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AMR to Pare New York Flights in Peak Travel Season

Scott Eells/Bloomberg

An American Airlines Inc. plane taxis past two others at LaGuardia airport in New York.

An American Airlines Inc. plane taxis past two others at LaGuardia airport in New York. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg

American Airlines (AMR) will pare service
in New York City, the world’s busiest aviation market, during
the peak of the U.S. travel season as parent AMR Corp. (AAMRQ)
reorganizes in bankruptcy and larger rivals expand.

Seating on June flights at the three major airports will
fall 4.7 percent from a year earlier based on current schedules,
said Jim Faulkner, a spokesman. The drop will be 6.9 percent by
July, when nonstop Kennedy airport trips end to venues such as
Aruba, based on data compiled for Bloomberg by consultant OAG.

The pullback runs counter to growth by United Continental
Holdings Inc. (UAL) and Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL), which are bigger than
American in the New York area. AMR hasn’t said how 2012 capacity
across its network will change beyond Chief Executive Officer
Tom Horton’s Feb. 1 forecast of “relatively modest growth.”

“AMR is wise to put its eggs in the baskets where they are
going to get the biggest return,” said George Hamlin, president
of Hamlin Transportation Consulting in Fairfax, Virginia.
“Apparently that’s no longer New York.”

Tim Smith, an airline spokesman, said the July schedule
isn’t set yet and may change as Fort Worth, Texas-based American
reshapes its fleet in bankruptcy. Capacity is measured by seats
multiplied by miles flown, so carriers make adjustments by
dropping or adding cities, changing how often they fly certain
routes or varying the sizes of the planes they use.

Annual Losses

Annual losses at AMR exceeded $6 billion in the past four
years, a period in which American tumbled from being the world’s
largest airline to No. 3 in the U.S. after sitting out mergers
that vaulted United Continental and Delta into the top spots.

A pulldown starting in June is a “reasonable strategy,”
and much of the drop may come from paring a few international
flights in New York, said Hunter Keay, a Wolfe Trahan Co.
analyst based in the city.

“They’re stopping losses by making cuts like these, and
American’s near-term charge is to stop the bleeding,” Keay
said. “American is losing a lot of money in the first quarter
and jet fuel is over $3.20 a gallon and that’s burning more
money. Applying the tourniquet is what should be happening.”

New York is among five U.S. cities where American plans to
add flights for a collective 20 percent increase in departures
by 2017. The airline hasn’t specified when or how much it will
expand in New York or the other target markets — Los Angeles,
Chicago, Miami and Dallas-Fort Worth.

Business Destinations

American remains focused on business destinations from New
York, said Faulkner, the spokesman. Its busiest routes at John
F. Kennedy International Airport, a gateway for overseas flying,
include service to London’s Heathrow airport.

“While there is a modest reduction in capacity out of New
York, we’re very careful to target reductions so that they do
not impact our corporate accounts,” Faulkner said. American is
spending $30 million on New York terminal upgrades, mostly at
LaGuardia, after paying $1.3 billion for a Kennedy terminal that
opened in 2007.

Besides Aruba, American flights being dropped in July from
Kennedy airport include those to markets such as Turks Caicos
and Halifax, Nova Scotia, current schedules show. At LaGuardia
Airport, service will end to Boston and Traverse City, Michigan,
according to OAG, a unit of Luton, England-based UBM Aviation.

A flight from Kennedy to Tokyo’s Narita airport that was
operated last summer by American shifts this year to Oneworld
alliance partner Japan Airlines Co. (9205), American has said. American
will continue flying between Kennedy and Tokyo’s Haneda airport.

‘International Opportunities’

“They’ll continue to exploit the international
opportunities from JFK as opposed to domestic,” said John
Grant, OAG executive vice president. “There’s more revenue to
be had and more potential profit than with domestic service.”

Ticket prices show the difference: International flights
cost an average of more than twice as much as domestic trips in
January, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Industries.

United, the world’s biggest airline, is increasing New York
capacity by 1.3 percent for June, July and August combined, said
Mike Trevino, a spokesman. The Chicago-based carrier flies
chiefly from New Jersey’s Newark airport.

Delta, No. 2 in the world, will add more than 100 flights
at LaGuardia by mid-July after gaining takeoff and landing slots
there to build a hub for domestic flights. Combined LaGuardia-
Kennedy capacity will rise 3 percent in June and 7 percent in
July, said the Atlanta-based carrier, which exited bankruptcy in
2007 and bought Northwest Airlines Corp. in 2008.

‘Piece of New York’

“Everybody kind of scrambles to maintain a piece of New
York,” said John Walsh, head of San Diego-based Walsh Aviation.
“It’s always going to be competitive, but Delta with its merger
is a more formidable competitor than AMR has seen before.”

American expects that kind of jockeying, Chief Commercial
Officer Virasb Vahidi said yesterday in an interview.

“It is normal that in the largest global travel market in
the world, you will have other competitors and everyone gets
their own fair share,” he said. “It’s the same for Los Angeles
and Chicago. That’s just part of being in a competitive
industry.”

Pressure isn’t just coming from bigger rivals. Smaller
carriers in New York are growing too, with expansion planned at
Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) and JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU), which has the
most domestic departures from Kennedy, according to spokesmen.

American remains in the early stages of restructuring after
its Nov. 29 bankruptcy filing. The company told workers Feb. 1
it would eliminate 13,000 jobs or about 18 percent of American’s
total, as it seeks to cut costs by about $2 billion and generate
$1 billion in new revenue each year. Reductions at regional
partner American Eagle haven’t been made public yet.

Horton told employees on Jan. 12 that American will use
bankruptcy to ground older, less-efficient aircraft, shrinking a
fleet of 608 planes at the end of 2011. Growth will resume once
American emerges from bankruptcy, flying more efficient jets
ordered in July from Boeing Co. (BA) and Airbus SAS (EAD), he said.

“It’s not necessarily about being the biggest in any one
city,” said Henry Harteveldt, an analyst at Atmosphere Research
Group LLC in San Francisco. “It’s about commanding the highest
fare and having the best routes and schedule and connections on
partners.”

To contact the reporters on this story:
Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas at
maryc.s@bloomberg.net;
Mary Jane Credeur in Atlanta at
mcredeur@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Ed Dufner at
edufner@bloomberg.net

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Greyhound Express provides short-distance non-stop or one-stop service to and from major Greyhound service hubs including New York, Washington D.C. and now Dallas.

Following its one-year anniversary, Greyhound Express will be expanding its service by adding routes between Dallas and Houston.

SMU students who want to visit Houston can now take the Greyhound Express instead of driving or flying.

Greyhound is the first company to bring a premium-level, low-fare intercity bus service to Texas.

“[The] expansion into Texas signifies that Greyhound Express is rapidly becoming the type of service customers prefer, covering four major regions of the United States — Midwest, Northeast, Southeast and South — and also in Alberta, Canada,” Dave Leach, Greyhound president and CEO, said in a press release.

“Last month, we celebrated our one-year anniversary by launching service in Florida. We’re proud nearly 1.3 million customers have experienced this new premium service since it launched,” Leach said. “Greyhound Express has proved to be a service that our customers truly appreciate.”

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Intercity buses, like Greyhound, are actually the safest mode of transportation over cars, trucks, trains, plans and other commercial vehicles.

The Greyhound Express buses come with improvements.

Customers get a guaranteed seat as well as free Wi-Fi, power outlets, extra legroom and leather seats.

The buses seat 50 passengers.

They currently have 88 of these new buses running the express route.

“Since Greyhound made a lot of improvements to their buses, the trip would be worth a try,” junior and Houston-native Ryan Cole said.

The express trip from Dallas to Houston will take four hours and eight minutes each way.

Dallas native Sameen Ali thinks the Greyhound Express will be a great addition to Dallas.

“The buses are an economically convenient alternate choice if people don’t want to drive,” she said.

The bus would leave from 205 S. Lamar St. in Dallas and arrive at 2121 Main St. in Houston.

“I’d love to try the Greyhound’s new service,” junior Jacqueline Velasquez-Ross said. “The drive to Houston is four hours, and it’d be nice to enjoy the ride.”

Ross travels back and forth from Houston many times a semester to visit family and friends. She thinks that this will give people another option for transportation since gas prices and plane tickets are on the rise.

Service from Dallas to Houston and vice versa begins Feb. 29.

Ticket fares begin at a dollar and are now on sale at www.mygreyhoundexpress.com.

Greyhound customers can now buy their Express ticket online for discount pricing.

Then they can either print their ticket at home or pick it up at a self-service ticketing kiosk.

“I would definitely try the Greyhound, especially if I didn’t have a car,” senior Allie Feldman said. “Flights to Houston are about $70 each way, so this is a really great deal.” 

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Vayama.com, the online travel agency that specializes in international travel, announces today its list of unique off the beaten path countries for traveling with children internationally – including airlines and activities for each location that are ideal for families with children of all ages.  

“There is no doubt that traveling with children on international flights is a challenge, but that does not mean that it cannot be done,” said Thomas Kent, vice president of marketing at Vayama.com. “We have compiled a list for families so they can find the best destinations, airlines and activities worldwide to make their international travel experience with their children a stress free and memorable experience for the entire family.”

Hong Kong, China

Getting Around: When traveling to Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific or Asiana are great for children as they offer coloring books and individual video screens for entertainment. Upon arrival in Hong Kong, the terminal offers high tech video consoles for entertainment. From the Hong King airport, a direct ferry is available from the airport to Macao – the “Las Vegas of Hong Kong”. There is also a rail connection direct from the airport to Disneyland Hong Kong, allowing families to get to their destination without having to go all the way into Hong Kong Island first.

Family Fun Factor:  Macao and its Venetian hotel and casino provide entertainment for the entire family including real gondolas and canals in the lobby. Sitting on its own private island facing the South China Sea, Hong Kong Disneyland features a “Main Street, U.S.A.”, Fantasyland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland and Toy Story Land. Hong Kong Disneyland is designed to accommodate world travelers as all its cast members speak English, Cantonese and Mandarin and all the signage is in English, Chinese and Japanese. For a treasured family memory, take the trolley to the top of Victoria peak for the most spectacular views of the Hong Kong harbor and the lit skyscrapers at night.

Cape Town, South Africa

Getting Around: South African Airways offers video screens for each passenger that include video games and cartoons, and for the parents the airline also a complementary glass of South African wine. Once in Cape Town, a rental car is the ideal way to explore the South African coast.  

Family Fun Factor: Boulder Beach is one of the most spectacular scenic drives and offers the opportunity to swim with the penguins. This coastal route contains many beach towns known for surfing and kayaking. Addo Elephant Park is world famous for its herds of African Elephants, zebras, warthogs and lions. Addo’s picnic area features a Jurassic Park style electrified fence to keep the humans separated from its pride of lions. The beauty of the South African national park system is that tourists can drive their own cars for a DIY safari or pick a local guide at the park’s gate that will point out the local mega fauna.

Auckland, New Zealand

Getting Around:  Air New Zealand offers personal video screens for each passenger with a variety of video games available for children as well as adults.

Family Fun Factor: The New Zealand locals, Kiwis, are known for their adventure sports from bungee jumping right off Auckland’s tallest tower or walking on a skywalk atop Auckland’s Sky Tower.  Kiwis are also great sailors and Auckland is known as the “city of sails”. Visitors have their choice of sailing day trips from America’s Cup super sailboats, where passengers help the crew pull the sails up, to more relaxed traditional boats. For visitors that are fans of Lord of the Rings, visit the set and see Gandalf’s house in Hobbiton, which is located on a real sheep farm and offers sheep shearing demonstration along with the opportunity to bottle feed baby lambs. During the southern winter you can also go snowboarding on Mount Ruapehu.  

Paris, France

Getting Around:  Paris is home to Disneyland Europe and direct trains are available to Eurodisney from Charles de Gaule airport.

Family Factor:  Take a trip to the Paris catacombs and the famous Paris sewer tour of Les Miserables fame. The whole family is sure to enjoy a tour of Paris’ world famous museums, such as the Louvre and the Pompidou center, which is sure to bring more learning opportunities in one visit to Paris than months in the classroom.

London, England

Getting Around:  Fly to London on Virgin Atlantic as they offer personal video screens, crayons and coloring books.

Family Fun: The British Museum is a perfect place for the entire family with its Egyptian Mummies and ancient artifacts from all over the world, including the Rosseta Stone. Madame Tussauds and the shops and restaurants around Piccadilly Circus and Leister Square are great for entertainment. Take a ferry up the Thames River, under London Bridge and Tower Bridge to the Greenwich observatory where a green laser cuts the night sky to mark the 0 parallel.

Cancun, Mexico

Getting Around: The Mayan Riviera is ideal for families as it has a number of all-inclusive hotels that offer food, drink, kids activities, beaches and more without ever having to leave the hotel. Most of the resorts will offer a direct pick up from the airport and some, such as Xcaret, provide buses for low cost transportation to surrounding archaeological eco-parks and the strip in Cancun.

Family Fun: The Mayan Riviera provides a paradise for children with its powdery beaches and the excitement of swimming with dolphins, petting turtles and tropical parrots. Resorts offer theme park style fun for the whole family with an underground river rides, dolphin swims, tropical jungle trails, marine turtles and much more.

About VayamaVayama is an online travel agency uniquely focused on international travel. The company offers travelers a vast selection of flights through its online booking engine that taps into inventory not available on other online travel websites. Launched in 2007, Vayama has continued to expand its online international travel services to include features such as 24/7 customer service, premium economy airfare, hotels, activities and car rentals.

For regular Vayama updates, follow us at www.twitter.com/Vayama become a fan on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/VayamaTravel or visit www.Vayama.com.

About Travix International B.V.Vayama is part of Travix International B.V., a global travel company that manages an extensive portfolio of international travel websites operating under the brands: Vayama (USA), CheapTickets (Europe Asia), Vliegwinkel.nl (Netherlands), BudgetAir (The Netherlands, United Kingdom, UK, USA, Canada France), Flugladen (Germany) and EasyToBook.com (Worldwide).

Travix operates in 16 countries, employs 430 staff and has combined sales in excess of USD $1.1Billion.

SOURCE Vayama.com

Editor’s note: Every week CNN International’s African Voices highlights Africa’s most engaging personalities, exploring the lives and passions of people who rarely open themselves up to the camera.

(CNN) — What happens to the bar of soap you barely used the last time you checked into a hotel room? Most certainly it’s gone to waste at the end of each day.

This was a shocking revelation for Ugandan humanitarian and social entrepreneur Derreck Kayongo during his first stay in a U.S. hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the early 1990s.

“When i checked into the hotel, there were 3 bars of soap – there was body soap, hand soap and face soap and that did not include the shampoos – and so for me that was a new experience, I was thinking to my self, “why do they have soap for every part of their bodies?” Kayongo recalls. “Now, my goodness, why would you throw away such a resource?”

The striking realization stayed with Kayongo, a Ugandan native who spent much of his childhood as a refugee in Kenya, and prompted him years later to create the Global Soap Project. The non-profit organization reprocesses used soaps from hotels around the United States and turns them into new bars for impoverished nations such as Uganda, Kenya, Haiti and Swaziland.

Kayongo says an estimated 2.6 million bars of soap are discarded every day from hotels in the United States — collecting such an enormous amount of soap, he notes, can help poor countries fight disease and combat child mortality by improving access to basic sanitation.

Broadway enthusiasts can purchase affordable tickets to their favorite shows any day of the week, with just one stipulation: waking up early.

 In the morning, people can stand in line at the theater where their favorite plays are showing and obtain tickets to shows for later that day at discounted prices.

Ticket prices, which usually range from $60 to over $100, are cut drastically for the rush tickets, which are sold at prices from around $25 to $40.

According to playbill.com, over 22 plays, both musicals and dramas, are available to rush. Rushing a show can consist of a basic rush or a lottery. In rushing, theater-goers wait in line and tickets are sold on a first-come, first-serve basis. When the ticket dispersal is on a lottery basis, potential audience members enter their names in the morning to win one or two tickets. Two hours prior to the show, names are called.

“I think that being able to view Broadway shows at a discounted price is a great option, especially on a student budget,” theater minor Alyssa Tagios, FCRH ’13, said. “Over the past two years I have seen countless shows, some of which I have had the opportunity to sit closer to the stage than ever before.”

When shows do not sell out, many theaters reserve seats for the purpose of student rushing, which offers greater opportunities for students.

January and February are considered slow months for Broadway plays, offering several great options for students.

Tony-award winning shows such as The Book of Mormon and Wicked are both open for lottery rushing.  Musicals like Jersey Boys, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Memphis and Anything Goes are all available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Some shows do not offer seats in their rushing tickets, but rather standing room only tickets. The Book of Mormon currently offers standing room only tickets in its lottery.

“Freshman year, I rushed Hamlet with Jude Law,” Vincent Winting, GSB ’13, said. “It was standing room only, but definitely worth it.”

Shows such as How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Wicked, which  regularly feature celebrity actors, offer great options for star-seekers.

“As a freshman, I rushed Bye-Bye Birdie which at the time was staring John Stamos,” Tagios said. “After the show my friends and I waited by the stage door to obtain his autograph. When he finally reached us, I received his signature on my playbill, but was completely at a loss for words. I was star-struck.”

After performances, audience members are welcome to wait outside the stage door to meet and congratulate the actors and receive their autographs.

“I saw How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying with Daniel Radcliffe last spring semester,” Katie Howe, FCRH ’13, said. “After the show I waited for his exit and was able to get his signature and have a conversation with him about restaurants. It was surreal.”

Fordham students have a great hidden opportunity in their New York City neighborhood.  Broadway musicals and dramas are a great way to immerse oneself in the theater culture.

The expensive ticket prices that usually serve as a deterrent are no longer an obstacle. This offers students an inexpensive way to appreciate the culture of the City.  

Here are five destinations in the West that made the grade.

Arizona-Nevada: Hoover Dam plays the name game, from Hoover Dam (current name) to Boulder Dam (preferred by President Franklin Roosevelt, as a dis of his predecessor). No matter, here’s the real news you can use: “[T]he Arizona side has free parking, but Nevada’s has the ‘Dam T-shirt’ shop, tours and bad coffee.” It’s 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas and costs $11 for adults and $9 for kids 4 to 16 to tour the power plant, and $30 for adults and kids for a jumbo tour that includes the dam’s passageways. Buy tickets from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

Hawaii: This has to be the coolest presidential stop. Get an ice cream cone at the Baskin-Robbins at 1618 King St. in Honolulu. Why? Because that’s where Barack Obama scooped out the cold stuff as a teen. Lonely Planet declares it “a bona fide presidential historic site.”

Colorado: Who knew? The third-floor rotunda at the state Capitol contains portraits of every U.S. president. The paintings were all done by artist Lawrence Williams, according to the state’s website. (The Mohave Museum in Kingman, Ariz., also has paintings of the presidents and first ladies by Williams.)

Alaska: Little Nenana, 65 miles southwest of Fairbanks, is the site of the final golden spike to complete the Alaska Railroad. Warren Harding arrived in 1923 to do the honors. Lonely Planet offers this historic tidbit: “[S]ome say he missed the spike on his first two tries. Two weeks later Harding died.”

Utah: The pick here is the Beehive House in Salt Lake City, the one-time home of Brigham Young built between 1853 and 1855. The presidential tie-in is Teddy Roosevelt, who apparently once slept here.