AirGuideOnline Web	Subscribe E-Mail This Page
Home Airlines Airports Destinations Fidelity Programs Travel Health Travel Tech Travel Tips Aircraft Air Safety Air Security NEWS News Center Events FLIGHTS Flight Status Flight Schedules Airport Status Airport Guides City Guides AIRGUIDE Subscribe Advertising Marketing Content Info Services About Us Contact Us Site Map	HEADLINE NEWS Several big airlines waived fees for passengers who want to change their flying dates to avoid potentially serious winter storms in the East, including New York. So-called weather waivers were issued on Thursday by Delta, United, Continental, US Airways, and AirTran. Passengers who change their tickets, however, must rebook on flights within the next few days. The waivers from Continental, United, and US Airways apply to flights through Sunday. United said its waivers apply to tickets for travel passing through Washington, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia on United, United Express or United code-share flights. Travelers who change their ticket have to keep the same origin and destination, and rescheduled travel must take place within seven days of original travel date. Customers with canceled flights are eligible for a full refund. The policy covers flights to and from New York's LaGuardia; Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Allentown and Harrisburg, Pa.; Atlantic City, N.J.; Baltimore-Washington; and Reagan National, Dulles, Newport News and Richmond airports in Virginia. Feb 7, 2010 Mileage expert surveys frequent-flier trends. Today's big frequent-flier programs may have more than 1,000 partners ranging from movie rentals to mortgage companies, says Tim Winship of FrequentFlier.com. "The long-term trend has been the evolution of these programs from frequent-flier programs to frequent-buyer programs," he says, noting that robust partnerships present an opportunity for passengers. "Everything else being equal, you're better off participating in a program with more partners than one with fewer partners," he says. Feb 7, 2010 American Airlines Judge okays class action over skycap tips. A federal judge ruled Wednesday that skycaps across the country may join a Massachusetts class-action suit against American Airlines. Hundreds of skycaps say their earnings plunged after American imposed a $2 charge for curbside bag checks, and a jury in Boston has already awarded $325,000 to nine local skycaps. Other airlines have been named in similar suits, but Wednesday's decision marks the first time that a class has been certified in such a case. A spokesman for American says the carrier "respectfully disagrees" with the ruling and is considering an appeal. Feb 8, 2010 Republic Airways, Bombardier Republic to restructure Lynx, switch to all-jet service. Republic Airways said Thursday it will phase out the Bombardier Q400 turboprops operated by its Lynx Aviation division, converting the routes to Embraer regional jets flown by Republic pilots. About 400 Lynx jobs will be affected, and employees will be offered positions elsewhere at Republic or Frontier, according to a company spokesman. Republic's chief operating officer said the move "allows us to better utilize our existing aircraft resources and lower our cost of operating and maintaining multiple fleet types, while providing our customers with outstanding jet service." Feb 8, 2010 Richmond International Airport Virginia airport forced to issue security badge to felon. A Virginia congressman says he is "outraged" that Richmond International Airport in Virginia was forced by the TSA to issue a high-level security clearance to a convicted felon. "This is a matter of national security, and our citizens deserve better," Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., wrote in a letter to acting TSA administrator Gale Rossides. The Capital Region Airport Commission had originally denied an all-access badge to the TSA employee after discovering he had committed felony robbery at age 17. But TSA responded that the applicant met federal security standards and ordered the airport to issue the badge. The airport's CEO called the TSA action "unconscionable." Feb 8, 2010 Boeing 787 jetliner features larger windows, luggage bins. Boeing Commercial Airplanes unveiled its first 787 jetliner with the passenger cabin installed this week. The aircraft has features including larger windows that are dimmed electronically, larger overhead luggage bins that allow for more head room and toilet seats that close electronically. Airlines add "block time" to cut down on late flights. Airlines are adding minutes to the scheduled duration of their flights in order to boost their on-time arrivals. Passengers are noticing the difference. It used to be that "(i)f you leave late, you know you will arrive late. But now you leave late and arrive early," said frequent traveler Steve Edmonds. American considers fill-ins if flight attendants strike. American Airlines is "committed to the mediation process" with flight attendants but is willing to train management employees to step in if attendants go on strike. A company spokeswoman said American has notified the FAA of its contingency planning, which is standard operating procedure during contract negotiations. American and its flight attendants failed to reach an agreement during "lockdown" negotiations last month, but further talks are scheduled Feb. 27-March 3 in Washington, D.C. Frequent fliers earning fewer upgrades, experts say. Frequent fliers are finding it harder to score first-class upgrades, experts say, with more members qualifying for elite status even as airlines cut back on capacity. Randy Petersen estimates that 1% to 3% of frequent flier program members have traditionally qualified for elite tiers, though that number could soon reach 5% due to bonus offers for non-flight activity, such as credit card use. "Over the next two years, unless you're at the mid-tier elite level and upwards, you're probably never going to be able to get any upgrades," Petersen says. Luggage fee rise prompts closer scrutiny of service. Major airlines recently increased their fees for passengers to check luggage, prompting some to wonder whether the increases should spur the carriers to do more to ensure bags arrive when and where they should. However, government data show that occurrences of mishandled baggage are down, and experts point out that luggage is usually misplaced rather than lost. Many carriers are employing new technology and equipment to further improve baggage service. CIA chief expects al-Qaida attack within 6 months. Intelligence agencies expect al-Qaida to attempt an attack on the U.S. within three to six months, senior officials told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. "The biggest threat is not so much that we face an attack like 9/11," warned CIA Director Leon Panetta. "It is that [al-Qaida] is adapting its methods in ways that oftentimes make it difficult to detect." Panetta said the group is positioning "clean" recruits who have minimal contacts with known terrorists. France set to open trial in 10-year-old Concorde crash. Nearly a decade after an Air France Concorde crashed near Paris, a French court is seeking to apportion blame. Safety at Charles de Gaulle Airport has been questioned after investigators found that one of two routine runway sweeps had been canceled on the day of the crash. But the main controversy surrounds Continental Airlines: Investigators say a titanium wear strip from a Continental DC-10 fell onto the runway and was later struck by the Concorde, causing a chain reaction that led to the crash. But lawyers for Continental say they have 28 witnesses who saw the Concorde on fire before it struck the runway debris, and some aviation experts fear that putting an airline on trial will have a chilling effect that could lead to more such accidents in the future. Continental adds extra New York-London Heathrow flight. Competition on the key business route across the Atlantic will increase this year after Continental Airlines announced it was adding an extra two daily services between London Heathrow and New York Newark airports. The airline will add an early-evening departure from Heathrow from 28 March and an early morning departure from 31 October, taking its schedule to five times daily. Continental has also announced that all services in the route and from Heathrow to Houston will feature flat bed seats in BusinessFirst, its business-class cabin. The flat seat started to appear on the airline's services in November 2009. The seat offers a flat spleeping space of 6 feet 6 inches when fully extended and is 27 inches wide on the Boeing 777 when the armrest is flush with the seat cushion. The seats also offer 15.4 inch screens, laptop power, USB and iPod sockets. Air New Zealand unveils first lie-down economy bed. Airline unveils " the first major improvement in economy class travel comfort in 20 years". When it comes to a long-haul flight to New Zealand, the thought of 24 hours in an up-right economy seat is enough to make anyone shudder. But economy-class passengers will soon have the chance to lie flat like their envied fellow travellers in business and first. Air New Zealand has unveiled plans to introduce "beds" in economy class, in what it is calling the first major improvement in economy class travel comfort in 20 years. Developed in-house by the airline's designers and engineers, the 22 "Skycouches" will take up the first 11 rows in the economy cabin of the carrier's new Boeing 777-300 planes, and will be formed out of three economy seats abreast that fold out to create a lie-flat space (complete with full size pillows) stretching right up to the seats in front. The increased space could also provide a valuable play and sleep area for those travelling with small children. For two adults travelling, purchasing the Skycouch will be based on buying two seats at standard prices with the third seat at approximately half price. Full airfare details will be announced when it goes on sale in late April. "For those who choose, the days of sitting in economy and yearning to lie down and sleep are gone," Chief Executive Officer Rob Fyfe told reporters. "The dream is now a reality, one that you can even share with a travelling companion &endash; just keep your clothes on, thanks." The first routes to offer travellers the Skycouch will be between Auckland and Los Angeles from December 2010 and Auckland and London from April 2011. All other services will feature the seats by around 2012. The airline's Premium Economy Cabin will also be getting an upgrade and will feature "Spaceseats," set two abreast (it is currently three abreast) and designed so that the centre aisle seats can angle together to allow couples to dine at a shared table. TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY NEWS Search for a WiFi Zone Northwest website, flight numbers vanish as merger nears completion. Northwest Airlines flight numbers disappeared over the weekend, replaced with identical flights on Delta Air Lines. At the same time, visitors to Northwest's nwa.com website began being redirected to delta.com. The two moves resulted from an integration of the airlines' reservation systems, one of the final steps in completing a merger begun in October 2008. Delta says it added customer service agents around the country to assist with any confusion over the latest moves, but "it's gone quite well," according to an airline spokeswoman. Southwest Airlines finally has decided to wire its Boeing 737 fleet for wireless Internet service after dabbling with the concept for two years, and the question is, will the discounter offer its Wi-Fi service for peanuts? Texas-based Southwest said Friday that it plans to begin outfitting its aircraft to handle Row 44 Inc.'s satellite-based broadband service by the second quarter. Southwest initially will install equipment on about 15 aircraft per month and gradually increase that rate to 25 planes per month. It estimates that Wi-Fi will be available on the more than 540 planes in its fleet by early 2012. In little more than two years, Internet service has become widely available on flights within the U.S. The leading Wi-Fi provider, Itasca-based Aircell, has installed its Gogo service on about 700 jetliners and earlier this month raised $176 million to further fuel its growth. Passengers have been slow to warm to the service, however. Forrester Research Inc. estimates that about 15 percent of passengers surf the Web on a Wi-Fi-enabled flight, although 80 percent of these users purchase Wi-Fi on subsequent flights. After a decade of waiting, the Apple tablet is finally here, and reactions across the Internet are mixed, to say the least. Sure, there's always a bit of widespread deflation after a launch with so much hype behind it; nonetheless, the range of attitudes towards the iPad goes from "it's a great tablet, but I'll have to wait and see about the 'revolution' part," to "I'm so disappointed that it's just a giant iPod touch." Missing is the near-universal "Apple has changed the game" sentiment that followed the launch of the iPhone. None of this is to say that the iPad won't fundamentally change the game. It's just that this launch is closer to that of the original iPod&emdash;the idea itself isn't exactly new, competing offerings seem arguably better in some respects, and Apple will have to set itself apart from the pack by delivering a superior user and e-commerce experience. In other words, the iPad isn't going to waltz in and just change the world, the way that its smaller predecessor, the iPhone, did. It'll have to fight its way to the top, like the iPod. China steps up defense of Internet controls. China widened its attack against US criticisms of Internet censorship on Monday, raising the stakes in a dispute that has put Google in the middle of a political quarrel between the two global powers. China has stepped up its defense of curbs on the Internet nearly two weeks after the world's biggest search engine provider, Google Inc., said it wanted to stop censoring its Chinese Google.cn website and was alarmed by online hacking attacks from within China. Google's complaints received backing from the White House, but China countered with accusations that Washington was using the Internet to support subversion in Iran. The dispute has stoked friction between Beijing and Washington, already wrestling over trade, U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan and human rights. The rising heat over the Internet feud could narrow room for both sides to back down quietly while they seek to cooperate on broader financial and diplomatic worries. 100125 more Travel Tech news..... NEW Updated Version ! Airports - North America Airport Services, Information and Live Status from A to Z with terminal maps and links. Subscribe to Our Newsletters or AirGuide Airline & Travel - Global News AirGuide Air Safety & Security News AirGuide Destination News AirGuide Hotel & Resort News AirGuide Travel Tech News NEWS CONTACTS Editorial Contacts Please send comments and news tips to: news@airguideonline.com Press & Media Inquiries Please contact our New York office. news@airguideonline.com	Subscribe
	AIRguide 0912 / ISSN 1544-3760 Copyright © 1996-2009 Pyramid Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
	Magazines | Newsletters | Business & Prof | Books & eBooks Advertising | Marketing | Content | Info Services Links | Subscriptions | Order Center | Contact Us | Home Copyright © 1996-2010 Pyramid Media Group Liability | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service	Subscribe E-Mail This Page