Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: August 9, 2013

A sampling of industry news that caught my attention today: American Airlines will begin flying its new 3-cabin A321s between Los Angeles and New York on January 7, reports the L.A. Airspace blog. Initially, two of American’s daily flights on the route will feature the A321, increasing to six by January 31. Virgin America is…

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Vintage Airline Seat Map: Continental Airlines DC-9-30 from 1987

For this installment of Vintage Airline Seat Maps, I bring you a Continental Airlines DC-9-30 seen flying the skies in 1987. I previously posted Continental’s DC-9-10 seat map, and this “stretched†-30 version was produced in competitive response to the Boeing 737. This bird lacked a forward lavatory, so first class passengers had to make…

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Delta Contest Offers New York Trip to Battle Serena Williams at Ping Pong

In addition to the airline and travel industry, I also religiously follow professional tennis. And Delta Air Lines rolled out a contest combing my top passions that I’d truly love to win. Delta is offering up a trip to New York later this month to meet and duel Serena Williams in a ping-pong match. The…

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Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: August 8, 2013

A sampling of industry news that caught my attention today: American Airlines plans to open a small Admirals Club in the remote American Eagle terminal at LAX in January 2014. I have no idea where it’ll go as the terminal is so small to begin with, and I hope it doesn’t become a cramped standing-room-only…

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Rumor Mill: United Adding Seats to CR7s, American-US Airways Reciprocal Lounge Access

A couple of threads caught my attention this week on Flyertalk and Milepoint with rumors that United (Express) will add a row of seats to its Canadair CRJ-700s, and lounge reciprocity for American and US Airways fliers begins September 1. And yes, while these are both unconfirmed as of this posting, they certainly sound plausible.…

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Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: August 7, 2013

A sampling of industry news that caught my attention today: Virgin America recorded its first ever Q2 profit, netting $8.8 million. The airline’s CEO cited success in Newark as a primary driver, though cautioned long-term sustainability at EWR needs to be studied after the peak and profitable summer season. Is it too little too late…

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Earn 7,500 United MileagePlus Miles Buying Marriott Gift Cards

United Airlines and Marriott have teamed up to offer bonus MileagePlus miles when purchasing Marriott gift cards from today through September 7. Click here (or the image below) for the promotion website. It’s an online only promotion where if you buy three of the $500 gift cards, you’ll get the maximum bonus of 7,500 MileagePlus…

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Do United Airlines Miles+Cash Weekend Fare Specials Earn Miles?

Reader Jon sent in the following question about the weekly “United Specials†fares that require departure late Friday or anytime Saturday, with a return the following Monday or Tuesday. Every Tuesday United comes out with their weekend fare specials. For these specials they offer a cash only fare, as well as a cash + points fare. When…

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Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: August 6, 2013

A sampling of industry news that caught my attention today: You can again track your American Airlines AAdvantage account activity with AwardWallet. New security measures have been put in place at AwardWallet to American’s satisfaction, re-opening access for members. Here’s hoping Delta, Southwest and United return eventually! American Airlines is hiring 80 work-from-home reservations agents…

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Mileage Run Opportunity: $277.61 Nets 9,838 United Premier Qualifying Miles

A very inexpensive fare has been filed to Anchorage from both Boston and New York on United (and American has now matched). For my example routing below, it comes in at 2.82 cents-per-mile (CPM). As always, act fast if you’re interested since this fare won’t be around long. And availability is tight! [Edited 11:00am PDT:…

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