Delta Offers Winter Weather Travel Assistance to Customers in Minnesota

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) is offering customers whose flight plans may be affected by winter weather expected tomorrow and Saturday in Minnesota the ability to make one-time changes to their travel schedules without cost. Delta's weather advisory encourages customers to consider postponing or re-routing their travel to avoid possible inconvenience from expected flight delays.

Customers booked on Delta-ticketed flights Dec. 31, 2010 and Jan. 1, 2011 to, from or through Minnesota may immediately rebook for travel before or after their original travel dates as long as new flights are ticketed and rescheduled travel starts by Jan. 3, 2011.

Flight delays are possible at Minnesota airports, including Delta's hub at Minneapolis-St. Paul, as a result of winter weather conditions, and flight schedules may be proactively reduced to minimize delays.

American Airlines says bookings up despite loss of Orbitz

American Airlines Inc. said Wednesday it is booking more tickets now than at this time previous year despite having its fares removed from one major online travel agency and made harder to find on a second.

Orbitz.com stopped selling tickets on the Fort Worth-based carrier Dec. 21 after the two failed to reach terms on a latest distribution agreement. Two days later, Expedia.com changed its search results to give American's flights less prominence when customers hunted for fares.

Nevertheless, the carrier said it has seen a raise in bookings from its own website, aa.com, and from other online travel agencies such as Priceline.com and "metasearch" online travel agencies such as Kayak.com that hunt across a variety of search sites to compile fare results.

Delta and American Pull Information from Travel Sites

The battle between airlines and travel sites is starting to heat up, but for different issue.

The relationship between airline and secondary travel sites is interesting. Most have a relationship like travel agents used to, where the site will get a referral fee for making the booking. However any extra money made from hotels or cars is kept by the outside site.

Back in October 2008, American Airlines went to battle with Kayak.com. Kayak.com is pretty darn cool and I don't mind giving them a plug. You are able to say where and when you want to go someplace and they will compare fares. They will also let you know if the cheapest fare is on the airline's website (which I find it almost always is) or on another site like Orbitz or Expedia. Kayak doesn't actually sell you anything, but just refers you to another site to make the actual purchase. Back in 2008, American was not happy since they wanted Kayak to only link to their site and not to third party sites like Orbitz, Expedia, etc for comparison. It appears that American won, since their site is the only one listed under American fares on Kayak.

AirTran cuts cancellation penalty for Northeast travelers

Travelers whose travel plans were altered by snowstorms in the Northeast will be able to change their reservations without the customary $75 penalty.

That includes affected flights in and out of Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. AirTran is BWI’s second biggest carrier behind Southwest Airlines.

Passengers whose flights to or from cities in the Northeast affected by the winter weather system have an additional 14 days past their real travel date to book an alternate flight. The extension applies to passengers with booked travel between Dec. 27 and Dec. 30, according to a news release.

Sony to Spend $1.2 Billion for Image Sensor Capacity

Sony Corp. will invest 100 billion yen ($1.2 billion) over the next fiscal year to twice its production capacity for image sensors, as the company aims to expand output of the devices used in smartphones.

The maker of Cyber-shot cameras will buy back from Toshiba Corp. a factory making chips used in PlayStation 3 game consoles and convert the plant into an image-sensor production facility, Tokyo-based Sony said today in a statement. The company also plans to include equipment to an existing plant in Nagasaki, western Japan, to make high-quality image sensors, it said.

The investment follows a plan by Sony, disclosed in September, to spend 40 billion yen to boost output of so-called CMOS chips at a factory in Kumamoto prefecture. Japan’s largest exporter of consumer electronics aims to win a 30 percent share of shipments in the market for image sensors used in cell phones, compared with about 10 percent for the year ending March 2011, Yoko Yasukochi, a Sony spokeswoman, said by phone today.

American Airlines pulls fare data from Orbitz site

American Airlines on Tuesday yanked all of its airfares from Orbitz Worldwide Inc., severing ties with the online travel giant that the carrier formed a decade back with United and other leading airlines.

Chicago-based Orbitz stopped selling tickets for travel on American and American Eagle flights after a Cook County Circuit Court judge allowed the nation's No. 3 airline to stop contracts amid a dispute with the online travel agency and its corporate parent, Travelport.

Snow continues to cause Europe travel chaos

Snow and nasty weather conditions continued to blast Europe, stalling train travel and extending the nightmare for many trying to travel by road and air.

Heavy snow halted all plane travel at the Frankfurt airport in Germany Tuesday for a short time, said Thomas Uber, an airport spokesman.

"The problem is that we clear a runway and right after the snowplow has gone over it, it is full of snow once more because there is so much coming down," Uber said.

KC airport expects boost in holiday travel

Kansas City International Airport is preparing for an expected boost in holiday tourists.

The Kansas City Aviation Department says it is expecting more than 679,000 passengers during the holiday season, that's up five percent from 2009.

Nationally, the Air Transport Association, an airline industry trade organization, says it expects 43.6 million passengers to travel on U.S. carriers over the holidays, up about 3 percent from previous year.

Holiday travel in Texas expected to increase, AAA Texas predicts Read more: Holiday travel in Texas expected to increase, AAA Texas predicts

More Texans are expected to hit the road to visit relatives and friends this holiday season.

AAA Texas projects that 7.5 million people a 3.3 percent raise over 2009 will travel 50 miles or more from home between Thursday, Dec. 23 and Sunday, Jan. 2.

About 7 million of the 7.5 million Texans will reach their destinations by driving. The rest will travel by air, bus, rail or ship.

Car Travel to Rise 3.2% This Holiday Season

This current year about 85.7 million people will hit the road during the holidays, a 3.2% raise over previous year, according to AAA.

Folks who take their cars instead of fly are expected to make about 90% of all holiday travelers commuting more than 50 miles. Overall, the average holiday vacationer will travel about 1,052 miles round journey, up 33% from previous year, and it will cost them $694, which is a similar amount spent on the Thanksgiving holiday, AAA says. AAA defines the holiday period as between Dec. 23 and Jan. 2.

Delta Offers Winter Weather Travel Assistance to Customers in the Southeast

Delta Air Lines is offering consumers whose flight plans may be affected by winter weather in the Southeast tomorrow and Thursday the ability to make one-time changes to their travel plans without fees. Delta's weather advisory encourages customers to consider postponing or re-routing their travel to avoid possible inconvenience from expected flight delays.

Cold, snow hit schools, travel in many states

chilling cold swept across the snow-hit Great Plains and Midwest on Monday, closing schools and playing havoc with journey plans and pushing sub-freezing temperatures as far south as Florida.

Minnesota and Wisconsin shivered in temperatures not expected to top single digits with wind chills much colder than that ,motorists were stranded on impassable roads in northwest Indiana.

Air traffic was gradually returning to regular after hundreds of flights were canceled at airports in midwestern and East Coast hubs during the worst of a storm that dropped 17 inches (43 cm) of snow in Minneapolis on Sunday that ripped holes in a stadium's inflatable roof.

Oracle wants $211 million in interest from SAP

Turning up the heat in a bitter legal dispute, software maker Oracle is asking a federal judge to order German rival SAP to give $211 million in interest on a record $1.3 billion jury award for software pirating.

Oracle filed the request Friday, saying the interest is necessary to "fully compensate" Oracle for the worth of software licenses that SAP should have purchased in 2005 and 2006.

SAP has already made a separate payment to Oracle of $120 million for its legal expenses, after acknowledging that an SAP subsidiary copied Oracle software without authorization. A federal jury decided previous month that SAP should pay what would have been the market value for licenses to use the software at the time, which the jury pegged at $1.3 billion.

Holiday Travel: Government Says Babies Should Be Buckled Up on Airplanes

With the holiday travel period quickly approaching, the federal government, flight attendants and airlines are urging parents to buckle up their babies on airplanes instead of holding them in their laps, even if it means shelling out money for an extra ticket.

A special forum on child safety in Washington today brought together representatives from the NTSB, the FAA and the Association of Flight Attendants. Each one agrees that a young child is safer when buckled into a safety restraint on an airplane, but after decades of debate, tickets still will not be required for children under age two. The FAA has concluded in the past that such a requirement would discourage air travel and put more cars on the road, where the likelihood of harm is statistically far greater.

Airline industry group sees holiday travel up

The business group for the nation's airlines said Wednesday that it expects 43.6 million people to travel by air over the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

That's about 3 percent more than previous year. ATA says the busiest days will be Dec. 21-23, Dec. 26-30 and Jan. 2-3, based on 2009 patterns. The airlines have added surcharges of $10-$30 on most of those days, anticipating heavier bookings.

ATA says the government will probably open up airspace generally reserved for military aircraft, on an as-needed basis, to ease the air traffic crunch. Fewer flights and the possibility of weather delays are likely to add to congestion at airports and in the air.

Controller sickout causes Spain travel chaos

A massive air traffic controller sickout Friday on the eve of a long holiday weekend caused travel chaos throughout Spain, forcing authorities to close eight airports, including the main European hub in Madrid.

The controllers left their posts amid a lengthy dispute over working situation and just hours after the administration of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodrigo Zapatero approved an austerity measure to partially privatize airports, and to hand over management of Madrid and Barcelona airports to the private sector.

Spain's air traffic right, known as Aena, issued an advisory telling all passengers planning to take flights to stay away from airports because "air traffic has been interrupted" and there was no immediate word when the sickout might end.

Snow causes more travel disruption as Labour urges ministers to 'get a grip'

Motorists, rail commuters and air travelers endured another day of travel chaos, as Gatwick, Britain's second biggest airport, remained shut for another day and key rail routes were closed.

The government was accused of complacency with Labour urging it to "get a grip" on the widespread transport paralysis amid claims the disruption was costing £1.2bn a day. Philip Hammond, the transport secretary, told lessons would be learned and that an urgent review would be completed before Christmas.

The transport specialist leading the review, David Quarmby, said the heaviest snowfall for this time of year since 1965 had overwhelmed local authorities, train operators and airport owners. "It is unreasonable to expect that you can clear it all in 24 hours flat," said Quarmby, chairman of the RAC Foundation.

Virgin America Flies into DFW

Fliers are getting a new way to journey out of Dallas-Fort Worth airport starting today.

Virgin America, the high-tech airline by Sir Richard Branson, is launching two daily non-stop flights to Los Angeles. They'll add two daily flights to San Francisco International on Dec. 6.

A Virgin Airbus A320 will get all the honors today, including the water cannon salute, at a special welcoming ceremony on the tarmac at DFW.

Branson, Dallas mayor Tom Leppert, Fort Worth mayor pro-tem Danny Smith, and other dignitaries will be on hand.

Virgin America has won top honors from Conde Nast Traveler and Travel and Leisure magazines for its built-in entertainment features, all-red mood lighting and white leather first-class seating.

Last Minute Travel Deals to South Padre Island

So you're thinking about going to South Padre Island for some summer enjoyment, but you made the decision at the last minute? Families, college students, and adventure seekers all may get sucked into the fun that is South Padre Island with little advance notice. AOL Travel knows this and is here to help you find last minute travel deals to South Padre Island.

First, know that there aren't any flights straight to South Padre Island. This confuses many people who try plan last minute flights to South Padre Island. The closest airport is Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport at 20 miles away. (Car, taxi, or hotel shuttle will get you the rest of the way.) If you're having problems finding flights through here, you may have to consider alternate airports.

That said, head to Priceline.com's particular page for last minute deals. They typically contain a combination of airfare and hotel room from providers looking to fill their airplanes and hotels at the last minute. Simply choose your destination of South Padre Island, where you're leaving from, and your travel dates. Priceline scours the Internet for the South Padre Island travel deals that best meet your criteria.

Travel Increase at Atlantic City International

Atlantic City International Airport is seeing a significant travel raise this year.
The airport has seen a 36-percent boost since the beginning of this year compared to 2009 and trust it will surpass the numbers from 2007 – the airport’s the highest number of travelers to date, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Spokesperson for the South Jersey Transportation Authority Sarah Gordon tells the Inky that the airport is seeing results in their attempt to expand their market area to Philadelphia suburbs and their strategic marketing campaign.

Though revenue is declining for Atlantic City casinos, there has been an influx in reservations for conferences held in the city, reports NJ.com. That can attribute to the raise of passengers to the airport. The publication says that reservations have increased 73-percent in recent years.

Cathay Pacific to Boost Capacity 11% Next Year on Global Travel Pickup

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., the Hong Kong carrier expecting a record yearly profit, will increase passenger capacity 11 percent next year as the economic pickup stokes demand for premium-class travel.

“It’s certainly very strong at the moment,” Chief Executive Officer Tony Tyler said in an interview in the city today. “That’s giving us a fine feeling and, of course, great results.”

The airline is due to get nine new widebody passenger aircraft next year as rising wages in China and a rebound in the worldwide economy spurs demand for business and leisure flights. Asia-Pacific travel growth will likely continue to outpace global demand next year, said Andrew Herdman, director general at the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines.

“I’m optimistic we’ll see continued growth into 2011,” Herdman said in a Bloomberg TV interview in Kuala Lumpur. Airlines in the region “have got costs under control and they’re managing power carefully,” he said.

Spirit Airlines computer crash causes holiday travel snarl

Spirit Airlines is working with the company that oversees its computer systems to fix problems with their reservations scheme, Misty Pinson, Director of Corporate Communications for Spirit Airlines told CNN.

“All flights are operating and we have not had any cancellations. We are very proud of our workers for stepping up and ensuring that our customers are checked in without an automated system.”

Scott Wintner, a spokesperson for the Detroit Metro Airport told CNN, Spirit Airlines have been going back to older pencil and paper system - checking people in manually. Instead of checking people in on a first come, first serve basis, agents have been taking people into groups and checking them in based on their departing times. That has led to agents being unable to provide passengers approximate wait times.

And if you're flying Spirit you probably won't be able to get any help online either. As of the time of this posting it appears the computer crash has also led to the website being down.

Holiday travel headaches include body scans, high gas prices

Those are some of the things travelers could face if they head out of Northeastern Wisconsin for the Thanksgiving holiday.

An improving economy means more people are hitting the road and the skies this week, said Tom Frymark, president of AAA Wisconsin. The association says 42.2 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles for Thanksgiving

"Many (Americans) are in a better financial situation this Thanksgiving than a year ago," Frymark said on the organization's website.

If there's a main difference on the travel scene this year, it's what fliers will encounter at the nation's airports. The federal Transportation Security Administration has instituted stricter passenger-screening procedures, including aggressive pat-down searches and machines that see through clothing, at almost 70 large airports, including Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee.

The controversial body-scanning devices haven't been installed at Austin Straubel International Airport in Ashwaubenon, but travelers will see them in Milwaukee as well as Chicago O'Hare, Detroit Metro and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Getting through security at Austin Straubel otherwise should seem like business as usual, said Timothy Decker, federal security director for airports in Northeastern Wisconsin.

"Will there be a wait at security? Maybe a 10-minute wait, but only at the busiest times," he said. "Otherwise, previous year and this year should be pretty much the same."

Critics of the fresh procedures complain that they are invasive, and some worry that they'll cause delays. Frequent travelers, unions, passengers groups and civil libertarians are filing lawsuits and urging boycotts of new procedures.

Heinz profit beats estimates; sees more cash

Ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co (HNZ.N) posted higher-than-expected quarterly earnings, helped by price increases and growth in emerging markets.

The company, which also makes Ore-Ida frozen potatoes and Smart Ones frozen entrees, affirmed its earnings outlook for the complete fiscal year but raised the target for how much free cash it expects to generate.

Profit in the second quarter, ended Oct. 27, was $251.4 million, or 78 cents a share, compared with $231.4 million, or 73 cents a share, a year previous.

Analysts on average were expecting 76 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales fell 1.2 percent to $2.61 billion, hurt by the impact of foreign exchange rates and falling short of analysts' expectations for $2.67 billion.

Sales volume increased 0.3 percent, driven by 2.6 percent growth in emerging markets. Cost increases lifted sales by 0.6 percent.

Heinz said it is still on track to deliver fiscal 2011 growth of 3 percent to 4 percent in sales and 7 percent to 10 percent in earnings per share. It raised its free cash flow target by 15 percent to $1.15 billion.

Free Travel Lead Opportunities Now Available for Travel Agents

Travel planning service Travelection.com recently launched a new site where travel agents can find new travel leads, offer their services through a bidding process, and boost their business. Travelection.com offers without charge service and leads to travelers and travel agents.

With the new Travelection.com website, travel agents can connect with people who need expert assistance in making their travel arrangements. Using the details these travelers provide on the website - such as travel destination, itineraries, desired accommodations, expected dates of departure and arrival, duration of the journey, and special considerations - travel agents can customize and offer suitable packages to best match these travelers' needs. (Travel agent specific site: Travel Leads).

Travelection.com offers free service to travelers and free leads to travel agents. Travelers and travel agents can sign up for an account without the need of a credit card. The only charge involved is a fee that Travelection.com takes for every booking that travel agents make.

"People have this common idea that the business of being a travel agent is largely dead," said Kevin Thompson, CTO of Travelection.com. "While that notion is definitely untrue, there are travel agents out there who need a helping hand in finding new travel leads. This is what we are aiming to do with our travel service."

Vegas Ranks No. 4 On Yahoo Holiday Travel List

Las Vegas looks poised to cash in this holiday period with travelers looking toward Sin City as one of their top destinations for the final weeks of 2010.

According to Yahoo! Travel, Las Vegas ranked No. 4 on its list of the most popular cities for holiday travel.

Austin, Texas, Orlando, Fla., and Chicago took the top three spots, respectively.

Las Vegas’ ranking is likely a testament to the drawing power of its annual New Year’s Eve celebration.

This year, fireworks will launch from the rooftops of seven Las Vegas Strip hotels, including the MGM Grand, Aria, Planet Hollywood and Caesars Palace.

The city’s newest resort, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, is also opening in December and has announced a New Year’s Eve concert featuring Jay-Z and Coldplay that will be shown live on its marquee.

Last year’s festivities drew 315,000 visitors, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Weary of online booking, clients return to travel agents

Vacationers who hire Suzanne Burr book their travel the old-fashioned way. They tell Burr where they want to go and what they require when they arrive, and leave it to her to make it happen.

Burr's business has been booming in recent times, in part because some people who've been booking their own trips on the Internet are returning to her. "They would push the button on some of these websites, and that was it," Burr says. "There was no one to ask a question. Nobody to ask for help. When it comes to really spending money and wanting an advocate, people are turning back to agents because people care. A computer doesn't."

For some travelers, do-it-yourself booking is losing its luster. A study by Forrester Research found that in the first three months of this year, 28% of leisure travelers in the U.S. who booked their trips online said they'd be interested in going to a good traditional travel agent. That's up from 23% in 2008. Another Forrester statement finds that the number of leisure travelers who enjoyed using the Web to plan and book their vacations dropped to 46% last year, down from 53% in 2007.

The findings reflect a growing frustration with sites that fail to simplify an increasingly complicated travel process or to meet a vacationer's specific needs, some analysts and travelers argue.

Cathay Pacific Sees Record Profit on Travel Rebound

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Hong Kong’s largest carrier, forecast a better-than expected record annual profit on rebounding travel demand and asset sales.

Net income will likely be at least HK$12.5 billion ($1.6 billion) this year, the airline said in a statement today. That’s more than double last year’s profit and it surpasses the HK$11.7 billion average of 18 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The airline’s passenger numbers surged 11 percent through October, while freight volumes leapt 20 percent, as business travelers resumed flying and Chinese exporters boosted shipments overseas amid the economic pickup. The carrier has also sold stakes in an air-cargo handler and a maintenance company, as well as benefiting from rising profit at affiliate Air China Ltd.

“Demand for both air travel and cargo has helped Cathay Pacific and that will translate into good earnings,” said Jay Ryu, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Mirae Asset Securities Co., who has a “buy” recommendation on the carrier. “With the economy recovering, business-class travel appears to be coming back and that could help lift earnings next year as well.”

Cathay said its forecast includes a HK$2.2 billion gain from the sale of shares in Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd. and Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co. as well as a 57.1 million euro ($78 million) fine from the European Union tied to anticompetitive actions in the air-cargo industry.

Top Democrat seeks small business tax form repeal

Senator Max Baucus, chairman of that chamber's tax-writing committee, said he would introduce legislation to repeal that part of the law, which requires filing so-called 1099 forms, after small business groups complained it would become a paperwork nightmare.

Republicans, who won control of the U.S. House of Representatives election and gained seats in the Senate in the recent elections, have vowed to try to repeal the entire healthcare law. They have also sought repeal of the 1099 provision separately.

Baucus noted that the change was originally proposed under former Republican President George W. Bush.

Baucus said he was convinced by business groups' complaints that it was an administrative burden.

"I have heard small businesses loud and clear and I am responding to their concerns," Baucus said in a statement.

Obama last week said that he would fight any attempt to repeal the legislation, but would be willing to consider some Republican ideas. He suggested the two sides work together to change the new business transaction reporting requirement.

Stars to lose 1st class travel

Hollywood actors will have to give up flying first class under a fresh cost-cutting agreement, which will force them to mix with ordinary holidaymakers in the cheap seats.

Movie studio bosses met with union officials this week in a bid to hammer out a money-saving preparation, and they agreed to slash stars' travel costs in return for improved pay rates, health insurance and pension contributions.

The latest rules are expected to come into force next year and will see stars forced to travel in coach class for journeys less than 1,600 kilometres or between Los Angeles and New York or Canada. For longer trips, actors will be able to upgrade to first class, but only if no business class seats are available.

The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists struck the tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Air travel to increase for Thanksgiving holiday

Air travel for the Thanksgiving holiday is expected to raise slightly over last year in response to a stronger economy, an airline trade group predicted.

The Air Transport Assn. of America, the industry trade group for the nation's largest airlines, predicted that the number of air travelers would raise by 3.5% over last year, to 24 million people, from Nov. 19 to Nov. 30.

"It is reassuring to see travel levels rebounding, with the stronger economy," said association president James C. May. "While modest, the recovery is mainly encouraging given the deep hole that this industry was in a year ago."

The forecast for holiday travel continues the trend of increasing demand and higher fares for the airline industry, which reported newly that August marked the eighth straight month of revenue growth over the same period in 2009.

The Automobile Club of Southern California won't release its holiday travel forecast until next week but a spokeswoman said the report is also expected to predict an increase in travel among Southern Californians for the holiday period.

Top travel trends for 2011

An online travel site has released the results of its annual travel trends survey, naming the top destinations for 2011 and the biggest concerns for travelers.

TripAdvisor.com surveyed more than 3,000 people to get a gauge on travel expectations for the upcoming year.

According to the survey, the top travel destination for Clevelanders is Las Vegas, followed by New York and Chicago.

The biggest concerns for travelers are rising airfare costs, bedbugs, and various germs or viruses, the survey says.

TripAdvisor.com says that top activities for travelers are to visit a national park, visit a historic site, or attend a festival.

One interesting finding of the study is that Americans were named both the friendliest, and most irritating, travelers.

Southwest Airlines Offers Nationwide Fare Sale for Winter Travel

DALLAS, Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Don't let the cold weather keep you at home this winter--get out of town and take advantage of Southwest's latest fare sale! Southwest Airlines is offering Customers nationwide air fares starting as low as $59 one-way to select destinations. Take advantage of these super low fares available only at southwest.com and start planning your winter vacation today! These fares are available with a 14-day advance purchase today through Nov. 22, 2010, and are good for travel between Dec. 1, 2010, and Dec. 16, 2010, and between Jan. 4, 2011, and Feb. 16, 2011. To see the list of markets, prices, and to take advantage of these special fares, visit www.southwest.com.

Examples of fares include (see Additional Fare Rules below):

$59 one-way between Denver and Los Angeles

$86 one-way between Austin and Panama City Beach

$94 one-way between New Orleans and Tampa Bay

After nearly 40 years of service, Southwest Airlines continues to differentiate itself from other low fare carriers--offering a reliable product with exemplary Customer Service. Southwest Airlines is the nation's largest carrier in terms of originating domestic passengers boarded, now serving 69 cities in 35 states with service to Charleston and Greenville-Spartanburg beginning March 13, 2011. Southwest also is one of the most honored airlines in the world known for its commitment to the triple bottom line of Performance, People, and Planet. To read more about how Southwest Airlines is doing its part to be a good citizen, visit southwest.com/cares to read the Southwest Airlines One Report(TM). Based in Dallas, Southwest currently operates more than 3,100 flights a day and has nearly 35,000 Employees systemwide.

ADDITIONAL FARE RULES

Fares are available only on www.southwest.com. Southwest Airlines fare sales are available with a 14-day advance purchase today through Nov. 22, 2010, 11:59 p.m. PST, and travel must take place between Dec. 1, 2010, and Dec. 16, 2010, or between Jan. 4, 2011, and Feb. 16, 2011. Fares do not include a federal segment tax of $3.70 per takeoff and landing. Fares do not include airport-assessed passenger facility charges (PFC) of up to $9.00 and U.S. government-imposed September 11th Security Fee of up to $5.00 one-way. Travel to/from Washington, D.C. (Dulles) and Ft. Myers, is not included in the sale. Seats are limited. Fares are available for one-way travel. Fares may be combined with other combinable fares. Fares are not combinable with Senior Fares. When combining fares, all rules and restrictions apply. Fares are nonrefundable but may be applied toward future travel on Southwest Airlines. Fares are not available through the Group Desk. Any change in the itinerary may result in an increase in fare. Standby travel requires an upgrade to the Anytime fare. Fares are subject to change until ticketed. Fares are valid on published, scheduled service only.

Indonesia Volcano Continues To Disrupt Air Travel

Indonesia volcano continued to disrupt air travel over the weekend. Indonesia Mount Merapi volcano cancelled 36 flights on Saturday and 8 flights on Sunday.
Even the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta is feeling the effects of volcanic Ash. Several flights to Jakarta were either cancelled of reschedule due to the Mout Merapi volcano eruption. In total 8 flights were cancelled and 42 were forced to reschedule at the Jakarta Airport.

Malaysia Airlines has started morning and afternoon flights to Jakarta but evening flights are still cancelled as for now.

The air travel in nearby destinations to Mount Merapi Volcano is facing even more trouble. Yogyakarta and Solo are facing severe problems which has stranded thousands of passengers.

Ash cloud is also feared to disrupt the visit of US President Barack Obama to Indonesia. There are fears that President may skip Indonesia due to the trouble caused by the ash cloud.

European Travel This Holiday Season

The holiday period is right around the corner, which means vacation planning is in full swing. Europe is a great place to consider for holiday travel, as airline prices are typically at their lowest and main cities are a lot less crowded compared to the summer months. Here are some tips from Gate 1 Travel on how to make the most of a European vacation.

Explore holiday traditions on a different continent: Countries all across Europe have their own special way of celebrating the holiday time. In Norway, December 13 is the feast day of Santa Lucia. Throughout the day, a parade of girls wear a crown of lights, carry baskets and hand out saffron buns. In France, the Christmas Eve feast is known as Le Reveillon de Noel, lasting a lot of hours and serving up cuisine unique to each city.

Visit Europe's famous Christmas markets: Christmas markets are a tradition in more than a dozen cities throughout Europe. These unique destinations feature handmade crafts, unique foods, live nativity scenes, concerts and special celebrations. In Copenhagen, visit the Christmas market at Tivoli Gardens to see more than four miles of Christmas lights. In France, the Strasbourg Cathedral is the oldest Christmas Market in the country.

Ring in the New Year on a River: River cruising is a unique way to visit multiple European cities during the holidays. Cruise the Danube, Rhine or Main River to see cities like Amsterdam, Cologne, Vienna, Frankfurt and Nuremberg. "River cruises are unique in that they are smaller than traditional ocean cruise ships and usually less than 100 suites," said Marty Seslow, Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Gate 1 Travel. "They are also unique in that they typically stop at a new city everyday, instead of spending an entire day cruising."

Interplanetary travel cost studied

Two leading U.S. research organizations are launching a year-long to study to examine the financing of interplanetary travel.

The 100-Year Starship study, undertaken by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the NASA Ames Research Center, is looking at the business model needed to pay for the technology which could make long-distance manned space flight possible a century from now, DARPA said.

The project has attracted widespread attention after the director of NASA's Ames Research Center, Simon (Pete) Worden, revealed it at an event in San Francisco on Oct. 16, media reports said.

"The human space program is now really aimed at settling other worlds," Worden reportedly said.

Worden's comments prompted speculation that trips to Mars could be only 20 years away. Commentators talked about the difficulties of such a trip because of the cost, estimated at $10 billion US one-way, and the likelihood that the explorers would not be able to ever return to Earth.

However, the actual study has very little money, funded with $1 million from DARPA and $100,000 from NASA, Worden said. NASA's budget this year was over $18 billion, and a $100-million project is small in its books.

Time to make holiday travel plans

It might be hard to imagine, but now is the time to start making your holiday travel plans.

The holiday season is right around the corner, which means now is the time to be making your travel plans. News 4 has some money-saving tips for trimming those travel costs.

Hoping to head out of town this holiday season? You're not alone. Demand for flights has risen over six percent this year. Unfortunately, airlines have increased their capacity by less than two percent. That's bad news for travelers because it increases fare prices. The good news? You can make travel more affordable.

For starters, if you have to fly over Thanksgiving don't book a flight for Wednesday, the day before the holiday, which is traditionally the busiest travel day of the year. Instead fly out on the first flight on Thanksgiving morning. Not only will you avoid battling crowds, you won't be charged what airlines call "peak travel day fees," a surcharge that can add $20 to $60 to your ticket price.

If your holiday destination is less than 400 miles away, consider taking the bus. You'll pay as little as one dollar to thirty each way. And thanks to the recent boom in bus services, they're much more comfy now, with leather seats and wi-fi.

Finally, it may be hard to cash in your frequent flyer miles for airfare, so try using miles to defray your hotel costs. Hotels are anxious to fill their rooms, and are making it easier to redeem your miles at their properties.

French strike to cause further travel disruption

French workers have already carried out six common strikes since the beginning of September over proposed pension reforms that would increase the minimum retirement age to 62.

Half of flights to Paris Orly airport, and around a third of services to other French airports, face cancellation, according to the country’s aviation right.

Short-haul flights will be hit hardest, with the vast majority of long-haul flights expected to operate as normal.

British Airways, EasyJet and Air France said the strikes are certain to cause delays and some cancellations. All three airlines urged passengers to check the status of their flights before travelling to the airport. Ryanair has already published on its site a list of more than 200 cancelled flights to destinations across Europe.

Train services are also likely to be affected. During previous walkouts, around two thirds of France's high-speed TGV and usual regional services were cancelled, and Paris metro services were also affected.

Google Faces Opposition to Purchase of Flight Search Technology, ITA

In mid-September news broke that Google was in talks to purchase ITA Software Inc, which is the leader in flight records information, for $700 million and it has made a lot of people very unhappy. A set of very popular online travel companies have formed a coalition called FairSearch.org and planning on taking their cause to Capitol Hill and the members of Congress to demonstrate how unfair they feel this agreement will be to them and their businesses. Companies like Kayak.com, Expedia Inc., Farelogix Inc. and Sabre Holdings (which runs Travelocity) feel that if this deal is to go through it could greatly limit their access to the travel software and thus diminish their stakes in online travel arena.

Those against the deal know how important Google’s “opinion” can be on searchers and with control of about 30% of the travel search share already, they are worried that the search giant will use its influence to direct traffic where they want it to go. Thomas Barnett of Expedia said, “Google has tremendous power in the search market, and it gives Google the capability to steer users in directions that are best for Google”. This sentiment seems to the general consensus among those opposed to the deal. Google on the other hand doesn’t’ see their purchase of ITA as a threat to other online travel sites. They simple want to provide Googlers with extra useful information when it comes to flight information. They also say they don’t plan on selling tickets and that they will continue to honor ITA’s existing contacts; though its rivals say they haven’t committed to renewing any contacts as of yet.

Do you think Google is just trying to give users a better travel search knowledge or do you think this could be the way the foray into the world of online travel for themselves?

Travel by Calif bullet train officials questioned

Ethics issues are being raised about abroad trips taken by California bullet train officials who are reportedly unable to detail costs and sponsors of the travel.

The Los Angeles Times says the travel was paid by governments of nations whose companies want contracts to build the proposed $43 billion Soutchernb California-to-San Francisco high-speed rail assignment.

Details of journey gifts to agencies are required by California ethics regulations.

Interviews and records examined by the newspaper show California High-Speed Rail Authority board members and the former executive director took tours of train systems in Spain, France or Germany previous year.

The authority must publicly disclose donated travel information. But high-speed rail officials haven't provided an accounting and information about the trips haven't been posted on the authority's website.

British Airways to restore travel perk to striking cabin crew

In a main concession to its cabin crew, British Airways (BA) has announced that it will restore basic travel concessions to those who went on strike earlier this year.

From Tuesday (26 October) staff will regain the generous perk - as much as 90 per cent off certain fares.

However, confusion remains over who will receive the perk. According to a report on the BBC website, striking cabin crew went "to the back of the queue for travel perks". The restoration of seniority will be conditional upon a worker's "excellent behaviour for the next three years".

Travel concessions have been at the heart of the long-running dispute between the unions and administration. Willie Walsh, BA's Chief Executive, had said previously that he would not reinstate the perk. This move is being greeted by the unions as a softening of management resolve.

This dispute started in November 2009 over staffing levels and working situation. Since March there have been 22 days of strike action, which cost the airline £150m and widespread disruption to passengers' travel plans.

Delta Benefits From Higher Fares, Travel Rebound

Atlanta-based Delta Airlines Inc. swung to a profit in the third quarter as fares for tickets increased and customer demand for travel rebounded after three years of declines.

The world’s second biggest airline said third-quarter earnings were $363 million, or 43 cents per share. Last year it lost $161 million during the same period.

“Delta’s revenue performance exceeded our expectations for the quarter, with particularly strong performance from our international markets,” said President Ed Bastian in a statement.

The company is forecasting strong holiday travel demand this winter. Delta is the initial of major airlines to release quarterly earnings.

Wanderfly, a "Travel Inspiration Site," Opens to the Public this Week

Travel is a beautiful thing but picking the correct destination can be stressful, particularly when vacation days and cost are an issue. Wanderfly.com is the digital version of spinning a globe and throwing out your finger to pick your next goal. The site acts like a Pandora of a travel, analyzing a destination's DNA and mapping it to what user's want.

In late August, we offered our readers personal beta invites to check out Wanderfly first hand. This week, the "travel inspiration site" has launched in public beta and has announced partnerships with 22 brands including Expedia, Foursquare, Yelp, NileGuide, Not for Tourists, Rough Guides, Find.Eat.Drink. and Lonely Planet.

Wanderfly lets users be adventurous. Just leave the "I Want To Explore" box as "Anywhere" or limit your search to a region such as "Asia" or "South America." It's similar to Kayak's Explore feature, but with more useful information like recommended activities (powered by services like Eventful), fast verify out and a simple, beautiful layout. With Wanderfly, users pick a price range, estimated dates and themes such as beach, party, luxury, culture, food, shopping, etc. Wanderfly then searches over 20 trusted sites, including Expedia, Foursquare, Yelp and Lonely Planet, to recommend a trip complete with destination, flight, hotel and activities.

After 7,000 private beta testers over the past few months, Wanderfly has updated their user interface, which includes multiple recommendations, allowing users to flip through trips with the arrows or click on the grid icon on the upper blue bar to view trip ideas from all over the globe at once. According to Wanderfly, their simple flight selector has been a huge hit in beta. The engine suggests just one flight, and allows users to click "more" to check out additional flights in a simple interface.

Additionally, the site offers a Facebook connect so users can see if their friends live in any of the destinations that Wanderfly recommends. The site also gives users the ability to share a trip on Facebook with the talk bubble icon on the upper blue bar.

Intel plans 1,000 high-tech jobs in 2 states

Intel announced Tuesday that is investing up to $8 billion in microchip manufacturing plants that could create up to 1,000 permanent high-tech jobs in Arizona and Oregon.

Intel said it will spend between $6 billion and $8 billion to fund a new development fabrication plants in Oregon and to upgrade four existing plants in Oregon and Arizona. The plants will manufacture "next-generation" 22-nanometer microprocessors, or chips, the company said.

The company said this will support the creation of 800 to 1,000 permanent high-tech jobs as well as 6,000 to 8,000 construction jobs.

Intel also said the investment will allow it "to maintain its current manufacturing employment at these U.S. sites."

Intel spokeswoman Lisa Malloy said the new plant will be built in Hillsboro, Ore., near Portland, where the company already has a significant presence. Of the four plants slated for upgrade, two are in Hillsboro and two are in the greater Phoenix area.

Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., said it generates three quarters of its revenue from overseas markets, but employs three quarters of its chip-making employees in the United States.

"It does cost a bit more to build one of these factories from scratch in the U.S.," Intel chief executive Paul Otellini told CNN's Ali Velshi in a live interview.

But he said labor costs are not the main problem -- grants from foreign countries are the biggest incentives for U.S. companies to build factories overseas. He said the U.S. government should offer more incentives to build plants in America.

Rail strike shuts down Belgium, disrupts international travel

A 24-hour strike by one of Belgium's main rail unions has forced the cancellation of nearly every high-speed rail service in and out of the country and severely disrupted the national network.

The strike, which began affecting the worldwide trains linking Belgium to France, Germany the United Kingdom and the Netherlands on Sunday evening, has shut down the country and led to massive traffic jams.

"Not one train is rolling in [the Southern province of] Wallonia or in Brussels. In [the Northern province of] Flanders, only a handful of trains are moving," a spokesman for Belgian rail network operator Infrabel told the Belga news group.

Eurostar, Thalys cancel service

Eurostar canceled trains between the northern French city of Lille and Brussels until 10 p.m. local time Monday, though said the Paris-London line would not be affected.

But trains coming from London to Brussels will end at Lille, with buses taking passengers the rest of the way to the Belgian and European Union capital. All Thalys service to and from neighboring countries has been stopped.

The CGSP union, the largest in Belgium's rail company SNCB, called the strike to protest a deadlock in negotiations over working conditions and job losses.

Coinciding with ongoing protests in France, the walkout has led to blocked rail transport across much of northwestern Europe.

Normal service in Belgium was set to resume late Monday, but service disruptions were expected to last until Tuesday morning.

Google nears $600

Shares of Google opened up 10% Friday morning, and came within striking distance of $600 for the first time in more than nine months, after the company posted solid quarterly earnings that impressed investors.

Google's (GOOG, Fortune 500) stock rose as much as $58.42 to $599.35 a share in early morning trading, before sliding back a bit. It was the stock's highest level since January.

Late Thursday, Google reported a third-quarter profit that rose 32% on the back of stronger search ad fees from advertisers. But the company's results were also buoyed by its non-core businesses, like YouTube, display advertising and mobile.

Google defied skeptical investors and analysts who feared that the search giant would never find a a significant new revenue stream besides search advertisements. In the past, the company has been tight-lipped about the financial details of its non-search businesses, leading some analysts to speculate that those product lines were insignificant to the company's overall revenue.

For instance, Google has made tremendous headway in mobile. Its Android operating system will command 17.7% of the global mobile device market by year's end, according to a Gartner forecast, making it the second best-selling smartphone operating system, behind Nokia's (NOK) Symbian OS and ahead of Apple's (AAPL, Fortune 500) iOS. That's stunning, considering it entered the market just two years ago.

Google said its mobile advertising business was doing sales of $1 billion on an annualized basis. Display advertising, which includes images rather than textual ads, is on pace to be a $2.5 billion business annually. The company said its display business is likely the third largest in the world, behind AOL (AOL) and Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500).

Investors had slammed Google's stock this year, sending it down by as much as 30%. Shares started to rebound in September, but were still down 13% before Friday's market open. But Google's impressive quarterly numbers sent shares soaring, and the stock is now down just 4% for the year.

Vancouver top city in travel poll

Vancouver is tops once again with the subscribers of a trendy U.S. travel magazine.

Readers of Conde Nast Traveler have voted Vancouver the top city in the Americas, outside the U.S., for the fifth time since 2004.

The poll asked readers to rate cities in Canada and Central and South America on criteria ranging from hotels and restaurants to shopping and friendliness.

The award is a tribute to the people who work on the front lines of the city's tourism and hospitality sector, said James Terry of Tourism Vancouver.

The Readers' Choice Awards will appear in the November 2010 issue of Conde Nast Traveler and detail the top cities, islands, hotels, resorts, airlines, car rental agencies and cruise lines around the world.

Last year, Vancouver was named the world's most livable city by a business research division of The Economist magazine.

President Obama hails New York teens' life-saving business ideas

President Obama honored two New York teens on Tuesday who are using their business skills to save lives.

Steven Gordon, 18, of Brooklyn, and Nia Froome, 17, of Valley Stream, L.I., are among the winners of the 2010 Oppenheimer Funds/Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, which encourages kids from poorer communities to pursue careers in business.

Gordon founded TattooID when he learned that 1.3 million children are reported missing each year.

After taking a two-week business seminar at Columbia University, Gordon came up with the idea for the "TattooID," a temporary tattoo stamped on the hand or arm of children with their initials and contact information.

"I got the idea for the tattoos one day thinking about my little brother and wondering what would we do if we ever lost him," Gordon said.

"It's an unbelievable honor to meet the President - not something I ever expected. I mean, I'm from Brooklyn, ya know," chirped the Hunter College freshman, who has made about $200 so far from the idea.

Froome, who attends Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn, learned how to cook vegan dishes about 10 years ago when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.

She was told a vegan diet could slow the growth of cancer cells. Froome took a decade of her experience in the kitchen and turned it into Mamma Nia's Vegan Bakery.

Wal-Mart to start selling Apple's iPad

Wal-Mart said the iPad will be available in hundreds of its stores in the United States to start, expanding to more than 2,300 outlets by mid-November.

Wal-Mart rivals Best Buy and Target are already selling the iPad, which Apple launched in April.

Demand for the 10-inch touchscreen tablet has so far been robust, and Apple initially had a difficult time producing enough.

The company sold more than 3 million iPads in the June quarter, and Wall Street expects the company to surpass that mark with ease in the September quarter.

Apple is set to report quarterly results next Monday.

Wal-Mart will sell the iPad for the same price as other retailers, starting at $499 for the more inexpensive model. The world's largest retailer already sells Apple's iPod and iPhone.

Shares of Cupertino, California-based Apple were up $1.75 at $297.11 in midday trading on the Nasdaq.

Start Buying Holiday Tickets, Right Now

Where does the time go? We’re barely into Autumn and the smart money is already telling us to buy our Christmas and Thanksgiving travel tickets RIGHT NOW?

It makes sense. Prices are going up, as they usually do. The crush of holiday travelers and returning college students will peak in a way as to swamp those of us who delay getting arrangements done.

More, SmarterTraveler.com has some good tips:

* Begin benchmarking fares as early as possible so you’ll know a good price when you see it. If you haven’t already started, don’t delay.
* Steer clear of peak travel days such as the day before Thanksgiving and the last day of the holiday’s weekend.
* Be in the know when sales come out: The sale match generally gets lit by one of the low-cost carriers on Tuesday, and by the following morning, competitors have jumped into the fray and created what we call a full-out fare war.
* Be flexible and check fares from nearby airports as well.
* Check out our previous installment on holiday airfare searches

Weather.Com (which offers a lot more than the weather) has its own list of tips, headed by:

* It is easier to get travel and accommodation reservations if you book early. With some airlines and hotels, early booking may even qualify you for a discount.
* Plan to arrive at the airport or station at least two hours early. The holiday season means everyone is traveling, which means traffic jams and long lines; giving yourself this margin will pay off in reduced stress, and may mean the difference between a missed flight and one caught in plenty of time.
* Travel light. Taking public transportation or trying to hail a cab is very difficult at the best of times when lugging around heavy suitcases; holiday crowds increase the difficulty.Go to the link for more.

Most of these ideas are simply common sense — in uncommonly short supply when the press of the holiday madness lands on us like a meteor. Get ready now, is the key thing.