Jet Blue Adding New Seasonal U.S and Carribean routes

JetBlue is adding several new or seasonal U.S. and Caribbean routes to it's already well established roster. Among the flights are Boston/Nantucket, Washington, D.C./Tampa, West Palm Beach/San Juan, Ft. Lauderdale/Kingston, and Dallas/Boston—all for travel from July 10 through September 26; Washington, D.C./San Juan from August 23 through November 14; and New York City/Samana from November 24 through February 9. Finding the cheapest rates on the featured routes was very dependent on a flexible search.by patricia magana

JetBlue is adding several new or seasonal U.S. and Caribbean routes to it's already well established roster. Among the flights are Boston/Nantucket, Washington, D.C./Tampa, West Palm Beach/San Juan, Ft. Lauderdale/Kingston, and Dallas/Boston—all for travel from July 10 through September 26; Washington, D.C./San Juan from August 23 through November 14; and New York City/Samana from November 24 through February 9. Finding the cheapest rates on the featured routes was very dependent on a flexible search. AirTran, Delta, Spirit, US Airways, and United compete on several routes.

 

EDITOR'S OVERVIEW Where to Book: We found the best prices for the travel window of this sale by using a flexible date search, which can be accessed through our flight comparison tool to the right. Pros: New routes. Cons: Cheaper fares from competitors on certain routes. Verdict: Explore options but also keep in mind JetBlue's generous bag policy.

British Airways Researching Passengers before flights?

the airline has launched a program called "Know Me," in which airline employees will be searching Google Image for photos of flyers.
The Daily Mail reports that around 2,000 British Airways staff members will have access to iPads containing passenger data, including a flyer's travel and complaints history. Staff will also be able to use the iPads to Google image search for pictures of passengers, allowing them to recognize you on board.
A spokesman told the paper, "The most recent advancement of the system enables the British Airways team to search Google Images for a photo of specific customers, so they can recognize them as soon as they enter the airport or aircraft and proactively approach them."
The London Evening Standard quoted Jo Boswell, head of customer analysis at BA, as saying, "We're essentially trying to recreate the feeling of recognition you get in a favorite restaurant when you're welcomed there, but in our case it will be delivered by thousands of staff to millions of customers. This is just the start—the system has a myriad of possibilities for the future."
We wonder what they will do if they find less than favorable things about passengers online. If someone's tweeted about a bad British Airways experience, will they get the cold shoulder? Or if they find a party picture of a flyer, will they keep the beverage cart away from him or her? With all of the less than flattering things I've written about airlines and the TSA, I'd sure hate to be Googled before I fly! On the bright side, it's only "VIP customers" who will be researched.by caroline morse

Occidental Grand Xcaret 5 Nights with Air from $579 was $969 - All Inclusive

Occidental Grand Xcaret

Riviera Maya

Our Rating

Details

     "the service was great. the pools were outstanding. the food was excellent. would definitely book here again" –

Room Information

769 guestrooms and suites, located in a number of small three-story buildings (no elevators) surrounded by gardens, pools, and river channels. All rooms are spacious, and feature contemporary dark-wood furniture and barefoot-friendly tile or marble floors. Bathrooms contain a roomy, marble stall shower with a bench and a marble vanity, but do not include a tub. Each room is equipped with air-conditioning, in-room safe, satellite TV, hair dryer, iron and ironing board, mini fridge, a balcony or terrace furnished with table and chairs, telephone with data port connection, and alarm clock. Cribs and extra bed available upon request.

 

cheapcarribean.com

 

                                                                               

Summer Sale on US Airways, Virgin America

US Airways is  matching a new sale from Virgin America that puts major U.S. cities like Boston, New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia and others on sale for summer travel. Flights start at $99 each way (shown as $198 round-trip below) and prices vary by route. We found identical fares on Virgin and US Airways, and occasionally matching prices from JetBlue, United, Frontier, AirTran, Alaska, and American. A 10-day advance purchase is required, and travel must occur on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays through August 1. Book by Monday, July 9.by josh roberts

EDITOR'S OVERVIEW Where to Book: We found the best prices for the travel window of this sale by using a flexible date search, which can be accessed through our flight comparison tool to the right. Pros: Affordable travel on fourt days of the week. Cons: Weekend departures aren't included in this promotion. Verdict: A good sale on major cities across the country.

Live TV Coming To Southwest Flights?

Southwest Airlines announced that it is offering seven channels of live TV shows on some planes, starting with 20 planes this month. The channels include CNBC, Fox Business Network, Fox News, MLB, MSNBC, NBC Sports, and NFL Network.
Presumably, TV soon to be available on all Southwest planes that have installed the equipment necessary for Wi-Fi—now 250, growing to around 400 by the end of next year. Southwest is testing how much to charge. Prices could range from $3 to $8 per flight, which will be independent of whether you buy into the more expensive onboard Wi-Fi Internet service.

Southwest is in a good position to offer this service because, unlike most domestic airlines, it uses satellite-based Wi-Fi rather than a system based on ground transmitters. But Southwest isn't the first U.S. carrier with in-flight TV. Frontier, JetBlue, United  and Virgin America already offer some form of in-flight live TV. And unlike the others, Southwest's system requires that you have your own Wi-Fi-enabled device onboard: a laptop, a tablet, or a smartphone.

In-flight Wi-Fi and TV service is likely to be the focus of a lot of what passes for airline competition these days. Most big domestic airlines previously decided to install onboard Wi-Fi—Delta's fleet of larger planes is already fully equipped and,they can add live TV functionality at very little additional cost. The next big move will be to add satellite-based Wi-Fi and presumably TV on intercontinental flights, already starting with a recent announcement  by ed perkins

American Airlines Claims 'Less Is More' with New Coach Seats

American Airlines is the likely winner of the Georgie (for George Orwell) award this year. The airline's recent announcement that the new 10-across economy seats in 777-300s will give a "feeling of more space" than the standard nine-across seats could easily have originated with 1984's Ministry of Truth.
The math is simple and uncompromising. At nine-across, 777 optimum economy seats are approximately 20.5 inches wide between armrest midpoints—the correct way to measure seat width. Thus, nine seats take up 185 inches. When you fit 10 seats into those 185 inches, each seat gets only 18.5 inches. That's actually narrower than the ultra-tight 737 seats, typically 19 inches, and among the tightest one will encounter on any major airline. American not only is using the ultra-narrow design on its newest 777s but also is likely to retrofit its current 777 fleet with them as well

So the American flak machine says that a seat two inches narrower gives a feeling of more space? Let's get real here. American will stuff 10-across seats in economy cabins because it can make more money that way—and because it knows economy-class travelers are used to rock-bottom comfort standards.by ed perkins

How To Fly For Free?

I started searching for the best ways to save money on airline flights. I wanted to see the world -- or at least the United States -- but I didn't have a bottomless budget. In the end, I found something surprising.
There is a group of people who fly for free by using a strategy that is the complete opposite of what most people do.

It probably comes as no surprise to you that a great way to fly for cheap is by using frequent flyer miles. It's pretty simple: Cash in your miles, get a free flight and travel for less.
At first, I assumed that you had to fly all the time to earn frequent flyer miles. They are called "frequent flyer" miles after all. As it turns out, that's not true. The best way to earn frequent flyer miles isn't by flying at all. It's by finding the best credit card deals for earning frequent flyer miles, free hotel stays and rewards points

Here's The Extras

The credit card market is extremely competitive and very lucrative. As a result, credit card companies hand out huge frequent flyer bonuses to get people to sign up for their cards.
A typical bonus for getting a new credit card is 25,000 frequent flyer miles. Occasionally, you can get as many as 100,000 frequent flyer miles just by signing up for a new card

In case you're wondering, 100,000 frequent flyer miles is enough to get you a round-trip business-class ticket from the U.S. to Europe. That's a value of about $5,000 for taking 10 minutes to fill out a credit card application.
Despite the huge payoff, I was still skeptical at first. How many cards could I apply for? Would this strategy affecting my credit score?

The 'churn'

As I read more about credit card bonuses, I stumbled upon a group of people called "churners."
Credit card churners are people who churn through credit card applications on a regular basis to get as many frequent flyer miles as possible. They apply for a card, spend the minimum amount necessary, get the frequent flyer miles, cancel the card a year later, and then do it all over again.

Some churners are so consistent with their efforts that they have earned more than a million frequent flyer miles in a single year. With that many miles, you could fly around the world multiple times for free.
Churners find out about credit card deals from a variety of websites, blogs and forums. There are even free email newsletters like CreditCardFlyers.com that will send you a brief update of the best credit card deals.

How to keep churning from hurting your credit

Credit card churning will not hurt your credit score if you do two things:

1. Pay your balance in full every month.
2. Carry little or no debt.

if you do those two things, churning may actually have a positive impact on your credit score. This is because you are getting more overall credit by applying for new cards, but you are spending about the same amount as before. This causes your credit-utilization ratio to drop, which can actually improve your credit score.

If you pay your balance in full and carry no debt, it is  unlikely that you will make a major credit card mistake, and you will see little or no impact from churning.
As a reminder, I want to be very clear about this: Credit card churning is not a good idea if you do not pay your balance in full every month. I advocate living a life with no debt, and I suggest you do whatever you can to lower or erase your debt.by james clear