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Volume 6, Issue 19, May 14, 2008 |
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More travelers these days are getting emails from their airline or travel booking site notifying them of an itinerary change. Not to worry: It’s likely that the change is a slightly later arrival time. Some airlines are curbing fuel costs by flying at slower, more fuel-efficient speeds.
In an example cited by Associated Press, Northwest slowed down the average speed of its flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Paris (ORY) by 10 mph. The adjustment added eight minutes to the overall flight time, but saved $535 in fuel costs — a potential savings of $195,000 for the airline over the course of the year for just that one daily flight.
Southwest initiated slower flights earlier this year, adding just one to three minutes to most flights for an estimated savings of $42 million annually. JetBlue is another airline that is adopting the slower-flight approach, adding an average of two minutes to flights.
If this sounds like a no-brainer — well, it’s not that simple. For airlines that have hundred of flights a day, those minutes add up to thousands of extra employee hours. And even if, as the price of oil keeps rising, the fuel savings outweigh the payroll costs, there’s another inflexible metric that comes into play: the mandatory maintenance clock. Airframes, engines and various parts all have specific time requirements at which they must be serviced, so flying airplanes longer means those deadlines come sooner in the flight schedule. 
In another cost-saving move, Delta Air Lines has announced the closure of nine Crown Room Clubs in the United States and abroad, bringing the total number of clubs down from 42 to 33. In some cases, such as Boston Logan (BOS) and Cincinnati (CVG), the Crown Room that’s closing is one of two at the airport in question — in Logan’s case, the larger of the two. Other airports losing Crown Rooms this month are Denver (DEN), Honolulu (HNL), Kansas City (MCI), Phoenix (PHX), Seattle (SEA) and London (LGW). Delta has said it will encourage members to make use of the airline’s reciprocal agreements with other airlines including Continental and Northwest.
Trendy American hotel group W Hotels is opening its first European hotel, not in London or Paris, but in Istanbul. W Istanbul has 134 rooms, suites and duplex suites, many with private gardens, terraces or cabanas. Standard features include pillowtop mattresses, oversized desks, MP3 docking stations, high-speed wireless Internet, 32-inch TVs, and voicemail. Noted chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten is opening a Spice Market restaurant in the hotel, which is located in the Besiktas district.
Here’s a healthy alternative to chocolates on your pillow: Several hotels are now using books as part of their turndown service. A new series of mini-books — Testify from Howl Press — present real-life true stories from noted or noteworthy authors. Five new books are issued each quarter, improving the odds that you won’t get the same book twice. Hotels participating in the program include The Charles in Cambridge, Mass.
If you’ve ever complained about the film selection on your flight, here’s your chance to “put up or shut up”: American Airlines has established a new entertainment Web site where you can go to indicate your preference for movies, four of which will be shown on the main screen for a future month’s flights (and two of which will move to international flights the following month). The opportunity to vote starts sometime during the second week of any given month and stays open for seven days. There are still a few more days to vote in May for movies that will begin screening in August.
A new government program that launched this week will start operating at Washington Dulles (IAD), New York (JFK) and Houston Intercontinental (IAH) airports June 10, allowing participants to use special lanes when clearing Customs upon returning to the United States. Similar to Registered Traveler, which provides fast lanes for clearing security before boarding flights in the United States, Global Entry requires that you sign up, pay $100 and go through a background check. You will then be able to clear Customs electronically at the designated airports. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which administers the new program, says it will be expanded to 17 more major U.S. airports, though it has not yet established a timetable for those rollouts.
Little House in Bakah
1 Yehuda St .
Bakah, Jerusalem, Israel
tel 972 2 673 7944
www.o-niv.com/bakah
For my first visit to Jerusalem, I wanted to stay outside the primary hotel district for several reasons: I liked the idea of experiencing a genuine neighborhood; some of my business was in the Bakah district; and it sounded a bit safer to my loved ones at home.
Bakah was an area of Arab mansions before the borders of modern Jerusalem were established, and many of those buildings have been converted for commercial uses. The Little House is one of those. It’s lovely to look at, with gates, arches and terraces. It has a small lobby, where the friendly front-desk person quickly processed my check-in. Since he had other people waiting to check in and I was eager to get to my room and unwind after a long flight, I carried my own bags to my room.
I’d booked a smoking room and had been warned ahead of time that they were the lowest level — in terms of both amenities and location. It wasn’t as bad being sent downstairs as I had feared: My room had a window looking into a courtyard, very basic furniture but high ceilings and adequate space, and a comfy bed. The bonus was an oversized bathroom with plenty of shelf space for my various lotions and potions.
High-speed wireless Internet was available for $15 a day and it worked well; my only small complaint was that it required a new password daily — no weekly package was offered — so I’d generally find myself in the evening having to run up to the front desk to get a new password.
The hotel has a restaurant and bar, Polly’s, that serves a substantial breakfast (included in the room rate) plus lunch and dinner, and provides room service until 1 a.m.; the food was great.
I took a tour of the nonsmoking rooms, many of which had large windows and balconies. The hotel also has two-bedroom apartments next door, lovely and modern, that would be great for families or for business associates traveling together. If you can live without luxurious furnishings and a mini-bar, the Little House in Bakah is a comfortable and reasonable choice.
Score: ••••• Mary Hunt
Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines have new fare promotions, if you can buy tickets by the end of May. For the Singapore special, you must depart by May 31 to qualify for its $686 round-trip fare — including all taxes, no less — between Los Angeles (LAX) and Tokyo (TYO). Cathay’s deal is for travel to Bali (DPS) from Sept. 1 through Nov. 30, from Los Angeles, San Francisco (SFO) or New York (JFK); prices start at $865 round-trip LAX-DPS.
We predicted this several months ago: Despite generally higher airfares, we’re starting to see sale fares to Europe again. British Airways ran a very short sale that ended yesterday — we don’t expect it to be their last of the season — and now Iberia is holding a sale on economy fares if you buy tickets by May 31. To celebrate the first anniversary of its Boston (BOS)-Madrid (MAD) route, the airline is offering all-inclusive round-trip fares of $690 between Boston and a whole range of European cities, including Madrid, Barcelona (BCN), Amsterdam (AMS), Brussels (BRU), London (LHR), Paris (ORY), Rome (FCO), Warsaw (WAW) and Vienna (VIE).
Even better than a sale, of course, is an entirely free trip. Enter to win one of three “Do London Like a Local” vacation prizes in the form of credits to be used on VisitLondon.com toward airfare, hotels and entertainment. The top prize is worth $2,500. Only one entry per person/email address is allowed; enter by June 30.
LAN has announced its 2008-2009 South America Airpass, good for travel on the airline in nine South American countries. Flight coupons start at $99 per leg; you must buy a minimum of three coupons. Coupon prices vary by mileage; for example, Lima (LIM)-Sao Paulo (GRU) is $219, Buenos Aires (EZE) –Quito (UIO) is $299. Airpass coupons are good through March 31, 2009.
Looking for something to do with your tax rebate? If you book a package with American Airlines Vacations by midnight May 15, you can get 10 percent off simply by entering discount code TAX10.
