Google on time

April 1, 2007

Here's a new way to check whether your flight is late: Send a text message from your cellphone to Google.com. The search giant launched a service last week with FlightStats.com . Send a text message with airline name and domestic flight number -- like "Delta 1940" -- to the number 466453 (GOOGLE) and you get back a short message saying if the departure or arrival is on-time or how many minutes it is delayed .

Cashless Frontier
Frontier Airlines , the Denver discounter whose 49 US destinations include Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn. , is switching today to all-cashless sales of movies and drinks, with flight attendants carrying charge-card-reading personal digital assistants.

Jet Blue makes changes
JetBlue Airways Corp. , which last week began service from Westchester County Airport in White Plains, N.Y., to Orlando, tomorrow adds a second Orlando flight and service to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, Fla. Also new at JetBlue last week: European and international soccer and rugby on its 36-channel satellite television, through Setanta Sports.

Relief for passengers on beat-up American Airlines MD-80 jets could come four years sooner than originally predicted, in 2009, as American said last week it'll accelerate deliveries of 47 Boeing 737-800s. For business travelers in New York, American last week opened a midtown travel center with actual human beings who can help you buy, change, upgrade, and refund tickets during daytime hours seven days week on Lexington Avenue.

PETER J. HOWE