Tag: las vegas (Page 5 of 5)

Lyft partners with Southwest Airlines

April 4, 2016 / WIL BALDWIN

Lyft partners with Southwest Airlines to offer bonus points. The ride services company, a competitor of Uber, is offering a new promotion for members of the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards program. Throughout the rest of the year, the airline will award Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards customers with 1,100 bonus points after taking their first ride on Lyft from one of 11 different airports served by the two companies, including McCarran Airport in Las Vegas. The new program was announced last Thursday, March 31. This is the second collaboration between the two companies. Earlier this month, Lyft offered a $15 discount off of a first time ride for Southwest customers who were not enrolled in the airlines Rapid Rewards program. That offer is also good throughout the end of the year, but cannot be combined with the new offer.

Lyft Partners Airports

In addition to McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, the promotion is also valid at the following airports:

Austin, Texas
Chicago, Illinois (Midway Airport)
Dallas, Texas (Love Field)
Los Angeles, California (LAX)
Louisville, Kentucky
Nashville, Tennessee
Oakland, California
San Antonio, Texas
San Diego, California
Washington, DC (Reagan Airport)

Lyft is currently the second biggest ride service company in the US. This deal with Southwest follows one announced in February between Uber and American Airlines. That deal also offered incentives for rides to members of the airlines AAdvantage program.

Lyft partners

Check Lyft out at www.lyft.com

Uber rides in Las Vegas was a pleasant surprise

April 4, 2016 / WIL BALDWIN

Uber rides around Las Vegas turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I booking a hotel for my stay specifically because it offered a free hotel shuttle. I called the hotel upon arrival, only to find that the shuttle had just left the airport. It was not scheduled to return for another hour. Since I was tired from my un-impressive flight in on Frontier, I decided to take a taxi to the hotel. The very short ride cost $22, and upon sliding my credit card in the taxi, I was asked if I wanted to add a 20%, 25%, or 30% tip. I selected the next option down, which was to enter another amount. The hotel also listed that the shuttle provided local transportation, but that was false, as it only served the airport and the strip. I then decided to try and rent a car, which was not in my original plans for the week. After receiving a couple of very high rental car quotes, I remembered that I had downloaded an Uber app on my phone.

Uber rides around Las Vegas

I decided to give my Uber app a click for a ride. I needed to make a stop at Kohl’s and Whole Foods before returning to the hotel, so I clicked for my first pickup. Upon setup of your account, you create a user ID and enter your credit card info into the app. You put your destination in the app when you request the ride, so you are on your way as soon as you get into the car. The car and driver on my first ride were both very nice. After completion of the trip, you receive an email (or text) receipt listing the ride charge. There is no tip involved (according to the app). I took a total of 6 rides during the week, and only 1 driver was of sub par caliber, including his car. After each ride, you get a survey to fill out on your ride experience. The total of the rides came out to less than 1 day of car rental, so the experience was a success in my book. One of the drivers also mentioned that Uber now serves McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, so I will definitely remember that on our next trip to Sin City!

Uber rides

Check it out at www.uber.com

Las Vegas Monorail turning 12 years old in July, 2016

March 25, 2016 / WIL BALDWIN

Las Vegas Monorail will be turning 12 years old in July, 2016. The monorail system has had its share of growing pains over the years, but it did provide me with transportation on a recent trip to Las Vegas from the Convention Center to the Quad Hotel. The Las Vegas Monorail project was constructed by Bombardier Transportation, the same company that is currently rolling out its C Series regional jets. It was built as an extension to the existing monorail line that operated between the MGM Grand and Bally’s Hotels. The monorail suffered many malfunctions while in its testing phase that delayed the start of passenger service for about a year. These malfunctions included parts falling from the monorail tracks to the ground. The Las Vegas Monorail finally opened to the public on July 15, 2004. The system did experience a couple of shutdowns during its first year of operations, including one that lasted almost four months when parts began falling from the tracks again. One year after service began, Transit Systems Management announced that it would shut down its operations, turning responsibility for operations to the Las Vegas Monorail Company.

Las Vegas Monorail Bankruptcy and Expansion Plans

On January 13, 2010, the Las Vegas Monorail filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection. The filing stated that the Monorail had been operating since 2004 using proceeds from its initial financing and debt service reserves. These funds have now been fully depleted, which made it necessary to file for re-orginization. According to the court petition, Las Vegas Monorail has between $10 million and $50 million of assets, and between $500 million and $1 billion of debts. The Las Vegas Monorail Company successfully emerged from bankruptcy protection in November of 2012, with its debt load slashed down to just$13 million.

A feasibility study for a planned expansion of the monorail to the McCarran Airport was approved back in November of 2005. This extension was officially approved in December of 2006 by Clark County commissioners, providing that the financing would come from private funding. However, funding for the project never materialized. The monorail company most recently proposed in May of 2015 that the monorail be extended to the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, with an additional station being added at the Sands Expo & Convention Center across the street from the Wynn Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Monorail

Image from www.lvmonorail.com

JetBlue expanding operations from Long Beach Airport

March 23, 2016 / WIL BALDWIN

JetBlue expanding its operations from Long Beach Airport in California. The airline will be increasing the number of destinations and flights from its Long Beach Airport hub, which serves as the airlines focus city in southern California. JetBlue’s growth comes on the heals of the announcement of three new slots recent award to the air carrier at Long Beach. JetBlue will also increase its utilization of existing slots at the airport, increasing the number of nonstop cities served by one to twelve.

JetBlue expanding to Reno, Nevada

JetBlue will begin a new nonstop route from Long Beach to the northern Nevada city of Reno on the 15th of August with one daily flight. The flight will depart Long Beach at 12:15pm and arrive in Reno at 1:30pm operating as flight 42. The return service back will depart Reno at 2:15 pm and arrive back in southern California at 3:40 pm. As far as the increase in flight frequencies goes, JetBlue will adding daily flights on several of its current routes to meet increased customer demand. These increased frequencies include more flights to the Bay Area. The airline will add one extra daily flight to San Francisco International Airport beginning on the 15th of August, and an additional flight to Oakland International Airport beginning on the 16th of August. This will give JetBlue four daily roundtrips to both airports. The airline will also add another daily flight to Las Vegas McCarran International Airport beginning on the 15th of August. The new flights will be operated by additional Airbus A320 aircraft.

JetBlue expanding

Image from www.jetblue.com

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The Linq Las Vegas Hotel and High Roller

March 23, 2016 / WIL BALDWIN

The Linq Las Vegas Hotel and High Roller Ferris Wheel are easy to spot when viewing the strip. The Linq Hotel was briefly called The Quad following the acquisition of the property formerly called the Imperial Palace. The property was purchased by Harrah’s Entertainment, which then changed its name to Caesars Entertainment in November of 2010. The change in company name was intended to capitalize on the larger international name recognition that the Caesars name commanded. The Imperial Palace had been best known for it’s famous auto collection located on the 5th floor of the hotel parking garage. I remember visiting this car collection back in the 1980’s, but had since forgotten about it among the massive expansion of the Las Vegas strip over the past two decades.

Conversion to The Linq Las Vegas Hotel and High Roller

In July 2014, Caesars officially announced that the Quad would again be rebranded as The Linq Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. This was after the completion of a $223 million renovation of the hotel property. The name change aligned to hotel to match the adjacent shopping strip and High Roller observation wheel. The High Roller was officially announced in August of 2011as the centerpiece of Caesars $550 million Linq shopping plaza. Currently the world’s tallest ferris wheel, it comes in at 520 feet, 9 feet taller than the Singapore Flyer. There are 28 passenger capsules mounted on the wheel, each accommodating up to 40 passengers per cabin. The wheel is illuminated at night by a 2,000 LED lighting systemdisplaying multiple colors moving around the rim.

Even with the improvement of the Las Vegas economy over the last few years, the casino operating unit of Caesars Entertainment filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January of 2015. This was brought on primarily by the leveraged buyout of Harrah’s by TPG Capital and Apollo Global Management in 2006 that left the new owners with a total debt of $25 billion.

the linq las vegas

image from www.caesars.com