EXECUTIVE TRAVEL SKYGUIDE E-ALERT 01/17/06 Welcome to EXECUTIVE TRAVEL SKYGUIDE E-ALERT for the week of January 17, the weekly e-mail of essential business travel news! To sign up for the e-Alert, click here. United due to exit Chapter 11 soon Delta wins approval for a dozen routes to Mexico JetBlue reports problems with access to Chicago market Dallas/Ft. Worth sees Virgin America in its future European court upholds new passenger compensation rules Low-fare fever spreads in the U.K. and Ireland Connexion by Boeing revamps pricing, adds TV channels Hotel Update: Hilton adds Dallas, San Francisco locations Reader Question of the Week: In-flight Internet access is slowly spreading, but only among foreign airlines. Cash-strapped U.S. carriers can't seem to afford it. Does this matter to you - would you choose one carrier over another if it gave you the chance to log on at your seat? Send your reply to skyguide@aexp.com. AIRLINES United due to exit Chapter 11 soon After it reached an agreement last week with its unsecured creditors, United Airlines appeared to be on the verge of coming out of Chapter 11 by early February, thus ending the airline industry's longest bankruptcy in history. United has been operating under court protection for more than three years as management struggled to slash billions of dollars in costs - something that required two sets of pay concessions by employees, the termination of employee pension plans, the renegotiation of leases for aircraft and airport space, and so on. If the bankruptcy court approves everything, the "new" United will have as its largest shareholder the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which assumed responsibility for what's left of its pension obligations. Some 400 United executives will get an 8 percent stake in the company. In a lengthy analysis last week, the Wall Street Journal noted that United is bucking an industry trend by continuing to offer some premium perks for business travelers - like its Economy Plus seating and its "p.s." three-class 757 transcontinental service. So far, the article indicated, it's a strategy that seems to be working. Delta wins approval for a dozen routes to Mexico Delta Air Lines said it has received government approvals to begin a dozen new routes to Mexico this winter and spring, and all of the new services are now available for bookings. The new routes (and their start-up dates) include Atlanta-Merida (February 26), Atlanta-Acapulco (April 5) and Atlanta-Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa (April 12); Cincinnati-Los Cabos (February 18) and Cincinnati-Cancun (June 1); Los Angeles-Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa (April 15) and LAX-Cancun (June 3); New York JFK-Puerto Vallarta (March 4), JFK-Acapulco (March 11), JFK-Los Cabos (April 8) and JFK-Cozumel (June 3); Salt Lake City-Mazatlan (March 8). JetBlue reports problems with access to Chicago market Fast-growing, low-cost JetBlue Airways would love to start flying into Chicago, company officials told the Chicago Tribune, but the carrier is having trouble finding the kind of airport access it would like. CEO David Neeleman told the newspaper last week that JetBlue would start flying to Chicago right away "if we could get a couple of gates" at O'Hare Airport. But he said O'Hare's gates are hard to get because most are tied up with long-term leases and because growth at the airport is constrained by federal limitations on the number of flights that can operate there. Neeleman said he would rather not take JetBlue into close-in Midway Airport because of the ready availability of low-fare flights there from Southwest and AirTran. City officials reportedly have offered JetBlue the chance to share one available gate at O'Hare's Terminal 2, but it would only permit three flights a day. They have also suggested JetBlue could use the International Terminal at O'Hare, but fees are higher there and it's isolated from the rest of the airport terminals. Neeleman told the newspaper that Chicago is a market "we have to be in at some point in time, but we're patient." AIRPORTS Dallas/Ft. Worth sees Virgin America in its future The new San Francisco-based Virgin America, which expects to start operating later this year, hasn't yet said which cities it expects to serve - but Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport is predicting the low-cost carrier will be coming to Texas. DFW officials said they submitted a letter of support for the new airline at the Transportation Department, where Virgin America has filed for operating authority. "Virgin America has expressed interest in flying long-haul flights out of DFW," an airport spokesman said. "Virgin America has indicated DFW is being considered for new service to New York and San Francisco after the company begins its initial New York-San Francisco route in 2006. With a stated plan to focus their growth on longer-haul domestic U.S. routes serving major cosmopolitan markets, DFW stands to gain service as the airline grows its network." The spokesman said Virgin America most likely would be able to use gate space abandoned by Delta in DFW's Terminal E. INTERNATIONAL European court upholds new passenger compensation rules A European court has rejected a legal challenge to new consumer rules that force airlines to pay more when passengers are bumped, or when their flights face lengthy delays. Under the new regulations, passengers bumped off a flight against their will can get up to $725, twice the previous amount. The rules also require airlines to provide food to passengers whose flights are delayed two to four hours, and to give them a refund and, in necessary, a hotel room when their flight is delayed more than five hours or cancelled due to the fault of the airline. The court rejected the airlines' argument that train and ferry operators aren't subject to the same rules; the court noted that the inconveniences to airline passengers are greater due to the location of airports and the complexities of baggage check-in and retrieval. Low-fare fever spreads in the U.K. and Ireland Low-fare options are spreading across the Atlantic as Ryanair said it will open up 18 new routes from Dublin, and British Airways plans to overhaul its regional CitiExpress operation, renaming it and slashing prices. Budget carrier Ryanair, noting that many of its passengers bound for continental Europe must change planes at London, said that in April it will begin flying direct from Dublin to more than a dozen European airports, including Salzburg, Marseille, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Milan, Venice, Krakow, Bratislava and Gothenburg. The move will increase competitive pressures on Aer Lingus. Meanwhile, British Airways said its regional CitiExpress flights will be renamed BA Connect on March 26, with fares cut up to 40 percent, to as little as $44 one-way. The new carrier will eliminate business class, and will charge for meals. BA Connect serves more than a dozen British and Scottish airports as well as points in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. TECHNOLOGY Connexion by Boeing revamps pricing, adds TV channels Connexion by Boeing, the provider of in-flight high-speed Internet access for passengers, said it plans to overhaul its usage rates and to start offering new TV channels that customers can watch on their laptops. Starting January 23, the company said, users will be able to access programming from BBC World, EuroNews, Eurosportnews, CNBC and MSNBC at no additional cost. And on January 31, pricing plans will be amended, with four levels available: $9.95 for one hour of Internet time; $14.95 for two hours; $17.95 for three hours; and $26.95 for 24 hours of access, including on connecting flights. The service is currently available on 170 daily flights operated by Lufthansa, SAS, Japan Airlines, ANA, Korean, China Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Asiana and El Al. The service also started using Yahoo! as its exclusive search engine on January 15. HOTELS Hotel Update: Hilton adds Dallas, San Francisco locations Hilton Hotels has added properties in two key business markets. In Dallas, Hilton has taken over the Anatole Hotel, now known as the Hilton Anatole; it's scheduled for a $30 million, two-year renovation. And in San Francisco, the former Holiday Inn Select has become the Hilton San Francisco Financial District after a $40 million overhaul that gave each room a wrap-around work desk and ergonomic chair; wired and wireless high-speed Internet; and MP3-compatible alarm clock ... In New York City, Marriott has cut the ribbon on the Manhattan/Times Square Residence Inn - the first in the Big Apple - at Sixth Avenue and 39th Street near Bryant Park ... The former Ramada Inn at Pittsburgh Airport is now a Doubletree ... In West Palm Beach, Fla., the Crowne Plaza has reopened after a 15-month restoration. AIR ROUTES BOSTON (BOS). The next step in JetBlue's ongoing expansion at Boston Logan comes January 17, when the airline begins six flights a day between Boston and Washington Dulles. On January 19, JetBlue will begin one daily roundtrip between Boston and Austin. FT. LAUDERDALE (FLL). January 19 is the launch date for new JetBlue service between Ft. Lauderdale and Oakland, with one daily roundtrip. NEW YORK KENNEDY (JFK). JetBlue Airways adds a new route to its network January 19 when it kicks off non-stop JFK-Austin, Tex. Service with three daily roundtrips. SAN DIEGO (SAN). Aeromexico has increased frequencies on its San Diego-Mexico City route from two a week to four (Monday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday). WASHINGTON DULLES (IAD). JetBlue will begin Dulles-Boston service January 17 with six flights a day; on the same date, it will terminate its daily Washington Dulles-Sacramento service. DEALS AND SPECIALS FOR BUSINESS TRAVELERS Faced with new competition at Denver from Southwest Airlines and an expanding Frontier Airlines, United Airlines is offering special credits redeemable for bonus Mileage Plus miles on flights that begin or end at DEN. The offer is one credit per segment, with double credits on some specific routes like Las Vegas, Oakland, Phoenix and San Diego. Four credits are worth 4,000 bonus miles; 16 are worth 90,000, or a free business class international ticket. Register by calling 800-447-6772 and entering code 875, or at www.united.com/worldofchoice. You only have until January 18 to take advantage of a British Airways sale on business cabin tickets to Manchester from New York JFK, good for travel until May 29. The roundtrip sale fares are $1,998 for Club World, $458 for World Traveller Plus. Call 1-800-247-9297 or visit www.ba.com. Eos Airlines (www.eosairlines.com), the New York-London carrier that operates a 48-seat premium class 757 that it bills as "the commercial corporate jet," has started a rewards program called Eos Club 48. The plan lets members (you can enroll on the web site) redeem points for unrestricted travel on any airline. Just one roundtrip on Eos earns 80,000 program points, "or the equivalent of $800 worth of rewards," the company said. For links to other websites where you can search for bargains, click here: www.executivetravelonline.com/reference/deals.html For in-depth analysis, news, features and opinions about the current business travel scene, check out Joe Sent Me (www.joesentme.com), produced by veteran traveler advocate/journalist Joe Brancatelli and a team of contributors. EXPRESS DELIVERY: Do you have to make a big presentation at an upcoming conference? Check out the upcoming March issue of Executive Travel for tips on the most effective techniques for delivering of your message, and for news and ideas about new technology that can help. By Jim Glab Have a question or comment? Send it to skyguide@aexp.com. To sign up for the e-Alert, click here.