Booking 6 out of 10 United’s booking engine works very well. The Booking process is logically laid out and flows well. My major annoyance was that there was a significant fare difference for passengers whose residence was in Australia and those whose residence was in the USA. I have encountered this on other occasions with both United and American Airlines. This difference seems so arbitrary and Australian customers generally have no work around. If you try and book the American fare with an Australian credit card, it redirects you to start again. Check in: 8…
Travel Tip #15 Wimdu and AirBnB
On my last New York City trip I checked into a room one block from Times Square. The queen size bed was comfortable. There was a full kitchen, a very clean bathroom and small living/dining room. A balcony gave a view of the Manhattan skyline. Downstairs we had a concierge in duty with dry cleaning services if we needed it. All this for $100 a night! Through AirBnB, “a social website that connects people who have space to spare with those who are looking for a place to stay” we got a place that was…
Qatar joins One World
To no one’s surprise, One World announced today that British Airways will sponsor Qatar Airways as a full member of the Alliance, a process that is expected to take between 12 and 18 months. This news is an interesting addition to the One World. The 13 airline strong alliance will count amongst its membership three five star airlines (as measured by Skytrax) : Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines and Qatar compared to Star Alliance’s two: Asiana and Singapore. One World lost two members when Malev collapsed in 2012 and Mexicana was grounded in 2011. Kingfisher, a would be One World members has had significant financial woes – to…
Mid East Air Alliances: Emirates, Etihad, Qatar
The recent Qantas -Emirates partnership agreement seems to be having a flow through effect with two major announcements today. One World Alliance has been set for a week now to announce a “significant membership development” today in NewYork. The alliance includes American Airlines, British Airways/Iberia, Cathay Pacific, LAN and Royal Jordanian. The shortlisted options are: Qatar Airways or Emirates. In the meantime, Etihad snuck in their own announcement today with a wide sweeping relationship with Air France-KLM. Etihad’s a major code-sharing arrangement is between itself and 30% owned Air Berlin (itself a new member of One World with Air France-KLM), a Skyteam founding member The code-sharing agreement is seen as…
WindJet Winds Down – and Up
Another closure with no warning. On August 13th, 2012 ENAC, the Italian civil aviation authority, ordered Italian carrier Windjet to suspend all operations and to cease issuing tickets. The low-cost carrier shut down its website and grounded all of its aircraft at the start of the busiest holiday week of the year. 300,000 air travellers found they were stranded and 500 staff lost their jobs. Windjet was established in 2003 by Antonino Pulvirenti, owner of the Catania football team. It grew to be the fourth largest airline in Italy after Alitalia, Air One (now part of Alitalia)…
Armavia-Time running out????
At the beginning of 2012, there was much speculation that Armavia,the national airline of Armenia was struggling financially. They had a debt of $US6.2 million with the Zvartnots airports authority. Services to the airline were suspended for non payment of airport fees. Armavia’s owner, Mikhail Bagdasarov, in March, threatened to file for bankruptcy unless Zvartnots reduced the service fees. A compromise was worked out. Then last week, Zvartnots airport again, suspended services to Armavia air company over the latter’s debts. Over the summer the Russian media has reported several times that Armavia was about to be sold to a Russian…
Buffalo, New York, USA
Buffalo is New York State’s second-largest city, with just over a quarter million people in the city and just over a million in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls Metropolitan Area. The city is located in the western part of New York state on the eastern shores of Lake Erie. It is opposite, Ontario, Canada. Like many US cities it has really struggled with the stagnation and a falling population as industry moved out in a major way. Buffalo’s population is 55 per cent less than it was in the 1930s. Further, 27% of Buffalo’s residents are financially disadvantaged. Aesthetics: 6.5 out of 10 Buffalo could have…
Would you wear this?
It may not look great but kawamura-ganjavian, a European architecture and design studio, have claimed this device the “Ostrich Pillow” will help travellers counter the ill effects of jet lag on long-haul flights by enabling power naps “anytime, anywhere”. As you can see, the “pillow” has a hole for a user’s head, mouth hole designed to allow breathing and two side holes for your hands, if napping at a table for example, as illustrated below. Kawamura-Ganjavian, a Swiss-Spanish consortium behind the pillow say: “We have tried it in airports, trains, aeroplanes, libraries, at the office, on a sofa and even…
Trip Report: Qantas 93: Melbourne to Los Angeles
Booking 8 out of 10 I actually started my flight in Auckland, New Zealand. The fare for Auckland-Melbourne-Los Angeles-Melbourne-Los Angeles was actually $A1000 less than the fare for Melbourne-Los Angeles-Melbourne. Combining two New Zealand trips in was easy for me. The Qantas website easily worked out the multi city fare and came up with a better fare than Expedia.com or Webjet or Kayak could find. Sometimes looking at the airline’s website can be a bonus. Trying the same search with Virgin Australia online was not possible. Seat selection was easy. All the preferred seats were gone, These included the…
Crazy Week
Two things about this week: The first is I have a crazy schedule: five US cities in five days with flights from Auckland, New Zealand to Melbourne, Australia. Will be flying Qantas, United, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest. The second is that I will fly the 900th flight of my life! Sadly, not a very exciting flight on a Delta connection to Richmond, Virginia. Check out my flight memory which tracks where I have flown. I have now flown over two million kilometres (1.2 million miles). That is almost 53 times around the world! Related Posts Two Million…
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