Take a Look At Our List of Program And Travel Updates
Nov. 1, 2014 marks the end of American AAdvantage members being able to earn or burn miles on EL AL flights. EL AL continues to be a partner with American Express Membership Rewards at a ratio of 1,000 Membership Rewards points to 20 Matmid points if you would like to fly with points to Israel. … Currently, there are an estimated 647 million members enrolled in various frequent flyer programs worldwide, with 306 million members enrolled in frequent flyer programs in the United States. … Virgin Australia flyers can book flights to over 245 North and Central American destinations on a single airline ticket and can now book flights to three new destinations through its codeshare with Delta from Los Angeles: Nashville, Kansas City and Raleigh/Durham.
Starwood Preferred Guest and Jet Airways are now partners and SPG members can earn JPMiles for their SPG stays and can transfer their Starpoints to JPMiles. … Southwest Airlines has signed an agreement with Red Rocks Biofuels LCC to purchase low carbon renewable jet fuel (approximately three million gallons a year), made using forest residues that will help reduce the risk of destructive wildfires in the Western United States. … Japan Airlines is reconfiguring its Boeing 787 fleet with a new SkySuites business class as well as premium economy, slashing the size of the current economy cabin by over one-third. Good news for some economy flyers is that they might score a two-seat side. Economy will be configured 2-4-2 instead of the current 3-3-3. …
Chicago O’Hare International Airport is testing a new app that will allow international travelers to answer border clearance questions on their mobile devices while taxiing to their arrival gate. O’Hare already has self-service customs kiosks which have reduced the average border clearance times at the airport from two hours to under an hour and as little as 15 minutes for U.S. residents. The Atlanta airport is also testing the customs app. … Philippine Airlines and All Nippon Airways are now earn and burn frequent flyer program partners. … Turkish Airlines is expanding its service between San Francisco and Istanbul to five flights per week starting April 13, 2015 and to seven flights per week starting May 11, 2015 and began serving Kherson, Ukraine on Oct. 15, 2014.
Los Angeles is Delta’s seventh nonstop destination from London with the new service as of Oct. 26 between LHR and LAX. Nonstop service between London (LHR) and Newark Liberty International will begin March 29, 2015. New daily nonstop service between Manchester, U.K, and New York (JFK) will begin June 2, 2015. … The percentage of passengers waiting 20 minutes or more in TSA lines this summer fell to 0.4 percent from 1.3 percent last year and from nearly 2 percent two summers ago, the agency says. … According to the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries (OTTI), U.S.-citizen travelers took 32,612,256 trips in the first six months of 2014 with 15,409,371 of those being trips outside the United States. Mexico and Canada account for 52.8 percent of all trips outside the U.S., followed by Europe (17.4 percent), Caribbean (11.5 percent), Asia (7 percent), Central America (4.5 percent), South America (2.7 percent), Middle East (2.7 percent), Oceania (.9 percent) and Africa (.5 percent and was the only region that saw a decline in U.S. travelers in 2014).
