Each Tuesday, the CheapOair blog covers travel tech news. Topics including the latest in travel gadgets that will make your next trip easier and more enjoyable to new features coming to your favorite airline will be featured. 

Continental and United join forces

The merger of Continental Airlines and United Airlines has dominated travel news over the last 24-48 hours. But what exactly should passengers expect from the newly married carriers? Well the world’s largest airline wasted no time unveiling a website that explains pretty much every question and concern that travelers might have about the merger and what it mean going forward. Some questions answered include:

• While the combined carriers will be called United Airlines, the Continental colors and logo will be used.
• The CEO of the new airline will be Continental’s CEO Jeff Smisek.
• United CEO Glenn Tilton will be the nonexecutive chairman.
• Smisek will become chairman of the new airline in 2012 when Tilton steps down.
• Both airlines expect the merger to be completed by the end of 2010.
• The frequent flyer program for both airlines will be merged into one.

AirTran will be offering FREE Goo Wi-Fi on all their flights between May 10 through May 23, 2010.
Simply register for a Gogo account and purchase a session when flying with AirTran. How would you know if your AirTran plane offers Wi-Fi capabilities? Simply look for the Wi-Fi symbol that is placed on the outside and inside of the plane.

Once you reach 10,000 feet and the pilot gives the okay, you will be allowed to sign in, check your emails, chat with friends and of course leave a comment on our blog. What’s more, AirTran travelers flying from Atlanta to Baltimore or Boston all this month can check out T-Mobile’s new HTC HD2 phone for free during their flight.

Lonely Planet lowers mobile app prices

Last month during the ash cloud chaos caused by Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupting, travel guide giant Lonely Planet allowed stranded passengers (or anyone else for that matter) to download many of their European travel guides for free (I downloaded the Paris app for an upcoming trip). Due to the overwhelming reaction (four million downloads in four days), LP actually saw a spike with their online purchases.

In light of that good news, LP just announced it is going to lower the price structure of their mobile apps by up to 50% going forward. Guides will be priced between $2.99 and $7.99, plus their 1,000 Ultimate Travel Experiences iPad will see yet another price reduction from $9.99 to $7.99 (it originally cost $19.99 when it was launched).