Kinglobjaw's Blog » GIG http://kinglobjaw.com/blog Proudly flying US Airways! Fri, 02 Jul 2010 05:12:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 Midweek update on the US Airways Twitter Deals Week http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2010/07/02/midweek-update-on-the-us-airways-twitter-deals-week/ http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2010/07/02/midweek-update-on-the-us-airways-twitter-deals-week/#comments Fri, 02 Jul 2010 05:12:12 +0000 Mark http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/?p=831 All the hype started around June 21, 2010 when US Airways had just over 21,000 followers on Twitter. Between Tweets and various banners on USAirways.com, everyone realized June 28, 2010 would be the day to start your engines, and computers among other things.

While I expected a higher frequency of deals involving more cities from the US Airways route network, I’m having a heck of time and heaps of fun. Let’s go over the events of the week!

Monday, June 28, 2010

1) The clue being “One Love, One Heart” a few minutes later a Tweet : Phoenix to Montego Bay, Jamaica each way for $20 + tax.

2) The clue being “fireworks”, US Airways offered 4th of July fares to it’s hub, Philadelphia from 25 cities on the East Coast/ Midwest for only $18 each way + tax. This fare allowed for a day trip in either direction (those try to get away from Philly and those wanting to see the city.)

3) Next, a trivia giveaway. First person to answer the question received a $1,500 gift card for US Airways flights. Easy question: “What is US Airways’ longest flight from Philadelphia”. Obviously, Tel Aviv.

4) Clueing us in with a metion of the Nobel prize, US Airways offers $89 one way + tax from Philadelphia to Oslo, Norway.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

1) US Airways was up bright and early today having woken up myself one hour after US Airways tweeted $79 + tax one way fares from Charlotte to Rio de Janeiro. Samba! What an awesome deal.

2) The high roller clue followed by a $49 one way + tax fare in First Class from Dallas to Las Vegas. Interesting thing is- fare books into “A” (think paid First Class) so you even earn class-of-service bonus miles.

3) The next clue was “betting” us- I knew it was regarding a gambling destination. Right I was, $49 one way + tax fare from Phoenix, Arizona to either Las Vegas or Reno, Nevada. Also in First Class!

4) A weaker give away today. Today’s trivia question yielded a 2011 Gold Preferred membership along with a year at the US Airways Club. All you had to do was be the first person to correctly list five of US Airways’ year- round European destinations.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

1)  Seems like US Airways slept in this morning, and as soon as they woke up, they reached for the Tequilla bottle. $49 one way fares (+ tax, of course) from Charlotte, NC to either San Jose del Cabo or Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

2) Next up, Washington focus city gets some action. $19 one way + tax from Washington-Reagan (DCA) to either New Orleans or Charleston, SC.

3) Less events on this day, with a trivia question ending today’s specials. First person to tweet all four destinations in Hawaii that US Airways actually flies to (HNL, OGG, KOA, LIH- yes, but not ITO as many of you have tried to argue) gets two round trip tickets to anywhere in the world US Airways flies to. I’m assuming both are in coach and since they are free- no mileage earnings.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

1) 4th day of the weak nets four deals. First up, $9 + tax each way fares from New York LaGuardia to either Albany, NY; Burlington, VT; Ithaca, NY; Portland, ME or Rochester, NY.

2) First Class deal strikes again. $49 each way + tax from Charlotte to either West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale or Miami. The clue “Orange” confused me a bit since I wasn’t sure if these would be Orange County deals of Florida deals.

3) Trivia time! Once again, at stake- $1,500 US Airways gift card. First person to correctly name the new business class product (Envoy Suite) wins!

4) A deal so juicy, it could make you say “what about them apples?”. $99 one way + tax from Philadelphia to Tel Aviv, Israel. All I can say is Oh Wow!

We now await what Friday, July 2, 2010 brings!

Sure, they could offer more cities and more dates, but these dails are truly awesome! Especially the Tel Aviv one! How deals have I taken advantage of? None, as of yet. One way or another- either the dates don’t work out or I just don’t feel like going there right now. As for the trivia, I’m good- no doubt about it. I’m just not fast enough. Still, I’m having a great time, though my workout have taken a major hit this week. I’ve only gone to the gym once this week and the real work out? Running back to my house from the gym so I could catch a trivia question in time after getting a tweet while bench pressing!

I’ve also gotten to know alot of FlyerTalkers which I’ve been tweeting with constantly. It’s been a good week overall.

Proudly flying (and tweeting) with US!

-Mark

]]> http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2010/07/02/midweek-update-on-the-us-airways-twitter-deals-week/feed/ 0 Likely changes to US Airways’ Rio de Janeiro inaugural service. http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2009/09/15/likely-changes-to-us-airways-rio-de-janeiro-inaugurating-service/ http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2009/09/15/likely-changes-to-us-airways-rio-de-janeiro-inaugurating-service/#comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:28:32 +0000 Mark http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/?p=751 Charlotte to Rio de Janeiro. It was supposed to start on 12/2. I know it by heart; I was going to fly that inaugural flight all the way down to Rio de Janeiro. Initial information I received mentions Brazil denying US Airways acess to serve Brazil for the first two weeks of December 2009.

That would make sense since I scanned availability and everything is zeroed out in both direction and both classes of servcie until 12/15.

The 15th of December shows an unsually early 8:30PM departure from Charlotte. The 16th (interestingly enough, two weeks after the Rio service should have commenced) shows a scheduled departure time. The first northbound flight would operate from Rio back to Charlotte on the 16th of December.

Since I still have plans to fly the inaugural southbound flight, I am eagerly waiting to confirm with Scott Kirby, the new inaugural flight date and the reason behind the change.

I will update as soon as I have more information.

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

]]> http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2009/09/15/likely-changes-to-us-airways-rio-de-janeiro-inaugurating-service/feed/ 0 Hung up on Rio’s inventory for inaugural flight http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2009/05/26/hung-up-on-rios-inventory-for-inaugural-flight/ http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2009/05/26/hung-up-on-rios-inventory-for-inaugural-flight/#comments Tue, 26 May 2009 23:27:38 +0000 Mark http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/?p=620 Can you believe that the very first Charlotte to Rio de Janeiro service appears to offer only 6 more Envoy seats for sale. This would indicate that within just two days of starting to sell tickets for the flight, twelve seats have been already “grabbed”. One is definitely there as a pilot crew rest, so who are the other eleven? Ocean’s Eleven?

Who could it be? Kinglobjaw’s minions? Maybe! No, haha! Parker’s entourage? Could be! Samba Dancers? I don’t know. Fishy!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

]]> http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2009/05/26/hung-up-on-rios-inventory-for-inaugural-flight/feed/ 0 You can now book US flights to Rio http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2009/05/23/you-can-now-book-us-flights-to-rio/ http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2009/05/23/you-can-now-book-us-flights-to-rio/#comments Sat, 23 May 2009 15:37:29 +0000 Mark http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/?p=618 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

]]> http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2009/05/23/you-can-now-book-us-flights-to-rio/feed/ 0 US Airways announces schedule for Brazil flights http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2009/05/22/us-airways-announces-schedule-for-brazil-flights/ http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2009/05/22/us-airways-announces-schedule-for-brazil-flights/#comments Fri, 22 May 2009 22:29:14 +0000 Mark http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/?p=616 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

]]> http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2009/05/22/us-airways-announces-schedule-for-brazil-flights/feed/ 0 A Copacabana congrats to US! http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2009/03/20/a-copacabana-style-congrats-to-us/ http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2009/03/20/a-copacabana-style-congrats-to-us/#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2009 04:20:23 +0000 Mark http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/?p=461 For those who haven’t heard yet, US Airways was one of two airlines chosen for the new 2009 Q2 Brazil air services. That means, US’ service from PHL via CLT to GIG will commence in October 2009! Nice!

US is planning to use a 767 for this service, however there is a possibility of an upgrade to the A332 if all goes well and profitable.

Of all the carriers flying to GIG, I think Delta and United should fear the most. US Airways’ proximity of the CLT hub will most likely affect Delta’s ATL-GIG. United’s route from IAD will probably loose some passengers who will prefer to fly from DCA and connect through CLT instead of going out all the way to IAD. Fact of the matter is, DCA is so much more convenient than IAD and everyone knows it!

Again congrats and best of luck to US Airways on the route. May it do well an open up the possibility of new South American routes!

If you’d like to know what I think about US Airways opening an Envoy lounge in CLT, look here: http://www.usaviation.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=45319&view=findpost&p=675396

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

]]> http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2009/03/20/a-copacabana-style-congrats-to-us/feed/ 0 US Airways outlines case for GIG flying with the Department of Transportation http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2009/02/03/us-airways-outlines-case-for-gig-flying-with-the-dot/ http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/2009/02/03/us-airways-outlines-case-for-gig-flying-with-the-dot/#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2009 01:03:13 +0000 Mark http://kinglobjaw.com/blog/?p=190 As an ongoing effort to secure rights to fly to Rio De Janeiro (GIG) from Charlotte (CLT), US Airways has just filed a response with the DOT as to why it should be one of the carriers awarded these flying privileges.

You can  read their press release here, while the actual response is available as a PDF file located here.

Most of you already know this will a be a 767 service originating in PHL, however the return portion from CLT-PHL will be on an A320, which is still subject to change.

When I first heard about GIG possibly being US Airways’ newest destination, I thought the new A332 aircraft US is getting would be a great candidate to fly the route. However, it seems US is going the safe way and starting out with the 767 and depending on how the route performs it could get upgraded. I do remember reading about Air Canada using the 777 to one South American city (sorry, I forgot which one) starting in December 2009, so let’s hope for the best- good luck US Airways.

In my opinion US Airways will be getting the privileges on the basis of being a new entrant and bringing in competition to the Southeastern area of the United States. Delta, you have met your match!

Here is the proposed schedule for the flights:

Northern Hemisphere Summer

US800 PHL (6:45PM)  - CLT (8:30PM)    B767
US800 CLT (10:30PM) - GIG (9:00AM+1)  B767
US801 GIG (9:05PM)  - CLT (6:00AM+1)  B767
US801 CLT (7:30AM)  - PHL (9:04AM)    A320

Norther Hemisphere Winter

US800 PHL (6:45PM)  - CLT (8:30PM)    B767
US800 CLT (10:30PM) - GIG (11:00AM+1) B767
US801 GIG (11:05PM) - CLT (6:00AM+1)  B767
US801 CLT (7:30AM)  - PHL (9:04AM)    A320

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

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