News Links: It’s Now Easier To Join PreCheck, Marriott Rewards Promotion, Ultra Long Range A350 A Possibility & More

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Links to various travel-related stories that have popped up around the web over the past few days.

Why you really shouldn’t throw out your Boarding Pass – That great big bar code you have on your boarding pass isn’t just for show, it contains a ton of data on you and it’s date you probably don’t want falling into the wrong hands. Make sure you dispose of your boarding pass properly (i.e. tear it up) or, better still, use a smartphone together with an airline app that generates your boarding pass on the screen.

Boarding-Pass

TSA makes joining PreCheck easier with extended appointment hours – TSA is the “trusted traveler” program that allows users to skip the regular TSA lines and use the shorter (sometimes!) lines which don’t require you to do a full striptease before you can get on with your trip. As of last month the program is no longer a free-for-all, instead you have to enrol to be part of it – and now the lovely people at the TSA have made it a bit easier by extending their opening hours around the country.

Air France is increasing capacity to Havana for Summer 2016 – It looks like it isn’t just Americans who are keen to visit one of the last unspoiled islands in the Caribbean – the French are at it too. From next summer Air France will offer 2 more daily flights to Havana (from Paris CDG) and one more tri-weekly flight than they did in the summer of 2015.

Save Up to 35% and earn up to 5,000 Marriott Rewards Points with Hertz – I’m not sure there’s ever an occasion when at least 90% of all the world’s major airlines and hotels aren’t offering some kind of rental car promotion. And here’s an other one. The offer is simple: Up to 35% off, 2,000 MRP on rentals of 2-4 days and 5,000 MRP on rentals of 5 days or more. Full details available through the link above. I value Marriott Rewards points a t around 0.6c/point so the biggest bonus available would be worth $30.

Ultra long range’ Airbus A350 will mean non-stop 19 hour flights – I don’t care what class of cabin you’re sitting in, 19 hours in a pressurised tube is just too long. I’d go stir-crazy. Nevertheless this could be a reality if the engineers at Airbus decide to put their minds to it. Australian Business Traveller reports that “Airbus CEO Fabrice Brégier says that his company is running the numbers on the long-legged jet, which would be based on the A350-900 and has been dubbed the ‘A350-900LR’.” – but it doesn’t mean that they’re going to build it. Yet.

Airbus A350Airbus A350 – will we see a version that flies 19hrs non-stop? Image courtesy of Eric Salard via Flickr

Another “we’ll make travel better” Airline promising the earth – A members-only airline called Set-Jet has announced a set of routes around the West Coast. They appear to believe they can offer luxurious air transport, on private-jet-style aircraft, for not much more than a last minute, flexible walk-up ticket would cost on one of the big airlines. The full press release and links to any other details you may need are here. If these guys are around in 2017 I’ll be stunned.