Kinglobjaw's Blog

Archive for the ‘Airline News’ Category

Charlotte, NC to Honolulu nonstop on US Airways is supposed to start in November 2009. The extra 767 for this route will come from one of the three now officially downgraded to seasonal European routes (Brussels, Milan, Zurich). Apparently, this will be a seasonal route that will operate until Summer 2010 and resume in fall 2010 again. It will most likely affect Delta’s nonstop 747 service from Atlanta, GA to Honolulu, HI.

Charlotte, NC to Honolulu, HI. 4,678 miles.

I will definitely take this flight into consideration when I go to Kauai next year. I’m assuming the meal service will be lunch or dinner followed by pre-arrival snack westbound, while the east bound will most likely offer dinner, followed by breakfast prior to landing. That’s in First Class, of course. In coach, I’m going to guess that meal service will be complementary to compete with Delta.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

US Airways is introducing snacks for purchase on shorter flights over 1 hour in length. Details can be found here.

But, I do wonder- will they be complimentary in First Class? Or does this change also indicate that the snack basket will see some kind of snack rotation? Looks like I’ll find out soon!

I’m willing to say US Airways will offer this up front at no extra charge. This hypothesis is based on a recent experience on USAirways’ Hawaii flights offering complimentary premium/energy beverages in First that are for purchase in coach. No, I don’t mean wine/spirits- I mean Mai Tai’s and other premium alcoholic/energy beverages which cost $7 in coach on the Hawaii runs.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

If you look into the Delta Shuttle operation, you’ll realize US Airways is king in the shuttle market.

First, Delta decided to add First Class to lure more passengers. Then they added WiFi internet. Didn’t really help. A few months later, Delta downsized the fleet, from the maddog (MD-88) to the Delta Connection outsourced EMB-170 cutting seats by almost half. That move doesn’t seem to help either, now does it?

Currently, Delta is offering 3,000 miles for each segment instead of the usual 500. US Airways hasn’t matched yet, but do they really have to?

The fact of the matter is US Airways rules the shuttle market. They are far more convenient, offer a better product and a much more reliable service. Since Delta is merging with Northwest to become the world’s largest airline, I doubt it will drop the shuttle operation entirely, but DC to New York La Guardia seems to be Delta’s weakest of the three shuttle routes. They’d be foolish to downgrade the aircraft further as they’d loose any remaining premium traffic, but I see them reducing flights. To be fair, Northwest was never a big player in Boston, DC and New York, so they can’t bring in that many loyal customers to the new Delta.

Me? I’m just glad US Airways has a solid shuttle operation I can rely on. Including weekends! And those twelve First Class seats on every flight? They’re icing on the cake!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Beginning October 25, 2009, British Airways will start flying Male, Maldives nonstop on a 777  from London’s Gatwick airport. The flight operates 3x weekly and is a 3-cabin plane (Business/Premium Economy/ Economy). The outbound from London departs on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays arriving the next morning, while the return departs Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The return is a daylight service. It appears that the service will be year round.

Along with Maldives, Britsh Airways will launch Sharm El Sheikh and Punta Cana. It’s a shame they aren’t running the flights from Heathrow, but British Airways’ holiday flights now tend to operate from Gatwick.

I was wondering which full service European airline will take the “plunge” (pun intended) and fly to the Maldives first. I remember reading about LOT planning flights from Warsaw and Virgin Atlantic wanting to start flights from London- Heathrow. Guess they were too slow as Sri Lankan airlines launched the flights first. Personally, I was betting on Lufthansa from Frankfurt or Swiss from Zurich.

Normally, I don’t blog about other airline’s routes aside from Star Alliance, but the Maldives are a destination that’s close to my heart and to which I plant to return to. Plus, I could redeem some of my AA miles on the new flight and try out Club World cabin on British Airways.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Just got an email from US Airways Club- internet is now free at all US Airways Clubs systemwide. I see it will still be provided by TMobile, so I’m guessing it will be like at the United and AA lounge locations- a day access card. More information found here.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Just a few minutes ago, United’s Twitter account informed us all that United has 10,00o+ followers. If you were following closesly, United promised a surprise for those who register on United.com and follow Twitter. We finally know what the surprise is- bonus miles! Visit United’s Twitter page to see for yourself.

How many miles? I’m guessing, no more than a 1,000. Although ’10′ could be key so maybe 10 miles or 10,000? Or could it be tied in with an activity requirement? I’ll report back as soon as I get the miles and confirm with others if they got the same amount.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Beginning this week, US Airways and Qatar Airways will begin codesharing on certain flights. The respective “Airways’ will only codeshare on international services between Europe and their local gateways.

For details, please visit http://airlineroute.blogspot.com/2009/05/us-airwaysqatar-codeshare-begins-this.html.

It’s a shame they are not codesharing beyond Philly and Doha. I would like to see a US code on a Doha-Maldives flight and a QR code on a Chicago-Philly flight!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Folks an update.

The flights are now loaded in the system for booking purposes. You can book via www2.usairways.com (The new USAirways.com Beta)

Beginning May 27, 2009, the flights will also display “J” and “X”/”I” inventory for upgrades and award bookings respectively.

For mileage/Chairman’s coupons type upgrades minimum fare requirement is $1400 round trip including all taxes and fees for the entire trip. If you choose to use miles, upgrade will cost 30,000 DM miles in each direction. The upgrade clears you on all US Airways operated flights with a First Class cabin from points of origin to the final destination.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

US Airways just posted on their website the date of the new Charlotte to Rio de Janeiro flights. Southbound services beings on December 2, 2009 while the northbound services beings the day after, December 3, 2009.

The information is now available on USAirways.com, however the flights haven’t been loaded into the reservation system.

I’ll be on the inaugural flight. It’s just a matter of securing Envoy seats which I’m focused on.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

At approximately 7:50PM local Philadelphia time, a US Airways Boeing 757 should begin boarding. The flight? A nonstop service to Oslo, Norway. US Airways press release here.
As with all the other US Airways transatlanic B757 services, there are 12 Envoy seats upfront and 164 in the back. Duration of the flight is approximately 8:00 hours and Great Circle Mapper tells us all it’s 3776 miles.

Philly to Oslo, Norway- 3776 miles, 8 hours in-flight on a US Airways B757

This is the third of four new transatlantic services US Airways launched since April:

• Charlotte, NC to Paris commenced April 21, 2009
• Philadelphia to Birmingham, UK commenced May 12, 2009
• Philadelphia to Oslo, Norway begins this evening

That leaves us Philadelphia to Tel Aviv which commences on July 2, 2009.

One last interesting tidbit. The flight (US788)  from Philly to Oslo is the continuation of the inbound flight from Ft. Lauderdale. That segment is operated with a B734.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark