Tracking Flight Changes as United Shuffles Schedule

Think you know your flight number and time? Think again.

United Airlines is in the process of rebooking 5 million customers on different flights in advance of a new schedule starting Oct. 31 that reduces departures 31% overall from pre-Sept. 11 levels. The impact on LAX, where United is the largest operator, is even larger, about a 40% reduction in flights.

Flights to be cut are generally those taking off before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m., spokesman Joe Hopkins at the airline’s Chicago headquarters said last week. He said refunds would be offered in some cases.

“Our policy is that if there are major changes--if a flight time changes by more than 90 minutes or a nonstop changes into a one-stop or change of planes--the customer is eligible for a refund, if they want one,” he said.

United began contacting travel agents about the changes around Oct. 11. Hopkins said the airline has also been contacting customers who booked directly. As for those who bought from consolidators or Internet discounters, he said he didn’t know the procedure, “but the goal is to contact everyone.”

In many cases the changes are minor, travel agents said. But cutting back on so-called red-eye flights “is going to be really tough” on some West Coast fliers who prefer late-night flying to the East Coast, said agent Susan Dushane of Travel by Greta in Northridge. Keeping in touch with your agent, if you have one, is important, she agreed. She cited the case of two clients returning home from a Lisbon trip whose New York-to-L.A. flight (in this case, on American Airlines) was canceled while they were away. She had no way to notify them because she didn’t have their Lisbon contacts. “They have no way to get home,” she said.

For information on flight changes, contact United at (800) 241-6522 or visit https://www.ual.com, which posts flight updates. Members of United’s Mileage Plus frequent-flier club can also register at the site to be paged with updates.

In another cutback announced last week, Delta Air Lines said it would end its six-times-per-week nonstop LAX-Tokyo service and its daily nonstop between LAX and Nagoya, Japan, on Dec. 1. It had flown the Tokyo route since 1991 and the Nagoya route since April.

Seeing San Diego by Land and Sea

Seeing San Diego by land and sea has proved popular: A new tour that combines both has drawn about 4,000 customers since it began in August, the operator says.

The Sea and Land Adventures tour, or SEAL, uses two amphibious vehicles that hold about 50 people each. On 90-minute tours, they navigate streets and take dips in San Diego and Mission bays, with visits and views of the Gaslamp Quarter, Old Town, Coronado Island, Point Loma and the city’s skyline.

(Unlike the World War II-era amphibious military tour vehicle that sank in Arkansas in May 1999, killing 11, the SEAL boats are modern vessels specially built for tours, with the hull divided into small, watertight compartments, says the operator, Old Town Trolley Tours.)

The trips cost $24 per adult and $12 for children 4 to 12; free under 4. They leave hourly starting at 10:15 a.m. every day from Seaport Village at Kettner Boulevard and Harbor Drive downtown. No reservations are needed; (619) 298-8687, https://www.historictours.com.

Concorde Supersonic Jets Returning to the Skies

Fifteen months after Concorde supersonic jets were grounded because of a crash that killed 113 near Paris, Air France and British Airways are returning them to service. The airlines say they have installed more durable tires and fuel tank liners to avoid a repeat of the disaster.

Starting Nov. 7, British Airways will run one round trip six days a week between London’s Heathrow and New York’s JFK airports, plus a Saturday winter seasonal flight starting Dec. 1 between Heathrow and Barbados. The airline was running two daily flights until shortly after the crash of the Air France Concorde in July 2000. Introductory round-trip fares, which must be bought by midnight Monday, for flights Nov. 9 to Jan. 31, are $4,999 per person. Thereafter, round trips are priced at $12,652, a spokesman said.

Starting Nov. 7, Air France will begin five-times-per-week service (Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays) between Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and JFK. It formerly ran daily service. Round-trip fares are $10,404, a spokesman said.

Cruises Set Sail for Discounts in Downturn

It’s a good time to get a bargain on a cruise. Cruise lines, which depend on planes to deliver customers to departure ports, have been heavily affected by the recent downturn in air travel.

Among the best deals are Eastern Caribbean sailings from Holland America Line, the cheapest the line has offered in at least five years, said spokesman Erik Elvejord. As of last week, five-day sailings from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with stops in the Bahamas and Key West, Fla., were priced starting at $299 per person, double occupancy--or less than $60 per person per day. The price applies to the Nov. 4, Nov. 25 and Dec. 16 departures only, subject to availability. Bookings must be made by Nov. 16.

Among other cruise lines advertising deals last week was Princess Cruises, offering a seven-day itinerary from Los Angeles to Mexico, with calls in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas, from $499 per person, double occupancy. (Be sure to read the fine print on such advertisements. The $499 price was good only for the Jan. 5 departure, in the traditionally slow post-holiday period.)

Zagat Changes Menu on New York City Guide

Zagat Survey released its 2002 guide to New York City restaurants last week with last-minute changes caused by the Sept. 11 attacks, which occurred less than two weeks before the book was delivered to the printer.

About 20 restaurants are listed as “temporarily closed” in the guide, which features diners’ ratings of restaurants, said co-publisher Tim Zagat, who is also chairman of New York City & Co., the private-public partnership that promotes tourism. Other restaurants, of course, are missing entirely from the guide, including the landmark Windows on the World, on the 107th floor of 1 World Trade Center, which was destroyed.

Overall, more than 30 restaurants and food outlets were either destroyed or made inaccessible to customers as a result of the attacks, according to a separate report that Zagat prepared.

Many upscale restaurants south of Canal Street, including Aureole and Chanterelle, where tabs are typically $60 per person and up, were offering $20 lunches as part of a hastily scheduled “Restaurant Week” through today.

But not everyone is offering bargains. Although restaurants downtown, especially in tourist-dependent Chinatown and Little Italy, have lost up to 50% of their business, some on the Upper East and West sides and in the suburbs are doing better as locals dine closer to home, Zagat said.

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Compiled by Jane Engle