JetBlue is launching seasonal nonstop service to Portland, Ore. from Boston on May 26, 2011 and the airline is set to begin nonstop service between Boston and Santiago June 17, 2011 three times a week. By summer’s end, JetBlue says it will be serving 100 flights per day from Boston, up 30 percent from 2010. …
Delta is launching twice-daily nonstop service between Boston and London Heathrow on March 27, 2010 joining American, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic on that same route. …
US Airways has increased the charge for bags over 50 pounds. The new fee for luggage that weighs 51 to 70 pounds is $90, up from $50. For bags over 70 pounds, the fee is now $175, up from $100. …
Hotel occupancy rates were up last year but still only reached 57.6 percent and average daily room rates declined slightly to $98.08. Industry experts say that’s why customers are seeing so many bonus offers from hotel loyalty programs. …
There are rumors that Priority Club’s popular PointBreaks award sale program might be changing to 50 percent off an award stay instead of the current 5,000 points, for more properties. …
American Airlines now flies nonstop between New York JFK and Tokyo Haneda, the first airline to do so in more than 30 years. AAdvantage members can get triple miles for first and business class travel and double miles for coach on the new route through May 31, 2011 (registration required). …
Sixty-five percent of IHG rooms opened in 2010 were in the upscale brands, InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Hotel Indigo. Hotel Indigo had 38 hotels as of 2010 and has 62 in the pipeline including 12 in Europe and Asia. Fifty percent of all new IHG rooms in the pipeline are outside the Americas. …
American AAdvantage members can now earn eight miles per dollar spent at Groupon through AAdvantage online shopping. Groupon features a daily local deal on things to do, see, eat and buy in cities across the U.S. …
Starting May 25, 2011, Virgin America will fly nonstop from San Francisco or Los Angeles to Chicago (ORD). …
According to TripAdvisor, 59 percent of travelers are connected to work during leisure travel, with 62 percent checking work emails and 13 percent calling into the office while on vacation. …
Rumor has it that Virgin Blue will be relaunching their Velocity program sometime this year. …
The Tremont Plaza Hotel in Baltimore is now partners in Stash Hotel Rewards. …
Canada’s WestJet has an interline agreement with Delta, but there is no frequent flyer tie-in. WestJet and American Airlines, however, have extended their codeshare agreement and now there is a frequent flyer partnership. …
Alamo Rent A Car and National Car Rental are now partners in Korean Air SKYPASS. Members will get 500 miles per qualifying rental worldwide. …
Virgin America Elevate members can now earn one point per dollar spent when booking a cruise through virginamerica.com. Elevate members can also now earn 10 points per dollar spent at FTD. …
EVA Airways has applied to join the Star Alliance. …
Wyndham Rewards members can now earn points when they rent with Alamo or National Rent a Car–50 points per day on rentals of one to three days and 500 points for rentals of four or more days. …
Jet Airways and US Airways have a new reciprocal frequent flyer partnership and FFP members can earn and redeem miles on both global networks.
