Skift Business Traveler: Recovering from the Storm

What to Know Now

Three days down, one to go, which means that if you’re at the Consumer Electronics Show, it’s not too late to check out American Airlines’s new 777-300 Business Class seats. Gogo is also around and has announced that in-flight WiFi is now available in Canada. Check out a great roundup of all things CES at The Verge, while CNET and Engadget have great angles as well.

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Top Story

There’s nothing like a deep freeze to drive us all a little stir crazy and inspire some wanderlust-fueled Google searches. USA Today kindly put together a list of 10 places in the U.S. to escape the cold (New Orleans is always at the top of my list), or perhaps this winter survival guide can help us all better plan our escapes.

Social Quote of the Day

 LaGuardia ranked worst airport in US=unacceptable. Let’s finally build the 21st century airports #NYS deserves

— @NYGovCuomo, NY Governor Cuomo on the state of the New York Airports

Airlines

Boeing’s 2013 Profits Soar Despite Four-Month Dreamliner Grounding: Boeing Co. showed in 2013 that having burning batteries aboard its most-advanced aircraft wasn’t necessarily bad for business. Read more at Skift

American Airlines’ Inaugural Airbus A321 Flight from Los Angeles to New York JFK:  Cross-county flights on American’s new Airbus A321 began on Tuesday. Highlights of the new plane include fully lie-flat seats in First and Business and personal in-seat entertainment systems, universal AC power ports and USB ports in all seats. Read more at View from the Wing

Delta Plans to Spend $770 Million on Updated Plane Interiors: Delta Air Lines Inc. plans to spend more than $770 million to refresh interiors on its planes through 2016, part of a broader effort by Delta and its rivals to attract passengers by offering more amenities. Read more at Skift

American Airlines and US Airways Begin to Share Lounges and Miles: American Airlines and US Airways took some of their first merger-integration steps, offering several reciprocal benefits, including miles earning and redemption and airport lounge access. Read more at Skift

Airports

Opening of Berlin’s New Airport Will Be Delayed Another Year, Says Mayor: The opening of Berlin’s long-delayed new airport won’t happen in 2014, according to the mayor, the latest setback for Germany’s most prestigious public project which is now running at least 2½ years behind schedule. Read more at Skift

Moscow Airports Ban Carry-on Liquids Before Olympic Games: Moscow’s three international airports announced a flat ban on all carry-on liquids — including medicines — as part of a mass security clampdown ahead of next month’s Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. Read more at Yahoo! Sports

New York Governor Proposes Taking Control of JFK and La Guardia Airport Redevelopment:  New York State proposes to take over the redevelopment of John F. Kennedy and La Guardia Airport from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Governor Andrew Cuomo said in his annual State of State speech today. Read more at Skift

Tech

How Airlines Are Using Social Media to Deal With This Week’s Weather: You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, especially when it’s blowing brutally off of Lake Michigan or the Long Island Sound. And this week is turning out to be brutal if you’re trying to run an airline or use one to get from one place to another in the U.S. and Canada. Read more at Skift

T-Mobile Will Cover Switching Fees: On Wednesday afternoon from CES, T-Mobile announced plans to build on that success by stealing more customers from incumbents AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint with a new plan: cover early termination fees for switchers. Read more at Forbes

Channel Tunnel Gets Mobile Services From England To France: The 30 miles of the Channel tunnel connecting England to France have until now offered a welcome pause from the trilling of mobile phones. Not any more. From this spring, Eurotunnel passengers will be able to tell callers “I’m on Le Shuttle” from 100 metres below sea level. Read more at Skift

Gogo In-Flight WiFi Now Available in Canada: Gogo has announced that its network is live over Canada and should be available on Gogo’s other partners as well including Air Tran, Alaska, American, Delta, United, US Airways and Virgin America. Read more at The Points Guy

Hotels

Marriott Tries to Reinvent the Meeting Planning Process with New Website: Marriott Hotels is launching Meetings Imagined, a concept that aims to reinvent how meetings are planned, making them more visual, social and purposeful. An online platform provides expert tips, the latest meeting trends, and hundreds of images designed to spark creativity. Read more at Skift

Send a Text, Get a Towel: Hotels Try New Concierge Concept: At some Loews and Four Seasons hotels, you don’t have to pick up a phone to ask for towels, a bottle of wine or even a bowl for your dog’s meal. All you have to do is send a text. Read more at USA Today

Marriott Opens New York City’s Tallest Hotel with Two Brands in One Building: Marriott International Inc., the owner of brands including Ritz-Carlton and Renaissance Hotels, is opening the tallest U.S. hotel building in New York as tourism in the city reaches a record. Read more at Skift

Your Turn

Veterans of the Northwest Airlines era may have fond memories of the DC-9, the once-workhorse of a proud legacy carrier. The DC-9 was a smaller, mid-range jet not unlike the MD-80 from American Airlines, with rear-mounted engines a quiet (if not dated) ride.

Now that we’re in an era of 737s and A321s the DC-9 is starting to fade from liveries around the planet, and Delta’s last flight was this week. Jason Raboniwitz over at Airline Reporter took that last trip has a nice farewell.

Tips and Comments

Can be sent to [email protected] and @grantkmartin. We publish the Business Newsletter twice a week on Monday and Thursday.