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Measuring Star, Skyteam, One World – Which is the “BEST” airline alliance?

Every airline passenger will have seen the name and logos of the three big airline alliances carrying almost two out of three of the world’s airline passengers.  The names “One World“, “SkyTeam” and “Star Alliance” adorn planes, airline marketing materials, boarding passes, in-flight magazines and airport signs. All three of the big US airlines (American, Delta and United) are linked to one of the alliances.  In Europe, it is the same with their three biggest airline companies. There are also three smaller and newer alliances: U fly, Vanilla, Value. I list of all the members…

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How many holidays are enough? According to Science

How much vacation have you taken so far this year? If you live in Brazil,  Finland, France, Spain and the United Arab Emirate you are (on average) entitled to 30 days paid holidays per year and on average, those days are fully taken.  At the other end of the spectrum, South Koreans only took eight days of their 15 days and Japanese took 10 of their 20. 37% of US workers had not been on a holiday in more than two years. This comes from Expedia’s Vacation Deprivation® study, an annual study of vacation habits amongst 9,424 employed adults aged 18…

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Celebrating Cebu

Bohol, Boracay, Cebu and Palawan are some of the most popular places in the Philippines for foreign tourists. We checked out Cebu, on this occasion for a special vacation. Verdict: My Overall Rating: 55% My Ranking out of my top 200 Cities: 184th place Global Ranking: Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) ranked Cebu 26th among 28 APEC cities surveyed in 2015. Why it should be visited: Beaches, Food, Spanish history Negatives: Traffic, Traffic, Traffic and Crime, Crime, Crime Would I return?: No- we had a great time here but I would choose to see other Filipino cities first. Location and Orientation Cebu is…

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All about SkyTeam- Comparing airlines and Elite Earning

Of the seven airline alliances, Skyteam is the one  I have had the least to do with. You will usually find me on a OneWorld plane before a SkyTeam flight! Of my 1200+ flights, almost half have been on a One World carrier, a fifth with a Star Alliance airline and fewer than ten percent have been via a Skyteam partner. This is caused by three things: Australia and New Zealand have never had a Skyteam member,  I have had elite status with Qantas /One World and Star Alliance carriers for over a decade My concern/perception that…

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Flying on an ATR: Vientiane to Bangkok: My first Lao Airlines Flight and my 1200th flight ever!

Booking:8/10 I mentioned last week, that I had reached a milestone” of 1199 flights in my life. This flight was my 1200th. To be honest, this regional hop in Economy was probably not the most exciting option for my 1200th flight ever! Timing, however, dictated this event! There are just a handful of flights between the Laos capital of Vientiane and Thailand’s capital: Bangkok. Our choice effectively came down to Bangkok Airways  (winner of best regional airline) or Lao Airlines. Having already flown ( and loved) Bangkok, I figured that I would give a new airline…

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My 3rd (& 4th) 787 ScootBiz Bangkok -Singapore – Sydney

DMK Don Muang (Bangkok), Thailand  to SIN, Singapore  TZ291 Scheduled Departure: 08:40 Arrival: 14:55 SIN Singapore to SYD Sydney, Australia SC002 Scheduled Departure: 01:40 Arrival: 11:35 Total distance: 5,689 km -4,801 miles The choices of airlines and flights between Bangkok, Thailand and Sydney, Australia is immense. Thai, Qantas and Emirates fly directly. Cathay Pacific, Jetstar, Malayasia, Singapore Airlines, Air Asia, Vietnam Airlines all offer quick one-stop connections.  I have flown pretty much every option now! I took advantage of a great  Scoot deal paying just a few dollars more . for their “Business Class” for Singapore to Sydney than their regular…

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Beautiful Blue Mountains: Review and Top Things to do

West of Sydney are one of the most beautiful and most visited parts of Australia: The Blue Mountains.  This week must have been close to my 100th since I first visited The Mountains a baby! (half a century ago). As always, my review attempts to go beyond the superficial glimpse that many visitors have of this amazing place from their bus window! Aesthetics: 87% The Greater Blue Mountains are not just beautiful. They are stunning. Grand sandstone cliffs, twisting forest tracks, gorgeous waterfalls, peaceful glens, cute creeks all fill the 11,400 km² area of “The Mountains”.   If the Blue Mountains…

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Getting Exercise- A walking guide to world airports

I don’t like spending much time in airports. Every minute in an airport feels like a minute wasted! I mentioned last week, however, that I use spare time in airports to help build fitness whilst flying by using the experience to build toward my 7 to 10 thousand daily step goal. I even sacrifice riding in the airport shuttle trains to achieve this. As a train nut, this is a sacrifice! Walking also enables me to  people watch and plane spot. Let’s face it, using the time to get exercise is probably better than being a  couch…

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Wow. “Nut Rage” Airline Executive Jailed!

Cho Hyun-ah (Heather Cho), the former Korean Air Head of Cabin Service, who demanded staff kneel before her to ask for forgiveness over how they served macadamia nuts in first class, has been sentenced to one year in jail.  I must admit, I am surprised that it got this far! On 5th December, 2014 Cho, the daughter of Korean Air’s Chair, ordered flight 86 back to the gate at New York’s JFK airport and had the chief steward removed from the plane. A South Korean court yesterday found her guilty of: violating aviation law changing flight path and interference of operations.…

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Flying Finnair Four Times

I have never booked a flight to HEL before! Re-assuredly, I was also able to book flights out of HELsinki, the capital of Finland quite easily. I was bemused that one of  my flights was AY 666 (Biblical number of evil) from Copenhangen to HEL. None of the crew or passengers were sprouting horns and the only non human creatures we encountered were popular Finnish Comic Moomin family products which the airline was selling on board. Of the 15 One World member airlines, I have now flown 11 of them (and two ex members!) for…

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