Midweek update on the US Airways Twitter Deals Week

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

Philadelphia to Oslo, Norway on US Airways starts today

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 inflight on a US Airways B757

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

New USAirways.com is here! Very nice!

I’ve waited for this day for years!

I just had the pleasure of using the new USAirways.com, which technically, is still a beta website. Both the old and new versions of the website will still be on for a few more months, as select customers will test the new site’s functionality. If the new website generates an error, you can still head back to the older version to try to complete your task. Good planning and thinking on US Airways’ part.

Personally, I find the new site catchy and easy on the eyes, but at the same time, well organized. While the site is slow, I’ve found a lot of the added features beneficial and time saving for customers.

I understand this is for select users, but I’ve included a link that “might” allow you to preview the new site for yourself, https://membership.usairways.com/Manage/AccountSummary.aspx. Try it in FireFox before Internet Explorer! That did the trick for me.

All of the reseravtions I made over the phone and on other websites, I was able to see after logging in. If I were to be too lazy to log in, I could still acess my PNRs by inputing my flight number or dividend miles number and last name without having to remember the PNR.

The award booking calendar is well organized and it took just one search to find saver Envoy tickets to TLV (Tel Aviv, Israel) using my Dividend Miles.

The homepage lets me do the four basic things (book flights, check-in, manage reservations and check flight status) without having to use links for more options.

I don’t have photoshop on my Dell Mini 9, so you’ll have to wait before I get back from my trip to see some screenshots. Who knows, maybe by then you’ll get to see the site for yourself!

Have a nice clicK life,

-Mark

Full Summer 2009 US Airways PHL/CLT- Europe/Middle East Flights Schedule

The following is the entire US Airways transatlantic schedule from both PHL and CLT for Summer 2009. What I found interesting is that all destinations this summer are DAILY.

While looking through the schedules, I realized FRA will now get three A330-300′s daily and photographers will get a chance to snap three of these jets together. The three will be on the ground simultaneously from 10:15AM to 11:10 AM local time, given all three are on time. Also, MUC  for the first time ever, has been upgraded to A330-300 service, while LHR has been downgraded to a 767.

If I recall correctly, US has nine A330-300′s. It seems no spares will be left behind on the ground since all will be in used every evening on these routes:

  • PHL-MAD
  • PHL-CDG
  • PHL-FRA (X2 daily)
  • PHL-MUC
  • PHL-MAN
  • PHL-FCO
  • CLT-FRA
  • CLT-LGW

I didn’t list the Rio De Janeiro schedules as they are still pending approval from the DOT, but you can read about the proposed schedule in one of my earlier posts.

Here are the 2009 PHL/CLT transatlatnic flights:

 

From Philadelphia, PA

 

PHL-DUB (Dublin, Ireland) Aircraft: B757

US722 PHL (8:40AM)  - DUB (8:15AM+1)
US723 DUB (11:15AM) - PHL (1:55PM)

 

PHL-SNN (Shannon, Ireland) Aircraft: B757

US776 PHL (9:20PM)  - GLA (9:00AM+1)
US777 GLA (12:00PM) - PHL (2:20PM)

 

PHL-GLA (Glasgow, Scotland) Aircraft: B757

US768 PHL (6:45PM)  - GLA (6:45AM+1)
US769 GLA (10:15AM) - PHL (1:00PM)

 

PHL-MAN (Manchester, England) Aircraft: A330-300

US734 PHL (8:45PM)  - MAN (8:45AM+1)
US735 MAN (10:55AM) - PHL (1:40PM)

 

PHL-LHR (London-Heathrow, England) Aircraft: B767

US728 PHL (10:40PM) - LHR (11:05AM+1)
US729 LHR (1:05PM)  - PHL (4:20PM)

 

PHL-LGW (London-Gatwick, England) Aircraft: B757

US728 PHL (6:20PM)  - LGW (6:55AM+1)
US729 LGW (9:50AM) - PHL (1:10PM)

 

PHL-BHX (Birmingham, England) Aicraft: B757

US726 PHL (6:05PM)  - BHX (6:25AM+1)
US727 BHX (8:45AM) - PHL (11:50AM)

 

PHL-LIS (Lisbon, Portugal) Aicraft: B757

US738 PHL (8:25PM)  - LIS (8:30AM+1)
US739 LIS (10:35AM) - PHL (1:25PM)

 

PHL-MAD (Madrid, Spain) Aicraft: A333-300

US740 MAD (6:30PM)  - MAD (8:00AM+1)
US741 MAD (12:50PM) - PHL (3:15PM)

 

PHL-BCN (Barcelona, Spain) Aicraft: B767

US742 PHL (6:30PM)  - BCN (8:35AM+1)
US743 BCN (12:10PM) - PHL (3:15PM)

 

PHL-CDG (Paris, France) Aicraft: A330-300

US754 PHL (6:15PM)  - CDG (7:55AM+1)
US755 CDG (11:30AM) - PHL (1:55PM)

 

PHL-BRU (Brussels, Belgium) Aicraft: B757

US750 PHL (8:35PM)  - BRU (10:25AM+1)
US751 BRU (12:45PM) - PHL (3:25PM)

 

PHL-AMS (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Aicraft: B757

US798 PHL (6:35PM)  - AMS (8:35AM+1)
US799 AMS (10:45AM)  - PHL (1:15PM)

 

PHL-ZRH (Zurich, Switzerland) Aicraft: B767

US710 PHL (6:20PM)  - ZRH (8:25AM+1)
US711 ZRH (10:25PM) - PHL (1:30PM)

 

PHL-FRA (Frankfurt, Germany) Aicraft: A330-300 X2

US700 PHL (4:15PM)  - FRA (6:10AM+1)
US701 FRA (11:10AM) - PHL (1:15PM)
US702 PHL (8:20PM) - FRA (10:15AM+1)
US703 FRA (1:10PM) - PHL (3:50PM)

 

PHL-MUC (Munich, Germany) Aicraft: A330-300

US706 PHL (6:40PM)  - MUC (9:00AM+1)
US707 MUC (12:30PM) - PHL (3:55PM)

 

PHL-FCO (Rome, Italy) Aicraft: A330-300

US718 PHL (6:05PM)  - FCO (8:45AM+1)
US719 FCO (11:15AM) - PHL (2:55PM)

 

PHL-MXP (Milan, Italy) Aicraft: B767

US716 PHL (3:50PM)  - MXP (6:00AM+1)
US717 MXP (10:00AM) - PHL (1:10PM)

 

PHL-VCE (Venice, Italy) Aicraft: B767

US714 PHL (6:25PM)  - VCE (9:05AM+1)
US715 VCE (11:35AM) - PHL (3:20PM)

 

PHL-ARN (Stockholm, Sweden) Aicraft: B757

US752 PHL (8:15PM)  - ARN (10:45AM+1)
US753 ARN (1:00PM) - PHL (3:55PM)

 

PHL-OSL (Oslo, Norway) Aicraft: B757

US788 PHL (8:35PM)  - OSL (10:35AM+1)
US789 OSL (1:00PM) - PHL (3:45PM)

 

PHL-ATH (Athens, Greece) Aicraft: B767

US758 PHL (4:15PM)  - ATH (9:10AM+1)
US759 ATH (11:45AM) - PHL (4:00PM)

 

PHL-TLV (Tel Aviv, Israel) Aicraft: A330-200

US796 PHL (9:15PM)  - TLV (3:30PM+1)
US797 TLV (11:15PM) - PHL (5:10AM+1)

 

 

From Charlotte, NC

 

CLT-LGW (London-Gatwick, England) Aicraft: A330-300

US732 CLT (6:45PM)  - LGW (7:40AM+1)
US733 LGW (10:40AM) - CLT (2:25PM)

 

CLT-FRA (Frankfurt, Germany) Aicraft: A330-300

US732 CLT (4:30PM)  - FRA (7:00AM+1)
US733 FRA (11:45AM) - CLT (3:15PM)

 

CLT-CDG (Paris, France) Aicraft: B767

US770 CLT (4:30PM)  - CDG (6:40AM+1)
US771 CDG (12:00PM) - CLT (3:35PM)

 

Have a nice clicK life,
-Mark