Airport construction alerts

• Columbia, Mo: The Columbia Regional Airport in Missouri was temporarily closed for emergency runway repairs. Officials expect the airport to reopen on April15 after the repairs are completed.   
• Los Angeles: The three interior lanes of the Terminal 3 arrivals level roadway will be closed for five months due to construction. The closure of these lanes will impact private/taxi pickup, but there is no change for passengers looking for commercial vehicle pickup such as car rental and hotel shuttles.
• New York JFK: One of the four runways at JFK has been closed for repairs and refurbishment. The closure will last through November. Airport officials say they have taken steps to minimize delays due to the closure, but travelers should be prepared for possible added disruption especially during times of irregular operations such as adverse weather.
• New York LaGuardia: Due to ongoing construction, taxi service is no longer available in front of Terminals C and D during peak travel times. Instead, taxi service has been consolidated at the west side of the airport. Passengers will need to use Port Authority-operated buses that operate on a continuous loop between the taxi area and Terminals C and D. The ride may take up to approximately 15 minutes. In addition, on April 13, pickups for remaining car services including black car, Lyft and Uber will be relocated to a centralized location on the ground level between Terminals C and D. Travelers are advised to look for way-finding signage at each terminal.

Alaska Airlines launches Coast-to-Coast double miles promotion

Members of Alaska Airlines’ loyalty program can ear double miles when flying on select nonstop flights between California and the East Coast. This promotion will last through the end of 2019, but members must register to be eligible. For more information and to register please visit www.alaskaair.com/promo/AS1905.

Delta will upgrade 767-400 cabins for enhanced service to London

Delta Air Lines revealed that it will upgrade the interiors of its 767-400 aircraft, which will then be used on flights to London Heathrow from Boston and New York. The upgraded aircraft will feature 34 new Delta One business class seats with direct-aisle access and memory foam comfort cushions. The seating area also features sliding privacy dividers to separate center seats, individually customizable ambient lighting, an 18” in-flight entertainment system monitor, special storage compartments and elevated amenities. The refurbished 767-400s will also offer 20 premium-economy seats in a dedicated cabin along with 28 Comfort+ seats and 156 coach seats. These seats will also offer memory foam comfort, seatback monitors for inflight entertainment and full-spectrum ambient lighting.

New transatlantic service launches 

• Air France now offers new nonstop service between Dallas/Fort Worth and Paris Charles de Gaulle.
• American launched new nonstop service from Phoenix to London Heathrow.
• Delta will introduce new service from Boston and New York’s JFK to London Gatwick in conjunction with its partner Virgin Atlantic.
• United will debut service from the New York area to Geneva, Munich, Naples, Prague and Stockholm.

United will move to dynamic award level pricing

United Airlines announced that it will eliminate its fixed pricing chart for MileagePlus loyalty award seats and instead adopt a dynamic pricing model. With dynamic pricing, United can now lower the cost of award seats when demand is low but can also ratchet up award seat rates during peak travel times. The new pricing system will go into effect November 15, 2019, and at that time close-in booking fees will be removed. Until then, loyalty members will still use United’s tiered system with the added benefit of some dynamically lowered fares.