Airline Industry News – Week Ending 12.02.06

Joke of the Week: On a Southwest flight (SW has no assigned seating, you just sit where you want) passengers were apparently having a hard time choosing, when a flight attendant announced, “People, people we’re not picking out furniture here, find a seat and get in it!”

AirTran Airways will be adding Phoenix to it’s list of cities. All that campaigning for Little Rock for nothing.

American Airlines is offering AAdvantage members 1,000 bonus miles for signing up for subscribing to their new promotions e-mail. Register here. You’ve got to love miles for spam.They’ve also expanded the denominations for gift cards from $50 and $100 to include any amount between $50 and $1500 when purchased through www.aa.com website. That’s a gift I would like to receive. Beginning this week, passengers traveling between the US and Japan can pre-select Japanese-style entrees prior to their flight. You can order by calling (800) 433-7300 in the US and Canada, visiting a local AA ticket office or making arrangements through your travel agent. Orders must be placed a minimum of 24 hours in advance of the flight departure.

British Airways is urging passengers to contact health authorities after radiation was found on 2 767s from the London – Moscow route. The affected flights are listed here. In addition, they’ve made a few route changes. Flights to Athens, Kiev, Riga and Newcastle will now be served from Heathrow rather than Gatwick. You can now fly from Gatwick to Dresden, Sarajevo or Trinidad.

China Southern Airlines has announced changes to its national Customer Call Center. Beginning January 1, 2007, the reservation number will be changed from 950-333 to 95539. International customers will use: + (8620) 8668 – 2000.

Continental has expanded their online check-in tool to allow users to check-in in Spanish.

Frontier Airlines announced it will begin daily non-stop service between Denver International Airport and Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Connecticut beginning March 2, 2007. This will be the first daily Denver/Hartford service available.

KLM Airlines today announced a revamped menu beginning this week on intercontinental flights. The new menu will be available in Europe in March of 2007.

Northwest Airlines is offering 600 Bonus Miles every time you spend $200 shopping the WorldPerks Mall from now through December 31, 2006. You can receive triple miles for any National Car rental of a compact to mid-size car for 3 to 14 days. That gives you 150 miles per day rather than the standard 50.

Silverjet, the new UK business-class kid on the block announced plans to begin a Newark-Luton route beginning January 25, 2007.

South African Airways announced new service from Chicago O’Hare to Johannesburg, South Africa beginning May 2007.

Southwest Airlines is jacking up some fares by approximately $10. Wonder who will follow suit.

United is offering a free MOTORAZR and 5,000 miles with a new wireless plan through the United Mileage Plus Wireless program. You have your choice of service providers. It’s very similar to a recent Delta deal.

US Airways has promised if its deal with Delta goes through they will combine existing mileage accounts. That’s a relief. The companies did meet regarding the buy-out this week, but no information is yet available.