Deciding to concentrate on the more lucrative long haul routes as opposed to the highly competitive domestic market, Delta Air Lines is adding 11 new routes between the United States and Europe and the Middle East. The 11 new routes will include three already announced, linking Atlanta to Tel Aviv, Dusseldorf and Copenhagen, along with eight new ones, from Atlanta to Edinburgh, Athens, Nice and Venice and from New York JFK Airport to Budapest, Dublin, Manchester and Kiev.

Jared Blank, of the Online Travel Review Blog, has this observation.

That said, Delta has actually made this move before, with terrible results.  In 1991, Delta purchased a bunch of European routes from a dying Pan Am and lost $1.5 billion in three years in the process. 

Living near Deltas headquarters and watching the transformation, the key to the whole process will be the fuel prices. Labor cuts and transforming the airline are all good steps, but if fuel does not come down, airfares will need to be raised for Delta and most of the rest of the airlines to be profitable.

As the perks of traveling slowly disappear, and the airplane resembles a greyhound bus with wings, Air Canada is not getting rid of pillows and blankets like other airlines such as Delta have.

They are charging for them. The Canadian $2.00 ($1.50 US) kit will include a lightweight blanket and inflatable pillow. And the bonus is, you can keep them.

Well, times do change. The first time I heard the term “Redneck Riviera”, I had recently moved to Atlanta and was discussing going to the Gulf Coast of Florida. I was informed that it was a familiar term for southerners to use, not yankees. With my New York accent in full bloom, I decided the last thing I needed was trouble, and the area was the gulf coast for the next 10 years.

Now the travel section of the New York Times has this headline.

In Seaside, Fla., Goodbye Stuffed Flounder, Hello Foie Gras

By JULIA REED

These days, the area known as the Redneck Riviera is a lot more riviera than redneck, especially when it comes to dining.

WOW!

The area has always had its fancy pockets, we used to enjoy a very elegant time in Destin. But for the New York Times to make this reference is almost tough for this converted Yankee to take. My their nose is long.

Well you can get some sleep now. If you want to ensure you had an A boarding pass on Southwest Airline flights, which allows you the better choice of seats, you have to be in the first third of those passenger to get a boarding pass.

Previously on Southwest, you could get a boarding pass at 12:01 AM on the day of your travel. Many people would stay up to get this perk and ensure their A status. Going forward, one can now get a boarding pass 24 hours before the flight online.

So go get some sleep.

Via LA Times

If you are in or near Atlanta, and looking for some good fares, AirTran has some deals that need to be purchased before October 18th.

Airtran Web Site:

• $39 Savannah
• $59 Charlotte, Jacksonville, Newport News, Pensacola, Raleigh-Durham, Richmond
• $69 Dayton, Ft. Lauderdale, Freeport, Memphis, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Washington DC, W. Palm Beach
• $74 Detroit (service begins Nov. 8), Flint, Ft. Myers, Sarasota
• $79 Akron-Canton, Baltimore, Bloomington, Buffalo, Chicago, Kansas City, Moline, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Rochester, Wichita
• $84 Boston, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-LaGuardia, Newark, Philadelphia
• $99 Cancun (service begins Dec. 15), Denver
• $119 Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco
  A 10-day advance purchase required. Travel Tues., Wed., Sat. or add $10-$20 per direction for Mon., Thurs. or Fri. travel days. Complete travel by Feb. 1. Blackouts: Nov. 22, 23, 26-28; Dec. 21-Jan. 3; Jan. 16. All airlines matching.

ZDNet is reporting that online travel bookings are up but the growth in the future will have to come from abroad over the next few years.

Online travel booking up 19% in 2005 by ZDNet’s ZDNet Research — PhoCusWright data shows that gross US bookings for US online travel agencies grew 19% in 2005, down from 21% in 2004 and 33% in 2003. International gross bookings increased by 115% so far 2005, up from 97% in full-year 2004 and 109% in 2003. Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity control about 77% of online travel bookings.

The international market is providing the growth in the marketplace, while domestic travel;s bookings are coming close to saturation in the United States. “Definitely the growth has slowed in the U.S.,” even though it is far from saturated, said Lorraine Sileo of PhoCusWright, a travel research company. “The growth overseas is particularly in Europe, the UK, Germany, France.”

Europe has lagged the United States in accepting online commerce. As they become more conversant with the tools the internet has to offer, growth will be sure to follow. This added to the tremendous growth of low cost airlines on the continent will provide fertile growth opportunities for the online travel agencies.

“Europeans, unlike Americans, actually take vacations,” he said. “When you do that across more people with more vacation days, it just opens up more opportunities.”

Orbitz, together with market leaders Expedia, the lead brand of Expedia Inc., and Travelocity, a unit of Saber Holdings Corp., control about 77 percent of online travel bookings.

“We clearly do believe that we’ll continue to see growth in Europe on par with the States,” Stauber said.

The Wyndham International Hotel Group was acquired by the Cendant Corporation for 101 million in cash. The acquisition includes 82 franchise agreements, 27 management contracts and the worldwide rights to the Wyndham brand for hotel and timeshare development.

This increases Cendants breadth into the hotel marketplace by providing an upscale brand to compliment their other hotel properties and time share businesses. Cendant Hotel Group is the world’s largest lodging franchisor with 6,460 hotels on five continents under the Wyndham(R), Super 8(R), Days Inn(R), Ramada(R), Travelodge(R), Howard Johnson(R), Knights Inn(R), Wingate Inn(R) and AmeriHost Inn(R) brands.

For more information, here is a press release and the story covered by Successful Meetings.

(more…)

The Clipper Cruise Line, the sailing ships that also serve as cruise ships, is offering a deal according to Frommers.  

Soft-adventure operator Clipper Cruise Line (tel. 800/325-0010; www.clippercruise.com) is offering discounts, including deals for single travelers, for a handful of itineraries in 2005 and 2006 in the Caribbean, Antarctica, Artic, Russian Far East, Southeast Asia and other regions. Double occupancy rates are lowered up to $4,000 (per cabin) and singles can save as much as $5,145 on a number of cruises aboard Clipper’s four small globe-trotting ships, the Nantucket Clipper, Yorktown Clipper, Clipper Adventurer, and Clipper Odyssey.(read more here)

 

 

The peak season has arrived for those interested in traveling the Upper Peninsula of Michigan this weekend. So it will not get better than this for the UP. If you are not planning on watching football this weekend and cheering on the Wolverines or the Spartans, load up the car and head on off the UP for the leaf season.

AAA’s survey of state parks and regional visitor bureaus shows 90-100 percent color development in many areas of the Upper Peninsula, with red, orange and yellow hues found at Brimley State Park (Sault Ste. Marie), Straits State Park (St. Ignace) and J.W. Wells State Park (Cedar River).

In the Lower Peninsula, peak color season is still a week or two away — slightly behind schedule — with color development reported in 45-50 percent of the trees around Cadillac, Frankfort, Gaylord, Mackinaw City, Manistee, Rogers City and Roscommon. Color intensity is rated as “fair” to “good” in most areas.