Onboard dating: matches in the sky February 7, 2012
Posted by janeefraser in Airlines, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.Tags: dating, flying, Travel
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It seems many an airline traveller takes a fancy to the person in the seat next to them.
Hundreds of people have left their details on a new website that aims to reunite people who have met on plane journeys. In its first few weeks, wemetonaplane.com has had more than 20,000 page views, as people search for that attractive someone with whom they never traded numbers.
Stories have been logged by people from all over the world, leaving the flight number, date and other details of the flight to help identify the person they are trying to find. A search algorithm is used to find any stories posted by other passengers from that flight, in the hope the attraction was mutual.
The site, which is the brainchild of Sydney businessman Will Scully-Power, is yet to declare a match but he says (more…)
Chip fat to fuel our planes? January 23, 2012
Posted by janeefraser in Airlines, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.Tags: airlines, aviation, biofuel, green travel, Qantas, Travel, Virgin Atlantic
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If there’s something we can expect to see a lot of this year, it is airlines talking up their green credentials. From chicken fat to algae, carriers are busy looking for new ways to fuel their planes and reduce their emissions.
Several airlines have already claimed “world-first” initiatives such as the first commercial biofuel flight, the first scheduled biofuel flight and the longest distance biofuel flight, and Qantas has announced its intention to operate Australia’s first biofuel flight early this year.
IATA has declared work on biofuels to be a major priority for the industry in the year ahead, with the association’s chief executive, Tony Tyler, saying it is “one of aviation’s great challenges” to reduce its carbon emissions. ”Sustainability is our licence to grow,” Tyler says.
The problem with biofuels and other green initiatives is that they… (click here to keep reading this article by Jane E. Fraser)
Top travel trends for 2012 January 17, 2012
Posted by janeefraser in Airlines, Hotels, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.Tags: American Express, Carlson Wagonlit, China, Facebook, Frommer's, near field communication, Travel, travel technology, travel trends, Twitter, voluntourism
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In a fast-changing world, here’s five things you’ll need to keep up with in 2012.
1. Prices are rising
We’ve had a fantastic run with cheap travel in the past few years but expect to pay a bit more in the next 12 months. Strong demand for business travel is expected to drive up prices of both airfares and hotels.
American Express predicts economy class airfares will rise between 6 per cent and 10 per cent on short-haul routes and 5 per cent to 9 per cent on long-haul routes, despite airline competition and the growth of low-cost carriers.
Hotel rates are also on the rise, with American Express predicting mid-range hotels will increase their rates by 3 per cent to 8 per cent and upper-scale hotels will add between 6 per cent and 10 per cent to their prices.
Global forecasts by Carlson Wagonlit Travel show we can also expect to pay more at overseas hotels, with modest increases in North America, Europe and Africa and increases of about 10 per cent in Latin America.
2. Channels are changing
Travel deals and information will be released in different ways as social media and other technology-based channels continue to grow. Hot deals are increasingly being sent out through… (click here to keep reading this article by Jane E. Fraser)
Keeping your cool with Christmas travel December 13, 2011
Posted by janeefraser in Airlines, Australia, Events, Travel, Travel tips & trends.Tags: Christmas, holiday travel, Travel
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There’s nothing like a long airport queue or crawling traffic to test your Christmas spirit, so here are some tips to surviving Australia’s busiest travel period.
If you’re flying
For domestic flights, the peak days are expected to be December 22 and 23, with January 19 the predicted busiest day on the other side of Christmas.
A spokeswoman for the airport, Tracy Ong, says passengers travelling during that period should plan to arrive early, check the latest information on what they can take through security and use internet check-in if possible.
You can check in online up to 24 or 48 hours before your flight, depending on the airline, then all you have to do is drop off your bags. Checking in online can also allow you to choose your own seat, which could save you the dreaded middle seat on what is sure to be a full flight.
If you’re planning to drive to the airport, reserve some parking now, as many options will be booked out ahead of Christmas.
The Sydney Airport website, sydneyairport.com.au, is a good resource for other options for getting to and from the airport, including taxis, shuttle buses, buses and trains.
Another tip if flying is… (click here to keep reading this article by Jane E. Fraser)
Space travel: don’t start packing just yet November 28, 2011
Posted by janeefraser in Adventure travel, Airlines, Hotels, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.Tags: KLM, space hotels, space tourism, space travel, Travel, Virgin Galactic
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We seem to have been hearing about space travel for a long time and the stories keep getting better. Space flights, space “hotels” and the ability to zoom from one side of the planet to the other in a matter of hours are all being promised as entrepreneurs fight to be the first to bring “space tourism” to the people.
The executive chairman of the CAPA Centre for Aviation, Peter Harbison, says it’s “definitely going to be the latter for quite some time”.
“It is not something that is going to be commercially viable in the short term,” he says. ”Quite probably by 2030 or 2040 we will be starting to see some [wider] consumer benefits from it but it’s highly unlikely it will be before then.”
One of the big talking points of space travel has been its ability to get travellers from Sydney to London in less than two hours. It was this concept that made the headlines when the formula one racing tycoon, Michiel Mol, recently announced his aim to launch sub-orbital flights in three years. Mol, who has teamed up with the Dutch airline KLM, expects the first flights to take off in 2014 with a price tag of £60,000 ($94,000).
The bigger picture is… (click here to keep reading this article by Jane E. Fraser)
What’s new in travel apps? November 8, 2011
Posted by janeefraser in Airlines, Hotels, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.Tags: apps, Hotels.com, Travel, travel apps, travel technology, TripAdvisor, UrbanSpoon, Webjet
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From a trickle to a torrent, the release of new travel apps has become such a regular occurrence, it is hard to keep up. Destination information, booking services, trip planners and niche travel apps are lining up to challenge App Store favourites such as TripAdvisor, Urbanspoon and Webjet.
Apps for booking
Hotels.com recently launched a user-friendly iPad app that allows travellers to search and book about 140,000 hotels around the world in a choice of more than 30 languages.
The free app provides fast access to about 20,000 last-minute deals, more than 2.5 million user reviews and last-minute bookings based on location, so it should prove a strong rival to other hotel booking apps.
The emerging trend for hotel booking apps is… (click here to keep reading this article by Jane E. Fraser)
Pacific Islands, here we come October 14, 2011
Posted by janeefraser in Travel, Travel tips & trends, NZ & Pacific Islands, Adventure travel, Airlines.Tags: Travel, Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Air New Zealand, hot destinations, pacific islands, New Caledonia, Air Pacific
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If you find yourself daydreaming of beaches and palm trees, you can blame the marketing efforts of the Pacific islands.
Destinations in the region are upping the ante with Australian travellers, recognising a market with a strong dollar and keen desire to travel. With visitor numbers from Europe, the US and other markets mired in economic troubles, Australian travellers are being targeted to fill the gap – and are snapping up great deals.
“The Pacific islands are selling like hot cakes,” says the general manager of travel.com.au, Lisa Ferrari. “Fiji has always been a favourite for Australians but we are also seeing a lot of interest in regions such as Samoa, Vanuatu, the Cook Islands and New Caledonia.”
The ramped-up promotional efforts are being helped by more flights from Australia. The Cook Islands now has direct flights from Sydney, operated by Air New Zealand, and Air Pacific is preparing to almost double its services between Sydney and Nadi, Fiji. From early next year, the airline will operate 13 flights a week to Nadi, giving travellers a choice of morning and afternoon departures and same-day connections to Fiji’s outer-island resorts.
Cook Islands Tourism says its marketing campaign is its biggest ever in Australia and has been timed to maximise the benefits of the Air New Zealand flights, which also prompted the opening of a full-time tourism office in Sydney. ”We found that most Australians didn’t know… (click here to keep reading this article by Jane E. Fraser)
World’s busiest airports September 12, 2011
Posted by janeefraser in Airlines, Travel, Travel tips & trends, UK & Europe.Tags: airports, aviation, Dubai, Heathrow, Travel
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Think busy airport and you probably think London Heathrow, which can be right up there on the enjoyment scale with having teeth pulled. But Heathrow is sliding down the airport rankings, while other airports are gearing up to handle vast numbers of passengers in coming years.
Heathrow dropped from the second busiest airport in the world to the fourth busiest last year, overtaken by Beijing and Chicago, according to Airports Council International‘s World Airport Traffic Report. Total passenger numbers at Heathrow actually dropped compared with the previous year, although at 65 million-plus passengers a year, it certainly still qualifies as busy.
Heathrow does remain the busiest airport in terms of international passengers but, it seems, it won’t be for long. Dubai (currently the fourth busiest airport for international passengers) has announced a massive $US7.8 billion ($7.4 billion) expansion to boost its capacity from 60 million passengers a year to more than 90 million by 2018. The project figures are astounding, with one stage of the expansion alone adding twice the footprint of Heathrow’s colossal Terminal 5.
The chief executive of Dubai Airport, Paul Griffiths, says the expansion plans and growth trends set Dubai “firmly on course to become the world’s busiest airport for international passenger traffic by 2015″. This is backed by analysis by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, which predicts Dubai will move into second place for international traffic before the year is out.
In terms of total passenger numbers, the busiest airport in the world last year was… (click here to keep reading this article by Jane E. Fraser)
Is Tiger Airways here to stay? August 22, 2011
Posted by janeefraser in Airlines, Australia, Travel, Travel tips & trends.Tags: airlines, aviation, budget travel, cheap travel, flying, Tiger Airways, Travel
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The low-cost carrier has convinced authorities its planes are safe to return to the skies but there is work to be done to repair its service reputation.
Not only will the safety question float in travellers’ minds for some time; the airline has an awful lot of work to do on its service reputation if it wants to convince us it is here to stay. I can place my trust in the Civil Aviation Safety Authority when it comes to the safety aspects but I would still take a lot of convincing to book a ticket.
I took my first flight with Tiger just before it was grounded and experienced, like so many others before me, the blunt end of the airline’s “customer service”.
I booked an overnight trip between Sydney and the Sunshine Coast and it was certainly cheap, with fares of $39.95 each way, although the total bill came to $104.90 by the time I had paid $5 each way to choose my own seat and another $15 “convenience fee” because I didn’t have an “Australian-issued MasterCard debit card” (I wonder how many people do?).
Still, at about $50 a flight, we’re definitely talking cheap. And this is, of course, Tiger’s main selling point, as it has been keen to remind consumers.
But then came the catch… (click here to keep reading this article by Jane E. Fraser)
