Upgraded: French-sounding names
All-business class startup airline Elysair, who will fly from Newark to Paris-Orly, decided at the last minute to change its name to “L’Avion.” (”The airplane” in French.) Why the change? It sounded more French. I guess this explains why, as recently as last week, their website was so… comment dit-on… crappy. Service, in the same vein as Maxjet, Eos, and Silverjet, allegedly begins December 27, but the newly-minted website isn’t ready to accept reservations yet…

Downgraded: British Airways
The apparent murder of a former Russian spy with polonium 210 has been big news. (FYI, though fingers are pointing toward Russia, the element isn’t necessarily weaponized. While small amounts are found in cigarettes, you can, in fact, buy some for $69 on the internet.) On top of it all, three British Airways planes have tested positive for the radioactive element. Affected: 221 flights, carrying 33,000 passengers and coming into contact with 3,000 airline employees on the ground or in the air. British health authorities say there’s no health risk, but I sure wouldn’t be thrilled to find my flight on the list. Click here to see if you flew on one of the flights, from the BA site.
UPDATE: BA has pulled the flight information from its website, stating that there was no health risk, so presumably there’s no longer a need to let people know if they were among the 30,000. Tsk tsk. No worries: The Seattle Times has the list.

Downgraded: Kids on Alaska Airlines
As of November 1, Alaska Airlines has stopped selling children’s fares at a 33% discount.

Upgraded: Competition between Chicago and New York
Delta is increasing service between New York area airports and Chicago, in a big way, including a “shuttle-style” service from LaGuardia. This comes as jetBlue starts up JFK-O’Hare service in the new year. That means American, United, Delta, jetBlue, and ATA all fly between the two cities. Viva competition!

Upgraded: Fake boarding pass guy’s freedom
The Indiana University graduate student who posted a fake boarding pass generator for Northwest Airlines (to prove a point about how easy it is to create such a pass, and how the boarding pass/id checks at airport security are pointless) is freed.

Upgraded: Shorter waits for toilets onboard China Southern Airlines
Pee first, fly later. The airline is asking passengers to use the bathrooms before takeoff, since each inflight flush burns as much as a liter of fuel. Yikes!

Holders of an APEC Business Travel Card, which you are eligible to apply for if you make multiple trips between member countries, are not required to apply for a visa to enter a member country. Upon arrival, you’re also allowed to use fast-track passport lanes. For travelers to the United States, this apparently means use of the airline crew lane. Bad for airline crew members, good for you.

The Global Traveller is on the scene at his blog. Homepage for the APEC Business Travel Card is here.
]]> http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2006/11/28/easier-transit-between-asia-pacific-region-countries/feed/ 0 http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2006/07/12/short-hops-july-12-2006/ http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2006/07/12/short-hops-july-12-2006/#comments Wed, 12 Jul 2006 13:58:00 +0000 Mark Ashley http://upgradetravelbetter.com/?p=207 Safety first!
Flying from the United States to Korea or Japan? If you’re traveling with Asiana or Korean Air Lines, you’ll take a different flight path nowadays, thanks to North Korea’s recent missile tests coming dangerously close to existing air routes. Today Japan’s largest airlines, Japan Air Lines and ANA, announced their own re-routings. No word on American carriers’ flight paths. Yay.

Safety second!
British tourists file more travel insurance claims on trips to Thailand than any other country. Runners up: “…the Czech republic, which came out top for incidents of pick-pocketing, South Africa, top for violent robberies, and Mexico, which is the place to go for over-exposure to the sun, it seems.” By this measure, Ireland was the “safest” destination.

Impressive, but…
China recently completed the train to Tibet and began passenger service. It’s an ambitious and impressive engineering project to be sure (the train cars are pressurized, like a plane, due to the enormous altitudes), but also a highly controversial exercise in internal colonialism. A good overview of the cultural and political ramifications (and fears) can be found here. It’s not all gee-whiz-isn’t-it-neat-what-they-built.

The Denny’s of the Sky?
A new promo: If you fly Aloha Airlines on their birthday (July 26), and you keep the boarding pass stub, you can fly free on your birthday (return within 7 days). Inter-island flights only. But what the heck.

Fare sale to Europe
Air France kicks off their Bastille Day fare sale today (purchase by July 28). Some good late summer/fall fares.

More luxe to Europe
All-biz airline Eos looks to expand from the New York-London route to also serve New York-Paris.

Healthier airborne meals
Northwest Airlines had better keep up. Just a few weeks ago they announced that their Stalinist experiment in inflight dining was over, and that they would reintroduce a choice (gasp!) to the menu in domestic first class. At the same time, other carriers are redesigning their first and business class menus, too, with an eye for lighter gourmet fare. But take away the ice cream, and flyers revolt. (The sarcastic chorus of “boo hoo” is coming from the economy seats.) The article also plugs Peter Greenberg’s book The Traveler’s Diet: Eating Right and Staying Fit on the Road.

Predicting the next protectionist outrage
Chicago Midway under foreign management? It could happen, since the city is soliciting bids for long-terms leases on the airport. We’ll see if a (likely) winning bid from a foreign entity yields as much furor as the Dubai ports affair. If an international firm wins the bidding, it won’t be the first foreign-managed US airport. Indianapolis and Stewart-Newburgh, NY airports are already under British firms’ control. International bids for US assets should be no surprise, given the current account deficit; all those dollars flowing overseas need to be put to work somewhere…

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