Dallas Love Field is getting ready for its big day.
For years, the Wright Amendment placed tight restrictions on the flight services allowed to operate from Love Field. Most of those rules will be lifted on October 13 and that means lots of new direct flights and added service from carriers such as Southwest Airlines and Virgin America – and lots more passengers having the opportunity to travel through the new and improved terminal, which is filled with some really great art.
Here are some snaps from my pre-party tour of Love Field.
VIrgin America will operate two of the 20 gates at Love Field beginning on October 13
There’s still some drama over whether or not Delta Air Lines will get a space to operate at Love Field, but right now Southwest Airlines controls 16 of airport’s 20 gates, United has two gates and, starting October 13, Virgin America will have two gates.
The Love Field Art Program is already in place, with more than a dozen new and renewed works.
World Map – 1959 -by Luighi “Tony” Flabiano. courtesy Love Field & Office of Cultural Affairs
A detail from Sky – by Brower Hatcher & Marly Rogers. One of the art pieces at Love Field.
The play area at Love Field will have floating clouds and more play structures by October 13.
A Nursing Room is open – and waiting for some finishing touches as well.
A third branch is scheduled to open this spring in the H/K Corridor, near the American Airlines Admirals Club.
Services on the menu include manicures, pedicures, massages and more.
And, if you’re flying on Virgin America out of San Francisco between March 4- June 30, you can get free ice-cream – on the ground.
As part of a roll-out for the new menu for first-class passengers on the airline’s long-haul business flights between San Francisco and Los Angeles to Newark, New York, Boston and Washington National Airport, the airline is offering travelers in any cabin a free scoop of Humphry Slocombe’s ice cream.
The San Francisco-based ice-cream maker has whipped up three ice cream flavors for Virgin American – Butter By Moodlight, Red-Hot Banana and Coconut Blond Ambition – and Virgin America is inviting the public to vote via Twitter on which should be the airline’s signature flavor served on board.
Free tastings took place at San Francisco International Airport on Feb. 20, but from March 4 – June 30, anyone showing a Virgin America boarding pass at either of the Humphry Slocombe’s two San Francisco locations (The Ferry Building & Mission) can get a free scoop.
In addition to the new first-class menu, Virgin America is also updating its First Class service settings with hot towel and linen table service available on all flights.
In a move to make flying a bit more friendly—and to raise revenues—airlines are bringing social media-style giving to the skies.
This week Southwest Airlines introduced a Facebook option that enables people to pool funds to buy a Southwest gift card for a friend or family member.
“It allows a group to come together to give a gift as a thank you or as congratulations for a wedding, a birthday or a major life milestone,” said Southwest spokesman Dan Landson.
In April, Virgin America introduced an in-flight, seat-to-seat drink and snack delivery program that Virgin Group founder Richard Branson described as a way passengers might increase their chances of “deplaning with a plus one.”
And earlier this month social media-savvy KLM introduced an option that expands on the Dutch airline popular program of surprising its passengers with personalized gifts.
The new KLM Wannagives lets people prepurchase gifts—from chocolate and perfume to jewelry or a Delft Blue singing, floating egg-timer—that are delivered by crew members to a passenger during a flight.
“The strength of Wannagives lies not in the fact that we give something extra to our customers, but that we enable people to give each other something special,” KLM’s social business manager Lonneke Verbiezen wrote in a blog post introducing the program.
It’s also a way for the airline and other companies to increase retail sales.
“There’s always a commercial component to these efforts, as there should be. This is business,” said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst with Hudson Crossing.
“Airlines are becoming much more entrepreneurial and innovative when it comes to securing additional revenues from passengers, be it via preordering duty free or investing in digital platforms for on-board retail,” said Raymond Kollau of Airlinetrends.com. “KLM’s Wannagives is a good example of airlines’ newly found retailing mind-set.”
Items made available as Wannagives are drawn from KLM’s current online shop, with a few products added. Since the program’s Dec. 9 rollout, Champagne with a crystal glass and Godiva chocolates are the most ordered items, said KLM spokesman Koen van Zijl.
“We think the service is a win-win for both our passengers and for the company,” van Zijl said. “We were asked often if it is possible to surprise a passenger on board, and Wannagives now makes this happen. And sure, we aim to increase in-flight sales.”
Looking forward to 2014, industry experts expect the social gifting trend to continue.
“In the digital world we live in, everyone craves more personal connection,” said Brian Erke, CEO and co-founder of social gifting site Gratafy. “This new adventure in simple yet personal gifting offers a sense of camaraderie and the ability to be there for someone, even when you can’t actually be there.”(M
(My story about in-flight social gifting first appeared on CNBC Road Warrior)
