Airports and airlines around the country hosted celebrations on Sunday for the launch of several new routes.
Dallas-Fort Worth International celebrated the inaugural Air France flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle.
The flight will
operate up to five time a week on the Airbus A330 aircraft.
🇫🇷 Get your suitcases ready! Service to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport with @AirFrance officially begins this afternoon, providing more connecting opportunities to over 70 destinations across Europe and Africa. pic.twitter.com/KSuEzsnfJ5
The festivities for Cathay’s Pacific flight included a Lion Dance, a special cake and the ceremonial cutting of a roast pig, which is a symbol of good luck and prosperity.
Long flights can do a number on your body – and your mind.
Experts prescribe healthy eating and lots of moving around before, during and after you flight.
Now Cathay Pacific, already loved for its amenity-rich lounges at Hong Kong International Airport and elswhere, is offering passengers a tool for mind and body: a space for yoga and meditation in its Business Class lounge at The Pier.
The Sanctuary by Pure Yoga, designed in partnership with The Pure Group, is a 700 square-foot area divided into two zones – The Body Sanctuary, which is dedicated to yoga – and The Mind Sanctuary, which offers a space for meditation.
In the Body Sanctuary, travelers will find guided videos led by Pure Yoga teachers and a more secluded space for self-practice.
The space also offers an option for seated stretching, with chairs overlooking instructions on how to stretch different parts of the body. The exercises are designed to improve circulation, enhance joint mobility and relax the mind for a comfortable and restful journey.
In the Mind Sanctuary there are two types of meditation available:
Audio meditation has four cushioned pods equipped with noise-canceling headphones and iPads offering guided meditation sessions narrated by Pure Yoga’s expert teachers. Gazing meditation has comfortable cushions overlook graphics placed on the wall to facilitate Trataka yoga practice.
These practices help improve focus, memory and visualisation skills, as well as centering the mind in a state of awareness and attention.
Want to try it out? The Sanctuary by Pure Yoga is open to passengers with access to Cathay Pacific’s The Pier Business Class Lounge at Hong Kong Airport; to Diamond, Gold and Silver Marco Polo Club members; and to Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon First and Business Class passengers.
More zen in flight – and on the ground
Once in the air, Cathay Pacific offers “Travel with Yoga,” a series of inflight videos designed to help passengers ease into their journeys with meditation and yoga.
On the ground, the airline also offers its Diamond and Gold Marco Polo Club members arriving in Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific or Cathay Dragon complimentary one-day access to any Pure Fitness centre or a choice of any Pure Yoga class up to 12 times a year.
We all make mistakes. But if this spelling mistake on a Cathay Pacific plane is real and not a promotional gag, then heads are certainly going to roll.
Still, it looks like the Hong Kong-based airline is taking the giant typo in stride.
Oops this special livery won’t last long! She’s going back to the shop! (Source: HKADB) pic.twitter.com/20SRQpKXET
Cathay Pacific has had fare sales, but they’ve never had a First Class fare sale.
But they’re having one today and this one is a doozy.
The airline has teamed up with GILT to offer a trip voucher that is 75 percent off the first class round-trip fare to Hong Kong from a variety of U.S. airports – including San Francisco International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, New York John F. Kennedy International Airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Boston Logan International Airport.
That includes taxes and surcharges – AND Gilt is throwing in a $500 Gilt shopping credit.
Small print? There’s a page full of it.
You’re buying a voucher, not making a reservation, for example. So you’ll need to get your voucher and then make a booking by December 31, 2015.
And you’ll be able to apply your voucher to a limited number of First Class seats.
But if you want to do this trip – and drink champagne, eat food prepared fresh just for you from galleys equipped with rice cookers, toasters and steam ovens and then sleep in a fully-flat bed in Cathay Pacific pajamas – and visit the first class Cathay Pacific lounges at the airports at either end – the restrictions shouldn’t be insurmountable.
The sale starts today – Wednesday, November 18. So get your calendar and your credit cards and go check it out.
Curious about what iBeacons – those small Bluetooth transmitters that can ping you with information when your phone comes into range – can do for you at an airport?
At SFO Airport, Cathay Pacific and Lounge Buddy are using the technology to give guests using the airline’s Business and First Class lounge some bonus features – and a chance to win prizes.
The promotion is linked to the kick-off of Cathay Pacific’s three new weekly flights between SFO and Hong Kong.
Starting June 29 and running for 60 days, passengers with the LoungeBuddy App activated on their iPhone will instantly receive information about the day’s food and beverage menu and an overview of the lounge amenities when they enter the Cathay Pacific lounge at SFO.
They’ll also be gently urged to check in on social media and share a note on Twitter about the experience for a chance to win a daily prizes of a Cathay Pacific plush goat commemorating the Chinese Zodiac year of the goat.
Any lounge user who shares a comment on Twitter or Facebook will be entered to win the grand prize of 60,000 Asia Miles and one round-trip Premium Economy Class ticket to Hong Kong.
Cathay Pacific is well-known for its classy and creative airport lounges. The one at SFO (which opened in International Terminal A in 2011) is the carrier’s first and only branded lounge in the U.S. and features the airline’s much-talked-about Noodle Bar.
Who gets to use Cathay Pacific’s SFO lounge?
First and Business Class passengers departing on Cathay Pacific and oneworld carriers, and members of the Marco Polo Club with Silver Card status and above and oneworld Sapphire or above members.
