BA Humbug

It seems that scrooge has bitten BA's Cabin Crew. Where is their holiday spirit? They plan to strike at one of the most hectic times on the travel calendar - Christmas. Travellers the world over have airports in a frenzy at this time, i know, i've been there.

For some strange reason I decided to go to Miami just before Christmas, a mistake I will never make again, unless absolutely necessary (somebody dies). The chaos that was the line to check in, was wrapped around the corridors for miles. I thought I had arrived early enough (2 1/2 hours before departure) to avoid the madness. Boy was I in for a surprise. Anyways I ended up cutting the line because there was no way i could have gone to the end of it and still make my flight. I chose my victims carefully and slipped in seemingly unnoticed until they stop yapping and realised I wasn't there before they started. I however made it onto my flight and arrived home as scheduled. I in no way advocate that you try this, unless you're willing to deal with irate passengers.

That said, imagine what airports are going to look like come December 22nd and over the 12 days of the impending strike. Let's hope that they resolve their issues before then. Do they realise that the passengers they are leaving stranded are the ones most affected by these strikes and the ones keeping the airline in business so that they have jobs to go to? They're hurting the very company they're trying to get more money from. This brings to mind an old proverb, Never bite the hand that feeds you.

They go back to work without a care in the world, not knowing how the passengers got to their respective destinations. They come back all happy because they now make a couple more dollars. I suppose that was the whole reason for the strike in the first place.

Happy Travels.

Taking love to new heights & distances

How far would you go for love? How about New Zealand? New Zealand Air is introducing the The Match Making Flight . The world’s first flight of it's kind, not that people haven't been finding love on flights before. This flight however is especially planned for meeting that someone special. You get on the plane, you just want to sleep especially if it's a long flight, you're not thinking about meeting anyone but then they put you next to that sexy guy/gal and the sparks fly. Let's hope it works out for those who will be taking this trip.

The flight takes off from Los Angeles to Auckland on October 13, 2009. The flight is geared mostly to Americans wanting to meet Kiwis but I say if you've ever wanted to go to New Zealand and your single, book now. Round-trip fares start at just $780 USD + taxes and government fees.

The airline is going all out to make sure you meet someone. Even before your flight there is a pre-flight party, an opportunity to single out any hopefuls. After that the overnight flight followed by a singles-only bash at the SKYCITY Convention Centre in Auckland , which is on the north island of New Zealand.

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses, the North Island and the South Island and numerous smaller islands.This is the perfect opportunity to travel and maybe meet 'the one'.

Good luck mate!

How to get Cheap Flights

If you think that the economic downturn will hamper your vacation plans, you may find the below article helpful. I know I'm certainly lookking for ways to save on travel. I don't want to cancel my plans. This might actual be a good time to travel as a lot of hotels have been reducing their rates. So there may be some benefits.

Here's the article
Author: Kim Chambers

When you are booking a flight, the advice, which I think is now common knowledge is book flights as early as possible. Business travellers will pay high prices and since they usual travel at short notice, airlines hike prices for last minute bookings.

To ensure you get flights that are as cheap as possible check websites of the airlines and comparison sites since prices often as sales often happen and prices change fairly often too. Once you have your destination check all operators to find the best or maybe the most suitable time to travel. Many of you might prefer to pay a bit more than be up at 4am for a 6am flight! Depends on you of course, these times might suit you if you are going on a short break and want to make the most of the day.

There are other ways to further reduce the cost of your flights. Many of the operators offer branded credit cards which have incentives attached to encourage you to sign up. If you are a savvy person you will sign up for the incentive and cancel the credit card if the card doesn’t continue to be of benefit to you. Again in you are looking for a flight search about to see what offers are on at the moment. Some offer you free return flights; others allow you to get free upgrades, business class, thank you! Do check the conditions of the offer to ensure they are reasonable and easy enough for you to obtain.

If you are after a cheap flight be aware the cheapest have very strict conditions, ensure you can fly at these times as it is very difficult to get a refund and can be expensive to change dates, it may actually work out cheaper to book a new flight. If you are booking flights as part of a package holiday the operator will be ATOL protected so should the company go bust you will be guaranteed a refund or if you are on your flight you will have a return flight home organised for you.

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_903062_29.html

Overweight Passengers charged for 2nd Seat

Overweight Charged For Second Seat On Airplanes: Is “Fatism” To Blame?
05/6/09 Written by Christine Garvin

Larger passengers must pay up or get off the plane. Some call it practical, others cry discrimination.

United Airlines just became the latest airline to make obese people pay for a second seat in coach, or upgrade to first class.

They are determining who has to pay more by assessing if the passenger is “unable to use an extended seat belt, put their armrests down, and if they infringe on another guest’s seat.”
Continental enacted their policy regarding oversized passengers five years ago; Southwest two.
UA’s policy goes a little something like this:

UA will refuse to transport or will remove at any point, any passenger … in the following categories where refusal to board or removal from the aircraft may be necessary for the safety or comfort of themselves and other passengers: … persons who are unable to sit in the seat with the seat belt fastened and the armrest down.

They add that the person “will not be removed upon the purchase of an extra seat,” and that if a seat is not available on that flight, they’ll have to take the next flight “without penalty” that has adjacent seats available.

A United spokesman said the rule was enacted due to the piles of complaint letters received from (apparently smaller) people sitting next to larger passengers that overflowed their seat.
But are the airlines really making the move to appease the leaner guests, or is it more about making money?

Shrinking Seats
Airlines have continued to make the seats smaller and smaller over the years so that they could fit more people in, and most large people just need a few extra inches, not an entire other seat.
And as William Saletan points out in his article, those who are too tall for coach can often (relatively) cheaply upgrade to business class, where there is up to five extra inches of leg room.
Above and beyond United or Continental’s financially-influenced decision making, I’m even more interested in the comments made in reaction to this blog about the the new rule.

One person, who goes by “Fat People Suck,” had quite a bit of commentary, including this choice piece:
Sucks for the fat people … but then, maybe they should lose some weight. Its annoying as hell when you are on a 10-11 hour plane ride, cramped as hell, and then it turns out you have 1/2 as much space because some fat ass cant fit into their own seat.

FPS later responds to a comment made by a man named Andy who mentioned being 6′4 and having a large shoulder width, mocking him by saying “Hey guys! I’m Andy, I’m totally fat (though I wont admit it!) and describe myself as a ‘bulge’. You probably ate my meal didn’t you?”

Many of the other comments were not friendly towards overweight or obese people, and I couldn’t help but think, what if this person were Muslim? Or African? Or physically handicapped in some way? Would people dare to be so offensive?
I guess at one point in history, people did.

Enter: Fatism
Don’t get me wrong - I understand that we want to be comfortable on our flights, especially the long ones, and that we’ve often paid good money to do so. But it’s as if obesity is the final frontier for complete and utter prejudice and discrimination: total fatism, or being fatist (a person with a prejudiced belief that one persons weight is superior to others).

Or as Anonymous says:
I like taking these comments and replacing ‘fat’ references with ‘gay’ references, really highlights the hate speech. For example…”… I’m tired of being in a country where not only is being gay acceptable, it’s looked down upon to taunt gay people and encourage them to go straight! I used to be gay, and I went straight because kids would make fun of me. Now the queers have no reason to be gay.

Thank you, United, for taking a step in the right direction, even if it was financially motivated and not really morally backed at all.” Good thing this is all directed at fat people, since that makes it okay…

Source: Best New Traveler

Bookings to Mexico Resumes

According to a recent poll Travel Agent conducted, 71 percent of the 91 responding agents said the H1N1 virus scare had a “major impact” on Mexico bookings. And a handful of major tour operators selling Mexico told us they were seeing cancellations there at a rate they haven’t seen since Hurricane Wilma of 2005.

And now?
Well, it appears as if the worst is over.
As restaurants, clubs, school and other businesses begin opening its doors again, it appears as though life will go on in Mexico.

“We’re still busy, but just not a 100 calls deep like we were last week,” a spokesperson for MLT Vacations told Travel Agent. “If anyone was canceling their trips to Mexico, it was done in the first couple of days (after the news of the flu scare broke). But now, we aren’t seeing any.”
Travel Impressions' call volume is down considerably from last week, a spokesperson told us. In fact, starting Monday, Travel Impressions will be directing agents back to its regular reservations and e-commerce phone numbers rather than the emergency line the operator has been using.

“We're seeing a good trend of more customers staying with their original Mexico bookings and we've even seen new bookings for Mexico picking up -- for Memorial Day weekend, for example,” the spokesperson says. “If bookings are changing destinations, it is still mainly to the Caribbean -- Jamaica and Punta Cana in particular.”

Travel Impressions will continue with its current special offers for agents and their customers, and anticipate announcing some specific Mexico offers starting “very soon."

Mexico raised its confirmed death toll from the flu outbreak to 42 from 29, but the government says the worst is over and has eased curbs on commercial and public activity.

“All in all, things appear to be moving back toward normal,” says the Travel Impressions spokesperson. “We certainly hope so.”

Source: Travel Agent Central

President Obamas' Trip to Caribbean

The Summit of the Americas held recently in Trinidad and Tobago brought some extra activity to neighbouring island Barbados. There were a number of US Airforce jets touching down at their airport, which is the hub for all inter island travel. These jets were based in Barbados and travelled between the two islands during the summit.

This activity created an excitement among the locals who trekked to the airport daily during that three day period and the two to three days after as they collected their equipment etc, just to get a glimpse of these aircraft (myself included, I made more trips to the airport in one week than I've made in two years. I managed to get a shot of one of these most excitement creating jets. The sheer power of the engines powering up for take off gave me goose pimples.

It is reported that the President stayed in Barbados during his time in the Caribbean.

Barbados is the most eastern island in the Caribbean, with an area of 430 square kilometres (166 sq miles) with 97 kilometres (60 miles) of coastline. Barbados has a population of about 260,000. It is located at 13.4N, 54.4W. The island, which is less than one million years old, was created by the collision of the Atlantic crustal and Caribbean plates, along with a volcanic eruption. Later coral formed, accumulating to approximately 300 feet. It is geologically unique, being actually two land masses that merged together over the years.

More info Barbados

http://www.funbarbados.com/