Further proving that all-business class flights are as popular as ever (despite the demise of MaxJet), Singapore Airlines has announced plans to convert its Airbus A340-500 planes into all-business class flights outfitted with 30-inch-wide seats that double as flat beds. When they take to the skies in between June and September of this year, the newly configured planes will fly the airline’s Singapore to New York and Singapore to LAX routes.

Singapore Airlines to Launch First All-Business Class Flights From USA to Asia

Speaking of airport security (which I was in my previous post), you can snag a free one-year membership to the Verified Identity Pass CLEAR program through March 31st - if you’re willing to jump through some hoops and stay at a Hyatt before June 30th. See link below for details. Here’s a list of airports in the CLEAR program.

Of course, as many frequent travelers and travel blog readers know all too well, there’s a lot of debate about whether the CLEAR line actually improves the airport security experience enough to warrant handing the government your finger prints and retina scan. But the super-curious (and squeaky clean) among us may view this as a way to test the new procedure out without handing over the hundo usually required for the privilege.

Free Membership to TSA Registered Traveler

The TSA has begun testing family lanes at Denver International and Salt Lake City airports. While supporters of the experiment say this may help ease congestion at airport security gates, some call this kind of trial “the ghetto-ization” of anyone with children. I’m not sure how I’d feel if I was traveling with children, but I think I’d rather head through a security lane populated by other people with children than endure dirty looks and snide comments from a bunch of crabby, impatient travelers without kids. Of course, who knows? If everyone with children is routed through one security lane, then travelers with children might very well end up with the slower, inferior service - and that wouldn’t be fair. While the TSA is just testing the new procedure at the moment, the practice could spread to other airports if the trial proves successful.

TSA Tries Airport Security Lanes for Families

If ever a hotel were an icon, the Plaza New York is one. And with tomorrow’s reopening after two years and $400 million in renovations, the famed hotel will once again take a prominent spot on any list of Manhattan’s most luxurious lodging options. Featured in films from Arthur to Almost Famous, the Fifth Avenue landmark has downsized to just 282 hotel rooms from its former 805. Much of the building, which was given a roof-down overhaul, is now devoted to condo hotel units and private residences.

For nightly rates of $795 and up, guests may indulge in luxury perks like private butlers on each floor, bathroom fixtures plated in 24-karat gold and centralized room control panels that do everything from dim the lights to change the television channels.

Luckily, travelers who choose to stay elsewhere can enjoy the hotel’s lavish atmosphere with afternoon tea in the opulent surroundings of the Palm Court. By late spring or early summer, the hotel plans to open a high-end retail shopping area, a Caudalie Spa, a renovated Oak Room and Oak Bar, a Champagne bar and a Warren Tricomi Salon.

Today San Francisco celebrates the opening of its first newly built hotel in three years. With a location next to the Moscone Center, the 550-room InterContinental San Francisco will be prime stomping grounds for the hoards of convention-goers the center attracts each year. Leisure travelers will find themselves near popular SoMA attractions like Yerba Buena Gardens, the SF MoMA and the massive Westfield Centre shopping complex.

The hotel stands out for offering floors with just 22 rooms, floor-to-ceiling windows in every room and an indoor lap pool. Both the hotel’s Luce Restaurant and lobby-level Bar 888 have been getting a lot of hype in all the local foodie and drinkie publications, so we expect both venues to be pretty happening over the next few months.

Several stories I’ve read pegged the hotel’s rates at $200+, but I found a standard king available on a Saturday night in April for $170 with advance payment and $189 for a flexible reservation.

Just as we suspected, US Airways has decided to raise checked baggage fees. Starting May 5, 2008, travelers flying US Airways flights will have to fork over $25 for the privilege of checking a second bag on any flight booked on or after Feb. 26, 2008. And just like United, which also raised its second bag fee earlier this year, certain passengers will be exempt:

* Dividend Miles Preferred members (all tiers)

* Active military personnel

* Unaccompanied minors

* First Class and Envoy passengers

* Star Alliance’s Silver and Gold status members

US Airways New Baggage Policy FAQs

Downtown Boston’s Seaport District now has its very own Renaissance property. The 471-room Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel has adopted a maritime theme: an exterior designed to look reminiscent of a ship’s wind-filled sails, seagulls flocking above the front desk, blue hues in the rooms and wave-like structural features incorporated throughout.

While the hotel hopes to attract leisure travelers thanks to a location within walking distance of Fanueil Hall, the Boston Harbor Walk and the New England Aquarium, it is wooing business travelers with amenities like a DS-3 line Internet connection (28x faster than a T-1), rooms outfitted with flat panel televisions and connectivity panels that power multiple electronic devices at one time.

Travelers who stay at the hotel for two nights or more by Sept. 3, 2008 will receive a $100 Savvy Savings Certificate good toward a two-night stay at any Renaissance property in the U.S. or Canada. To score the savings, you’ll have to book through the site or call the hotel’s reservation number (1-800-834-7282) and use promo code PX3. Nightly rates at the hotel start at $169.

LastMinuteTravel.com recently launched a program aimed at frequent travelers willing to pay a $49.99 annual membership fee for “exclusive” rates on hotels. The
LastMinute Travel Club offers discounted rates on around U.S. and international 13,000 hotels. The company says savings average between 23 and 66 percent of the rack rate. Not being a member, I can’t personally vouch for the service and the potential savings, but I do think this sort of “pay for deals” system is part of a growing trend in the online travel space. Frequent travelers who book their own hotel accommodations may very well find this sort of setup to be worth the cost of membership. My guess is that the service makes more sense for people who prefer business class to luxury hotels.

LastMinuteTravel.com Launches Discount Travel Club

AT&T has launched an effort to warn iPhone users of the high charges they may accrue when traveling abroad. Sure, the phone automatically works outside the United States, but that doesn’t mean it’s cheap. In fact, as AT&T makes clear in a letter I received yesterday, simply opening an email with a 5 megapixel image in it while you’re traveling internationally could easily cost you $40. And with the dollar being what it is (i.e. lame), American travelers abroad need all the help they can get. Am I right?

If you travel abroad frequently, then it makes sense to pay for one of AT&T’s Data Global Plans ($24.99 or $59.99 per month). But if you’re only getting outside a few times a year, it’s probably more sensible to just curb your phone use while you’re away. In the PDF doc below (it’s a large file and may take a second to load), AT&T outlines steps travelers should take to prevent astronomical charges. For example:

- Turn off data roaming function (and you need to have the latest iTunes software on your computer to do this, apparently)

- Turn off auto-checking for emails

To learn more, check the doc below:

iPhone International Calling Charges

If you spy a scary looking dude with a semi-automatic weapon pacing around the platform the next time you hop an East Coast Amtrak train, don’t be alarmed. The company announced a series of new security initiatives today, but not in response to any specific threat.

Rather, Amtrak hopes armed officers patrolling train platforms, bomb-sniffing dogs and random checks of carry-on luggage will be the preemptive strike necessary to thwart terrorist activity and other acts of violence. While trains have been prime targets for terrorist activity abroad, we statesiders have been lucky to escape any similar incidents thus far. Knock. On. Wood.

The new Amtrak security measures will be put in place along the Boston to Washington corridor.

Amtrak Beefs Up Security

Amtrak Launches New Security Procedures