SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines Commences Flights To Seattle

Singapore Airlines is going ahead with non-stop services to the US with the departure of flight SQ28 to Seattle this morning.

The flight departed Changi International Airport earlier and is scheduled to arrive at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport today, at 09:05 local time.

Customers departing from Singapore received an exclusive goodie bag containing items such as a commemorative certificate, SIA batik pen and passport cover as well as a mini notepad featuring the Seattle skyline.

Upon arrival in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the aircraft will be receiving a water cannon salute.

Seattle is the fourth US destination after Los Angeles, New York (Newark) and San Francisco to be served non-stop from Singapore.

The Seattle flights will initially be operated three times weekly before increasing to four times weekly in October, bringing the total number of weekly non-stop Singapore-US services to 31.

When combined with SIA’s existing one-stop services to Houston, Los Angeles, New York (JFK) and San Francisco, total US service frequency will increase to 57 per week.

The new Seattle services will further strengthen the Singapore hub by providing customers faster and more convenient connectivity from key markets such as south-east Asia, south Asia and Australasia to North America.


Tourism Observer

USA: Delta Air Lines Staff Allege Sexual Harassment And Fired For Speaking Korean

Four former Delta employees who were allegedly told by a manager not to speak Korean because it made other workers feel uncomfortable are accusing the airline in a lawsuit of discrimination after they were fired last year.

The employees, Ji-Won Kim, Lilian Park, Jean Yi and Jongjin An were Delta customer service agents at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport who say they were reprimanded for speaking Korean, even though they were assigned to work flights to South Korea, according to their suit.

Many other employees frequently spoke to each other in their native languages during their shifts and were not admonished or coached not to do so, read the suit, which was filed May 31.

The women started speaking publicly about the case this week.

The complaint says the women were told they were being fired in May 2017 for allegedly offering unauthorized upgrades to customers, which the women said was standard practice.

The lawsuit, initially filed in state court in Seattle but moved to federal court on Delta's request, also claimed the women were sexually harassed by another customer service agent and were retaliated against after complaining about it.

The suit also said the harassment continued after two of the women reported it to Delta leadership.

The women's lawyer, Jennifer T. Song, said her clients want a recognition that they were wrongly terminated, as well as unspecified damages for economic and emotional distress and back pay.

Delta, through a spokesperson, said that while it does not tolerate workplace discrimination or harassment of any kind, it had looked into the women's allegations and found no violations.

We take allegations of workplace harassment and discrimination very seriously, and our investigations into allegations made by these former employees were found to be without merit, the airline said in an email.

These former employees were unfortunately but appropriately terminated because the company determined they violated ticketing and fare rules.

Delta is confident that these claims will ultimately be determined to be without merit.

The lawsuit also claimed that the four women, all of whom were born in Korea and immigrated to the U.S. were never offered additional pay to make announcements in Korean, while Delta employees of other national origins who spoke other languages received this benefit.


Tourism Observer

USA: Alaska Airlines Begins Seattle -Pittsburgh Service, Stops Some Destinations. Other Airlines Follow.

Alaska Airlines has announced that it will begin nonstop, daily service between Seattle and Pittsburgh.

This new service is currently the only nonstop flight offered from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT).

The new route effectively links Seattle to the thriving business community in Pittsburgh, which continues to grow as top technology companies, entrepreneurs and start-ups look to establish a presence in the city.

Nonstop service to Seattle is a critical link for the Pittsburgh region and is the latest addition to the growth at Pittsburgh International Airport during the past three years.

We are thrilled to welcome Alaska Airlines, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said.

Increasing service to the West Coast has been a top priority and the connections between our two regions, including our vibrant tech growth, will fuel the success of this flight.”

Alaska Airlines has dropped more California routes.

In route news, Alaska Airlines drops California routes, but adds one from Seattle; JetBlue begins a new California transcon; United and American expand to Mexico; Southwest plans new weekly flights next spring; Lufthansa offers more air-rail connections at Frankfurt; Primera Air, LOT and

WOW enter new transatlantic markets; and Avianca adds U.S. frequencies.

In the latest adjustments to its network, Alaska Airlines will discontinue its twice-daily 737-800 flights between Los Angeles and Mexico City on November 6.

That marks the end of MEX service for Alaska, which earlier this year discontinued service to the Mexican capital from both San Francisco and San Diego.

Alaska also plans to discontinue a pair of regional routes on January 6: daily flights from San Francisco and Orange County to Albuquerque, both operated by SkyWest with Embraer 175s.

Meanwhile, Alaska added a new domestic spoke from its Seattle hub this week, launching daily year-round 737 service to Pittsburgh – the only non-stops in the market.

The eastbound segment leaves SEA at 8 a.m. and the return sets out from Pittsburgh at 5 p.m.

Another new West Coast route that started this week is JetBlue's daily A320 service between Ontario, California and its New York JFK hub –the tenth California city served by the airline. The eastbound leg is a red-eye.

While Alaska cuts back on its Mexico presence, United and American are expanding there.

On October 28, United will begin daily flights from Chicago O'Hare to Leon/Guanajuato, operated by SkyWest with an E175.

And on January 9, United will resume twice-weekly service to Mazatlan from Houston Bush Intercontinental, flown by Mesa Airlines with an E175.

American, meanwhile, will operate new seasonal daily service from its Charlotte hub to Guadalajara from January 6 through April 1 – a route where Mexican low-cost carrier Volaris is starting service in November.

Southwest has updated its schedule for spring 2019. On March 9, it will begin new or returning weekly seasonal service on Saturdays from St. Louis to Montego Bay, Jamaica and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; from Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Raleigh-Durham and San Antonio to Cancun; and from Baltimore/Washington to Cabo San Lucas.

On the same date, Southwest will kick off seasonal Saturday service from Cleveland to Tampa and from Cincinnati to Orlando, and on March 10 it will start weekly Sunday flights from Dallas to West Palm Beach, Florida and to Harlingen, Texas; and from Houston to Lubbock.

No word yet on Southwest's Hawaii intentions, but an announcement is expected soon. In the meantime, fare wars keep springing up, like this sale we wrote about this week.

Lufthansa has announced plans for a big expansion of its air/rail connecting service within Germany, in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn, the national rail network.

The airline's Express Rail program currently offers single-ticketing connections through Frankfurt Airport's on-site rail station to Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Wurzburg.

This month, Express Rail will add service via Frankfurt to Gottingen, Kassel, Erfurt and Aachen, followed by Freiburg and Ulm in December.

By next summer, Lufthansa Express Rail will add service from Frankfurt to Essen, Bochum, Duisburg, Wuppertal, Oberhausen and Bonn.

European low-cost carrier Primera Air, which most recently announced plans to start flying to Brussels from three U.S. cities, is continuing its rapid transatlantic expansion.

Primera is now targeting Germany, with plans to begin daily flights from New York JFK to Berlin on June 7 of next year, followed by four weekly flights from Boston to Berlin effective June 9.

The carrier will add daily Frankfurt-JFK service June 16 and four weekly Frankfurt-Boston flights as of June 21. All the new flights will use 737 MAX 9s. Primera also flies from the U.S. to London Stanstead and Paris CDG.

In other transatlantic news, LOT Polish Airlines plans to launch new U.S. service between Warsaw and Miami next June, using a 787-8 to fly the route four days a week.

Iceland's WOW Air will jump into the Reykjavik-Orlando market December 19, operating three weekly flights with an A321.

To Latin America, meanwhile, Avianca filed plans to add a fourth daily frequency between Miami and Bogota effective October 28, and a third daily New York JFK-Bogota flight beginning December 1.


Tourism Observer

USA: American Airlines Plane's Nose Damaged After Bird Strike

An American Airlines aircraft bound for Dallas, Texas, turned back mid-flight after bing struck by a bird, leaving a large dent in the plane's nose.

The plane, carrying 150 passengerss, took off from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Wednesday (local time), and landed safely back there a short time later, said officials.

A photo of the damaged aircraft showed the large indentation nearly centred on the plane's nose.

Looks like we hit some birds after takeoff. We're gonna need to go back and have the airplane looked at,' the pilot said over the radio to air traffic controllers, according to ABC News.

The airline apologised to passengers, and spokesman Ross Feinstein said a maintenance crew was evaluating the aircraft.

A spokesman for the Port of Seattle, which operates the airport, said it was unclear what type of bird it was, but bird samples were being sent to the Smithsonian Institute for analysis.

Bird strike is not that uncommon. A wayward bird ripped a large hole in the underbody of an Air Nimibia plane as it coming to land at Nambia's capital Windhoek in January. The plane landed safely, and was sent to South Africa for repair.

In March an EgyptAir plane suffered extensive damage after hitting a bird as it came into land at Heathrow. There were more than 70 passengers aboard the flight from Cairo, which managed to land safely despite the damage.

In May 2015, a bird, or flock of birds, did some serious damage to the nose of a Turkish Airlines plane on a domestic flight to Nevsehir. The Jet, carrying 125 passengers, landed safely and there were no reported injuries.

Delta To Add Seattle/Tacoma – Edmonton Flight

Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) continues to build up its Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) hub. The carrier will add daily Delta Connection Bombardier CRJ700 jet service from SEA to Edmonton, Alberta per Airline Route.