Ease of Travel

You never know when you’ll be attacked by pirates!

Delta reported that they were going to stop their budget carrier, Song, and integrated back in with the main Delta fleet next year. The Song planes currently only have a single coach class of seats so they plan on retrofitting the planes with first class seats before putting them into service. In total, 48 Boeing 757-200 planes will be converted.

Via USAToday.

Faster Free Nights at Hyatt!
Earn a free night at Hyatt worldwide after every two eligible stays when you pay with your MasterCard® card from September 1 through November 30, 2005. Redeem your Faster Free Nights Award(s) between September 15, 2005 and January 31, 2006.

I’ve never heard of such a generous rewards program before. If you travel on Hyatt and aren’t yet a member, sign up. If you are already a Hyatt Gold Passport member, you’ll have to register to get in on this offer.

Since Southwest allows you to login and print out your boarding passes 24 hours in advance, the chances of getting an “A” boarding pass (that is, be in the first group to board the plane) are easier for the tech savvy. This also means that services such as this one, which charges $5 for each successful “A” boarding pass it secures for you, also appear. It’s dangerous to use untested services (and unaffiliated services) like this one because with the information they request, they can change your itinerary (but not the traveller’s name) without your consent.

Murray of Capital Ideas recently cashed out some of his Marriott Reward Points and sold the merchandise on Ebay. With some numbers he calculated that each point was worth approximately $0.004 (four-tenths of a penny) and when each dollar spent accrued 13 points, he was getting about 5% cash back. It’s always good to figure out how much an esoteric “point” is worth but remember that your conversion rates (points to merchandise to ebay sale) may vary!

From Oct. 14th to Nov. 15th, if you book a flight on Southwest.com when you are logged in you will receive one (1) bonus credit, a maximum of three (3) per person. If you login this notice is displayed relatively prominently.

Details:

Travel must be purchased for yourself between October 14 and November 15, 2005 while logged in to MySouthwest. The Member will receive (1) one bonus credit per qualifying roundtrip, limited to (3) three bonus credits per Member. Credits will be posted to the account within (1) one week of the promotion period ending.

I recently just returned from a seven day cruise to Bermuda, read my
Norwegian Crown 7-Day Bermuda Cruise Recap .

I’ve been to O’Hare International Airport and I have been subjected to one of their famous delays, so I was happy when I heard that the Federal Aviation Administration approved a $15 billion project to expand and reconfigure its runways. (We’ll ignore the sticking point of the use of eminent domain, which in this case I agree with its usage) Here are some details:

The eight-year plan calls for reconfiguring the airport’s intersecting runways to a design of six parallel and two diagonal runways, which planners say would make it easier for planes to take off and land. The first runway would be opened in 2007. The plan also calls for adding taxiways, another terminal building, parking spaces for oversized planes and jet bridges.

In a press release, American Airlines will begin offering a Lifetime Admirals Club Membership to customers between Sept. 1 through Dec. 31, 2005. If you’re already a member, you get a $200 discount on the upgrade to a lifetime membership.

A lifetime membership for a non-member is $5,500 ($5,300 for a non-member). Seniors (65+) members pay $2,300 ($2,500 for non-members). Call up Admirals Club Customer Service, Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (CDT) at 1-800-237-7971 (from the U.S., Canada, or Puerto Rico) or 1-817-963-6100.

The membership benefits include:

Access to more than 40 Admirals Club locations worldwide

Business Centers offering individual workstations, data ports, printers, copiers, fax machines, computers and complimentary high speed Internet at most locations

Conference rooms (for a nominal fee, whether traveling or not)

Many locations include a spa-like shower facility, flat-panel televisions with DIRECTV® service and a Children’s Room

Professional staff to assist with travel or business needs

CNN reports that there will be a new trans-Atlantic airliner vying for your business travel needs. The company is named Eos and has applied for approval to fly between JFK and London, Stansted. Their 757s will only have 48 seats so each traveler gets the comfort of 21 sq. ft. per person and fully flat beds. It will only fly that one route with three planes and plans to be 20 to 25% cheaper than its competitors.

“We’ve designed every aspect of the Eos experience specifically with the business traveler in mind,” says David Spurlock, founder and CEO of Eos, who is a former head of strategy at British Airways.