Roundup – What’s New

• Best Western International has partnered with Southwest Airlines as a loyalty partner. Beginning February 15th, members of their reward program will be able to earn Rapid Reward credits.
• Portland-based SeaPort Airlines will serve the Oregon communities of Astoria and Newport beginning March 15th with service to Portland International Airport and continuing service to Seattle’s Boeing Field using Pilatus PC-12s, a Swiss-built turboprop. More information can be found at SeaPort Air.
• Air Canada will be launching daily seasonal non-stop service between Sydney, NS and Toronto. Service will begin May 1st, on 50-seat regional jets operated by Air Canada Jazz.
• Air Canada will also be introducing four new daily routes out of Calgary, AB. Starting May 1st, they will begin daily nonstop service to San Diego. On June 1st, daily nonstop flights to London, ON and seasonal service to Whitehorse, Yukon. And finally, on June 15th, nonstop service to Portland, Oregon.
• Continental has announced an introductory fare on its new nonstop from Newark’s Liberty Airport to Shanghai scheduled to begin March 25th. Tickets must be purchased by February 28th for travel between March 25th through April 30th. The fare is $777, with $888 from several connecting cities.
• JetBlue put new flights from Ft. Lauderdale to Cancun and Santo Domingo on sale, with the service beginning June 18th. The Santo Domingo route will be operated with an Airbus 320, the Cancun route with an Embraer 190.
• Alaska Airlines will inaugurate daily service between Seattle and Austin, beginning August 3rd, and add thrice weekly service between Portland, Oregon and Maui starting on August 7th. It’s seasonal service from Anchorage to Maui will now be operated year-round.
• Yapta.com is now issuing airfare savings alerts by Twitter. Current Yapta users can opt-in to the Twitter feed by simply entering their Twitter username on the “Yapta Settings” page. From that point forward, any flight Yapta “tracks” on behalf of the traveler will generate a “Tweet” (a Twitter message) if the price drops, or if the traveler becomes eligible for an airline travel credit.

Remember that all service roundup entries contain a link to an article with more information, should you wish it.