Free WiFi on Select U.S. Airways Flights

In announcing their roll out of WiFi across their Airbus 321 fleet, U.S. Airways is offering the service free of charge on Airbus 321 aircraft now through June 8th. Simply bring your wireless-ready device (i.e. laptop, i-phone), and connect to to Gogo Internet during your next flight. Click here for more information, and to see routes operating A321 planes.

San Francisco to Dublin for $660 "all in"

$660 roundtrip including all taxes and fees from SFO to Dublin, Ireland: Not the best fares we've seen on this route, but certainly not bad considering airfares across the board are up compared to last year at this time. Fare is available for Fall (late October) to Winter (through March) travel on U.S. Airways. Click here, and search using the flexible dates option.

Earn 1500 Bonus Miles By Joining U.S. Airways FF Program

For a limited time earn 1500 bonus miles by signing up for U.S. Airways frequent flyer program - Dividend Miles. Simply click here, complete the form, and you're set. Miles will appear within 48-hours. Free miles here folks - what are you waiting for? =)

San Francisco to Pittsburgh Route Switching to United

As we reported this past Summer, U.S. Airways is discontinuing nonstop service SFO to Pittsburgh, PA effective August 18th. The red-eye flight currently offered once a day by U.S. Air will instead be replaced by an afternoon departure on United Airlines.

Schedule effective August 18, 2009:

SFO - PIT

UA368* DP 1:00PM AR 8:49PM, Airbus 319.

PIT-SFO

UA433* DP 8:42AM AR 11:10AM, Airbus 319.

*Flight numbers to change effective 9/1/09

Enter to Win a Trip to Vegas From U.S. Airways Magazine

Enter to win a Las Vegas vacation for two from U.S. Airways magazine. The winner will receive round-trip airfare for two to Las Vegas, a two-night stay in a Mandalay Bay suite, two tickets to see The Lion King, and dinner for two at Charlie Palmers Aureole. Enter today - because the contest ends Friday.

Earn 2,000 Bonus Miles Signing Up for U.S.Airways FF Program

Through August 31, 2009, new members who join the U.S. Airways Dividend Miles frequent flyer program and book & fly one flight, will earn a whopping 2,000 bonus miles. Promo code f109. Click here to register.

Airlines Eye Additional Onboard Ads

On a recent East Coast U.S Air flight I came across this advertisement for Verizon on my tray table. This addition to the U.S Airways fleet, which began several months ago, is expected to provide additional revenue to the airline and help curb the high cost of fuel.

The idea and location of the ads, which at first glance seem a bit comical when lowering the tray table, are anything but funny for a suffering airline industry desperately to again fly high.

With the recent drop in fuel prices, can we still expect advertisement-covered tray tables to encroach on your airline of choice?

Possibly so.

Although the worst seems to be over for airlines' record high fuel costs, it has prompted an industry-wide reaction on methods to increase revenue, without necessarily raises the base cost of airline tickets. If passengers find the advertising on U.S Airways flights is not overly intrusive, it may go over well, and thus adopted by other airlines.

Although advertising revenue from tray tables will not alleviate all the financial pains of the airlines, it is one of many steps the airlines can take to move in the direction of profitability.

U.S Airways Dropping Sacramento to Charlotte Flights

After less than two months in operation, U.S Airways said Tuesday they will discontinue flights from Sacramento to its Charlotte hub. The route, which officially ends August 18th, was intended to be seasonal, but according to an airline spokesperson, “Skyrocketing fuel costs and softening demand," are also factors for the cutback. Overall, the airline plans on 4th quarter cutbacks in domestic capacity by 6-8% over last years levels.

In addition to Charlotte, U.S Airways also operates flights between Sacramento and Phoenix, Las Vegas and Philadephia.

Click here for more posts about on Sacramento Airport, including information on other airline cutbacks.

U.S Airways Eliminates Preferred Mileage Bonus

Considered a key benefit for being a loyal frequent flyer to an airline, the preferred mileage bonus perk will soon be eliminated to customers holding elite status with U.S Airways.

How it works: Once a customer achieves status with an airline (often after flying 25,000 qualifying miles with an airline in a calender year) they receive a handful of perks such as priority boarding, waiver of certain fees, and preferred seating. A huge benefit however was a 25-100% bonus of actual miles flown. So, where a non-status passenger flying San Francisco to New York would earn about 5,000 miles roundtrip, an elite passenger would earn between 6,250 and 10,000 for the same trip. With the new U.S Airways policy, elite (preferred) passengers will no longer receive the bonus mileage for tickets purchased on or after August 6, 2008.

This unprecedented move by U.S Airways will most certainly be watched by the rest of the airline industry and loyal flyers. While U.S Air may find their most frequent flyers abandoning them for the competition, it is possible other airlines will follow U.S Airways and make similar modifications to their frequent flyer programs.

Yesterday, U.S Airways announced the addition of two new fees: Onboard soft drinks, water, coffee or bottled water will soon cost $2.00. And, checking in the first piece of baggage will soon set you back $15.00. They also upped other administrative fees.

San Francisco to London $625rt, Tax Included For May

If you can overlook the U.S Dollar/British Pound conversion, then consider this great early Summer fare from San Francisco to London for $625 round-trip, taxes included. The fare is available throughout much of May on Virgin Atlantic, U.S Air and Delta Airlines.
Visit http://www.farecompare.com/

Bad (very bad) U.S. Airways Dividend Miles "promo"

Bad promotions are typically not posted on inFLIGHTout, but this one is so ridiculous, it must be reported on. In an email to dividend members, U.S air says it will permit passengers to redeem 10,000 dividend miles for $50 bucks off a flight during the months of January and February.

A) January and February are slow travel months, they should be enticing people to fly with double mile promotions and fare discounts

B) The value of 10,000 miles is is worth A LOT more than $50.00. The most basic measure is a free roundtrip ticket in the Continental U.S; 25,000 miles on U.S. Air. So dumping 10,000 of your miles is worth almost a free 1 way ticket across the country, which is worth far more than $50.

If you have miles "just sitting" in your U.S air account (or other airlines for that matter), even if your not close to a free ticket yet, I recommend you "let it ride". You need to have activity in most frequent flyer programs within 18-36 months otherwise you forfeit your miles. Simply renting a car from Avis for example can earn you frequent flyer miles, and count as activity in your frequent flyer program. In my opinion this is a wiser choice than falling for this U.S Airways "promotion".

From the email: Coming soon! Starting October 22, you can reduce the fare of a US Airways roundtrip ticket by $50 by redeeming 10,000 Dividend Miles. This offer will be valid on all published US Airways roundtrip fares flown in January and February 2008 with a 14-day advance purchase.