An Angry Flyer has been frustrated by the way Qantas trades frequent flyer points for excess baggage charges, and to be fair to Qantas, it is also struggling with the issues involved. His complaint: I was wondering if you would be able to look into/shed light on Qantas’s policy re their treatment of Additional Baggage [...]
Viva Macau has a hotline for refunds to Australian travellers caught up by its grounding by the Macau authorities last Sunday. That number is 1300 363 044 The airline says it made nearly 1700 full refunds yesterday. For those stranded overseas the contact numbers are: Macau 853-28718880 or 853-28718883 Vietnam +84 42260 6688 Indonesia +62213926932 [...]
Something unique is about to disappear at Sydney Airport. There are only 13 weeks left before Airside Tarmac Tours closes on June 30, on the expiry of its commercial licence with the airport’s owners. No-where else in the world can the public access a major gateway airport on a sight seeing excursion into areas you [...]
While we are accustomed to beautiful photos of Boeing airliners flying past Mt Rainier and over the North Cascades and Olympic peaks and glaciers, similarly alpine images of Airbus jets are rare. And this image, possibly taken from one of the two Swiss Air Force FA18 Hornets involved in this rendevous with the Engine Alliance [...]
March 29, 2010 – 10:35 am
Low cost carrier Viva Macau has run out of money and its operations have been suspended by the Macau government. About 300 people are stranded at Macau airport and there are reports that a further 650 travellers originating from nearby Hong Kong have been told to make other arrangements. Viva Macau recently ended its Sydney [...]
Virgin Blue carried 1,260,000 passengers in February, only 4000 less than Qantas mainline domestic. However direct comparisons need qualification in that Virgin Blue competes against all the Qantas domestic brands including Jetstar and Qantaslink. It has jets in places like Coffs Harbour where Qantas only flies turboprops, and has selectively invaded other regional turbo-prop routes [...]
This outburst in a Congressional hearing is a sign of serious concerns in the general US media over the JSF situation. You need to go to the post on Stephen Trimble’s blog, The DEW Line, to access this particular YouTube, and its well worth exploring his other recent reports. It coincides with a sharp rise [...]
The pain of crushed kneecaps can almost be felt reading this morning’s ASX notification of Qantas group operating statistics for February. As already pointed out with attempted irony in Crikey, a significant measure of the changing nature of mass air travel was achieved by Jetstar, which logged exactly half as many domestic customers as full [...]
Australian research into pilot fatigue resulting from sleep deprivation features prominently in a CBC investigation into a serious of fatal regional airline crashes in Canada which premiered in that country overnight. The obvious question is, why haven’t Australian carriers, and the safety regulator CASA, yet applied that research to pilot fatigue issues in this country? [...]
March 23, 2010 – 12:42 pm
Those who like to query the self-interest that is inherent in press releases might find the American Express communiqué on the ‘new normal’ in business travel worth a closer look. The ‘new normal’ isn’t nice. It’s ‘cheapest fare of the day’, it’s a Novotel not a Sofitel, and it’s Jetstar not Qantas. It’s good for [...]
