Travel Week in Review – June 14, 2024

Renewing your expired or soon-to-expire U.S. passport just got a lot easier. The State Department reopened its online renewal portal on Wednesday, unveiling a beta program designed to speed up processing for travelers who meet certain criteria in efforts to avoid issues faced last summer. Keep in mind this isn’t a full launch so officials will only take a select number of applicants each day. Travelers can still renew by mail. To be eligible to renew online, however, travelers must be U.S. citizens and residents 25 and older who have already had a passport with 10-year validity. Read More…

Investment firm Artisan Partners on Wednesday urged Southwest Airlines “to reconstitute itself” and to “upgrade the company’s leadership,” in a letter sent to the carrier’s board of directors and included in a press release, adding “this process needs to commence immediately.” Artisan Partners clients collectively hold more than 10.8 million Southwest shares, about a 1.8 percent stake according to the letter. The company’s letter follows by two days Elliott Investment Management’s call for a new CEO and board chairman at Southwest. Elliott recently acquired about $1.9 billion worth of Southwest stock. Read More… 

About 14 months after beginning to remove content from EDIFACT channels as part of an aggressive New Distribution Capability strategy, American Airlines is returning most fare content to EDIFACT, the carrier confirmed to BTN on Wednesday. Basic Economy fares will be available only through direct or New Distribution Capability-enabled channels, as will Main Select, Main Plus and Flagship Business Plus fares, the carrier said. Read More…

Delta Air Lines will re-debut a new class of seating. Delta Premium Select will debut on flights between New York-JFK and Los Angeles this fall. Delta will offer Delta Premium Select on select JFK-LAX flights beginning in September. By the end of September, free Wi-Fi presented by T-Mobile will be available on all flights between JFK and LAX. The new seating class will also offer a greater dining experience and more legroom. The first flight between the two major cities will debut on September 10. Read More…

Despite the upcoming rollout of new refund rules, flight delays and cancellations will continue to hamper some unlucky travelers this summer. However, some airports fare better than others when it comes to getting passengers in the air and at their destination on time. Air passenger rights company AirHelp recently collected data from across the U.S. to determine which airports experienced the most and fewest flight disruptions in May. Each qualifying airport had at least 10,000 flights last month. Read More…