I first visited Budapest exactly twenty years to the day of my most recent visit. Communism had been gone for only three years and Budapest was ditching the old Socialist restrictions and emerging as a great city. Scarily, on this trip in 2012, -the agent who checked me into my hotel this trip had not even been born when I made my first visit. Today, Budapest is definitely part of a free market economy. I have now been to Budapest five times since my first starry eyed visit and this city remains one of my all time…
Jetstar Christmas Present-Not
On November 25, one month before Christmas, Jetstar NZ cancelled a December 23 Melbourne to Auckland flight. Jetstar very helpfully tried to accomodate the 80 passengers that were affected. Some were offered tickets on a December 26 flight, they claimed and some were offered flights one week before their original date, when people were at work. Passengers attempting to find flights at this late stage with other airlines faced an impossible prospect. Many shelled out hundreds of dollars more to get seats. Christmas in Australia and New Zealand is the biggest holiday of the year. Most shops and businesses shut down for three to…
Virgin America Storm Chaos (Trip Report)
Today, Virgin America a normally good airline gave a disappointing performance. Virgin America (along with JetBlue) occupy top billing for me amongst all of the US carriers. On previous flight, I have given Virgin perfect scores with no exceptions. This most recent Virgin America flight was very disappointing! Virgin America (VX) launched in August, 2007 from their San Francisco base (now in SFO’s magnificent Terminal 2). They fly to sixteen destinations in the United States and three in Mexico. They began a Toronto, Canada service but it was not financially sustainable. This is an issue for the loss making airline which…
Bundling
As noted last week, for the last decade. airlines have been “unbunding” their fares- separating as many cost components as possible including baggage, boarding, meals, miles and entertainment, and selling them apart from the basic fare. By buying all of these components, a passenger can end up paying more for a ticket than they originally planned. Now airlines are creating bundles which include a range of these add on services, within the total price of a fare. For example: United Airlines have two bundles: Premier Travel and Premier Travel Plus which give faster security access, earlier boarding and…
Disconnected Star Alliance Points
I have flown Turkish Airlines six times in the past six weeks. They are a member of the Star Alliance (along with United, US Air, Singapore, Lufthansa and others). The Alliance slogan is: “The Way the Earth connects”. Upon booking, I called Turkish Airlines, and asked them to enter my United number into the Turkish Reservations system attached to my flight bookings. When checking in online, I found my number was absent from the system, so I re0entered it. At the airport, check in counter, I found (again) my United number was absent from my booking. When…
Thomson 787
Thomson airlines, the European launch customer for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, have been running a competition to name their first plane using the hashtag: #nameourplane This is a clever way to get publicity for their first 787 which will arrive in early 2013 with services starting 1st May, 2013. Another three are expected to be delivered in 2013, three more in 2014 and one in 2015. This will give the carrier eight of these planes. The ‘Thomson 787 will carry 291 passengers, which is more cozier than any other carrier so far. This compares with Ethiopian’s 270, United’s 219…
Jetlink Jinxed by South Sudan?
Not been a terrific year for African airlines with the loss this year of Velvet Sky, Air Nigeria, 1time and on the 16th of this month the grounding of Jetlink Express of Kenya. Jetlink started operations in 2004. It employed 350 staff and operates a fleet of eight Bombardier CRJs. Jetlink, which has operated for over four years, operated scheduled Kenyan domestic flights to Kisumu, Mombasa, and Eldoret and regionally to Juba (South Sudan) and Mwanza in Tanzania. Its closure is a little unusual. In a statement, Jetlink said it had over two million US dollars in…
Incredible Istanbul
For the last few years, every year a friend of mine, Paul and I, have an extended long weekend in a new city. The rule is that the city must be new for both of us. i.e. we have never been to that city before. As a result we have been to Reykjavik (iceland), Madrid (Spain), Berlin (Germany), and Southampton, UK. We usually travel sans partners and use the time to explore, catch up and eat! This year we chose Istanbul, an immense metropolis of 13 million people which has been home to people for…
Air Zim flies with No Passengers
Air Zimbabwe flew an an empty 767 from Johannesburg to Harare on Monday November 12th. The plane which has seats for 203 passengers had flown in the morning to Johannesburg from Harare International with five passengers. There were nine crew aboard including two pilots, a first flight officer, an engineer and six flight attendants. This was a result of nil marketing by the airline about its resumed services after its latest grounding. Since then, the airline has launched new cheap fares offering round trips to Johannesburg for 420 US dollars .This compares to South Africa Airways 630 US Dollar return…
Aer Lingus: Budapest to Dublin (updated)
Background Aer Lingus is the flag carrier and second biggest airline in Ireland. Operating since 1936, its name an Anglicisation of the Gaelic Aer Loingeas means “air fleet” . A lot has changed for Aer Lingus in the last six years not the least being the Irish economic situation. The government reduced its 85 per cent stake to 25 percent through a listing on the Stock Exchange in 2006. Ryanair, arch rival and biggest Irish airline has now picked up close to 30 percent and attempted three takeover bids in five years.Abu Dhabi-based and owned Etihad…
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