Business Travel Tips

Beginning May 1st, 2012, British Airways will resume service to Tripoli, Libya.

The airline said in a press release that it will fly three times a week between London Heathrow and Tripoli.

BA chief executive Keith Williams said: “We are delighted to be returning to Libya. Our flights to Tripoli have provided a vital economic link for many years, and it is good news for everyone that we can now restart operations.”

British Airways had suspended its service to Tripoli in February 2011.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is the on-time performance winner for 2011 — in the Major International Airlines category — according to the FlightStats’s annual list of airlines delivering the best on-time performance.
The list, released today by FlightStats, is based on the percentage of an airline’s flights that arrive at their gates within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time.

ANA had an on-time performance of 90.18% in 2011.

Among the airports, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), Seattle, with an on-time performance of 86.28%, was the winner.
For airports, “On time” is defined by the percentage of departures from the gate less than 15 minutes after the scheduled departure.

Below are lists of winner airlines and airports according to FlightStats.

– 2011 Airline OPS Winners:
- Major International Airlines: All Nippon Airways (ANA)
- Major North American Airlines: Alaska Airlines
- Major European Airlines: SAS (Scandinavan Airlines)
- Major Asian Airlines: All Nippon Airways (ANA)
- Regional North American Airlines: Hawaiian Airlines
- Regional European Airlines: NAYSA
- Regional Asian Airlines: JAC
- Major International Airlines Operated and Codeshare Flights: Japan Airlines (JAL)

– 2011 Airport OPS Winners:
- Major International Airports: Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)
- Major North American Airports: Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC)
- Major European Airports: Oslo (OSL)
- Major Asian Airports: Haneda Airport (HND)
- Regional North American Airports: Keahole Airport (KOA)
- Regional European Airports: Aeroport de Bordeaux (BOD)
- Regional Asian Airports: Osaka International Airport (ITM).

Southwest announced the names of six more cities where it will discontinue AirTran service.
The list includes: Allentown, Pa.; Lexington, Ky.; Harrisburg, Pa.; Huntsville, Ala.; Sarasota, Fla. and White Plains, N.Y.

The airline had announced last November other nine AirTran cities — Asheville, N.C.; Atlantic City, N.J.; Bloomington/Normal, Ill.; Charleston, W. Va.; Dallas/Fort Worth; Knoxville, Tenn.; Miami; Moline/Quad Cities, Ill. and Newport News, Va. — where it decided to discontinue AirTran service.

Also Southwest announced 22 AirTran airports that will continue to operate and will eventually join the Southwest route map — domestic airports include: Akron-Canton, Ohio; Branson, Mo.; Charlotte; Dayton, Ohio; Des Moines; Flint, Mich.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Key West, Fla.; Memphis; Pensacola, Fla.; Portland, Maine; Richmond, Va.; Rochester, N.Y.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Washington Reagan National and Wichita, Kan; international airports include: Aruba; Bermuda; Cancun, Mexico; Montego Bay, Jamaica; Nassau, Bahamas and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Beginning March 1, 2012 Emirates will be added as a Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan member.
Below are the earning rates.

The earning rates are as follows:
Beginning March 1, 2012 Minimum 500 miles or; 50% of actual flight miles for Discount Economy (M, B, U, K, Q, L, T, V, X, H classes of service); 100% of actual flight miles for Full Fare Economy (Y, E, R, W classes of service) ; 125% of actual flight miles for Business Class (C, J, I classes of service) and 150% actual flight miles for First Class (F, A, P classes of service)
To qualify for mileage accrual, flights must must be marketed and operated by Emirates.
To ensure flight credit, the two letter airline code (EK) must precede the flight number (for example, EK XXXX) on your ticket receipt or boarding pass.

Details are available here.

TSA took the time to comment on news stories appeared this week claiming that TSA was buying equipment to test for radiation exposure.

Truth is, according to TSA, they put out an Requests for Information (RFI) to gather information on available tools to continue to monitor their technologies. This is simply designed to ask industry what new technology might be available.

TSA adds:

“TSA routinely monitors radiation levels to ensure the safety of both passengers and our workforce. We’ve never found any radiation concerns and the safety reports can be accessed publicly at TSA.gov. [...] Based on all of our previous testing, as well as monitoring from independent sources, we’re confident that all of our equipment meets national safety standards, and is safe for all passengers and our workforce. [...] All tests so far, have shown they are well within the national safety standards and each scan is equivalent to the exposure one receives during approximately 2 min of flight”.