Business Travel Tips

United Airlines announced it has added Economy Plus seating on all its long-haul international Boeing 757-200 flights. That means economy customers now have the option of six inches of extra legroom.

With the reconfiguration, the aircraft have 16 flat-bed seats in BusinessFirst, 45 seats in Economy Plus and 108 in coach.

The 41 Boeing 757-200s principally operate between Newark Liberty and Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belfast, Berlin, Birmingham, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Hamburg, Lima, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Manchester, Oslo, Paris, Shannon, Stockholm and Stuttgart, and between Washington Dulles and Amsterdam and Paris.
United says customers with premier status in United’s MileagePlus and OnePass frequent-flyer programs may confirm complimentary seat assignments in Economy Plus, when available.

American Airlines will increase flights to Brasil starting June 14.

The number of AA weekly flights between Dallas/Fort Worth and Sao Paulo will be increased from seven times a week to 12 beginning June 14. AA will use the new Boeing 777-300ER on the route.

Also, beginning the same day, AA will expand its service between Miami and Brasilia (from five weekly flights to daily) and between Miami and Belo Horizonte (from five weekly flights to daily).

The carrier will also begin in June new service between Miami and Manaus, using the 160-seat Boeing 737-800.

Beginning May 3, 2012, Air Canada will fly three times a day between Toronto Pearson and New York JFK.

Air Canada Express will operate the new service using a 50-seat CRJ regional jet.

By adding JFK service, Air Canada will be the only carrier that operates to all three major New York City area airports.
Also, the carrier announced that it will increase to hourly its flights to LaGuardia Airport (LGA).

Air Canada will operate a total of up to 38 non-stop return flights a day between Canada — from Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary — and New York City.

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).