Free food on some f lights
Frontier and Silver will end flights to the island nation as supply exceeds demand.
American Airlines will once again offer complimentary meals in its main cabin on select cross-country f lights.
Only six months after U.S. carriers began operating regular commercial flights to Cuba, Frontier Airlines and Silver Airways have become the latest airlines to cut service to the island nation.
The news comes after Jet-Blue and American Airlines both announced plans in the last two months to reduce their service to Cuba, either by scaling back on the number of flights or flying smaller planes to Cuba.
The cutbacks suggest that the nation’s airlines may have overestimated the demand for flights to Cuba when U.S.-based airlines scrambled for the slots offered last year by the Obama administration to fly to Havana and other Cuban cities.
Denver-based Frontier Airlines, which f lies one daily flight between Miami and Havana, said it will end that service June 4. An airline spokesman said the cost of operating the route was higher than expected and other carriers offered more seats than needed to meet the demand.
Florida-based Silver Airways, which flies 21 roundtrip flights a week, primarily to smaller Cuban cities, said it will end Cuba service April 22. The carrier also cited excess supply offered by other carriers.
“It is not in the best interest of Silver and its team members to behave in the same irrational manner as other airlines,” Silver spokeswoman Misty Pinson said.
In September, before the restrictions to Cuba were lifted, the average roundtrip ticket to Cuba from the United States cost $399, according to the Airlines Reporting Corp., a company that provides ticket settlement services for airlines.
Once regular commercial flights began in November, round-trip tickets to Cuba dropped 14% to an average of $342, according to the Airline Reporting Corp. In February, average ticket price remained about the same, $341.
Business travelers feel safe in L.A.
Terrorism is one of the biggest concerns for business travelers, ahead of other threats such as street crime and disease outbreaks, while Los Angeles is considered among the world’s safest destinations, according to an online survey of nearly 800 business travelers.
L.A. ranked behind only Washington, D.C., and ahead of London and New York among cities ranked as the safest by business travelers polled by the GBTA Foundation, the research arm of the Global Business Travel Assn.
Turkey, Mexico and Lagos, Nigeria, were the destinations considered “unsafe” or “not safe at all” by the most business travelers.
How safe business travelers feel about visiting a city is crucial because 48% of those surveyed said they would avoid traveling to a high-risk destination even if it hurt their career, the survey found.
Terrorism ranked as the greatest concern when traveling among 45% of business travelers, with 15% citing street crime and 13% calling a disease outbreak the biggest worry, according to the online survey of 798 people who traveled for business at least four times in the last year, including at least one international trip. It was taken in September but released in March.
In ranking the safety of 16 destinations, 73% said they felt safe in Washington and 72% felt safe in Los Angeles, 70% picked London and 66% cited New York.
Ernest Wooden Jr., president and chief executive of the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board, credited Mayor Eric Garcetti and his administration for the city’s safety record.
“We are very pleased to hear that the important business traveler audience surveyed by the GBTA Foundation feels safe in L.A,” he said.
More than half (53%) of those surveyed said they feel Turkey is “unsafe” or “not safe at all,” followed by Mexico at 42% and Lagos at 37%, the survey found.
Airline to offer free food on some f lights
Airplane food is coming back. American Airlines will once again offer complimentary meals in its main cabin on select cross-country flights, including those between Los Angeles and New York.
The airline’s Tuesday announcement followed one by Delta Air Lines a month ago that this spring, Delta would begin offering free meals to economy-class passengers on a dozen routes in its major domestic markets.
Airlines stopped offering complimentary meals to economy passengers on most domestic flights after taking a financial hit in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the Great Recession. Breakfast sandwiches and pasta dinners in economy became a luxury reserved for international travelers and for passengers flying to Hawaii.
In recent years, though, the airlines have bounced back. American Airlines posted a profit of nearly $2.7 billion last year.
Starting May 1, American will be using some of that cash to offer meals to passengers flying between New York and Los Angeles and between New York and San Francisco. On the menu: a continental breakfast or a boxed meal with a sandwich wrap, kettle chips and dessert, depending on the time of day. There will also be a vegetarian and fruit-and-cheese plate option, the company said.
“Adding complimentary meals in our main cabin gives some of our best customers one more reason to choose [us],” spokeswoman Sunny Rodriguez said in an emailed statement.
In addition to Delta and United Airlines (which has not announced any plan to reintroduce complimentary meals), American faces competition from Jet-Blue, which now offers its premium Mint service on transcontinental flights, and Alaska Airlines, which expanded its California and West Coast footprint with the acquisition of Virgin America last year.
The three major carriers have also been losing passengers to ultra low-cost, nofrills airlines such as Frontier and Spirit, prompting them to introduce “basic economy” fares that don’t allow changes, cancellations or upgrades and often impose extra limits on seat choices and carry-on luggage.