Archive for November 2006

Delta Offers Gold Status for London Trip

Nov 14th, 2006 | By Jared Blank

If you’re flying to London on business, Delta has a pretty good offer for you.  If you fly between now and January 15th, they’ll give you Silver Medallion status if you fly in non-discounted coach (about $1600) or discounted Business Class (about $2200) between JFK and London.  If you fly in regular Business class, they’ll [...]

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Air Zimbabwe Suspends London Flights

Nov 13th, 2006 | By Jared Blank

How bad is it over at poor little Air Zimbabwe?  The carrier has suspended its flights to London because it fears authorities will seize its plane over an unpaid $2.8 million debt.  Even worse, it was likely the only route that was profitable for the airline.  (Longtime readers know I have a soft spot [...]

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Emirates Will Permit Cellphone Use in January

Nov 9th, 2006 | By Jared Blank

Emirates will permit in-flight cellphone use beginning in January.  Calls will cost about $4 a minute, which should help keep people from yapping for 13 straight hours.  I hope.

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Qatar Airways to Fly to New York

Nov 9th, 2006 | By Jared Blank

I don’t usually bother talking about route expansion, but Qatar Airways’ announcement that it will fly to New York is significant.  Middle Eastern airlines have grown rapidly and profitably, in a way we haven’t seen anywhere else in the world.  Etihad, Emirates and now Qatar Airways have nonstops to New York (Emirates has 2 nonstops [...]

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2 Year Old Detained as Possible Terrorist

Nov 8th, 2006 | By Jared Blank

Immigration officials at Dubai’s airport detained a 2-year-old after his name appeared on a list of potential security risks.  The little boy was in a stroller, when officials approached his father and said the boy could not fly because he was a risk to security.  Said the father, "I thought he was joking and said [...]

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Ryanair Busted for Advert(isement)

Nov 8th, 2006 | By Jared Blank

Ryanair was told to stop advertising that said seats were available for GBP 0, because once taxes and fees were added in, no seats were available for free.  In fact, the least someone could end up paying was GBP 11.70 (about $20 or so) which, while cheap, is not exactly zero.

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Fedex Cancels Order for 10 A380s

Nov 8th, 2006 | By Jared Blank

Fedex cancelled its $2.3 billion order for 10 A380s yesterday, handing Airbus a major blow to its struggling program.  The cargo carrier instead ordered 15 777s from Boeing after saying that it couldn’t wait for Airbus to straighten out its delays.  This hardly marks the end of the A380 program, but Airbus certainly didn’t need [...]

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JetBlue to, uh, Offer, um, Trans-Fat Free Snacks

Nov 7th, 2006 | By Jared Blank

It is a slooooooow news day in the ol’ airline industry.  How slow?  Here’s the big story from what I can tell:  JetBlue will be offering all trans-fat free snacks on their planes.  That’s all the news.  Oh, that and that the A350 might not get built.  Maybe that’s a bigger story than JetBlue offering [...]

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OTR Holiday

Nov 5th, 2006 | By Jared Blank

The staff of the OTR ran the NY Marathon on Sunday and, hence, will be sleeping in tomorrow.  I’ll be back with great stuff on Tuesday.  Or regular stuff.  I really shouldn’t promise greatness.

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7 Days in Budapest and Prague, $699

Nov 3rd, 2006 | By Jared Blank

Gate1Travel has a great deal to Central Europe:  For various dates between now and the end of February, you’ll get a flight and 5 nights hotel in Budapest and Prague for just $699.  Sure it’s cold.  That’s not my problem.  I’m just passing along the info. 

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