Southwest has sprung a 16-day sale for travel through Feb. 11. Sale fares from Logan run as low as $59-$149 each way and reservations must be made before Oct. 16.

This sale, while not offering the kinds of reductions we saw in July, is unusual for a couple of reasons. First, travel dates for these kinds of deals are typically restricted to Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, which reflect an attempt by carriers to fill seats on the slowest days for business travel. But this sale is available every day, except Fridays and Sundays.

And many sales in this time period black out days around Thanksgiving and Christmas. For this offer, seats appear to be limited but have not been taken off the table.

"Is this Southwest's best sale ever? No.,'' said Rick Seaney, CEO of Farecompare.com, an airfare comparison shopping site. "But will people pay about $40-$50 less than they would have the day before the sale? Yes.''

America's marketing kings appear to believe that we just can't get enough of cougars. Television, for instance, is chock full. Saturday Night Live has a regularly running bit called "The Cougar Den'' about a fictional talk show, hosted by a group middle-aged women on the prowl; last spring TV Land brought us the reality show "The Cougar''; and this season we get ABC's "Cougar Town,'' and CBS's "Accidentally on Purpose.''

Now, Carnival Cruises, Singles Travel Company, and Society of Single Professionals bring you the first International Cougar Cruise on Dec. 4-7, departing from San Diego and headed to Ensenada, Mexico. The voyage will take place aboard Carnival’s Fun Ship Elation, and rates begin at $125 per person, double-occupancy, plus port charges and government fees.

Besides all the regular shipboard amenities, passengers who sign up through the Single Travel Company will get invitations to a series of shipboard parties. And the guest of honor will be Miss Cougar America, Gloria Navarro, 42, of Redwood City, Calif.
Here's to you, coo, coo, ca-choo.

The Smithsonian is free every day, so in the spirit of sharing the wealth Smithsonian magazine has once again organized its annual free museum day this Saturday at hundreds of participating cultural centers around the nation. To attend, you must go to the event website, fill out some basic information -- like your name and address -- and print out an admission card, which will be good for you and a guest. Three caveats: The offer is good for Saturday only; the limit is one per household; and the card can be used just once -- so forget any plans for a day of museum-hopping.

Even with those restrictions, this is a great deal. In Massachusetts, for instance, there are more than 50 participating locations, including the MFA, Museum of Science, JFK Presidential Library and Museum, New Bedford Whaling Museum, Worcester Art Museum, and Heritage Museum and Gardens. Here's the complete list.

Let's say you're planning to do a little leaf-peeping this weekend. There are other participating museum around New England. In Little Rhody there are more than a dozen; New Hampshire has eight; Maine ;21; Vermont 17; and Connecticut 20.

Globe staff file photo of Museum of Science in Boston

First it was planes and trains and now it's automobiles, too. Avis and Budget are banning smoking in their cars, starting Oct. 1.

The car rental companies told USA Today that they will impose a cleaning fee of as much as $200 on customers who violate the rule. The firms also noted that they would forbid their own employees from smoking in the cars.

For me, this is great news. I hate getting into a rental that smells like smoke. And apparently I'm not the only one. John Barrows, a spokesman for the Avis Budget Group, the parent company, told USA Today that "the No. 1 request we get is for a smoke-free car.''

This puts Avis and Budget in front of the pack on this issue. Other major competitors either do not have an across-the-board ban or simply allow customers to request smoke-free but don't guarantee it.

Domestic airlines, buses, and Amtrak have had severe restrictions or bans on smoking since the early 1990s.

Photo by iStockphoto

Southwest Airlines says it will launch service from Boston to Denver with two daily nonstop round-trips starting Jan. 10.

The announcement marks the second addition the Dallas-based, lower-price carrier has made to its offering of destinations at Logan International Airport since it began service here Aug. 16.

Southwest has begun taking reservations for flights and is offering introductory fares from Boston to the Denver International Airport as low as $99 each way.

Airline representatives say that the speedy addition of flights is a result of the fact that Boston "continues to exceed our expectations.''

But they also note that the move is part of a push the carrier is making into the Denver market. Besides Boston, Southwest also plans to to add one daily nonstop from Denver to Spokane, Wash., and one to Reno/Tahoe.

"Denver, like Boston, is a good market for Southwest,'' said Rick Seaney, chief executive of Farecompare.com, an airfare comparison shopping site.  . "There are a lot of business customers there. They think they can go head-to-head with United,'' which is the top dog in Denver.

This summer Southwest made a $170 million bid to buy Denver-based Frontier Airlines, eventually losing out to Republic Airways. Had Southwest been successful, the deal would have combined the number two and number three carriers in Denver and left Southwest with 36 percent of passengers there, compared with about 37 percent for United, airline analyst Darryl Jenkins of The Airline Zone told a local Denver television station.

"We have been competing with Southwest in a number of cities for a number of years,'' said Robin Urbanski, a spokeswoman for United. "The key for us has been to offer competitive pricing and better service.''

"We think Denver is a vibrant market with both a number of business and leisure customers,'' said Chris Mainz, a Southwest spokesman. "It also make sense in our schedule for customers going coast to coast or anywhere east to west. And to be a player there we need a significant presence if we're to be at all successful.''

JetBlue has just launched a sale, with fares as low as $29 each way. Travel must be booked before Sept. 11; trips need to be completed by Dec. 16.; and sale fares require up to a 7-day advance purchase.

The Thanksgiving holiday period is blacked out and it will come as no surprise that "advertised fares are most often found on midweek travel dates.''

Here's a quick look at the advertised one-way prices from Logan: to Baltimore is $39; Washington Dulles $49; Charlotte, N.C. $69; and LA $109.

And the rest of the fine print can be found here.

Call this the upside of trimming flight schedules. The on-time rate for US airlines in July was the best it's been in six years.

In fact, on-time rates in the first seven months of the year have been at their highest levels in six years, owing in part to the fact that struggling carriers have been cutting flights to save money amid the recession and falling demand.

This from Bloomberg News:

The 77.6 percent on-time rate for the month compares with 75.7 percent for the same month in 2008 and was the best result for the industry since 79.7 percent in 2003, the department said in a report released in Washington.

Which airline was best? Hawaiian Airlines at 93.6 percent, followed by Alaska Air at 87.2 percent. And the worst? Delta’s Comair unit with 63.6, followed by SkyWest’s Atlantic Southeast unit at 68.3 percent and AirTran at 69.8 percent.

An interesting bit: The most frequently delayed flights were Northwest Airlines 1266 from Boston to Tampa and Northwest flight 1154 from West Palm Beach to Boston, both of which were tardy 96.77 percent of the time.

JetBlue says it will ramp up service to San Francisco in January and part of the plan involves adding a second daily flight from Logan to the City by the Bay.
The discount carrier just restarted the West Coast route in May after cutting it seven months before amid rocketing fuel prices. At the time, JetBlue said it would offer the service just seasonally, through the spring and summer. "But it has done quite well for us so we're going to keep it in year-round and add that second daily flight,'' said Sebastian White, a JetBlue spokesman.

In response to competition for business customers, Delta says it will add business-class seats that recline almost flat on flights from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco and that it has already added such seats in business class on New York-London flights.

Both United and Virgin America already offer lie-flat seats on some transcontinental routes in business class. United also has these on many international flights.

"Delta's frequent business travelers tell us that the comfort of a flat bed seat with direct aisle access is a must-have on flights to and from London, and that a true BusinessElite experience is critical when flying to and from the West Coast," Ranjan Goswami, Delta's director of customer experience, said in a press release.

Delta already offered business travelers full-flat seats on flights between Atlanta and Detroit and London-Heathrow, as well as some other international flights out of Atlanta, Delta's home base.

All things must end. Citing heavy demand, JetBlue stopped its all-you-can-fly offer nearly two days before it was set to expire.

Last Wednesday, the discount carrier launched the deal, which allowed travelers to fly virtually as often as they want to any JetBlue destination between Sept. 8 and Oct. 8 for $599. When I blogged about it last Wednesday I pointed out that that the airline said the offer would be available till Aug. 21 "or while supplies last.''

Sebastian White, a JetBlue spokesman, said that sales for the passes were brisk right from the start and the company slammed the brakes on the deal last night because "we wanted to make sure that those who had bought passes would have a good chance to be able get seats to places they want to go.''

White refused to say how many passes were sold but suggested that JetBlue may make a similar offer again sometime in the future.

And he passed along this interesting tidbit: About half of those who bought passes have started booking flights, and of that group one of the two most popular routes is Logan-JFK, which is consistent with the airline's view that Boston is an active and important market.

This is one of the most unusual promotions I've ever seen. Basically, this is the way it works: If you buy a JetBlue all-you-can-jet pass for $599 between now and Aug. 21 you can fly anywhere the airline goes virtually as often as you'd like from Sept. 8 to Oct. 8. And there are no blackout dates.

There are, however, restrictions: Flights must be booked no later than 1:59 a.m. EDT three days before the flight's scheduled departure. Tickets are nonrefundable and nontransferable. And taxes and fees for international and Puerto Rican flights are not included. The rest of the fine print is here, but given the breadth of this sale it still looks like a pretty good deal.

If you are interested, you should jump on this, as the airline points out that the passes will be available till Aug. 21 "or while supplies last,'' which suggests that it if there is heavy demand JetBlue could halt the promotion early.

With the anxiety of the ailing airline industry turned up for the fall season, Virgin America has kicked off its own late summer/fall sale, with one-way fares from Boston to either San Francisco or Los Angeles going for $119 or $139, with the higher price being for travel on Friday or Sunday and the lower for flights all other days.

The discounts, which require a minimum three-day advance purchase, are available for travel from Aug. 18 to Nov. 18, and tickets must be secured by Aug. 11.

Besides featuring a range of onboard media choices, Virgin was the first carrier to offer inflight WiFi on all flights. There is a fee involved for the service but if you can't live for even a few hours without the Net this is good news.

This move by Virgin represents just the latest in a series of sales launched by US carriers amid growing worries over the effect the recession will have on fall travel in which sales historically tend to slow after the heavier summer season.

Heightened industry concerns about the fall became apparent after Southwest leaped in with a no-holds-barred 48-hour sale earlier this month, triggering a small fare war. That sale, coming earlier and with more flexible (read aggressive) terms than autumn sales in past years, was widely viewed by analysts as a push by the industry, already struggling with sluggish sales and increasingly volative fuel prices, to fill seats.

*********************************

UPDATE: Delta also announced a systemwide fall sale, but this one focuses on leisure travel so comes with longer advance purchase times.

For domestic travel, you must buy at least 21 days in advance but no later than Aug. 14 for travel from Aug. 18-Nov. 19. Web fares on select seats are $59–$194 each-way, based on a roundtrip travel.

And internationally, tickets must be purchased no later than Aug. 3 for trips Aug. 18-Nov. 30, except Europe for which travel must end by Dec. 18. Web fares are $159–$429 each-way, based on a round-trip.

Here's the rest of the fine print.

JetBlue has just sprung a fall sale, with one-way, online fares as low as $49 from Boston. You have to book before Aug. 6, and fares require up to a 14-day advance purchase from travel between Sept. 8 and Dec. 16 -- note the Thanksgiving period is blacked out. And, for this one, you best shot at finding sale fares will be midweek.

Here's all the fine print.

Southwest Airlines, which will launch service from Logan starting Aug. 16, announced
a big 48-hour sale, with one-way fares going for as low as $30, $60, or $90 based on length of travel.
The move bucks a recent industry trend, which saw the major airlines raising ticket prices over the past couple of weeks as the beleaguered carriers once again find themselves facing volatile fuel prices.
The terms of the Southwest sale go like this: For flights up to 400 miles, you could pay as little as $30; 400-750 miles $60; and more than 750 miles $90. These fares don't include taxes and fees, and you must purchase before July 9 for travel from Sept. 9 through Nov. 18. Also you can't travel on Fridays or Sundays.
The complaints with this kind of deal tend to focus on the fact that sale fares tend to be in rather short supply. But here in Greater Boston we have an advantage because Southwest doesn't begin flying till next month, so, for the most part, there's no shortage of seats available for the fall.
I plugged in a few September and October dates for flights to the Midwest and California and found a number of openings at sale prices.
This sale could also kick off a smallish price war on competing routes, according to one airline analyst who was quoted in a Reuters story.
"While airline ticket prices have stabilized recently from their free fall, airlines are by no means out of the woods as oil prices remain volatile and demand precarious," said Rick Seaney, chief executive of FareCompare.com, in an e-mail this morning. "Later today we should see significant airfare matching activity (even for the modest 2-day purchase period on the Southwest sale) as legacy airlines will not want to be undercut."

Forewarned is forearmed. Recent reports suggest that problems for the airline industry may be near bottoming out, and with the the seasonal uptick of air travel it looks like carriers are trying to may some hay. Bloomberg, citing numbers from Farecompare.com, is reporting that the major carriers may be trying to make another move to raise fares.

American Airlines and United Airlines raised most domestic fares by as much as $20 for a round trip, the second increase in as many weeks, as they try to take advantage of peak U.S. summer travel season demand.

AMR Corp.’s American boosted prices by $10 to $20 on most U.S. routes yesterday, and UAL Corp.’s United matched the move, ticket-research firm FareCompare.com said in an e-mail. Delta Air Lines Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. led carriers in a $20 round trip increase in the second week of June.

Two successful fare increases in a month would support an International Air Transport Association report today that the slump in global airline travel may have reached a “floor” following a 9.3 percent decline in passenger traffic last month. Airlines have slashed prices to win customers in the recession.

“We may have hit bottom, but we are a long way from recovery,” IATA Chief Executive Officer Giovanni Bisignani said in a statement. “This crisis is the worst we have ever seen.”

The Clear registered traveler program, which promised to speed fliers through airport security lines, was shuttered last night.
Clear, which began about four years ago, had enrolled more than 250,000 travelers who paid nearly $200 a year and operated at 18 airports, including Atlanta, Denver, San Francisco and Washington Dulles. At Logan, the program was offered only through Delta Airlines in Terminal A.
Users of the Clear system received high-tech ID cards to verify their fingerprints or iris images at designated security kiosks. Clear faced criticism because TSA decided that registered travelers had to go through the same security screening as everyone else.
A statement on the website of Verified Identity Pass, which runs the Clear program, said that the firm "had been unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations."
The note also said that the firm would keep member information secure until it was able to delete it and that "at the present time, because of its financial condition, Verified Identity Pass, Inc. cannot issue refunds.''
Clear was started by Court TV founder Steven Brill, who told USA Today that he had left the company in March to start Journalism Online LLC, a venture to help publications collect revenue for online content.

Bloomberg News photo

The discount carrier has started twice daily nonstop flights to Los Angeles International and is offering one-way sale fares as low as $109. To get the special fares you must book before June 27 and travel between Sept. 8 and Nov. 11. JetBlue announced plans to launch the service in February after pulling back on LAX expansion in May of last year, citing the high cost of fuel and other start-up expenses. And starting tomorrow JetBlue will begin its previously announced nonstop service to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. To mark the occasion, Boston's favorite Santo Domingan, Red Sox star David Ortiz, will be at Logan to greet passengers boarding the first flight.

“What’s that cool hotel you were telling me about in Portland?” I asked a buddy.

He couldn’t remember. Or I was asking the wrong buddy.

I typed ‘portland oregon hip hotel’ into Google and there it was – the Ace Hotel.

My reasons for loving it? Along with the high, ceilings and a clean modern-meets-old-school-cool design, there’s a Stumptown Coffee connected to the lobby. There’s also a snack tray in every room with the beautifully-labeled Lurisia fizzy water and next to it, Dutch stroopwaffels – my favorite cookie to have with coffee. I love the idea that, instead of throwing some Lay’s and Kit Kat bars in there, somebody put the effort into sourcing some really good stuff.

Downside? The secret’s out. Canadian families in North Face Jackets are mixing with the dressed-in-black (and talking loudly about their lives as composers and art directors) crowd. Sitting at the big lobby table the morning I’m there is a bossy chump who looks like an extra from “The Matrix” and his doomed, sweet-as-gold girlfriend. There’s also a grumpy kid who kicked a chair at me when I asked if anyone was sitting there.

“It’s a free country,” he added.

Until the coffee kicked in, I had fantasies of whapping them all with a rolled-up newspaper.

Ace Hotel Portland
1022 SW Stark St
Portland, OR 97205
P: 503-228-2277
F: 503-228-2297
www.acehotel.com/portland

**********************

Globe travel correspondent Joe Ray writes his own blog, Eating The Motherland and contributes to the English language version of Simon Says! the French food and lifestyle blog run by French food critic Francois Simon.

Photo of Stumptown Coffee by Joe Ray for The Boston Globe

Southwest Airlines, which has largely refrained from engaging in the airline extra-fee feeding frenzy, has decided to add a levy for children flying alone, double charges for third checked bags, and allow pets in the cabin for $75 each way.
Southwest, which prides itself on its "no hidden fee'' policy, will add a $50 round-trip service charge for children ages 5 through 11 flying alone, according to a report by Bloomberg News. The levy will apply to fares bought after June 1 for flights starting June 17. Most of the major carriers, including Delta, American, and US Airways, charge $100 each way.
Southwest, which lets travelers check two bags for free, will raise the fee to $50 for a third checked bag and for luggage weighing 51 pounds to 70 pounds. The changes take effect June 17.
Among the major carriers only Southwest and JetBlue don’t charge for a first checked bag, and JetBlue charges for second and subsequent bags.

JetBlue started the week off with two big announcements. First it launched an online "300,000 seat Summer Sale" with one-way airfares as low as $29 to $129 for destinations across the nation and the Caribbean. Much of the fine print will be familiar: You must book before Friday for travel between June 2 and Sept. 9 and all travel must take place on a Tuesday or Wednesday. And fares require up to a 10-day advance purchase.
The discount carrier also said that it was extending its refund program for travelers who get laid off after buying tickets. The program, which JetBlue says has been welcomed by customers, was originally supposed to run only through June.

From May 21 to Sept. 27, 2009, Kimpton is offering a special PRIDE rate code to members of the LGBT community to receive a complimentary weekend night when they book two nights at the best available rate. Plus, Kimpton is including a $50 dining credit for use at participating restaurants adjacent to Kimpton hotels.
“Kimpton is proud to be supportive of the LGBT community,” said Alan Baer, senior vice president of human resources and co-chair of the Kimpton Gay & Lesbian Employee Network. “As a company we are very involved in the communities we live in and contribute to dozens of LGBT organizations.”
The Summer of Pride offer is available in 20 cities including: Alexandria, Arlington, Boston, Cambridge, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Portland, San Diego, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Seattle, Scottsdale, Vancouver, Vero Beach, and Washington, D.C.
Use the rate code PRIDE when booking. Some restrictions apply, based on availability. To book visit here or call 1-800-KIMPTON.

The wireless Internet battle in the sky is quickly escalating to a dogfight.
AirTran Airways said yesterday morning that it plans to offer in-flight, wireless, Internet access on all 136 of its aircraft by midsummer. Virgin America currently has the service on 24 of its 28 planes, and is on schedule have the rest ready to go by Memorial Day.
On Monday, Delta Air Lines, which became the world’s largest carrier after its merger last year with Northwest Airlines, announced that it has WiFi on 139 planes, or about half of its mainline domestic fleet, and will have the rest finished by September. The carrier also expects to complete outfitting all 200 jets in Northwest’s domestic fleet next year.
And American, which has already equipped all its transcontinental aircraft, says it will have a total of 165 planes WiFi-ready by the end of 2009, with a goal of having 318, or nearly half its fleet, finished over the next few years.
Facing tough competition, the nation's airlines are viewing WiFi, which they once saw as merely a desirable amenity, increasingly as a necessary feature.
“Going online at 35,000 feet isn't a ‘nice to have,’ ’’ said Henry H. Harteveldt, principal airline analyst for Forrester Research Inc. “In today's tough business climate, in-flight Wi-Fi is as essential as the beverage cart. Business people need to stay in touch with their clients and colleagues, as well as stay on top of the volatile business environment. Leisure travelers appreciate WiFi in-flight because they can stay in touch with family and friends, plan their journeys, and entertain themselves.’’
While many carriers are aggressively adopting WiFi, others are at the very least kicking the tires. Southwest Airlines, which carries more passengers than any other US airline, is testing the service on four planes and is looking at the prospects for expansion. JetBlue hopes to have 20 planes outfitted this year for a stripped-down service that would allow e-mail and instant-messaging.
For the most part, all the services work the same. Passengers pay a fee, generally about $8 to $13 depending on the length of the flight, and the service is supplied by a contractor, the largest being Aircell LLC of Itasca, Ill., under its Gogo Inflight Internet brand.
The airlines, which have been garnering increasing amounts of revenue from the assorted fees they’ve launched in the past couple years, expect the service will be not just popular but profitable.
“On a coast-to-coast weekday flight, airlines tell me that it's not uncommon to sometimes have two dozen or more passengers online simultaneously,’’ Harteveldt said. “That could turn into a nice revenue stream long-term for airlines as the product becomes more widely available and more passengers begin using it.’’
But analysts say that the service also eventually could yield significant savings as it may let airlines remove their in-flight entertainment systems, leaving passengers to access the many media options available online. Getting rid of the systems would reduce the weight of planes, making them more fuel efficient, and free the carriers from having to pay for licensing entertainment content.

Good morning, travelers.
For the first time, American plans to let frequent fliers use their miles to book one-way flights for half the miles of a round-trip. The carrier will also let customers redeem miles for first-class seats one way and use fewer miles for a coach seat on the return, according to the Associated Press.

Officials at American, which developed the first frequent-flier program nearly three decades ago, plan to announce the changes Monday and put them into effect shortly.
They say American is the first major US airline to offer a one-way award ticket at half miles. It's hard to know how many people would use miles for a one-way trip -- parents driving a child to college and flying home might -- and American officials didn't offer any estimates.

Marriott is offering active, reserve, and military personnel a deal at 26 Marriott golf courses across the country. With Fairway Furloughs, members of the armed forces with a valid military ID card get discounted green fees/carts, ranging from $29-$69 after 3 p.m. any day of the week, year round. Tee times can be made up to three days in advance.

"In this country, we have hundreds of thousands of active, reserve, and retired military personnel who play golf, and we can't think of a better way to reward their unmatched dedication,'' said Bill Nault, vice president, Marriott Golf.

The complete list of participating courses includes: Camelback Golf Club, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Desert Springs Golf Resort, Palm Desert, Calif.; Doral Golf Resort & Spa, Miami, Fla.; Grande Pines Golf Club, Orlando, Fla.; Grande Vista Golf Club, Orlando, Fla.; Hawk's Landing Golf Club, Orlando, Fla.; Renaissance Vinoy Resort, St. Petersburg, Fla.; Shadow Ridge Golf Club, Palm Desert, Calif.; Starr Pass Golf Club, Tucson, Ariz.; The Rookery at Marco, Naples, Fla.; Wildfire Golf Club, Phoenix, Ariz.; Cattails Golf Club, Kingsport, Tenn.; Griffin Gate Golf Club, Lexington, Ky.; Kauai Lagoons Golf Club, Lihue, Hawaii; Stone Mountain Golf Club, Stone Mountain, Ga.; Crane's Landing Golf Club, Lincolnshire, Ill.; Westfields Golf Club, Clifton, Va.; and Willow Crest Golf Club, Oak Brook, Ill.

For more information on the program, visit here.

This morning the government for the first time is going to open the books on where and when airplanes have collided with birds over the past 19 years. This has, of course, become a big issue after a US Airways jet hit a flock of Canada geese in January, forcing it to ditch into the Hudson River.
All of which brings us to this interesting video put together by Rosemarie Lennon of Howcast.com. For those who prefer to read the instructions -- or perhaps print them out to stuff into your carry-on -- they are available here.

Thanks to This Just In for pointing us to this.