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A look at some of the news stories that I noticed over the past few days that didn’t merit a blog post of their own but that may be of interest or of use nonetheless. Stories include Korean Airlines scheduling an all-A380 service between Seoul and New York for September, Uber launching “Scheduled Rides”, Hawaiian Airlines launching upgrade auctions and more.
Starwood Signs Up New Hotel In Sydney
Starwood already has two hotels in Sydney (the Westin Sydney and the Four Points Darling Harbour) but, from 2018, that number will rise to three with the signing of the Four Points by Sheraton Sydney, Central Park.
The new property is part of the “Central Park urban village” complex that sits on the site of the Old Kent Brewery and is in close proximity to the city’s central station.
The new property will have 297 guest rooms, a bar/lounge with outdoor terrace (good for the Sydney summer), a restaurant (no mention if this will be all-day dining) a fitness centre and “convenient parking facilities”. Importantly (at least to me) the hotel will offer free wi-fi in all public areas.
By the time this property opens its doors Starwood should be well and truly part of Marriott and, as a Marriott status holder, I’m all for more choices in cities such as Sydney where Marriott will be going from two centrally located properties to five.
Uber Introduces Advance Bookings
USA Today has reported that Uber is responding to the recent move by Lyft to allow advance bookings by introducing an advance booking system of its own.
“Scheduled Rides” is being rolled out (slowly) across “top travel cities” world-wide (no, I don’t know which those are either) and will allow Uber users to schedule a ride between 30 minutes and 30 days in advance.
The rollout of Scheduled Rides started last Thursday in Seattle and is only available for UberX bookings…which I find strange considering the big noise Uber is making about priority being given to Uber Business customers and customers with business profiles. I would have expected that category of Uber user to be the most likely to book UberXL or UberEXEC.
How will Scheduled Rides work?
- Users will be able to select their location, destination and preferred pick-up time in 15 minute slots.
- Uber will remind users of their booking 24 hours ahead of the pick up time and once again 30 minutes before scheduled pick up.
- Changes to the booking (pick up location, time etc…) will be allowed up to 30 minutes before the scheduled pick up time.
- Users will be notified when their ride is on the way, as well as whether surge pricing applies.
That last point is important as it means that Uber users can’t use Scheduled Rides to avoid surge pricing.
Uber provides a fare estimate when the booking is made but will alert users, closer to pick up, if surge pricing is in effect. Users will then have 5 minutes to decide whether or not to accept the new rates with cancellations, at this point, being free.
Korean Air Adds 2nd A380 To NYC in September
For the month of September only, Korean Air will operate both of its Seoul – New York JFK flights with Airbus A380 aircraft. (HT: Routes Online).
Between 1 and 29 September flights KE85/86 will switch from being operated by a Boeing 747 to an Airbus A380:
KE081 ICN 10:00 – 11:05 JFK
KE085 ICN 19:30 – 20:45 JFK
KE086 JFK 00:50 – 04:10+1 ICN
KE082 JFK 14:00 – 17:20+1 day ICN
Korean Air First Class Cabin – Airbus A380
The biggest difference that this aircraft swap will make is to premium cabin space – the A380 has double the number of First Class seats (12) and almost double the number of Business Class seats (94) when compared to the 747 that currently operates the route so, if award availability isn’t there for a flight you’re looking at, there’s a reasonable chance some will open up.
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