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Snippets of news that I noticed in the past few days that didn’t really warrant a blog post of their own but that may be of help/use/interest to readers anyway. Includes News:
United Airlines Cancels A European Route
Shannon isn’t getting a lot of love from United Airlines right now. Back in July we learned that United Airlines was going to suspend winter service between Newark and Shannon thanks to a seasonal reduction in market demand” and now United is killing off one of its Shannon routes completely in 2018.
United’s summer service between Chicago and Shannon will not be making a reappearance in the summer of 2018 thanks to dwindling passenger numbers and a poor return on the passengers they were actually getting to book.
The route was set to return from 23 May 2018 on the following schedule….
UA066 ORD 18:05 – 07:20+1 day SNN (Daily)
UA067 SNN 09:15 – 11:25 ORD (Daily)
…but, as of last week, the route is no longer available for reservations.
Aer Lingus, American Airlines, Delta and Norwegian all still operate transatlantic services out of Shannon but none operate a non-stop service to Chicago.
If you were booked to fly on this route and haven’t yet heard from United I would get in touch with the airline asap to make alternate arrangements.
American Airlines Extends A330-200 Service Between Philadelphia& San Francisco
At the beginning of September I pointed out that flyers would have to option of true lie-flat seats on the Philadelphia – San francisco route as American temporarily scheduled A330 service on the route.
The A330 was schedule to return to other duties from 14 December but that now appears to have changed.
Now it would appear that American Airlines will be extending the life of the A330 on this route through 3 March 2018 on the following schedule:
AA723 PHL 15:45 – 18:45 SFO (Daily)
AA722 SFO 08:00 – 16:17 PHL (Daily)
According to RoutesOnline the A330 is only showing as one-way from Philly to San Francisco between 15 December and 7 January but it’s back in both direction from 8 January 2018.
Qatar Airways Adds St Petersburg To It’s Network
No, Qatar Airways hasn’t suddenly decided to fly to the Florida coast…this is St Petersburg in Russia that’s getting a new flight from Qatar Airways.
From 19 December 2017 Qatar Airways will operate a daily service between St Petersburg and Doha on the following schedule:
QR279 DOH 07:30 – 13:50 LED (Mon, Tue, Thu & Sat)
QR281 DOH 15:55 – 22:10 LED (Wed, Fri & Sun)
QR280 LED 17:25 – 23:30 DOH (Mon, Tue, Thu & Sat)
QR282 LED 23:15 – 05:20+1 day DOH (Wed, Fri & Sun)
Qatar Airways A320 Business Class
The new route will be operated by Qatar Airways A320 aircraft (reviewed here) and gives the airline something to do with the significant number of short-haul aircraft it has sitting on the ground thanks to the flight embargo from a number off surrounding nations.
American Airlines Downsizes Dallas Ft. Worth – Frankfurt Route Over The Holidays
Between 15 December and 7 January American Airlines will operate a 787-9 Dreamliner between DFW and Frankfurt on the following schedule:
AA070 DFW 16:05 – 08:30+1 day FRA (Daily)
AA071 FRA 10:45 – 14:55 DFW (Daily)
This aircraft change is notable for two reasons:
Firstly the 787-9 comes with American’s Premium Economy product which, as far as I’m aware hasn’t appeared on this route before.
American Airlines 787-9 Premium Economy
Secondly, this sees a significant decrease in the number of Business Class seats available on the route and that’s not going to be good for upgrades or the already pathetic award availability.
Business Class goes from 37 seats on the 777-200 down to 30 seats on the 787-9 Dreamliner.
The presence of the Premium Economy Cabin will give customers a reasonable intermediate option if they can’t book a Business Class seat but, with premium Economy fares still over $1,900, I would be tempted to wait and see what happens to Business Class fares as we get close to the holidays ( a traditionally slow season for Business Class travel).
