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Pilot for European carrier Lufthansa spars with SFO · Best of: Features

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  Pilot for European carrier Lufthansa spars with SFO. Written by Jim Glab
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  This article is being read by an automated voice generated by Everlett.
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  In the latest air travel developments. The Lufthansa Group, which clashed with
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  San Francisco International Airport after a pilot was peeved over a seventeen
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  minute delay, is adding Portugal's tap to its airline family. A new
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  bus service from Sonoma County for travelers departing from San Francisco International
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  will let them check in and clear security at Santa Rosa's airport
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  and then proceed directly to the terminals at SFO. United's mileage plate.
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  Eliminates a traditional metric for members to achieve elite status. Southwest revamps
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  its rapid rewards program for 2027 with a new top elite level
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  and more ways to earn and spend points. A new online tool
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  from United lets customers know if their upcoming flights have Starlink Wi-Fi.
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  Delta will roll out new front cabin, Delta One service, this fall
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  on Trans Pacific Flights from LX, American's Global Unworld. Alliance introduces simplified
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  check in for passengers on multicarrier itineraries. Air France adds a third
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  California airport to its route map, Air India cuts back its SFO
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  Delhi flight schedule, and Delta delays its launch of a major new
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  international route. The Luftanzo Group, which is in the process of increase
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  its equity stake in Italy's ITA airways to ninety percent, is now
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  buying into another European carrier as it continues to consolidate the continent's
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  airline industry. The company said the Portuguese government has approved its bid
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  to acquire an initial forty four point nine percent stake in TAP
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  Air Portugal for more than one point three billion dollars, with an
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  option to increase its stake to forty nine point nine percent as
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  Portugal moves ahead with the privatization of TAP.
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  According to Reuters, Luftanza beat out a competing bid from Air France
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  KLM. Besides Ida and soon tap, the Lufthansa Group, a member of
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  United's Global Star Alliance, also includes Germany's Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines, Austrian
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  Airlines, and Belgium's Brussels Airlines, as well as the European leisure carriers
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  Eurowings and Discover Airlines. A Lufthansa executive told Reuters that separate talks
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  are already underway for the company to acquire the remaining fifty point
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  one percent of TAP. Meanwhile, last week, a pilot on a Lufthansa
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  flight from San Francisco to Munich was frustrated after SFO's control tower
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  had the flight wait seventeen minutes to take off due to delays.
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  Then feud between the pilot and SFO tower control was captured and
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  posted on YouTube, the Lufthansa pilot said they would file a report
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  over the delay. It costs tons of fuel, seventeen minutes for a
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  super on the holding point, the pilot said. Sonoma County travelers flying
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  out of San Francisco International Airport will get a new transfer option
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  starting next month that will let them check in themselves and their
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  bags and clear TSA security at Santa Rosa's Charles M. Schultz Airport
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  and then proceed by motor coach directly to the SFO terminals, roughly
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  75 miles away for their departing flights. The new service is operated
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  by Landline, which recently partnered with the Transportation Security Administration to launch
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  a similar operation in Framingham, Massachusetts, for flights out of Boston. Landline's
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  new straight to gate service at Santa Rosa begins november seventeenth, with
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  eight daily round trips to SFO departing at five, seven, nine and
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  eleven AM and two three five thirty and eight PM at a
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  one way fare of fifty five dollars per adult, kids fifteen and
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  under ride free. Initially, the rides will be offered only for trips
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  on specific airlines. We're launching with United Alaska, Hawaiian American and JetBlue,
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  and we'll be adding more airlines in the coming months, said Landline
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  CEO David Sunde. Return trips to Santa Rosa are also available, with
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  curbside pickups outside the baggage claim area at every SFO terminal, including
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  international. According to the Point Sky, the ride to SFO will take
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  about two hours. Buses arrive at Gate A three in the International
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  Terminal at SFO, where travelers can proceed to their connecting flights without
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  needing to re clear security, the Point Sky noted. The way things
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  are going with United Airlines Mileage Plus Loyalty Program, the carrier might
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  as well change its name to Spending Plus. Last April, United revised
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  its program rules so that members with United credit cards and or
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  elite status earn more miles for their trips, based on the fare
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  paid, not the miles flown, while members without mileage plus cards earn
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  less. Fliers traveling on basic economy fares who have neither a card
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  nor elite status earn no miles, and now the airline has unveiled
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  the next program change based on its continued emphasis on spending, with
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  new earning rules that take effect on january first. Instead of combining
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  two different metrics to reach elite status, premier qualifying Points or PQPs,
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  and premier qualifying flights, or PQFs, United Flyers will only be able
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  to use Premier Qualifying Points, as Mileage Plus is getting rid of
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  Premier Qualifying Flights. Premier qualifying points are earned by buying flights on
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  United, United Express, or a Star Alliance partner carrier, or by spending
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  with a United Mileage Plus credit card. Although there will be no
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  more premier qualifying flights, members will still have to take a minimum
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  of for United or Unted Express flights in twenty twenty seven to
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  qualify for elite status. The PQP requirements for earning elite status in
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  2027 will not be changed, but the current option of applying PQFs
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  to the quotas will be removed. As the Points Guy explains it
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  while members could previously earn silver elite status with 6,000 PQPs, or
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  a combination of 5,000 PQPs and 15 PQFs, the only way to
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  earn it next year will be with 6,000 PQPs. Gold status will
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  only be earned with 12,000 PQPs instead of ten thousand PQPs plus
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  thirty PQFs, while platinum will require 18,000 PQPs. In one other changes
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  United is increasing the requirement for its whole top 1,000 status from
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  28,000 PQPs to 32,000 for 2027. United said it will provide
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  current elites with a starter PQP deposit in their twenty twenty seven
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  accounts, including three hundred for silver members, six hundred for Gold members,
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  nine hundred for platinum members, and one thousand six hundred for one
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  thousand members, provided they have a United credit card. As the points
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  guy summed it up, the travelers most affected by this change are
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  United Flyers who typically log a ton of segments in the year.
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  Those members have historically been able to reach status by combining all
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  those PQFs with a fewer number of PQPs. If you fall into
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  that category, you'll likely have to spend more to hit the same
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  status in 2027. United isn't the only carrier unveiling changes to its
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  loyalty program. Southwest Airlines said this week that starting in January it
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  will overhaul its Rapid Rewards program with new elite levels and new
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  ways to earn and spend points. The current A list and A
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  List preferred status levels will be converted to silver and gold status,
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  Southwest said, and the program will introduce a new platinum level at
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  the top of rapid rewards that will come with a big new
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  benefit unlimited companion pass trips. Southwest introduced the pass in nineteen eighty
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  seven, allowing travelers who flew a certain number of trips to designate
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  someone to fly with them for free for a year. The promotion
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  was beloved for nearly forty years, but Southwest is overhauling how travelers
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  can qualify, making the companion pass harder to obtain. Rip to the
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  best deal in travel. Kyle Potter, the editor of Thrifty Traveler, wrote
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  online. Members can earn status levels by accumulating tier qualifying points or
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  TQPs in qualifying flights, and they'll have a new way to earn
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  TQPs starting january first, when they'll get one TQP for every dollar
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  spent on purchases made with a Rapid Rewards credit card from Chase.
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  Starting in The spring, members will also be able to earn and
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  redeem points for travel on three of Southwest's international partner carriers, Iceland
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  Air, China Airlines and Etihad Airways. Later in 2027, Southwest said, Rapid
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  Rewards members will also be able to use points for seat selection
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  on Southwest operated flights, including extra legroom and preferred seats. Beginning in
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  November 2026, members can redeem rapid rewards points for rental cars across
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  all participating car rental partners directly through Cars.southwest.com. United
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  Airlines is hard at work installing Starlink high speed satellite Wi Fi
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  across its fleet, and now customers have a way of finding out
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  in advance whether that popular amenity will be available on their flights.
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  The carrier has introduced a digital tracking tool where United Travelers can
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  search within three days of departure for Starlink availability by date and
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  flight number. Information is updated daily, with updates made in real time
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  for last-minute aircraft changes, United said. The site also provides information on
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  the percentage of all United flights currently equipped with Starlink. As of
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  this week, forty seven percent. Total aircraft installations to date, six hundred
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  thirty nine, including three hundred fifty one regional jets, two hundred eighty
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  two single ASL mainline planes, and six wide bodies, and how much
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  of the total fleet is Starlink ready, forty three percent. Starting this
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  fall, Delta's Transpacific routes from Los Angeles will be the first to
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  deploy aircraft offering the airline's new and improved Delta I International Business
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  Class Service, with other global routes to be added in 2027. The
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  Airlines said this week that the Delta One service will feature a
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  new In Fight menu, with additions like the new Delta One Wagyu
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  burger, regionally inspired Hong Kong style sea bass, and a Champagne Teitinger
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  sorbet pairing. Customers will also be able to pre-select gluten-free meals and
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  lighter fare and browse a new selection of wines, including Napa favorites
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  and global labels, as well as enjoy a curated cocktail and mocktail
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  program and next generation seatback screens. Delta was apparently running short on
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  the Porsche hybrid vehicles that it uses to ferry Delta I passengers
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  to the aircraft at fifteen key airports, so it's increasing its Porsche
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  fleet from 30 to 70 vehicles. Meanwhile, Delta also announced that it
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  has received regulatory approval to expand its free in-flight Delta Sync Wi-Fi
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  to Trans-Pacific routes, the last remaining blank spot in its global network.
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  The rollout will begin later this month, expanding progressively across routes in
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  the following weeks, Delta said. The Global Unworld Alliance, which includes American
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  Alaska, Hawaii and British Airways, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Qantas, Cathay, Pacific, and
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  eight others, has rolled out new passenger check-in technology that simplifies the
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  process for travelers on multicarrier itineraries. It lets customers scan their passports,
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  receive boarding passes, and save those passes directly to their digital wallets.
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  This enhancement will apply to flights operated by Unworld carriers in their
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  itinerary, irrespective of the first operating carrier, UNWORD said. After a single
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  check in via an airline app including a passport scan, boarding passes
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  will be issued for each upcoming UNWORD member flight on the itinerary.
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  The customer can go straight to Bagdrop or Security without needing to
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  see a check in agent at the airport, Unworld said. In the
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  future, the new check in procedure will be extended to Codeshare itineraries,
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  the Alliance said. Air France currently flies to Paris Charles de Gaulle
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  from both San Francisco and Los Angeles International, and now it is
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  adding a third California airport to its route map. The airline announced
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  that for the summer season starting may third, it will introduce three
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  weekly nonstops from San Diego to Paris, with a three hundred fifty
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  departures on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Air France will also begin Paris
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  Nashville service in May, but it has removed Paris Denver from its
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  summer twenty twenty seven plans. The announcement addresses one of SAN's most
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  significant remaining gaps in its international network, the Airport said in a
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  news release. San Diego is the largest US market without nonstop service
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  to Paris, while Paris is Sans's largest unserved international market. Demand for
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  travel between San Diego and Paris continues to grow, increasing fourteen percent
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  this year paired with twenty twenty five. In other international route news,
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  AeroRoots reports that Air India will sharply reduce winter flight frequencies from
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  San Francisco International to Delhi from the previously scheduled week’s Departures from
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  SFO will drop to five a week during the last week of
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  October and four a week through the month of November. Those seven
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  seventy seven three three hundred R flights operate via a stop in
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  Kolkata. From december first through february twenty eighth, Air India will fly
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  six times a week from SFO to Delhi via Vienna, and the
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  during March, the airline will offer five weekly flights from SFO via
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  Kolkata. The timing is a tad awkward. News of Air India's reduction
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  happened to coincide with San Francisco Travel and SFO investing in a
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  campaign to lure India travelers to the city. The San Francisco Travel
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  officials recently inked a deal with a Mumbai headquartered luxury travel company
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  to target travelers just as Air India pulls back on flights. Aeroroutes
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  reports that Alaska Airlines this week expanded its code sharing partnership with
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  Cathay Pacific, putting Alaska's code onto Cathay's flights to Hong Kong from
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  San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. Delta's plans to add a major
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  new international spoke from its Atlanta hub next week have been delayed
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  by months. The carrier had scheduled an October twenty third launch for
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  the first nonstop up for service by a US carrier to Saudi
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  Arabia, flying to the kingdom's capital of Riyadh. But after last week's
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  missile attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels against Riyadh's airport terminals, killing a
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  dozen and wounding hundreds, Delta said it will now delay the new
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  route until march twenty twenty seven. Several other international carriers have suspended
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  service to Riyadh in the wake of the attacks, and dates for
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  the resumption of service remain fluid. Two years ago, Delta signed a
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  partnership agreement with Saudi Arabia's Riad Air to serve as that carrier's
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  exclusive North American partner, and the new Delta route from Atlanta was
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  a part of that deal.