Thanksgiving Holiday problems
Thanksgiving holiday is going to be even worse this year. Airlines will offer almost 3,000 fewer domestic flights a day during the Thanksgiving season, promising fewer choices, fuller planes and higher fares. USA Today reports that compared with last year, there will be 11% fewer flights between November 20th and November 30th. That translates to 2.6 million fewer seats. On Thanksgiving Day, the cutbacks are startling. US Airways won't operate 40% of the flights it flew Thanksgiving Day last year. Delta Air Lines cut 26% of Thanksgiving Day flights, and United Airlines cut 22%. Airlines have cut some routes because they were not profitable. The USA Today report says American and Delta both will have halted non-stop flights between Charlotte and New York LaGuardia airport, for example. There will be 45% fewer non-stop flights than last season. Another non-stop route where travelers could have a tough time is between Dallas' Love Field and Kansas City. It has lost nearly half the flights it had last Thanksgiving. American and Southwest Airlines served it last year. American stopped. Passengers wanting to fly between Chicago O'Hare and Spokane, Wash., for Thanksgiving can't do it non-stop anymore. United Airlines, which now operates one flight daily each way, will stop on Nov. 2. Travelers will have to connect. In fact, 84% of U.S. airports that had non-stop service during the Thanksgiving season last year to Chicago O'Hare, one of the USA's busiest airports, will have fewer flights this holiday. Only Jet Blue plans to add flights, about three percent.
Where to ski
Skiers are getting ready for the season, and Outside Magazine is out with its list of the 15 best ski-and-snowboard destinations in America. The rankings were based on snow quality and terrain. Alta and Snowbird, both in Utah, topped the rankings. They were followed by Whistler, Blackcomb in British Columbia and Vail, Colorado. Jackson Hole Wyoming, took the No. 4 spot, with Snowbasin, Utah; Fernie Alpine Resort in British Columbia, and Silverton Mountain in Colorado next. In eighth place were Colorado's Aspen Highlands and Snowmass resorts, then Squaw Valley in California and Steamboat in Colorado. The final five on the top 15 list were Mammoth in California; Telluride, Colorado.; Solitude in Utah; Alyeska Resort in Alaska and Taos, New Mexico.
A380’s from Down Under
Qantas has become the first airline to operate commercial A380 flights between Australia and the US West Coast. The inaugural A380 flight between Melbourne and Los Angeles took place Monday. The flight was met by Qantas Ambassador-at-Large John Travolta, Australian entertainment legend Olivia Newton-John and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The Qantas A380 is configured with 450 seats in four cabins – 14 in First Class, 72 in Business Class, 32 in Premium Economy and 332 in Economy Class – with interiors designed by world renowned Australian industrial designer and Qantas Creative Director Marc Newson. Qantas is scheduled to take delivery of three A380 aircraft by the end of 2008, and have eight in service by the end of 2009. Its 20-strong order would be delivered by the end of 2013. The airline’s first A380 services to London, via Singapore, will begin in January 2009. The first Qantas A380 is named Nancy-Bird Walton after the 92 year-old Australian aviation pioneer.
“High Seas” defined
It really was a cruise on the high seas for one British cruise ship. The Times of London reports that British customs officials who boarded the 1,952-passenger P&O Arcadia Sunday after it docked in Southampton, England and found about $2 million worth of cocaine strapped to the bodies of four passengers. The three-year-old ship had just returned from a 23-day cruise around the Caribbean, where it made calls in Antigua, St Lucia, Grenada, Barbados and other islands. The Times quotes a P&O Cruises spokesperson who says this is the first time she knows of passengers being arrested for allegedly smuggling cocaine. The Times says Natalie Ellen Quinn, 26, Camille Danielle, 19, Calvin Neil Hylton, 41 and Briony Marie Dyce, 25, all of Manchester or Birmingham in England, have been charged.