Delta adds new bag fee in wake of $794M loss

Delta Air Lines reported a new loss of $794 million during the first quarter, saying that the weak economy and bad bets on fuel hedges weighed down its results. And, in the wake of the loss, the carrier moved quickly to add a new source of revenue. "The Atlanta-based company said it would immediately institute a $50 fee for most passengers to check a second bag on an international flight for travel beginning July 1. The company expects to generate more than $100 million annually from the new fee. Delta already charges fees for the first and second checked bags on domestic flights," The Associated Press writes. Elite-level frequent fliers and active military will be exempt from the fee.

Bloomberg News writes Delta also "will ground all 14 Boeing Co. 747-200 freighters acquired in the purchase of Northwest Airlines because the 25- year-old jets are inefficient and cargo revenue has plunged." Additionally, Reuters writes: "To cut costs as it combines its business, Delta said that more than 2,500 employees accepted early-out and early retirement packages, and are expected to leave the airline next fall."

As for the first-quarter numbers, AP reports that "excluding special items, Delta said its first-quarter loss was 84 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who generally exclude one-time items from their estimates, expected Delta to post a loss of $1.01 per share for the first quarter on sales of $6.7 billion." The Wall Street Journal adds that "excluding charges linked to its merger with Northwest Airlines and work-force reductions, earnings would have been 84 cents a share. Excluding another $684 million of fuel-hedging losses and other items, the airline would have broken even."

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AirTran's newest destination: Charleston, W. Va.

AirTran Airways will begin offering direct flights between Charleston and Orlando, this summer.

The subsidiary of AirTran Holdings announced Tuesday that its Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday service between Yeager Airport and Orlando International Airport will begin June 25.

The airline is offering an introductory one-way fare of $79.

AirTran provides service to 63 cities nationwide, including nonstop service to 36 cities from Orlando.

Last week, American Eagle Airlines began direct daily service between Yeager and New York's LaGuardia International Airport.

For more information and bookings call toll free 866-782-9838
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U.S. looking at possible commercial flights with Cuba

President Barack Obama has directed officials to look at the possibility of starting regularly scheduled commercial flights between the United States and Cuba, the White House said Monday.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs was asked at a news conference how Cuban Americans could benefit from an easing of travel restrictions between the United States and Cuba announced by the Obama administration earlier Monday.

Dan Restrepo, special assistant to the president, said there was a possibility that existing charter flights between the United States and Cuba could be expanded to accommodate more passengers.

Pressed by a reporter on whether the government would allow commercial airlines to start more regularly scheduled flights, Gibbs said that was one of the issues the president had directed the secretaries of state, commerce and treasury to look at.

AirTran to offer Fla. service from Allentown, Pa.

AirTran Airways is going to begin service to Florida from Lehigh Valley International Airport in eastern Pennsylvania.

AirTran announced on Wednesday that it will start roundtrip nonstop flights between LVIA and Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale beginning June 25.

The low-cost carrier will offer introductory one-way fares of $79 between LVIA and Orlando and $84 one-way between LVIA and Ft. Lauderdale.

It marks the third carrier to fly to the Sunshine State from LVIA. Allegiant Air flies to Orlando and Direct Air joined LVIA last year, offering flights to Punta Gorda, just north of Fort Myers.

The additional service comes at a time of declining air travel. Passenger volume has fallen for 12 straight months at LVIA.

For more info and bookings call (866)782-9838
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Couples Resorts Deals

Couples Resorts Raises the Bar for Romance with Opening of Couples Tower Isle. Couples Resorts’ newest property, Couples Tower Isle, opens April 12, 2009. Formerly known as Couples Ocho Rios, more than $30 million has been invested into transforming the property into one of Jamaica’s newest luxury all-inclusives. While luxury and romance have always been associated with the Couples Resorts brand, the new Couples Tower Isle property raises the bar, with state-of-the-art facilities combined with classic elegance. New additions include ocean-view suites with zero edge walk-in showers, a luxury spa with suites for couples massages, a completely remodeled kitchen, and a new swimming pool with swim-up bar. Renovations were also made in the main lobby and historic piano bar.

Couples Resorts Announces New Wednesday Escape Promotions for April. Couples Resorts welcomes spring with great new promotions for the entire month of April. Each Wednesday in April a new 24-hour special will be announced, allowing couples the opportunity to book a spontaneous romantic getaway. From 12:01 am to 11:59 pm, couples will have the chance to take advantage of one of the five special offers listed below. The catch is that they will not know which promotion is going on until Wednesday.

Couplicious Suite Sale: This promotion ran on the first Wednesday of the month (April 1st) and offered savings of up to 62% on some of Couples Resorts’ most luxurious suites, for travel from August 18 to December 25, 2009. The Couplicious Suite Sale was a huge success, and resulted in the biggest spike of visitors to the Couples Resorts website this year.

Not So Secret Rendezvous: Spontaneous couples will love this promotion as Couples Resorts is offering a special discounted rate of less than $300 per couple, per night for travel May 1-31, at one of its four properties.

Secret September Sale: On this one day couples will have the opportunity to book a vacation for the month of September that is discounted more than 50%.

Experience Jamaica: During a select group of days throughout 2009, excursions which are normally available for an additional fee, will be offered free of charge. Possible qualifying excursions include a trip to YS Falls, zip lining canopy tour, mystic mountain bob sled ride, Appleton rum tour and more.

Guaranteed Romance: For those looking for the ultimate romantic vacation, Couples Resorts is offering a special reduced rate of up to 50% off at one of its properties PLUS one private, candlelit dinner on the beach (a $150 value).

For more information and brochures call toll free (866)782-9838

Expedia Sells Consumer Data To Advertisers

PICK the odd one out. Peaches and cream, boys and girls, babies and crying – the web and privacy. If ever a medium had Big Brother implications, it is the Internet.

Now a disturbing trend has emerged where the online travel plans of individuals such as their airline bookings – tracked and recorded by ‘cookies’ - are being sold by Expedia and others to advertisers keen to increase their chances of making a sale.

Expedia is selling the data (minus names, contact details etc) through its new behavioural advertising program, PassportAds, in partnership with BlueKai, which claims many other top travel websites, including a “major” travel search engine, are already quietly doing the same. Expedia.com is the first to go public.

How does it work? The simple explanation is that purchasing the cookies enables advertisers to target their offers to consumers whose data has been traded. They can hit them with a specific offer when they search across some 200 websites in the Expedia ad network. You’ve bought an air ticket, how about a hotel or car hire?

Some consumers might think this is good, far more will probably feel it’s an intrusion of privacy as they have not given permission for their travel plans to be sold to the highest bidder. But it’s a trend that will only grow unless legislators get in on the act, something that is not likely any time soon.

So for now, Big Brother is most definitely out there and is watching you. Creepy thought

Next Norwegian Cruise Line ship will have massive water park, rappelling wall

They're calling it epic, and now we know why.

Norwegian Cruise Line is taking a page from the Royal Caribbean playbook with its next cruise ship, the Norwegian Epic, by loading it with unusual and at times groundbreaking decktop amusements such as a massive water park, a rappelling wall and a 33-foot-high 'extreme' rock climbing wall.

The industry's perennial underdog, which is announcing the decktop areas today in an online news conference, long has promised the massive vessel would break new ground for the line in both size and features. The line already has announced the 4,200-passenger ship, scheduled to debut in May 2010, will boast such innovations as curve-walled cabins and an ice bar.

At 150,000 tons, the Epic will be 60% larger than the largest NCL ship now at sea, and the Aqua Park the line is announcing is a sprawling affair with three major water slides among other features.

In an unusual twist, one of the Aqua Park's water slides, designed specifically for children, will zip straight through the ship's rock climbing wall. A more adventurous slide will twist and turn down three stories, and the biggest slide, dubbed the Epic Plunge, is billed as the only tube slide at sea of its kind. Passengers on the Epic Plunge will ride inner tubes down a 200-foot long tube into a bowl where centrifugal forces will spin them high on the wall for several turns before they splash down.

The Aqua Park also will include two main pools with arching water effects that illuminate at night; five whirlpools; a wading pool and a children’s Splash and Play Zone that features a kid's pool, whimsical sculptures, water sprays and effects, along with a kiddie slide.

The repelling wall NCL plans for the ship is an industry first, and the rock climbing wall -- a concept pioneered by Royal Caribbean -- will be one of the biggest at sea and accessible from two levels.

NCL also is announcing the Epic will have bowling alleys -- something the line pioneered in the industry several years ago and now offers on two ships. The line is expanding on the idea, offering bowling in two lounge venues on the Epic.

The line also is announcing the Epic will have 14 eateries -- the most of any ship at sea.

Currently under construction in Europe (click HERE for exclusive construction photos), the Epic is scheduled to sail in the Caribbean year-round after it debuts in the summer of 2010.

NCL originally ordered two Epic-sized ships for delivery in 2010, but earlier this year the line announced it had canceled one of the two orders with the shipyard, STX Europe. Epic now is the only NCL ship on order.

NCL says the ship will open for sale to the general public on May 20, when further details about its entertainment areas will be revealed.

For more information and brochures call 866-782-9838

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Obama to ease Cuba restrictions on travel, money

President Barack Obama intends to lift the U.S. ban on family members traveling to Cuba and remittances to the island, two senior administration officials said Saturday.

Obama will announce the policy change before this month's Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not yet been made.

The move would fulfill a pledge Obama made during the presidential campaign and could signal a new openness with the communist nation.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the development on Friday.

Democrats in Congress are also moving to loosen restrictions on family travel to Cuba, but Obama plans to use presidential powers to ease the rules on his own.

The president does not intend to call for lifting the decades-long trade embargo against Cuba, which would require congressional approval, the newspaper report said.

During the presidential campaign, Obama pledged to allow unlimited family travel and remittances to Cuba. 'It's time to let Cuban-Americans see their mothers and fathers, their sisters and their brothers,' he said in a speech last May in Miami. 'It's time to let Cuban-American money make their families less dependent on the Castro regime.'

The rules will affect an estimated 1.5 million Americans who have relatives in Cuba, the Journal said.

Hawaii's Big Island gets bigger, thanks to Kilauea

HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK, Hawaii — The largest and southernmost of the Hawaiian islands is shaking, spitting, and stretching as it slowly expands into the ocean.

You'll see and feel reminders of this almost everywhere during your trip to Hawaii Island, which most locals call the Big Island.

On the southern shore, streams of lava pour from lava volcano into the ocean where they form new land.

In some neighborhoods, you'll see fields of black, cooled lava that have poured from Kilauea and Mauna Loa volcanoes in recent decades.

Sometimes the ground shakes as gravity pulls on the accumulated piles of lava. But don't let a fear of temblors prevent you from visiting: the vast majority of these earthquakes are far too weak to feel. Big earthquakes measuring magnitude 6 or more tend to only hit the state about once a decade.

Volcanoes have been central to stories told by Hawaiians for centuries.

Legend says the volcano goddess Pele dug fire pits as she traveled from island to island looking for a home with her brothers and sisters.

She finally settled at Kilauea's summit, where she lives at Halemaumau crater. It's said that Pele stomps on the floor of her fire pit when she wants to summon lava, hot rocks, steam and smoke.

You can see for yourself how Pele's lava is building the Big Island if you visit now. Kilauea volcano has been erupting simultaneously in two places for over a year, something that's unprecedented in 200 years of its recorded history.

The first of these eruptions has been spilling lava across the southern part of the Big Island since 1983, swallowing roads, homes and even entire towns.

Fresh flows from this eruption are currently slithering into the ocean near Kalapana, a formerly robust town that was mostly buried in lava in 1990.

Kilauea is also erupting from Halemaumau crater at the summit. That's where a large explosion opened a vent in March 2008, leading to the daily release of hundreds of tons of sulfur dioxide. Kilauea has spit small fragments of lava from Halemaumau but hasn't released any lava flows from here.

You can watch the summit eruption from a lookout point inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It's humbling to see the crater's gas plume rise hundreds, and sometimes even thousands, of feet into the air from a vent larger than a football field.

From the visitor's center inside the park, you can join ranger-guided hikes to see cinder cones and now-solidified lava lakes created by previous eruptions. Some of the walks meander through rainforests. Visitors can even venture into an old lava tube — a tunnel through which lava once streamed.

Getting near flowing lava can be dangerous, so it is vital that visitors follow guidelines set by the national park and Hawaii County.

Park ranger Mardie Lane said most visitors comply with the rules and have no problems. But in 1993, a lava-watcher was swept away when the unstable lava bench he stood on collapsed. Nine years ago, two visitors died after inhaling steam near a point where hot lava enters the ocean.

Hawaii County, which operates the ocean entry lava viewing point near Kalapana, outside the park, has designated a safe lava viewing area and cordoned off fragile lava benches.

Don't be disappointed if you are prohibited from standing next to the lava flow. Watching lava slide into the ocean is powerful even from a distance.

At the Hawaii County lava viewing point one recent evening, a few dozen visitors oohed and aahed as they watched a large steam plume rise into the air as scalding hot lava hit the chilly sea near Kalapana.

The plume glowed pink whenever lava slithered into the ocean from an above-ground lava tube prompting viewers to gasp and murmur.

County workers on duty at the viewing site have spent most of their lives next to lava.

Emily Hauanio saw her hometown of Kapaahu submerged in molten rock in the 1980s. She says Pele was cleansing the land so she wasn't upset.

"There was a lot more people coming in. Our famous swimming holes were getting polluted," said Hauanio, a Hawaiian whose family has lived in the area for generations. "It was time for her to come in and clean up the mess. That's the way I felt. And that's what she did."

Another county guide, Malia Mendes, whose grandmother's home was one of the only Kalapana structures spared by lava, was also accepting.

"It's nature's way. It was meant to be," said Mendes, who is also Hawaiian.

Hawaii's volcanoes are created by an underwater "hotspot" where magma from deep inside the earth has been poking through the earth's crust for at least 80 million years.

Few other places on Earth have a hotspot forming new land. One is the North Atlantic, where a small island called Surtsey grew off the southern coast of Iceland in the 1960s.

The Hawaiian Islands were formed as the Pacific plate — one of the earth's eight major tectonic plates — has slowly edged northwest over t he stationary hotspot.

The Big Island, the newest in this chain, is made up of five adjacent volcanoes, most of them still active.

Kilauea is the youngest of the five, having started erupting underwater 300,000 to 600,000 years ago. Between 50,000 to 100,000 years ago, Kilauea grew tall enough to emerge from the sea.

Most of the volcanoes on the other, older Hawaiian islands are now extinct. The exception is Haleakala on Maui which last erupted in the late 1700s.