aword from oneworld: November 2006

15 November 2006

Gdansk to be oneworld's third destination in Poland: Gdansk is to join the oneworld®  network as the alliance's third destination in Poland, with Finnair launching services between the city and its Helsinki hub from April, with an initial four Embraer 170s a week. Polish capital Warsaw and the regional city of Krakow are both served by British Airways and Finnair, along with member elect Malév.

American to serve Montevideo non-stop from Miami once again: American Airlines is to serve Montevideo non-stop from its Miami hub during the southern hemisphere summer peak for the third year running, starting from 17 November and running to 10 April, with three Boeing 767s a week.

More paperless ticketing links implemented with three alliance recruits: More interline e-ticketing (IET) links have been implemented with other oneworld carrier by the three airlines lining up to join the alliance oneworld as members next year - Japan Airlines, Malév and Royal Jordanian.

Bringing the three new carriers on board will entail a total of 27 IET connections to be completed. Nineteen of them have already been cut over.

American Airlines, British Airways and, since earlier this month, LAN now offer the convenience of transfers using electronic tickets only with all three of the new recruits, with Finnair on schedule to follow suit by the end of the year.

Japan Airlines now offers IET with American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, LAN, Malév and Qantas.

Malév has implemented IET with all the alliance's established carriers and with Japan Airlines.

Royal Jordanian is halfway through its IET programme, having linked already with American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia and LAN.

oneworld has since April 2005 been the only alliance with IET between all its member airlines, enabling passengers to make transfers throughout the group's network without having to recourse to traditional, losable paper tickets.

Progress in all other activities required to bring the three new recruits on board the alliance is also well on track.

 

BA unveils its next generation longhaul business class seat bed: British Airways has unveiled its next generation Club World longhaul business class flat bed - and announced an 8 per cent increase in its longhaul business class capacity. Besides the £100 million (US$190 million) Club World upgrade, the airline is also enhancing its First Class cabin and introducing an on-demand in-flight entertainment system in every cabin across its longhaul fleet.

The new Club World seat bed is 25 per cent wider than the current version, at 25.25 ins (64 cm), with the airline saying it also offers more privacy, greater comfort, with more storage. Like the current model, it converts to a completely flat bed. The new version, though, can also adopt a "Z" position, extending to 6ft 6 ins (198 cm) long, that "allows the body to assume a position similar to that in zero gravity, ideal for watching movies".

Each seat is equipped with a 110 volt power outlet, taking regular US or UK plugs without the need for an adaptor, and comes with more stowage space, with a drawer to store laptops, shoes and small bags.

The on-demand entertainment system will let customers pause, stop, fast-forward or rewind up to 100 films and TV programmes, and play games on larger 10 ins digital screens.

The upgrades are already being introduced and should be completed across all the airline's Boeing 747-400s and 777s within 18 months.

  • For further details, see www.newclubworld.com

Cathay to help passengers recreate in-flight meals at home: Cathay Pacific is to help passengers recreate their in-flight meals at home with the launch of the airline's first cookery book. It will feature recipes for 40 of the most popular Chinese dishes from the airline's in-flight menus, all fine tuned to make them suitable for cooking in domestic kitchens.

New Admirals Club to be opened at Nashville: American Airlines is to building a new Admirals Club at Nashville. Opening in early 2007, it will offer facilities for business and leisure passengers, including a business centre, relaxation area, TV lounge and bar. It will be one of some 400 lounges offered by oneworld carriers available to Emerald or Sapphire members of any of the alliance's frequent flyer programmes.

oneworld in brief: oneworld brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business - American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas, Iberia, Cathay Pacific, LAN, Finnair and Aer Lingus, plus their dozen affiliates. Japan Airlines, Malév and Royal Jordanian will join them early next year as members, along with LAN Argentina and LAN Ecuador as affiliate members.

The alliance enables its members to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own. These include a broader route network, opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles and points across the combined oneworld network and more airport lounges. oneworld is the only alliance to enable passengers to fly throughout its network, on any combination of carriers, using just electronic tickets.

oneworld was voted the world's best airline alliance by readers of Business Traveller magazine for the second year running in its 2005 poll and the World's Leading Airline Alliance for the third year running in the latest World Travel Awards, based on votes cast by80,000 travel agency professionalsfrom more than 200 countries. It is also the only alliance whose members reported collective profits in their latest full year.

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