When it comes to carry-ons, the TSA has banned all liquid and gel foods larger than 3.4 ounces (as well as liquids and gels larger than 3.4 ounces that are not foods, such as hair gel, gel pens, and gel ice packs). If the item can be spilled, sprayed, spread, pumped or poured, you should pack it in checked luggage or leave it at home, according to the travel blog Recommend.
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A United Airlines “Fantasy Flight” took kids from Newark Airport to the North Pole for a visit with Santa on Wednesday, December 12, 2018.
Amy Newman, NorthJersey
Halfway through the flight from Newark to the North Pole, there was a long-awaited sighting.
“A sleigh with six reindeer has been spotted to the right of the aircraft,” the plane captain announced.
Chants of “Santa! Santa! Santa!” rippled through the cabin.
Almost there.
At noon, after an hour-long trip to Rochester, New York, and back, the jet touched down at Newark Liberty International Airport’s Terminal C, or, as it became known on Wednesday, the North Pole.
The 45 children aboard United Airlines’ annual Fantasy Flight to the North Pole screamed in delight.
“SANTA! SANTA! SANTA!”
Santa Claus was waiting for the travelers, all patients from Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, University Hospital and Trinitas Regional Medical Center, with open arms.
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“Once we started to take off, my stomach started to feel queasy and same thing when we started to land,” Reese said. “But … I made it!”
August Erde, 4, was also a little nervous on takeoff, said his mother, Tyne Delwiche. The fear melted away as the in-flight elves, also known as flight attendants, belted out Christmas songs, led tours of the plane and handed out snacks.
“I’m glad he gets to experience his first flight in this way,” Delwiche said. “He’s had a rough year, so seeing him really happy is really nice. I hope this experience sticks with him for a long time. I hope it’s a positive memory for him.”
James Ona, a volunteer from University Hospital, said he had no idea what he had signed up for when a supervisor recommended him for the Fantasy Flight months ago. He described himself as a “dry piece of toast,” saying he’s not known for being particularly joyous or happy.
The pint-sized travelers to the North Pole changed that. He was soon leading them in song.
“It’s beyond humbling,” Ona said. “I normally don’t see my family because I work so much. So when I get to see this kind of joy, I get to kind of share and watch and miss my kids.”
Christina Munn, a United flight attendant, said she knew exactly what she was getting into when she volunteered for the Fantasy Flight.
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Her family has been plagued by medical problems, and she understands the toll they can take on people, especially the young.
“To be able to bring a little bit of hope and joy back and be that light in someone’s day — I had to be a part of it,” Munn said.
Munn lives a block from Beth Israel and visits the patients there often. She said she saw some familiar faces on the flight to the North Pole and was thankful she could make them smile again.
“Being here with the kids has been phenomenal,” she said. “It’s nice to give back to the community.”
United started the Fantasy Flight program in 1992 at Washington’s Dulles International Airport and has since expanded it to dozens of locations.
“It’s just a really fun, exciting day that kind of puts you in the holiday spirit,” said Colette Pesce, a training coordinator for United customer service.
Tamara Amaro and her daughter Ximena Moreira, 9, soaked up the merriment on Wednesday. They were especially excited to meet Santa.
“This has just been a beautiful experience,” Amaro said.
Email: shkolnikova@northjersey.com
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HONOLULU (KHON2) – Flight attendants for United Airlines are planning to protest at airports around the world Thursday.
They are upset over staffing cuts.
There are 16 planned demonstrations including at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport and other airports in Los Angeles, Washington, London and Tokyo.
United Airlines said it does not expect any flight delays because of the protests.
Passengers are encouraged to check their flight status before heading to the airport.
(WTNH) – Get ready for a travel crush around Christmas and New Year’s Day.
A group representing U.S. airlines says air travel right around the holidays is expected to be up more than five percent this year.
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The busiest day is expected to be the Friday before Christmas.
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Will you be flying for the holidays, or do you plan to stay in the Nutmeg State this year?
Travelers walk in and out at Terminal 3 in O’Hare airport in Chicago, Sunday, Nov. 25, 2018. More than 350 flights are already canceled ahead of blizzard-like storm taking aim at Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
(AP) – U.S. airlines expect a 5.2 percent increase in air travel during the Christmas and New Year’s break, to more than 2.5 million people a day.
The busiest day is expected to be the Friday before Christmas.
The trade group Airlines for America said Tuesday it forecasts that 45.7 million passengers will fly on a U.S. airline during the 18-day stretch that starts Thursday, Dec. 20, and runs through Jan. 6, the Sunday after New Year’s Day.
The group says that since last Christmas, airlines have added 143,000 seats per day on domestic and international flights.
They are hoping that’s enough to handle the expected increase of 126,000 passengers a day.
Travelers looking for relative calm, take note: The least-busy days are expected to be Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
A record number of flyers will be in airports for the Christmas-New Year’s period- including SFO
A record number of flyers will be in airports for the Christmas-New Year’s period- including SFO
Photo: Chris McGinnis
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A record number of flyers will be in airports for the Christmas-New Year’s period- including SFO
A record number of flyers will be in airports for the Christmas-New Year’s period- including SFO
Photo: Chris McGinnis
How bad will your holiday airline trip be this year? About 5 or 6 percent worse than last year. That’s the increase in passenger numbers that travelers are expected to encounter at the nation’s airports over the Christmas-New Year’s period.
Airlines for America (A4A), the trade organization for major U.S. carriers, said this week its members are expecting to carry a record 45.7 million passengers during the 18-day holiday period (December 20-January 6), or 5.2 percent more than last year.
That works out to 126,000 more travelers per day than during the same period a year ago.
To handle the extra crowds, A4A said, its member airlines have scheduled flights totaling an extra 143,000 seats a day during that period.
The numbers are a little different at the Transportation Security Administration, which came out with its own holiday travel forecast. TSA said it expects its airport screeners to handle six percent more passengers than last year, or an average of 2.3 million a day over the holiday period, and it is scheduling overtime hours for its screeners to handle the load. (A4A is predicting 2.54 million a day.)
Both A4A and TSA agree on one thing: The busiest travel day will be Friday, December 21, when TSA is gearing up to screen more than 2.7 million passengers. The airline group said the second- and third-busiest travel days will be Thursday, December 20 and Wednesday, December 26 respectively, while the lightest travel days will be December 24 and 25 and Saturday, January 5.
TSA is advising travelers that airport traffic (on the roads and in the terminals) will begin to pick up noticeably on Wednesday, December 19, with increasing numbers continuing through December 24. It is reminding passengers to arrive at the airport at least two hours before their scheduled departure. The fact that many major airports like LAX, New York LaGuardia and Denver are in the midst of substantial construction and expansion projects will likely contribute to congestion for holiday travelers this year.
Some good news? When Christmas and New Year’s Day fall midweek (Tuesday this year), the holiday travel season is longer and more spread out. In this case, it begins about Wednesday, December 19 and runs all the way to the Monday after New Years, January 7.
What’s feeding the holiday travel frenzy? A4A says it’s because air fares are at “historic lows.”
The airline industry’s holiday travel forecast highlights.
The airline industry’s holiday travel forecast highlights.
If the predictions are correct, this would be the fifth year in a row that year-end holiday passenger numbers set a new record. For the full year 2018, it looks like U.S. airlines will carry a record 1 billion passengers – an increase of almost 150 million in the past five years, from 2014’s 854 million. Meanwhile, inflation-adjusted domestic air fares this year are running about 15 percent lower than they were in 2014, according to government figures.
If you will be traveling over the holidays, just pray that the weather holds up. We’ve seen a number of serious storms sweep across the nation from west to east in recent weeks, resulting in thousands of flight cancellations and delays. Considering that many flights will be going out close to 100 percent full during this busy period, making a timely rebooking unlikely, a cancellation could mean that you won’t be singing “I’ll be home for Christmas” in the terminal.
Do you have any advice for holiday travelers? Ever been marooned by a storm and unable to get home for the festive season? Tell us all about it in the comments.
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Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at chris@travelskills.com or on Twitter @cjmcginnis.
CHICAGO, Dec 12 (Reuters) – United Airlines Chief Executive Officer Oscar Munoz said on Wednesday he was “not concerned” about the future of the No. 3 U.S. carrier’s joint venture with Colombia’s Avianca Holdings and Panama’s Copa Airlines.
The comment followed news on Tuesday that a separate carrier, Avianca Brasil, had filed for bankruptcy protection. Avianca Brasil is owned by holding company Synergy Group, which also controls Colombia’s better-known Avianca Holdings.
United extended a $456 million loan to Synergy Group last month as part of its planned joint venture.
Reporting by Tracy Rucinski, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien
While griping about airlines may be at an all-time high, people are actually pretty happy with them overall. That in part has to do with all those flash sales, cheaper options that let you customize your flight, and economy fares. Economy fares were a great innovation, but things that good can’t be that good for long.
Starting on Friday, United Airlines will charge extra for some economy seats that come with no extra perks. The new category of “preferred seating” is being introduced, which CNBC reports comes with neither extra legroom nor a glorious ceremonial robe. They’re just the economy seats located behind the Economy Plus section, which means you’ll get to leave the aircraft approximately 90 seconds sooner while deplaning. There are no details on how much more these will cost yet.
In the airline’s defense, United isn’t alone in this. American and Delta both recently started charging for preferred seats. CNBC points out that prices for those vary a lot between the plane, route, and demand, but on one representative Delta flight, it resulted in an $80 price difference.
While we’re mentioning bad things, the airline also announced that it’s retooling basic economy service on several trans-Atlantic routes. On those, basic economy passengers will only be permitted a single carry-on bag and will be paying for any checked luggage.
It’s also worth noting, though, that starting Tuesday, basic economy tickets will apply toward elite status in the United MileagePlus frequent flyer program. Flying basic economy, you’ll earn 50% of the qualifying miles and half of a qualifying segment for each flight, with the price of the ticket fully applied. So if you try to make the most of your miles, there is some good news.
One solution is not selecting those pricier seats, but the more traditional route would be to just gripe about it.
h/t CNBC, Travel Leisure
United Airlines on Wednesday announced a major international expansion at San Francisco International Airport.
The airline said it plans to add flights between San Francisco and Melbourne, Australia, New Delhi, Toronto and to boost service to Amsterdam and Seoul, South Korea.
United CEO Oscar Munoz, in a conference call with reporters, said it’s the largest international expansion United has ever done in San Francisco.
“We really feel it secures United as the premier gateway to the Pacific,” he said.
United had teased the new routes as a “historic package of new and expanded international routes” prompting hours of online speculation about the new flights, including possible flights to Africa. (No flights to Africa were announced.)
“It’s a capstone to 2018, which I think truly is a breakthrough year for United,” Munoz said.
Details on the new flights:
San Francisco to Melbourne: Three weekly nonstop flights on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner beginning Oct. 29. The airline already offers service to Sydney from San Francisco and flights to Sydney and Melbourne from Los Angeles.
San Francisco to New Delhi: The seasonal service begins Dec. 5 on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. United currently offers nonstop flights from Newark to New Delhi and Mumbai, India.
San Francisco to Toronto: United will offer two daily flights beginning March 31 on a Boeing 737-800. United already offers daily service between San Francisco and Calgary and Vancouver, Canada. It serves Toronto from most of its major hubs.
With the new flights, United will serve 29 international destinations from San Francisco. The airline said it has added 12 new international destinations at the airport since 2013.
The new routes are part of an aggressive international expansion by United this year.
In November, the airline announced plans to start service between its Denver hub and Frankfurt, Germany, in 2019 and said it wants to add a second daily flight between Newark and Shanghai in 2020.
In August, United announced new service to Prague and Naples, Italy, from Newark, and new flights between San Francisco and Amsterdam. The airline will be the only carrier offering nonstop service between the United States and Naples when the seasonal flights begin May 22.
Also in August, United said it plans to add nonstop flights between Washington Dulles and Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2019. It will be the airline’s fourth flight to Israel. United has two daily flights from Newark to Tel Aviv and daily flights between San Francisco and Tel Aviv.
United also announced plans to increase service between San Francisco and Auckland, New Zealand, in 2019.
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