn’t totally ruled out a merger with United Airlines. It looks like US Airways might become the third wheel in this potential airline love triangle.

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Final Approval Comes For Continental To Join Cool Kids of Star Alliance

July 13, 2009 at 9:19 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

Late last week Continental Airlines got the final go ahead to leave all their old friends at SkyTeam for the greener pastures of a Star Alliance circle of friends. We knew this was coming, but first they had to make sure the government said it was fine and dandy.

This fall, when the airline falls in with the Star Alliance, we hope all the other airlines make room for them at the cool kids table in the cafeteria. They’ll definitely be trading for Oreos while discussing schedules, marketing, and jointly planned pricing.

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Continental Asking Flight Attendants To Stay Grounded

July 6, 2009 at 9:04 AM | by kjb | 0 Comments

Most people would gladly leave their jobs for the opportunity to do something else for a few months. However, taking a sabbatical is a tough choice when your company is the one initiating the leave.

Continental Airlines is asking their 9,500 flight attendants to think about taking voluntary leaves starting in September. Obviously the airline is looking to cut costs and save some cash during this period of slow travel and reduced spending.

Workers who opt to take a leave of absence can choose from five or nine month time periods—which is a long time to be away from the skies, considering all of the safety details and more that an attendant must have memorized. During their absence, the flight attendants will still maintain travel privileges, health insurance, and will accrue vacation time, but just won't be paid.

Clearly it’s hard to voluntarily give up your paycheck, but with an abundance of empty seats on planes across the globe, now might be a great time to take some time off to travel. The airline is looking for about 650 volunteers, and although the economic situation is bleak, we’re thinking they’ll have no trouble finding some folks willing to hang up their wings for a few months.

Related Stories:
· Continental Asks Flight Attendants to Consider Leaves [Houston Chronicle]
· Continental Celebrates 75th Anniversary By Buying Their Own Present [Jaunted]
· Continental coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: 787 Dreamliner]

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Pilot Dies Mid-Flight Aboard Continental Transatlantic Flight 61

June 18, 2009 at 11:23 AM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

Update: The plane has landed safely at Newark. The news is reporting that the pilot died of natural causes; he is 60 years old and has been with Continental for 32 years. Because of the emergency landing, arrivals to JFK, LaGuardia, Philadelphia and Newark will be delayed between 1-2 hours.

Very sad news this morning as we learn of the death of the pilot onboard Continental Airlines Flight 61 from Brussels to Newark.

While details are still hazy, as the Boeing 777 hasn't even landed yet, it is confirmed that control of the plane has been taken over by the first officer, and that there luckily are reserve crew who are helping with this situation.

The flight is expected for an emergency landing at Newark-Liberty, its scheduled destination, within this next half hour. According to the morning news, there is a chance that the passengers onboard are not even aware of their pilot's passing away, but we guess we'll find out in the next 30 minutes. Stay tuned for more updates, or follow our example and anxiously track the flight on FlightStats.

[Photo: caribb]

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Somali Pirates Strike Again

April 8, 2009 at 5:01 PM | by juliana | 0 Comments

With so much travel news raining down on us, we don't always have time to give every story its own forecast. Here's more of the day's news, in brief.

· Hostage Situation: Somali pirates took over a U.S.-flagged ship near the Horn of Africa this morning capturing about 21 American crew members. However, the crew was able to regain control of their ship except their captain is still being held hostage. Story unfolding. [NY Post]

· Continental Airlines Switching to Star Alliance: Continental just received U.S. approval to join the Star Alliance. This alliance, which includes United Airlines and Lufthansa, will allow Continental to offer passengers access to more routes and better prices. So they say. Continental is currently a part of SkyOne which includes Delta/Northwest and KLM Airlines. After a 21-public comment period, Continental then can join the Star team. [Chicago Tribune]

· Kentucky Derby Travel for the Rich Only?: Hotel room rates in Louisville for the Kentucky Derby are averaging about $350 a night with the Hyatt Regency going for $1,130 a night. Reasonable or insane? [HotelChatter]

· Hotelicopter Is Kind of Real: One more from our sister site...The Hotelicopter is real in the sense that it's a hotel booking site, not an actual hotel. Oh. [HotelChatter]

· Ski Season Almost Over Dude: Lake Tahoe is closing up soon and LA Times gives you the closing dates for the ski resorts in the region. [LAT Daily Deal and Travel Blog]

[Photo: LAT]

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Five Airfare Sales To Get You Out of the Staycation Doldrums

April 1, 2009 at 12:16 PM | by juliana | 0 Comments

Once again, airlines have gone a little crazy releasing deals left and right to get travelers out of the "staycation" mode. With Easter less than two weeks away, it's probably too late to visit the Easter Bunny but if you plan on traveling early this summer there are some rather good domestic deals to take advantage of.

If you want to leave the country, like we do, we were surprised to find some rather reasonable last-minute fares. These are the Five Air Sales We Like Right Now. Any tips on what you want to see more of or less of? Let us know. We're much nicer than Air India.

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The Kindle 2.0 To Be Seen in Business Class Near You

February 9, 2009 at 6:14 PM | by juliana | 0 Comments

With so much travel news raining down on us, we don't always have time to give every story its own forecast. Here's more of the day's news, in brief.

· Kindle 2.0 Arrives: Frequent travelers will be happy to know that the new Kindle is "lighter, brighter and chattier." Unfortunately, it still has a bit of sticker shock at $349. [NY Times]

· Chris Brown's Rental Car (and Rihanna) Hell: We all know that Chris Brown and Rihanna has an alteraction over the weekend but TMZ is reporting that the Lamborghini Brown rented from an exotic rental car company, Platinum Motorsport, is still sitting in lock-up at a cost of $2,000 a day. Oops. Hopefully that should teach him not to beat up on his girlfriend. [TMZ]

· Continental Goes Shanghai from EWR: Starting March 25, Continental will have direct daily flights to Shanghai from Newark Liberty International Airport. Fares are starting at $777 round-trip. [Time, 5th item]

· Some Paris Flights Cancelled: Powerful storms return to France and force flights into and out of Paris airports to be canceled. [Belfast Telegraph]

· Vegas Is Probably The Best Place to Vacation: Rates are dropping all over Sin City, making it feasible for you to afford a getaway. [CNN]

· 30 Rock on American: American Airlines and NBC have teamed up to show passengers NBC shows like "30 Rock", "The Office" and "TODAY." [Press Release]

[Photo: NY Times]

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Continental Splits From SkyTeam For United, Star Alliance

January 30, 2009 at 11:10 AM | by egw | 0 Comments

Like your drunk friend who thinks everyone should know about her personal drama from her first, Continental Airlines e-mailed all its OnePass members last night to announce it is finally pulling away from the SkyTeam airline alliance and joining the Star Alliance. The official split date is October 24, after which Delta, Air France and KLM will be gathering at Korean Air's house to burn all of Continental's stuff.

The break-up has been a while in the making as Continental announced last year it would partner with United Airlines to fight high fuel costs after flirting with both American and British Airways. Continental had even explored buying the Star Alliance partner but walked away after United revealed greater than expected losses.

Should you cash in your Continental miles now while the gettin's still good, or wait to see what the new partnership can get you? We say redeem 'em now, if you can: The airline announced yesterday it will be cutting service overall by 7 percent after reporting a $266 million fourth-quarter loss.

Related Stories:
· 2008: Continental, United join in code-sharing, frequent-flier pact [USA Today]
· Continental's Switch from SkyTeam to Star [Houston Chronicle Departures blog]
· Continental, US Air Bring Group Loss to $1.35 Billion [Bloomberg News]

[Photo: caribb]