Airfare Deals tips

“Lay back, relax and enjoy the flight in the comfort, privacy and exclusivity of your own suite. Delta Air Lines is redefining international business class travel with the introduction of the Delta One suite, the first business class cabin to feature a sliding door at each suite.”

When a planned $32 billion expansion is completed, Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) will be the world’s largest.

Enter the Williams-Sonoma “Trip to Thailand” sweepstakes by February 18, 2016, for a chance to win the grand prize: a six-night trip for two to Thailand, including air, hotel, a Bangkok tour, cooking classes, and Thai massages.

For the average flyer, squeezed into a cramped coach-class seat and nickel-and-dimed to distraction, air travel has never been worse. But flush with outsized profits, and under fire for keeping airfares high even as fuel costs have plummeted, the full-service carriers are taking steps to stem the rising tide of anger and frustration.

Fuel, one of the airlines’ two largest operating expenses, is 40 percent cheaper than it was a year ago. And airline profits are robust, in some cases at record-high levels.

Did you feel that? Did the earth just move below our feet?

USA Today reports that American has been fined $1.6 million for tarmac delays that occurred during 2013-2015.

Enter the Pernod Ricard “St. Patrick’s Day” sweepstakes by April 30, 2016, for a chance to win one of six grand prizes: each a trip for two to Ireland, including air, three nights’ hotel, and a tour of the Jameson distillery in Dublin.

With no published award-price charts to refer to, members of Delta’s SkyMiles program don’t know when award prices are higher or lower than normal. That’s because there is no baseline to use as a reference point. There is no normal. Or rather, normal is whatever Delta chooses to publish as the price for an award ticket on a particular flight.

If you’re looking for yet another reason to cross the Atlantic, WOW Air just gave you one: The Icelandic-based airline is expanding low transatlantic fares and “second city” air routes.

Last week, amid unconfirmed rumors that Virgin America was in merger talks with unnamed potential acquirers, I suggested that the best fit would be a combination with JetBlue. According to a new Bloomberg report, I was half right: One of the would-be buyers is indeed JetBlue; the other is Alaska Airlines.

TripAdvisor (SmarterTravel’s parent company) is the undisputed king of hotel user reviews. This week, it begins its quest to attain the same status in the realm of airline flight reviews.

Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.

Google “La Compagnie” and the top non-sponsored result describes the airline thusly: “Discover Paris and London with La Compagnie, the unique French all-business-class airline, at an affordable price.”

Is “The Happiest Place on Earth” rightly so-called? One prominent politician thinks not.

The TSA and American Airlines are about to launch a joint test of new, partially automated screening checkpoints at a handful of the airline’s hub airports.

Does connecting to in-flight Wi-Fi allow government intelligence agencies to spy on your every digital move? The idea may sound more sci-fi thriller than reality, but classified documents leaked by National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden signal that it’s been happening for years, according to a report in the French newspaper Le Monde.

While JetBlue’s new elite status-match campaign isn’t overtly directed at any single airline, its underlying goal is almost certainly to wean away current Virgin America elites in the run-up to that airline’s merger with Alaska Airlines.

Airline quality. Quality airline. Either way, that combination of words will strike many flyers as an oxymoron.

“Delta Becomes Only U.S. Airline to Offer All In-Flight Entertainment For Free”

OneGo’s tagline says it all: “Unlimited Flying on Major Airlines.” That’s right, binge flying for a set price. Like Netflix for air travelers.