Airfares / Air Travel

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Comment by Cessy Meacham on March 9, 2010 at 12:00am

Low airfares that vanish in a click!!! the story of my Life, I received calls from frustrated travelers trying to book fares that vanished or never existed all day long, buying a ticket in the first 5 minutes of search, perhaps is not the smartest thing to do unless you are buying a ticket under $150.00 , round trip with all taxes and fees included,
9 out of 10 requests , we (travel agents) can find the same or better options for our clients in our systems , we can see all options in one screeen and can hold the seats for our clients at least until the end of the day (midnight) to help them plan and continue with hotel or car rentals. Use a travel professional and travel confident that you paid the best available. Then enjoy your "Voyage".

Comment by Jose Balido on March 6, 2010 at 8:39am

Ever try to buy a low airfare online, and before you know it, the airfare shot up? It's happened to me.... and apparently more than a few others. Check out Christopher Elliott's Low airfares that vanish in a click on CNN.com.

Comment by Jose Balido on March 3, 2010 at 11:49am

United Airlines begins its first-ever nonstop service to Africa with service to Accra on June 20, 2010.

Comment by David Lawrence on February 21, 2010 at 2:20pm

Did anyone see this article on nytimes.com?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/business/21service.html?emc=eta1
At one point have you decided you'll no longer fly: 400-mile trips? 800-mile trips?
And if we can have peace and harmony between consumers and manufacturers of electronics, why can't airlines and passengers? Also, how do you think this will all end?

Comment by Max Pesling on February 20, 2010 at 3:37pm

Good one the other night from late-night host Jimmy Fallon:

"Boston's Logan Airport will soon be offering free Wi-Fi to all its passengers.

And in related news, Newark Airport will soon be offering flights."

Comment by Tripatini on February 19, 2010 at 8:33pm

What's your vote for best airport ever? Here are the results of the Routes Airport Marketing Awards:

Best airports crowned at the first 2010 regional heat of the Routes Airport Marketing Awards

(Forimmediaterelease.net) Routes on Monday celebrated the first regional heat of this year’s Airport Marketing Awards and announced the winners for the Americas region. The trophies were presented at the prestigious gala dinner of the 3rd Routes Americas – the only network planning event for all the Americas – where up to 300 delegates enjoyed the celebrations at the beautiful Museo Pedro De Osma in Lima.

Winners were chosen from three categories: North America, Central America/Caribbean, and South America. While Edmonton International Airport picked up an award for best airport in North America, Aruba – Queen Beatrix International Airport scooped in the Central America/Caribbean category. Quito International Airport was crowned best of its kind in South America.

The overall winner for the entire Americas region is Edmonton International Airport.

Carol Hutchins, the airport’s director of Air Service Development, said on the achievement: “We are so pleased. We have implemented a lot of really unique innovative ideas that not only recognized our partners, but also our destinations and our community. I think the combination of those and some good cost-saving ideas for our airline partners has helped in winning the award.”

The airport will now automatically be shortlisted for the World Awards, to be held at World Routes, which takes place in Vancouver from September 19-21 this year. There they will compete against winners from the other regional Routes events: Routes Asia (Adelaide, April 18-20), Routes Europe (Toulouse, May 9-11), Routes Africa (Swaziland, May 30 - June 1), and Routes CIS (Kharkiv, June 7-9).

Voting for the Routes Americas Airport Marketing Awards started in mid-January and was open for two weeks. During this period, airlines nominated their preferred airports on Routesonline using criteria such as the airport’s market research activities and marketing communications activities. The shortlisted airports then had to submit a case study to support their nominations to the judging panel.

Roll call of winners:

• North America
Winner: Edmonton International Airport
Highly Commended: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Southwest International Airport

• Central America/Caribbean
Winner: Aruba – Queen Beatrix International Airport
Highly Commended: Curacao-Hato International Airport

• South America
Winner: Quito International Airport
Highly Commended: Lima Airport Partners

• Overall Winner
Edmonton International Airport

Comment by Tripatini on February 12, 2010 at 1:37pm

How Sweet! AirTran Airways Unveils a Special Little Debbie Plane to Celebrate 50 Years of Snack Cakes

- Airline Rolls Out 'Scrumptious' Plane for Company's Anniversary -

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AirTran Airways, a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: AAI), today celebrated Little Debbie's 50th anniversary by launching a one-of-a-kind, custom-designed Boeing 717, dubbed Little Debbie 1. Flight 931, the inaugural flight, will depart from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport at 12:24 p.m. to Jacksonville, Fla., today.

As part of the 50th anniversary, AirTran Airways and Little Debbie are giving away 50 vacation packages in conjunction with The Great American Getaway sweepstakes. Each vacation package includes roundtrip airfare for two to anywhere AirTran flies in the continental United States, two nights at a Holiday Inn hotel, rental car for two days and a $200 cash card. Sweepstakes ends May 31, 2010. For more details and the chance to win, visit www.littledebbie.com. AirTran is also offering $10 vouchers toward travel on Little Debbie packaging during this promotion period.

"Not only are we commemorating Little Debbie's golden anniversary today, but we're also giving away 50 vacation packages as part of The Great American Getaway," said Tad Hutcheson, vice president of marketing and sales for AirTran Airways. "Little Debbie has been a fantastic partner to work with and values a key attribute we here at AirTran Airways do as well– quality."

In addition to The Great American Getaway, AirTran Airways and Little Debbie will announce the winner of the Little Debbie Look-A-Like Contest at the AirTran Airways Atlanta maintenance hangar. The 10 finalists will help unveil Little Debbie 1, and the winner will be chosen by a panel of judges. The winner will receive a $5,000 scholarship and other prizes.

"Little Debbie is proud to partner with AirTran Airways to celebrate our 50th Anniversary," said Chris McKee, EVP Sales & Marketing for McKee Foods. "This specially designed AirTran Airways Boeing 717 aircraft – Little Debbie 1 – flying all over the country is a fantastic way to launch our next 50 years as America's favorite snack cake."

Comment by Tripatini on February 12, 2010 at 10:57am

Spirit Airlines Ensures Transparency with New Fuel Cost Breakout

Already the Low Fare Leader, Spirit Becomes the Transparency Leader by Providing Customers Detail about Fuel Usage Cost, Delivering the Fairest Fare in the Air

MIRAMAR, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Spirit Airlines today announced an innovative approach to ensure transparency in fuel costs, making sure customers know how much of their fare is fuel cost. Customers will now have this important information available to make smart travel decisions. For example, when a fare is $137 and fuel makes up $78 of that fare, customers can decide if the remaining $59 makes this a good time to buy.

“With this new approach, our customers will see exactly what they are paying for in fuel rather than guessing. We are not just the low fare leader, but now also the transparency leader.”

Beginning today, customers can visit www.spiritair.com/howmuchismyfuel to see how much of their ticket is for the fuel to cover their trip. Spirit provides a table that illustrates the amount of fuel used for various trip lengths, the current price of fuel and how much this translates per one-way passenger.

Spirit saves customers millions of dollars a year through its low fares, and some of this savings comes from its highly efficient fleet. Thanks to these modern Airbus aircraft, Spirit is among the most fuel-efficient airlines per seat in the Americas. For example, Spirit’s Airbus A319 is over 30 percent more efficient per passenger than a McDonnell Douglas MD80 with 136 seats.¹ Spirit passes these savings on to our customers in the form of lower fares. Spirit’s miles per gallon per passenger is not only among the best in the airline industry, but compares well against some of the most fuel efficient cars on the road today. This allows customers to be green and price conscious at the same time.

“Everyone sees the effect of oil price movements when they fill up their car, but rarely do customers have any idea how much of their fare is comprised of fuel cost,” said Barry Biffle, Spirit Airlines Chief Marketing Officer. “With this new approach, our customers will see exactly what they are paying for in fuel rather than guessing. We are not just the low fare leader, but now also the transparency leader.”

*Assumes Spirit Airbus A319 at 80% load factor. For the mileage range of up to 399, 200 miles is used to calculate the average fuel burn, and for each of the other mileage ranges, the lowest number of the range is used.

**U.S. Gulf Coast kerosene type jet fuel prices according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration – www.eia.gov.

***Distribution, handling, security, federal excise taxes, etc.

For details on this exciting new approach, visit www.spiritair.com/howmuchismyfuel.

¹Source: Spirit Airlines operation of MD80 aircraft through 2006.

About Spirit Airlines

Spirit Airlines (www.spiritair.com) is the largest Ultra Low Cost Carrier (ULCC) in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. As the unbundling leader in the industry, Spirit allows consumers the option of paying only for the features they value without subsidizing the choices of others. Its all-Airbus fleet, the youngest in the Americas, flies more than 150 daily flights to 40 destinations. The company is based in South Florida.

Comment by Colin J. Holden on February 3, 2010 at 8:08pm

I will be on assignment in Europe between May 10 and May 30 attending the Institute of Travel & Meetings Annual Conference at Chelsea FC, Stamford Bridge, London, England (May12 & 13) and the IMEX 2010 Incentive Travel, Meetings & Events Exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany (May 25, 26 & 27). I am looking to fill my schedule in the time between these two events (May 14-24) covering a number of business travel; meetings, incentives, conventions & events topics. I already have some tentative plans in Liverpool, London, Paris and Frankfurt – if anyone has any assignment suggestions or “must see” recommendations related to business travel or meetings, incentives, conventions & events topics please let me know…

Comment by David Paul Appell on January 21, 2010 at 12:56pm

I'm curious to know what people think about this latest brouhaha involving obese passengers, now that Air France/KLM has clarified its new policy. As per Reuters, AF "said that from Feb 1. overweight passengers who had freely chosen to buy an extra seat for comfort would get their money back on flights that were not fully booked."

The report also noted:

"Southwest Airlines and United Airlines have a policy where "oversize" people need to buy a second seat and can claim a refund if the plane is not full. This followed complaints from adjacent passengers."

Do you think this kind of policy addresses the issue sufficiently?

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