Tall-ships festival returns to Duluth; Delta adds Mexico City; MSP website, Spirit are no. 1

Tall ships, those replica sailing vessels of years gone by, will return to Duluth again next summer. The list of boats is far from final — the festival website lists those that have been invited — but dates are set and tickets are on sale. The event, now called the Festival of Sail, will be held in the Lake Superior port city Aug. 11-13, 2019. Tickets are selling for a range of experiences, including single-day entrance ($10), onboard ship tours (starting at $14) and sails on Superior ($99 and up). Grand Parade of Sails tickets are available for $150 and include a sailing experience aboard one of the tall ships as they make their way into Duluth Harbor on the festival's opening day. For more information or to buy tickets, go to festofsailduluth.com.

Kerri Westenberg

At the Metropolitan Airports Commission's website, mspairport.com, fliers can check an airline's terminal, wait times at security checkpoints and availability at airport parking facilities. The engaging, easy-to-use site recently earned first place among North American airports in Airports Council International's Excellence in Airport Marketing, Communications and Customer Service Awards. The new site, launched in 2017, aims to better provide information to travelers; it includes lists of shopping and dining options filtered by category and location, down to the concourse. The site also includes a live-chat feature staffed with customer service agents between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m., 365 days a year.

K.W.

Delta Air Lines is relaunching nonstop service between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Mexico City. The year-round, daily flight is slated to begin June 8. This year the carrier also announced plans to launch MSP-to-Seoul in 2019 and MSP-to-Shanghai in 2020. Delta flew between its Twin Cities hub and Mexico's capital city several years ago, but ceased service in 2011. Since then, Delta and Aero­mexico have formed a close joint venture, which greatly increases the route's chance of success. Through the partnership, Delta passengers can connect to 41 other destinations in Mexico and Latin America, MSP officials said. The four-hour flight, aboard a 132-seat Airbus A319, will depart MSP at 8:50 a.m. and leave Mexico City at 2 p.m.

Kristen Leigh Painter

Spirit Airlines moved into first place in October for on-time flights, according to the latest Air Travel Consumer Report by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The low-cost airline led with 89 percent of its flights arriving on time in October. That includes an impressive 94 percent of flights arriving on time at Minneapolis-St. Paul. Spirit bumped Hawaiian Airlines into second with an 88.5 percent on-time arrival rate. Delta Air Lines came in third in October with 87.1 percent. Also in October, Spirit ranked second for the lowest rate of canceled flights, at 0.2 percent. The report marks a high point in a trend of improvement for Spirit. "We have looked at every aspect of our operation to improve our reliability, and this ranking only highlights those changes," said Spirit spokesman Derek Dombrowski, who said the carrier has adjusted its schedule, aircraft utilization and crew scheduling.