Yee-Haw – News Roundup 02/08/09
I’m thinking I’ll try to lasso a few articles at the end of each day of current aviation articles, and write a little spiel about each one.
Entitlement Aloft: How Celebrities Travel: Nicholas Kralev, on whom I will have more tomorrow, in his weekly Washington Post column, “On the Fly,” details how celebrities and politicians take to the skies, dispelling myths and highlighting reality of bigshot travel. I thought his Lindsay Lohan anecdote was quite amusing.
More Liftoff with Cellphone Boarding Passes: The idea of using an electronic barcode e-mailed to a mobile phone as a replacement for paper boarding passes has been in practice by some airlines for a while now, and this Denver Post article, details how the use is expected to burgeon in coming years. Fantastic news, I say – anything to save paper.
United Restarts Tulsa – Los Angeles Nonstop Flights: United is restarting nonstop flights to Tulsa, according to this article. While Tulsa may not be the most exciting destination (pre-emptive apologies), the move is intriguing because no other airline offers a way to get to Tulsa nonstop from LAX. Southwest only offers connecting service from all four LA region airports, and Continental only offers connecting service through Houston. Expect the Tulsa farewars to get heatead, folks! Also noteworthy is that United will run these flights as United Express, served with tiny Canadair Regional Jet 700 airplanes, with a whopping 66 seats. Currently, the flight to TUL is blocked at about three hours, which, is a freakin’ long time to sit on a CRJ. Ouch! The kicker, folks: nonstop service to TUL doesn’t begin until June 4th, so, you’re going to have to keep your composure and not get too excited until then. 
