Southwest and Air Tran to join forces?

by Grant Martin on

With merger and oil mania upon us, these days you can’t rule out any strange airline pairing. Just this week, Bob Fornaro, CEO of Air Tran mentioned in a conference call that they would be totally open to code-sharing and working with Southwest airlines in the future.

Does this mean that Air Tran and Southwest are up to something? As two of the largest low-cost carriers in the industry, their partnership could establish a dominant force in the domestic airline market and their complimentary routes could reinforce each other’s business. As Ray Neidl of Calyon securites is quoted in the article, “Crisis breeds strange bedfellows and the current economic malaise may be the incentive for them to do something even though they are competitive in some markets.”

Actually, from Fornaro’s verbage, it sounds like more of a cry for help than anything. I’m sure Air Tran has taken a big hit just like every other airline that has suffered in the last six months and would love a boost from Southwest’s business. Wouldn’t you want to buddy up with the only profitable carrier in the United States?

Despite Fornaro’s mewing, Southwest is being mum about the whole business and veritably shrugged off AirTran’s suggestions in this USA Today article. I suppose if you’re calling the shots you can make bedfellows with whomever you chose.

My take on JFK’s new JetBlue T5 terminal

by Jerry Guo on

I just flew JetBlue yesterday from their new “T5” terminal in New York’s JFK airport to Pittsburgh. If you missed my live tweeting (boy that’s a weird verb on paper), check it out here.

If you’re rushed on time, basically my conclusion was that this terminal is a great improvement–it’s the “space age”, consumer-friendly type of decor and approach that JetBlue has become known for. However, there are a few hiccups here and there, for instance, in having only 5 of the 20 security lines open (and this was on a Friday afternoon, one of the busiest times of the week). The lines in general were long for everything–security, the food court, all except the checkin counters because JetBlue was clever enough to put in a bajillion automated checkin machines.

One of the biggest features that the company is trying to play up, and that I agree with, is the utter selection and hipness of the food. No grimy MacDonald’s here; the burger joint I went to even had a wine selection, which was a first for me. However, the actual burger was quite dry and obviously grilled hours earlier. Plus it was something like $8 for a 7 oz “medium”. Ouch.
But don’t worry, this terminal has plenty of stuff to distract you from the pricey food. There’s just lots of little amenities that add up to a big deal. For instance, the counter you see on the left (where you can plug in your electronics or pay for Internet usage on their machines) are all over the terminal. There’s also free wireless that’s blazing fast, even though I saw hundreds of passengers on their laptops and I’m assuming busy clicking reload on JetBlue’s “live-blogging” efforts.

Then there’s just the sheer availability of seating. You won’t have to fight for a seat by the gate anymore, as the terminal is arranged in such a way that it’s a short 2-min walk to any particular gate from the central food court area. And the brilliance of this arrangement can be seen in the almost library-like atmosphere here, with plenty of super-clean tables in all sorts of manners (and plenty of seats left … have I mentioned the spaciness!?)

Overall, the place is very airy and quite reminiscent of Norman Foster’s new Terminal 3 at Beijing International Airport. Except it won’t take you 30 minutes to walk from one side to the other (not an exaggeration at all). So kudos to the architects for creating a dual sense of intimacy and space here. The only downside is the walk to the Air Train will in comparison seem like a death march. It took a whole 4-5 minutes for me. Yikes!

So the next time you fly out of JFK, try to score a seat on JetBlue. Just come a few minutes earlier to get a grip on the extra-long security lines and if you’re hungry for food / all sorts of alcoholic options. But I did overhear one JetBlue rep say that the wait should decrease in the weeks to come.

Because in these tough economic times, who couldn’t use a laugh?

by Aaron Hotfelder on

If you’ve been watching the TBS network recently– like I have, because of the baseball playoffs (and Saved by the Bell reruns)– you’ve probably noticed the ads for the upcoming Comedy Festival in Las Vegas.

The three-day festival starts on November 20, and will be held at that cozy venue called Caesar’s Palace. Thursday night’s headliners include ageless wonder Joan Rivers, bad-dancing talk show host Ellen Degeneres, and SNL alum Jim Breuer. Friday night’s show will feature the disturbing Jim Norton, the unfunny Dane Cook, and the drug-test-failing Cheech & Chong. Oh yeah, and someone called Jerry Seinfeld.

The festival’s final day will showcase 30 Rock‘s Tracy Morgan, The Daily Show‘s John Oliver, and noted insomniac Dave Attell. Also, that Seinfeld guy again.

Want tickets to this Laughapalooza (trademark!)? Trade some of your hard-earned currency for them at the Comedy Festival website. Full schedule of events here.

Daily deal – HP Mini-Note 2133 ultra portable notebook for $299

by Scott Carmichael on

My daily deal for today is for the HP Mini-Note 2133 “Netbook”. This ultra portable computer was featured in one of my reviews back in August where it got my 2 thumbs up. The version on sale today has pretty lightweight specifications, but still offers the same great screen and keyboard of the review model.

The HP Mini-Note 2133 has a 1.0GHz VIA C7 processor, 512MB of memory, a 4GB SSD drive and comes with Linux. It is priced at a very reasonable $299. There are other netbooks out there with similar specifications at the same price, but none of them come with the large high resolution screen and full size keyboard of the Mini-Note 2133.

The machine is on sale at Amazon.com, which of course means free shipping and no sale tax for many buyers.

If you really dislike Linux, and want a machine with a little more “oomph”, then check out the Mini-Note one step above the machine on sale today. It comes with a 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of ram and a 120GB harddrive for $404.

Last chance for your photo op with Sarah Palin in Brooklyn this weekend!

by Meg Massie on

Sarah Palin has already come and gone to New York City, but you can still take a picture with her at the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition if you visit by the end of this weekend.

Artist Dawn Robyn Petrlik created “Photo Op with Sarah Palin” after she saw a newspaper photograph of the vice presidential candidate posing with her daughter and a dead caribou. Now visitors to the display can suit up in a faux fur vest, grab a prop rifle, and pose with the Palins.

The piece has drawn visitors from both the left and the right. While Palin supporters happily pose with the display, many of her critics pose with their rifle pointed at her. Petrlik put a price tag of $12,500 on the piece. She says that way if it pisses someone off and they want to take it down, they can buy it from her.

“Photo Op with Sarah Palin” has been on display since September 13th, but it’s coming down this Sunday, so your opportunity for the photo op won’t last long. If you get a good shot, feel free to share it with us in the Gadling Flickr Pool.