On the Go – December 8, 2022

Industry News – Click on the title to read the full article. Many of the sources below require a free registration to gain access to the article. If a paid registration is required, the individual source will be noted.

Airlines

JetBlue Revamps Frequent Flyer Program (Source: USA Today)
JetBlue Airways has revamped its loyalty program, offering multiple elite tiers that can be attained both with flights and credit card spending and some bonuses even for less frequent travelers. “We think it’s going to be a really big win for customers,” said Chris Buckner, JetBlue’s vice president of loyalty programs and partnerships.

Southwest Focuses on Speeding Up Boarding Process (Source: The Dallas Morning News)
Southwest Airlines plans to use data science to study the permutations of passenger boarding and deplaning and test tweaks that might speed it up. “The idea is that we want to put these things out there tested with real-life customers, tweak them, see if they work, make a decision,” said Angela Marano, vice president of business transformation.

General Interest

France Squashed Some Short-Haul Flights (Source: Euronews)
With a goal of reducing its carbon emissions, France has been granted permission by the European Commission to ban flights between cities that are linked by a train journey of less than 2.5 hours. The first routes set to be eliminated are flights from Paris Orly and Nantes, Lyon, and Bordeaux.

Airplane Mode Became Endangered (Source: BBC)
Passengers in Europe will no longer have to switch their mobile devices to airplane mode while flying after June 30, 2023, with EU member states mandated to make a dedicated network of 5G frequency bands available for planes. However, the US may not be quick to follow Europe’s lead. Can we all just agree that 5G availability on planes is great for all purposes … except video and voice calls?

Digital Tech Seen Replacing Paper Passports (Source: Security Magazine)
Biometrics and other digital technology will eventually replace paper passports, making screening faster and more accurate, predicted Jon Payne, director of business development and strategic alliances for identity verification at Entrust. “Removing physical passports altogether — which is several years away — in favor of biometrics might be a shock for some travelers, so pilot programs help show what the future will look like so consumers can get used to it before the technology is widespread,” Payne said.

Security

TSA Plans to Expand Facial Recognition Technology at U.S. Airports Next Year (Source: TravelPulse)
The Transportation Security Administration is reportedly planning to expand its facial recognition identification system to airports around the United States next year.  According to The Washington Post, the technology cross references live photos of travelers at the airport with images on their driver’s license or state identification card to positively identify the person.

DHS Delays REAL ID Deadline Another Two Years (Source: The Hill)
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it was extending the deadline by roughly two years for air passengers to use a REAL ID when traveling.  The agency announced on Monday it will begin enforcing the more stringent identification requirement on May 7, 2025, after previously setting a deadline of May 3, 2023. The announcement marks DHS’s third pandemic-related extension.

Airports

Ireland’s Shannon Airport Checks All The Boxes (Source: Travel Weekly)
In Ireland, as in the rest of Europe, the surge of international summer visitors was a reassuring balm to tourism officials on edge about the post-pandemic future of the industry.  For the record, the number of international arrivals to Ireland in June 2022 reached 88 percent of pre-pandemic levels, according to the Central Statistics Office of Ireland, and rose to about five times the number of arrivals over the previous year by August.

Hotels

Manhattan’s New Virgin Hotel on Track For February Opening (Source: New York YIMBY)
The 38-story Virgin Hotel New York City is booking rooms for February as it puts the finishing touches on the building in Manhattan. The hotel has 460 rooms, a rooftop space, fitness center and mini-golf facility.

Leisure Travel

New Orleans Had Kid Appeal (Source: Lonely Planet)
It might sound counterintuitive, but New Orleans can be a wonderful vacation destination … for kids. It’s true. There’s a whole lot more to the Big Easy than raucous nights in the French Quarter.

The 10 Best Coffee Cities in America (Source: SmarterTravel)
From chicory coffee in New Orleans to Cuban coffee in Miami, a good cup of java is worth traveling for. If you want to have plenty of options for your morning brew, head to one of America’s best coffee cities for your next vacation.  Rental site Apartment Guide calculated the ratio of coffee shops per 100,000 residents for every city in the U.S. along with the ratio of cafes per square mile to determine the best coffee cities in America.