Am really looking forward to this movie. Here is another trailer.
If you'd like to get a sneek peek at the movie sign up for a free screening of Up In the Air on December 2nd. The cities that are available: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, and DC.
Showing posts with label Travel News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel News. Show all posts
Seychelles Article
Here is an interesting article on the US relations with Seychelles.
There is a Sky Team option to the Seychelles through a Air France code share with Air Seychelles. This is a good way to burn all of those Delta miles your earning. Last I checked it was 120,000 per person in Business to the Seychelles on Sky Team.
There is a Sky Team option to the Seychelles through a Air France code share with Air Seychelles. This is a good way to burn all of those Delta miles your earning. Last I checked it was 120,000 per person in Business to the Seychelles on Sky Team.
Travel & Leisure August Issue: World's Best Awards 2009
This month's issue of Travel & Leisure magazine has several best of lists that are worth reviewing. The best of lists include best hotels, airlines, cities, islands, tour outfitters, car rental agencies, and cruise lines. I particularly liked how the best hotels in key areas such as Hawaii, Europe, and the Caribbean were provided. It definitely provides us with some direction when considering hotels locally and around the world.
United Attacking Credit Card Fees
Today, July 20, United will stop processing credit-card transactions from certain travel agencies. The travel agencies will now have to start paying the 3.5 percent credit card processing fees that United previously paid. This transition in fees will likely be paid by you at some point as travel agencies need to make money too. If this change leads to increased income for United, it is probable that other airlines will follow suit in this copy-cat industry.
According to a New York Post article, "half of airline tickets are now purchased through the country's roughly 18,000 travel-agency locations." So, 50% of you, in theory, may see a change in costs today or in the near future.
My Prescription
Although this is suppose to be only a trial program for United, the writing is on the wall that this program, if successful for United, will grow and make it to other airlines. The implementation of this change will also likely lead to further changes in the buying patterns of consumers who look to find the optimal way to maximize their spending. With no booking fees on United, and many other airline sites, it is likely that consumers will continue to shift their purchases to airline sites. It will be interesting to see if this materializes. If it does, how long before booking fees, or whatever term airlines want to make-up, become standard on tickets purchased on their sites? Regardless, prepare for more fees.
According to a New York Post article, "half of airline tickets are now purchased through the country's roughly 18,000 travel-agency locations." So, 50% of you, in theory, may see a change in costs today or in the near future.
My Prescription
Although this is suppose to be only a trial program for United, the writing is on the wall that this program, if successful for United, will grow and make it to other airlines. The implementation of this change will also likely lead to further changes in the buying patterns of consumers who look to find the optimal way to maximize their spending. With no booking fees on United, and many other airline sites, it is likely that consumers will continue to shift their purchases to airline sites. It will be interesting to see if this materializes. If it does, how long before booking fees, or whatever term airlines want to make-up, become standard on tickets purchased on their sites? Regardless, prepare for more fees.
Starwood Reduces Rates up to 50%
Many Starwood locations in North America, Latin America and the Asia Pacific Region are offering reduced rates for reservations made by Monday, July 20, for stays before October 12. CNNMoney.com stated the reason for the offer was to boost slumping sales as businesses and consumers slash spending. This offer is good until Monday so book your travel this weekend. I would expect other hotel chains to continue to offer discounted rates with some offering substantial savings in the coming months.
DOT Fines Delta for Illegal Bumping
Delta was recently fined $375,000 by the Department of Transportation (DOT) for illegal bumping activities. It was determined that Delta violated several rules including not consistently seeking volunteers before bumping passengers off of flights and sometimes failing to provide a letter to passengers explaining why they had been bumped. After reviewing several articles on the Delta fine, I liked Scott Laird's article for the information and background it provided.
Bumping My Way to Happiness: Voluntary Bumping Performance 2009: Jan to Mar
Spent a few hours today reviewing the DOT's website reading about the performance of the major U.S. carriers. Focusing on voluntary bumping I was able to procure these nuggets of information for you. The data in this posts represents the first quarter of 2009.
________________ Flights Enplaned Passengers Voluntary Vol/Flight
US ______________ 35,594 ________ 12,580,587 __ 22,938 ____ 0.644
UNITED __________ 31,798 ________ 11,953,422 __ 19,330 ____ 0.608
AIRTRAN _________ 21,264 _________ 5,344,683 __ 10,270 ____ 0.483
NORTHWEST _______ 25,086 _________ 8,365,018 __ 12,089 ____ 0.482
CONTINENTAL _____ 21,950 _________ 8,626,868 ___ 9,797 ____ 0.446
DELTA ___________ 35,230 ________ 14,426,780 __ 13,981 ____ 0.397
ATLANTIC SE _____ 25,124 _________ 2,898,511 ___ 8,974 ____ 0.357
PINNACLE ________ 22,023 _________ 2,355,938 ___ 6,526 ____ 0.296
AMERICAN ________ 46,622 ________ 18,099,010 __ 12,910 ____ 0.277
MESA ____________ 20,714 _________ 2,494,444 ___ 5,720 ____ 0.276
SOUTHWEST _______ 97,696 ________ 23,366,897 __ 22,760 ____ 0.233
COMAIR __________ 14,495 _________ 1,377,802 ___ 3,365 ____ 0.232
SKYWEST _________ 44,689 _________ 4,592,875 ___ 9,654 ____ 0.216
EXPRESSJET ______ 25,292 _________ 2,569,898 ___ 5,191 ____ 0.205
ALASKA __________ 11,796 _________ 3,258,996 ___ 2,326 ____ 0.197
AMERICAN EAGLE __ 37,408 _________ 3,373,399 ___ 3,846 ____ 0.103
FRONTIER _________ 7,711 _________ 2,094,048 _____ 632 ____ 0.082
HAWAIIAN _________ 6,122 _________ 1,995,333 ______ 82 ____ 0.013
JETBLUE _________ 16,218 _________ 5,108,284 _______ 1 ____ 0.000
These numbers show us the volume of voluntary bumping taking place and the rate that voluntary bumping takes place per airline. As you can see by the numbers, Atlantic Southeast, Pinnacle, Comair, and Mesa lead all carriers in the number of voluntary bumps per passengers flown. The largest carriers, despite having some of the highest number of voluntary bumps, are not among the top when considering the total number of passengers flown.
I hope you found this information useful as it illustrates the limited number of bumping opportunities available. More information will be forthcoming.
________________ Flights Enplaned Passengers Voluntary Vol/Flight
US ______________ 35,594 ________ 12,580,587 __ 22,938 ____ 0.644
UNITED __________ 31,798 ________ 11,953,422 __ 19,330 ____ 0.608
AIRTRAN _________ 21,264 _________ 5,344,683 __ 10,270 ____ 0.483
NORTHWEST _______ 25,086 _________ 8,365,018 __ 12,089 ____ 0.482
CONTINENTAL _____ 21,950 _________ 8,626,868 ___ 9,797 ____ 0.446
DELTA ___________ 35,230 ________ 14,426,780 __ 13,981 ____ 0.397
ATLANTIC SE _____ 25,124 _________ 2,898,511 ___ 8,974 ____ 0.357
PINNACLE ________ 22,023 _________ 2,355,938 ___ 6,526 ____ 0.296
AMERICAN ________ 46,622 ________ 18,099,010 __ 12,910 ____ 0.277
MESA ____________ 20,714 _________ 2,494,444 ___ 5,720 ____ 0.276
SOUTHWEST _______ 97,696 ________ 23,366,897 __ 22,760 ____ 0.233
COMAIR __________ 14,495 _________ 1,377,802 ___ 3,365 ____ 0.232
SKYWEST _________ 44,689 _________ 4,592,875 ___ 9,654 ____ 0.216
EXPRESSJET ______ 25,292 _________ 2,569,898 ___ 5,191 ____ 0.205
ALASKA __________ 11,796 _________ 3,258,996 ___ 2,326 ____ 0.197
AMERICAN EAGLE __ 37,408 _________ 3,373,399 ___ 3,846 ____ 0.103
FRONTIER _________ 7,711 _________ 2,094,048 _____ 632 ____ 0.082
HAWAIIAN _________ 6,122 _________ 1,995,333 ______ 82 ____ 0.013
JETBLUE _________ 16,218 _________ 5,108,284 _______ 1 ____ 0.000
These numbers represent the number of flights, number of passengers on those flights, passengers who volunteered to be bumped, and the number of passengers who volunteered to be bumped per flight flown.
A lot can be derived from this information.
- Forget about volunteer opportunities at JetBlue, Hawaiian and Frontier. The opportunities will be few and far between for these airlines.
- The best chance for being bumped is with U.S. and United based on their number of voluntary bumps per flight.
- No major carrier has an average of voluntary bumps greater than 1. This further supports my case for getting to the gate as early as possible to ensure your name is first on the list. If there is going to be bump there is a very good chance it will be just for one person.
______________Enplaned Passengers __Voluntary __ Vol/10000
ATLANTIC SE ___________ 2,898,511 _____ 8,974 _____ 30.960
PINNACLE ______________ 2,355,938 _____ 6,526 _____ 27.700
COMAIR ________________ 1,377,802 _____ 3,365 _____ 24.422
MESA __________________ 2,494,444 _____ 5,720 _____ 22.930
SKYWEST _______________ 4,592,875 _____ 9,654 _____ 21.019
EXPRESSJET ____________ 2,569,898 _____ 5,191 _____ 20.199
AIRTRAN _______________ 5,344,683 ____ 10,270 _____ 19.215
US ___________________ 12,580,587 ____ 22,938 _____ 18.232
UNITED _______________ 11,953,422 ____ 19,330 _____ 16.171
NORTHWEST _____________ 8,365,018 ____ 12,089 _____ 14.451
AMERICAN EAGLE ________ 3,373,399 _____ 3,846 _____ 11.400
CONTINENTAL ___________ 8,626,868 _____ 9,797 _____ 11.356
SOUTHWEST ____________ 23,366,897 ____ 22,760 ______ 9.740
DELTA ________________ 14,426,780 ____ 13,981 ______ 9.691
ALASKA ________________ 3,258,996 _____ 2,326 ______ 7.137
AMERICAN _____________ 18,099,010 ____ 12,910 ______ 7.132
FRONTIER ______________ 2,094,048 _______ 632 ______ 3.018
HAWAIIAN ______________ 1,995,333 ________ 82 ______ 0.410
JETBLUE _______________ 5,108,284 _________ 1 ______ 0.001
These numbers show us the volume of voluntary bumping taking place and the rate that voluntary bumping takes place per airline. As you can see by the numbers, Atlantic Southeast, Pinnacle, Comair, and Mesa lead all carriers in the number of voluntary bumps per passengers flown. The largest carriers, despite having some of the highest number of voluntary bumps, are not among the top when considering the total number of passengers flown.
I hope you found this information useful as it illustrates the limited number of bumping opportunities available. More information will be forthcoming.
Delta & Virgin Blue Announce Plans for Joint Venture
Delta announced today that they are seeking regulatory approval for a joint venture with Virgin Blue to give each other's carriers access to the network in the US and in the South Pacific. This is great news for those who were thinking about redeeming to Australia on the LAX-SYD Delta flight that began on June 1.
About Virgin Blue
Nine-year old Virgin Blue Airlines Group carries 18 million guests annually and comprises Australia's domestic airline Virgin Blue, Long Haul international airline V Australia, New Zealand-based Pacific Blue and Polynesian Blue*, a joint venture airline with the Government of Samoa. Together the airlines operate a fleet of 80 modern Boeing 737-NGs, Boeing 777 and Embraer E-Jet aircraft flying to 28 Australian and 13 international destinations in the U.S., South Pacific and Southeast Asia. The airline group is much acclaimed for outstanding guest service. Recently, Virgin Blue was awarded Australia's highest national customer service accolade. The airline was acknowledged as having the highest customer service standards of any organization at the 2008 Australian customer Service Institute Awards.
Also in 2008 Australian travel agents again voted Virgin Blue Australia's "Best National Airline" and "Best Regional Airline" at the annual National Travel Industry Awards (NITA). Velocity, the airline's loyalty program, was recently awarded 2009 "Program of the Year" in the global Freddie Awards, which recognize the world's most outstanding airline frequent flyer programs.
*Polynesian Blue is not included in the joint venture alliance.
About Virgin Blue
Nine-year old Virgin Blue Airlines Group carries 18 million guests annually and comprises Australia's domestic airline Virgin Blue, Long Haul international airline V Australia, New Zealand-based Pacific Blue and Polynesian Blue*, a joint venture airline with the Government of Samoa. Together the airlines operate a fleet of 80 modern Boeing 737-NGs, Boeing 777 and Embraer E-Jet aircraft flying to 28 Australian and 13 international destinations in the U.S., South Pacific and Southeast Asia. The airline group is much acclaimed for outstanding guest service. Recently, Virgin Blue was awarded Australia's highest national customer service accolade. The airline was acknowledged as having the highest customer service standards of any organization at the 2008 Australian customer Service Institute Awards.
Also in 2008 Australian travel agents again voted Virgin Blue Australia's "Best National Airline" and "Best Regional Airline" at the annual National Travel Industry Awards (NITA). Velocity, the airline's loyalty program, was recently awarded 2009 "Program of the Year" in the global Freddie Awards, which recognize the world's most outstanding airline frequent flyer programs.
*Polynesian Blue is not included in the joint venture alliance.
Summer Travel Deals - Expedia CEO Talks about Low Prices
The CEO of Expedia.com, Dara Khosrowshahi, spoke on CNBC about the increased leisure travel demand this summer.
He states that incredibly low prices are spurring leisure travel demand. Las Vegas occupancy rates are estimated to be down 25%-30% year over year.
I'm taking advantage of low Las Vegas occupancy rates with a stay at the Encore(trip report coming soon) later this summer.
He states that incredibly low prices are spurring leisure travel demand. Las Vegas occupancy rates are estimated to be down 25%-30% year over year.
I'm taking advantage of low Las Vegas occupancy rates with a stay at the Encore(trip report coming soon) later this summer.
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