Cheap flights to NYC and Chicago (under $200) With American Airlines
New York City and Chicago tourism officials, along with American Airlines, unveiled a new deal Wednesday to promote visits between the two cities.
The upshot: $89 airfare each way between the two cities. But: You’ve got to purchase the tickets from American Airlines by the end of the day Oct. 22. You can travel between January 5, 2011 to February 25, 2011 with embargoes from January 15-17 and February 18-21, 2011.
Some of the NYC promotions taking place this winter include the first-ever Broadway Week offering two-for-one tickets to more than 40 of Broadway’s hottest shows (January 24-February 10); the upcoming NYC Restaurant Week Winter 2011 offering visitors prix-fixe meals at nearly 300 of the City’s high-end restaurants (January 24-February 6); and the Off-Broadway promotion “On the House” offering theater enthusiasts two-for-one tickets to some of the City’s most celebrated Off-Broadway shows (January 24-February 13). In addition, more than 80 of the City’s top hotels will offer up to 35 percent off their best available rate from January 2 to February 28 when travelers book between October 15 and November 2. Further details can be accessed at nycgo.com.
American Airlines travel bookings can be made through AA.com.
The fine print: Fares are valid for round-trip travel to and from both Chicago and New York. The fares are nonrefundable and require a Saturday-night stay. A $150 change fee applies, as does the 9/11 Security Fee and PFCs (Passenger Facility Charges) of up to $4.50 per segment, depending on the airport. Fares shown do not include a Federal tax of $3.70 per domestic segment (defined as one takeoff and one landing), passenger facility charges of up to $18, and the September 11th Security Fee of $2.50 per enplanement at a US airport. Fare shown is each way based on roundtrip for economy class travel purchased on AA.com through Oct. 22, 2010. Travel is valid starting Jan. 5, 2011 with all travel completed by Feb. 25, 2011.
Airlines Discount Flights, Use Travel1 to Compare Airline Tickets Prices
Today’s travelers are very different from travelers of the past. Families used to spend an entire year saving money for the big summer vacation to the beach or lake. However, most families now are much too busy to spend an entire year planning a vacation. They are looking for quick and flexible business trip options, conference accommodations, weekend getaways, cruise vacations or last minute deals. People today wake up one morning, decide they need a vacation and are on a plane by the end of the week.
Even though travelers plan quickly today, they are still striving to get the best deal. With a multitude of online travel sites available, it can be overwhelming to find a good deal on a quick getaway flight or a nice vacation. They may spend hours searching and comparing prices and then still wonder if they can really trust that they got a good deal.
Compare Airline Tickets Prices
This is where Travel1.com comes to the rescue! Travel1.com helps travelers feel great about their upcoming travel plans. This free service allows users to find the best deals on traveling without unnecessary stress or confusion. The traveler simply enters a proposed itinerary and the website does the rest! It searches thousands of travel sites to find the best deals for the proposed trip. With this simple process, the traveler can compare prices from various online sites in minutes. This eliminates having to spend hours researching multiple individual travel sites, only to wonder if you got a great deal. After the results are displayed, the traveler can then confidently choose the best deal for their upcoming trip.
US Government Need to Consider New Airlines Industry Regulation
After the justice department approved the merger of Continental Airlines and United Airlines last Friday, Congressman James Oberstar (D-Minn) voiced his displeasure again with the merger and suggested that Congress might just need to reconsider the deregulation of airlines that happened in 1978.
The airlines have been stuck between a rock and a hard place for years. Combined profits of the industry are non-existent and customer satisfaction with airline service is somewhere down there in the range of our approval ratings of congress’s performance.
What we have received from deregulation are cheap air fares. Most people don’t remember what it cost to fly on the airlines prior to 1978 because they were either not old enough or did not fly on the airlines back then due to the costs. Real costs for flying via commercial airlines have come down over the past 30 years but the by product of lower fares has been a reduction in what we consider to be service and the amenities of air travel. In some ways airline travel has become just another form of mass transit much like rail service.
What we want we can’t have, and the government stepping in will not solve the problem.
We want our cheap $99 return fares, anywhere, anytime, and we want great service and convenient on time departure schedules to go with the low price.
Deregulation brought on the competition with low cost carriers, which brought down the fares that we all enjoy.
Low fares combined with volatile fuel prices, worldwide competition with lower labor costs and airlines irrationally putting too much inventory of seats in the market took the profits out of the airline industry.
So now we have to adjust to some new fare structure and service level that the free market should work out. Mergers of air carriers are a part of this evolutionary process.
The airlines and their shareholders deserve to make a profit, or at least attempt to do so, while providing air transportation to the consumer. Unlike a utility where we have no choice, we don’t have to fly if we don’t like the combination of price, service and time efficiency of air travel.
As my Southwest flight pulled into the gate Sunday afternoon at Nashville, the flight attendant reminded us that we have many choices about who we fly with and he thanked us for choosing Southwest Airlines. In reality we have choices beyond whom we fly with because we can drive and in some cases take the train. We can also choose not to go at all.
Regulation of air travel from the federal government should be limited to matters of safety. Congress should not venture anymore than they already have into the regulation of customer service, pricing and competition.
Government intervention has not brought much value to anything lately and I can’t imagine a scenario where reregulation of the airline industry will ultimately benefit the US economy and the consumer of air travel.
All Nippon Airways Net Income Target 5 Billion Yen Early Next Year
All Nippon Airways Co., Asia’s second-largest carrier by sales, predicted a return to profit next fiscal year as the company cuts jobs and adds flights.
The airline, also known as ANA, expects net income of 5 billion yen ($55 million) in the year beginning April 1, it said in a statement today. The Tokyo-based carrier widened its net loss forecast for the current fiscal year to 65 billion yen from 28 billion yen.
All Nippon will shed about 1,000 jobs, merge subsidiaries and slash spending on advertising as part of an 86 billion yen cost-cutting program. The carrier will also boost flights as it takes delivery of new planes, including Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliners, and as Tokyo’s Haneda airport, the nation’s busiest, opens a new runway.
“Next year will be a big opportunity for us,” said Akira Okada, a senior vice president at All Nippon. “We want to increase flights to China and Southeast Asia.”
All Nippon aims to raise international passenger sales 68 percent to 357 billion yen in the year starting April 2011, from an estimated 212 billion yen this fiscal year. The carrier will boost overseas flights 15 percent next fiscal year, adding services to Taipei, Seoul, Beijing and Shanghai.
The carrier is working with Koito Industries Ltd. on new seats for a plane service it is starting this year, Okada said. All Nippon is discussing compensation with Koito, which falsified test results, causing delays in the delivery of the seats and the airline’s new service.
Japan Airlines Corp., ANA’s larger rival, is restructuring after seeking bankruptcy protection earlier this year.
All Nippon rose 1.1 percent to 284 yen, the highest level in two months, in Tokyo trading today. The forecast was announced after the end of trading.
City May Get Cheaper Pacific Blue Flights
Cheaper airfares could soon take off for southerners as budget airline Pacific Blue touches down to test Invercargill’s runway this week.
Pacific Blue general manager for commercial air Adrian Hamilton-Manns confirmed yesterday the airline would be visiting Invercargill Airport on Thursday with its new 100-seater Embraer E190 jet.
The budget airline has said Invercargill has been on its radar for some time and came close to landing here in April last year, but instead chose Dunedin Airport to start a new southern route with its Boeing 737-800. At the time the company said it was committed to bringing cheaper flights further south but has not shown any further interest until now.
Mr Hamilton-Manns would not confirm whether Thursday’s visit meant the plane would be commissioned to a new Invercargill-Auckland route.
“It will be the kind of plane that we use, yes … We would really love to be in Invercargill and we’re talking to (Invercargill Airport chief executive) Barry (Bouton) about that. Obviously, it’s just the beginning of the discussion so it’s a bit too early really to comment on that.”
If Pacific Blue decided to base it here, it could soon be flying passengers to Auckland and possibly Australia, Mr Hamilton-Mann said.
Mr Bouton said it was extremely exciting news. “This plane is tailor-made to service the Invercargill-Auckland direct route and potentially to open up the trans-Tasman tourism market with a direct service.”.
“This is because it’s an extremely comfortable state-of-the-art aircraft, which is going to be far more economically attractive to run than bigger planes.”
If it goes ahead, Pacific Blue will be the only airline offering such a service. Air New Zealand does not offer a direct route to Auckland, with flights only via Wellington or Christchurch.
A quick internet search of return Air New Zealand flight prices to Auckland from Invercargill revealed an average price of about $500 for a short-notice booking and about half that if booked several months in advance.
Mr Hamilton-Manns said if Pacific Blue launched in Invercargill, flights would cost considerably less than those offered by competitor airlines. However, he could not say by how much except that “they would be cheap”.
A civic reception will be held at the Invercargill Airport at 2pm on Thursday, when Pacific Blue officials are expected to make an announcement.
