Business Travel Tips

Cathay Pacific and Alaska Airlines have signed a new codeshare agreement that will offer easier connections between North America’s Pacific Northwest, Hong Kong and the rest of Asia..

Cathay Pacific’s international customers will enjoy easy connections and more travel options to some of the Pacific Northwest’s most popular destinations including Seattle and Portland.
Cathay Pacific’s “CX” code will go on Alaska Airlines flights between the cities of Seattle and Portland and three of Cathay Pacific’s North American gateway cities — Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver.  

Travel for the new codeshare services will start October 7, 2010; bookings have started this week.

In the next two years the ban on creams, gels and liquids for air travelers will end.
Raymond Benjamin, Secretary General of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) told AFP ahead of the UN organization’s 37th general assembly.

He says that new equipment capable of detecting explosives in water bottles, makeup kits or toothpaste tubes, would be installed at most airport security checkpoints by 2012.

Mr Benjamin added that full body scanners will still be used to varying degrees in the short term.

Continental Airlines is the last major carrier to stop offering free meals on its flights.

The carrier will begin charging for food on October 12.
Meals will remain free on international flights and on domestic flights of more than six-and-a-half hours. Also, meals and drinks also will continue to remain complimentary on Continental’s flights for first- and business-class passengers.

The new Continental’s menu available for purchase beginning October 12 will include Angus cheeseburgers, Jimmy Dean sausage, egg and cheese sandwiches, cheese & fresh fruit plates and chocolate-covered Eli’s Cheesecake on a stick, among other items. Prices will range from $1.50 for Pringles Original Potato Crisps to $8.25 for the grilled chicken spinach salad. (source)

The Los Angeles Business Travel Association (LABTA) has issued a statement urging Congress to support President Obama’s call for funding FAA’s NextGen ATC system.

Frank Dolce, Director of Legislative Affairs says: “a more accurate satellite-based ATC system will increase the margin safety for air travelers, reduce flight delays, increase fuel efficiency for airlines all of which are a direct benefit to business travelers”.

The Los Angeles Business Travel Association (LABTA) — the largest west coast chapter of the National Business Travel Association (NBTA) — represents more than 250 business travel professions including corporate and government travel, meeting managers, and travel service providers in five counties in Southern California. (source)

Additional security measures are being added to further test passengers after they have cleared the initial security gate.

Smiths Detection, a New Jersey technology firm, announced last week that it sold more than 50 portable trace detection units to several airlines that fly into and out of the U.S., Los Angeles Times reports.

The new devices, can test swabs rubbed on the hands, luggage and clothing of passengers for explosives and narcotics. Older versions of the device require passengers to line up by the machine to be tested.

The units are being used primarily at airports in Africa and the Middle East for passengers flying into the U.S.(source)