United Expands Cash-free Initiative
Travel Weekly, 8/27/2009
Beginning Sept. 2, United Airlines will no longer accept cash for onboard purchases on trans-Atlantic flights and flights to and from Brazil and Argentina.
Customers must use major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and Diners Club) or debit cards bearing the Visa or MasterCard logos for all onboard purchases.
The carrier introduced a cash-free cabin initiative in March and ceased accepting cash in April on flights within the U.S. and flights to and from Canada, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.
United will continue accepting cash in addition to credit and debit cards on flights to and from Asia, as well as on United Express flights.
Delta to Suspend Salt Lake City-to-Tokyo Flights until May
AP, USA TODAY, 8/13/2009 (excerpted)
Delta Air Lines says it will suspend nonstop Salt Lake City-to-Tokyo flights because of diminished demand and fallout from the swine flu.
Delta spokesman Anthony Black says the airline will drop the route from Oct. 1 to May 14, when flights are set to resume, The Salt Lake Tribune reported on its website Wednesday.
Delta launched the nonstop flights in June every day except Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Black says Delta will continue to offer daily nonstop flights from Salt Lake City to Paris.
Delta Air Lines Expands BusinessElite Service from New York
New flat bed seats now available on all flights to London-Heathrow, BusinessElite added to Los Angeles, San Francisco
Delta.com, 8/25/2009 (excerpted)
Delta Air Lines today announced a significant expansion of BusinessElite service from New York. The airline has added full-flat beds to all flights between New York-JFK and London-Heathrow, and in September will begin to introduce new BusinessElite service on transcontinental flights between Delta's JFK hub and Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Today's announcement is part of Delta's continued focus on the New York market including the recently announced plans to create a domestic hub at LaGuardia and the re-launch of the revitalized Red Coat program that began at Delta's international hub at JFK.
With the expanded service, Delta will offer customers:
• Fully flat beds with 180 degrees of recline and 77 to 82 inches of legroom in the BusinessElite cabin of all flights between New York and London. The new seats are arranged in a one-two-one configuration, allowing each customer direct aisle access and enhanced privacy.
• Popular cradle-style seats with 150 degrees of recline and 55 inches of pitch in the BusinessElite cabin on all transcontinental flights between New York and San Francisco and Los Angeles. These seats are the same as Delta's business class offering on 757-200ER international flights and offer personal on-demand games, music and movies at every seat.
• Wireless Internet access for both business- and economy-class customers on all flights between New York and Los Angeles and San Francisco by the end of the year.
Delta customers in Atlanta and Detroit also benefit from the BusinessElite enhancements with full-flat bed seats available on all flights between these hubs and London-Heathrow and Minneapolis routes will be added in September. Routes served with Boeing 777-200LR aircraft already feature full-flat seats, including flights between Atlanta and Dubai, Johannesburg, and Sydney (via Los Angeles).
All Majors Outfitting Planes With Inflight Internet
Jay Boehmer, Business Travel News, 8/17/2009 (excerpted)
Editor's Note: In a separate article dated August 21, Michael Baker of Business Travel News reported that Southwest Airlines plans to install fleetwide Wi-Fi in first quarter 2010. Southwest's service provider is Row 44.
In the year that has followed American Airlines' August 2008 launch of wireless broadband onboard 15 transcontinental aircraft, nearly all major U.S. carriers have moved to outfit some or all of their fleets with inflight Internet. In recent weeks, US Airways became the last of the majors to detail plans for onboard connectivity, AirTran Airways completed its fleetwide rollout, Delta Air Lines crossed the 200-plane threshold and inflight Internet provider Row 44 gained final approval to operate in U.S. airspace.
US Airways president Scott Kirby in July said US Airways would bring Wi-Fi to "all our A321 aircraft," beginning in early 2010. US Airways is the latest airline to announce plans to roll out inflight wireless Internet capabilities with connectivity provider Aircell, whose users include AirTran, American, Delta, United Airlines and Virgin America.
AirTran in July became the first major U.S. carrier to roll out inflight Internet fleetwide, installing the Aircell system on more than 100 aircraft. AirTran senior vice president of marketing and planning Kevin Healy last month said the carrier has seen "steady increase" in passengers using the system, though there is more interest in using Wi-Fi on long-haul flights.
Delta at the end of July offered Aircell's service on 219 aircraft. The carrier expects to roll out the system to the remaining 32 percent of its pre-merger domestic fleet by year-end, and plans to begin installing it on its Northwest subsidiary's U.S. aircraft in October.
Aircell competitor Row 44—which uses a satellite-based system to enable inflight wireless access, compared with Aircell's air-to-ground system—has gained users in Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines and this month gained a permanent license from the Federal Communications Commission.
Meanwhile, JetBlue Airways and Continental Airlines offer some limited Internet capabilities, such as e-mail, through the LiveTV inflight entertainment system, but neither offers full broadband wireless on their flights.