$1 drinks are not fliers’ cup of tea

SODAS and juice are again free aboard American Eagle, the regional sister carrier of American Airlines.

On its routes within California, American Eagle in January tested out charging $1 per soda or juice, $1 for a 2-ounce bag of cashews and $5 for pillow-and-blanket sets that passengers could take home.

Coffee and water continued to be free.

“We got a strong reaction from customers saying they wanted sodas to be complimentary,” said Dave Jackson, American Eagle spokesman in Dallas-Fort Worth. So the charge was dropped.

Selling cashews and blankets got a better reaction, he added, so the carrier is considering whether to reinstitute and expand those sales.

In other airline news:

* Southwest Airlines customers can earn credits in its frequent-flier program for flying on certain ATA flights if they book the tickets through Southwest or ATA.

Among the included ATA destinations are Hawaii and Los Angeles.

For details and information on restrictions, go to www.southwest.com or www.ata.com.

* Aloha Airlines on May 2 will begin nonstop service between John Wayne Airport in Orange County and Sacramento. Flights will run daily except Sundays to Sacramento and daily except Saturdays to Orange County.

* LAN Peru on March 22 will begin service between Los Angeles and Sao Paulo, Brazil. The flights, four times per week, will stop in Lima, Peru, but there is no change of planes.

Introductory round-trip fares, which must be booked by March 22, start at $499.

*

Nonstop bus between LAX and downtown

STARTING Wednesday, fliers can take a freeway bus that travels nonstop between LAX and downtown Los Angeles.

FlyAway buses will pick up arriving passengers at LAX terminals and deliver them to Union Station and vice versa. They will run every 30 minutes from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. and every hour from 1 .a.m. to 5 a.m.

One-way cash-only fares will be $3 for adults, $2 for children ages 2 to 12 and free for children younger than 2.

LAX officials say the trip, using carpool lanes on the 105 and 110 freeways, will take less than 45 minutes each way. By comparison, Metro buses can take 90 minutes or more. The trip on Metro Rail is about an hour, but it requires changing trains twice. (In either case, you must also hop a shuttle between LAX terminals and the local Metro station.)

For more information, visit www.lawa.org/lax.

*

Instead of a long queue, a kiosk for car rentals

TAKING a cue from the airlines, Alamo Rent A Car is installing check-in kiosks near its airport rental counters that let customers skip the line and go right to their cars.

Alamo claims the kiosks are a first in the industry.

So far they are available at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport and at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. By spring 2007, said spokesman Charles L. Pulley, they will be in more than 30 airports, including LAX.

To use the kiosks, you need a driver’s license, credit card and a car reservation. The kiosk prints out a rental agreement and directs you to the space where your reserved car is parked.

In other car-rental news: Budget Rent A Car is charging renters an extra $9.50 if they drive their vehicles fewer than 75 miles. Susan McGowan, spokeswoman for Budget’s parent company, Cendant Car Rental Group, said the charge was designed to offset costs on rentals that were returned with gas tanks two or three gallons short of full, not enough to register on the fuel gauge.

*

-- Compiled by Jane Engle