United grounds 777s; Delta raises fees; Pico Iyer’s ‘Open Road’

Good morning travelers! Not to start off with bad news but if you’re on a United flight today you’d better check your flight status. Delays are being reported in Hawaii and Japan while United grounds 11% of its fleet today to inspect 777s.

Travel books | Is anyone running out to buy Pico Iyer’s new book, “The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama”? World Hum interviewed Pico to get the behind-the-scenes story of writing the book and the 30 years he has been following the Dali Lama.

London | Chaos and queues at Heathrow’s Terminal 5.

Airlines | Los Angeles Times Staff Writer Peter Pae tells us that Richard Branson’s new V Australia will deliver round-trip fares between Los Angeles and Sydney for $250 less than competitors’ fares. If you’re booking, don’t forget about the $777 deal.
Meanwhile, there’s news on the street that Delta is raising fees for travelers with pets or who book on the phone. Note that frequent fliers will be handed a $25 “handling fee” for booking an award ticket over the phone when the trip involves a segment on another airline. This is in addition to the phone reservation fee that has just gone up from $20 to $25. Do the math and that’s $50 for booking an award ticket over the phone.

Local theme parks | Congrats to Michael Gardner who was crowned the Guitar Hero champ at Magic Mountain.

— Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel Deal Blogger
[Image: World Hum]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2, 2008 at 7:49 am by Jen Leo and is filed under Good Morning, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.