Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Thanksgiving Travel Smooth as Gravy and Mashed Potatoes

The rumors of Thanksgiving holiday travel problems turned out to be greatly exaggerated as most airports ran smoothly over the holiday and travelers mostly made it home from Thanksgiving without incident.

AP Reports on a happily uneventful Thanksgiving Travel Season

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Akron Airport Blog

Kudos to Akron Canton (CAK) Airport in Ohio for their new blog that features news and information about the airport. Very few airports have taken this important step to help keep customers informed and allow quick and easy information flow about their airport developments and ongoing airport issues and airport news.

Blogging is an easy and inexpensive way to connect airports to the traveling public and Akron Canton is to be commended as one of the first airports to have a blog!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Travel Quiz at CNN

CNN has a good business traveler quiz to test your city by city knowlege of the world. How may pubs in London? Is Seoul Korea bigger than Mexico City? What percentage of England's pubs are in London?

Thursday, September 06, 2007

China to hire 9000 more pilots by 2010

The spectacular growth of the Chinese economy and travel sector will fuel huge growth in pilot training and hiring. Reuters reports a predicted shortfall of 2000 pilots by 2010 as China's Airline industy continues the explosive growth that may make eventually make Asia the capital of travel and commerce.

Here's the China official travel website. Wow, do they ever need an SEO person on board!

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Customs Forms

Here's a great article by Travel and Leisure Magazine about the customs form changes that may impact international travelers.

Lucille Cirillo, CBP regarding the new customs agency and post 9/11 concerns:

"customs concerns shifted from restricting the illegal flow of goods to safeguarding our national borders against terrorist threats."

The U.S. flat duty rate, applied to the first $1,000 of imported goods beyond the standard exemption, is now only 3%. So ... if you were used to higher import duties on some items check to see if you now can import them at the lower rates.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Farecast launches Hotel Search

Yahoo's clever Farecast is a good way to search for airline tickets and today they launched a hotel feature. The site is down as of 11:50 pm PST but I assume it'll be up tomorrow. Farecast offers the user detailed search capabilities and a neat feature that predicts whether rates are going up or down for airline tickets.

In my opinion no single site offers "great" travel search capabilities. The best approach to get the best deals is to use check several sites that use multiple fares. Kayak.com, Orbitz.com, and Farecast are three such sites. If the rate seems "great", take it. If not keep looking until you find a "great" rate or have exausted your search energy.

Note that the best rates for a given property are often at Hotwire or Priceline where you can't pick the hotel. At Priceline you bid and hope to "hit" at a low number, at Hotwire, which I prefer, you get prices but not the name of the hotel. My experiences using Hotwire, mostly in Bay Area, have been exceptional. My average rate on about 10 nights total using Hotwire has been $50 where the hotels I've enjoyed would usually run $100-$175 nightly.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Transportation Security Administration TSA

The TSA here in the USA has a very big job. They are charged with protecting the millions of travelers who travel daily in, out, and around the country.

All travelers should spend at least a few minutes getting familiar with security basics here at the TSA "for travelers" web page here. Most important is managing your liquids, toothpaste and other gels using the 3-1-1 rule.

Overall the TSA website suffers from the typical bureaucratic challenges of telling people much more than they need or want to know about the organization while leaving key details about travel too thinly discussed. TSA is a place where it would be very advantageous to have a blog team with access to up to the minute information about delays, lines, airport and airline security information and then post up to the minute on their blog to help travelers with access get around.

An example of "travel inefficiencies" that create lose-lose situations came up Thursday on our trip home from PHL Philadelphia. We wanted to visit the shopping/dining section of PHL because we had several hours to kill, but because of the odd setup at PHL this would have required us to either stand in a HUGE line for D concourse and then find a way to C concourse vs walking in to E (with no line!) which was where we needed to be to leave. I'm sure if I knew the place inside out I could have used the bus system more effectively, but given that PHL so heavily promotes the shopping and dining area you'd think they'd arrange things such that you could easily hang out there without worrying about missing a flight. The discrepancy in line length was odd as well and I've seen this very often. TSA seems to use humans where machines would be better and perhaps vica versa. As Thomas Edison pointed out -- there is a better way - find it (please...!).

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Top Ten Airports for domestic travel, first quarter

US DOT has released first quarter data about domestic travel from US Airports, and the top three airports are Atlanta - ATL, Chicago ORD, and Dallas DFW. Denver DIA was fourth with a whopping 5% increase in travel through Denver International.




1
Atlanta 8.720 1 8.867 -1.7
2 Chicago - O'Hare 7.181 2 7.345 -2.2
3 Dallas - Fort Worth 6.055 3 6.131 -1.2
4 Denver 5.367 4 5.114 4.9
5 Las Vegas 4.974 5 4.934 0.8
6 Los Angeles International 4.962 6 4.855 2.2
7 Phoenix 4.894 7 4.841 1.1
8 Houston - Bush 4.074 9 4.000 1.9
9 Orlando 4.032 8 4.039 -0.2
10 Minneapolis - St. Paul 3.699 10 3.727 -0.7

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

UK and Ireland Travel Tips

Cheapflights UK has a nice series of travel tips for the UK and Ireland. Their list of travel tips is here.

One idea is to consider regional airports. Here's their list for UK and Ireland Regionals with information at the links:
US Regional Airports can also be a good way to get closer to your destination. You'll want to factor in several things when considering flying from/ to a regional airport rather than major ones:

* Generally, flying in and out of regionals is more expensive. There are exceptions however, and especially with pricing specials you won't add much to the trip.

* Regional travel may subtract a car leg or add a flight leg. My personal preference is driving for a few hours rather than flying for one hour plus check in times, etc. I've seen people plan trips where they wind up flying very short distances and probably would have been happier and more comfortable driving a bit extra. On the other hand if flying to the regional airport costs the same and avoids a rental car or extra time you may save time and money. Some folks hate big city driving and Regional Airports can be a great way to avoid that when your destination is not a big city.

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Travel Tips from Paul Kedrosky

Paul Kedrosky has an insightful blog, usually about biz, but Paul offered up some great travel tips last year. Here are are few from his blog post (Paul stuff in italics).

When going through airport security avoid lines containing vehicles (i.e., infants in strollers, or oldsters in wheelchairs). Both tend to be highly unpredictable.

(Whoops - actually I don't agree with this one - better to count people in the line since chairs take up more space and get through faster in general due to priorities for the TSA folks)

Print your boarding pass at home/office before the flight. Automated terminals at airport tendly, preventing you from getting on a flight that you could have otherwise made.

EXCELLENT TIP - learn how to PRINT YOUR PASSES !

Look to the front of Customs lines to find ones sharing officers. Entry in Vancouver, Canada, is the best example, where the far left station shares offices were with two and sometimes three other people. You can have huge lines, and still get through faster there.

Get a seat early via the phone, and then ask for another seat at airport.

There are often power outlets at hidden seats behind the check-in counter.

You can often get free WiFi by sitting on your suitcase outside airlines' premium lounges.

Provide short, monosyllabic, and polite answers to Customs Officers' questions. Be sure to smile that wan, just-landed-after-a-12-hour-flight smile the whole time.

Always ask when renting cars if the outlet is at the airport. Not all airlines companies maintain airport offices at all airports, and discovering that during a last-minute, unexpected bus ride is a giant pain-in-the-ass.


NOTE that you may need to allow up to an hour to return your car and make it back to Airport when the return building is far away, as with BWI.

I'd add that airport stays do not have to be stressful and painful. Have some fun. If you travel regularly to a particular Airport get to know it better, find a few nice restaurants or lounges that you like. If your flights don't line up perfectly (as is usual) just take some "down time" for a nice meal, catching up on email, or idle web surfing. You can have a good time even when the surroundings are stressful if you focus on things you do regularly and enjoyably.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Air Travel - prohibited items. Brass knuckles to checked baggage please...

When you pack for your next airplane trip it's a good idea to quickly scan the TSA list of prohibited items. As a general rule you'll want to pack things in your checked luggage rather than your carry-on because the rules are less restrictive.

I was very surprised how many things are allowed in checked baggage. Billy Clubs, Brass Knuckles, and Nanchukas are all OK !? Generally you'll want to keep any flammable items at home.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Airline Phone Numbers

This is an old list but most should still be correct. Note almost all of these Airlines have toll free numbers. I'll try to update this soon with the many new discount airlines cropping up all over the world:

A O M French Airlines ....... 800-892-9136
Access Air .................. 877-462-2237
Aces ........................ 800-846-2237
Action Air Lines ............ 800-243-8623
Aer Lingus .................. 800-223-6537
Aero California ............. 800-237-6225
Aeroejecutivo SA-DE-CV ...... 800-735-5396
Aeroflot .................... 800-995-5555
Aeroflot Cargo Sales ........ 800-506-5544
Aerolineas Argentinas ....... 800-333-0276
Aeromar ..................... 800-950-0747
Aeromexico .................. 800-237-6639
Aeropostal .................. 888-912-8466
Air Afrique ................. 800-456-9192
Air Antillean ............... 800-327-7230
Air ALM ..................... 800-327-7197
Air Aruba ................... 800-882-7822
Air Aurora .................. 800-443-0478
Air Caledonia ............... 800-677-4277
Air Canada .................. 800-630-3299
Air China ................... 800-986-1985
Air Cruise America .......... 800-359-3237
Air Europa .................. 888-238-7672
Air Fiji .................... 800-677-4277
Air France .................. 800-237-2747
Air Guadeloupe .............. 800-522-3394
Air India ................... 800-223-7776
Air Inter-French Airlines ... 800-237-2747
Air Jamaica ................. 800-523-5585
Air Montreal ................ 800-561-4270
Air Madagascar .............. 800-821-3388
Air Margarita ............... 800-326-0339
Air Mauritius ............... 800-537-1182
Air Metro ................... 800-871-1000
Air Moldova International ... 800-445-3866
Air Namibia ................. 800-361-6210
Air Nauru ................... 800-998-6287
Air Nevada .................. 800-634-6377
Air New Zealand ............. 800-262-1234
Air North Airlines .......... 800-764-0407
Air Pacific ................. 800-227-4446
Air Panama .................. 800-272-6262
Air Paraguay ................ 800-677-7771
Air Sedona .................. 800-535-4448
Air Seychelles .............. 800-677-4277
Air Sunshine ................ 800-327-8900
Air Trails .................. 800-245-9100
AirTran Airways ............. 800-AIR-TRAN
Air UK ...................... 800-249-2478
Air Ukraine ................. 800-857-2463
Air Virginia ................ 800-446-7834
Air Vantage ................. 800-279-9383
Air Vanuatu ................. 800-677-4277
Air Vegas ................... 800-255-7474
Air Wisconsin ............... 800-241-6522
Air Zaire ................... 800-442-5114
Air Zimbabwe ................ 800-742-3006
Airatlantic Airlines ........ 800-223-5552
Airianka .................... 800-421-9898
Alaska Airlines ............. 800-426-0333
Alliance Air ................ 800-237-4226
Alitalia .................... 800-223-5730
All Nippon Airways .......... 800-235-9262
Aloha Air ................... 800-367-5250
Ambassadair ................. 800-225-9919
America West Airlines ....... 800-235-9292
American Airlines ........... 800-433-7300
American Trans Air .......... 800-225-2995
Amerijet International Inc. . 305-593-5500
Ansett Australia Airlines ... 800-366-1300
Asiana Airlines ............. 800-227-4262
Atkin Air ................... 800-924-2471
Atlantic Airlines ........... 800-879-0000
Atlas Air ................... 800-462-2012
Austrian Airlines ........... 800-843-0002
Avensa/Servivensa Airlines .. 800-428-3672
Avianca ..................... 800-284-2622
Aviateca Guatemala .......... 800-535-4148
Avioimpex - Interimpex ...... 800-713-2622
B A S Airlines .............. 800-245-3248
Bahamas Air ................. 800-222-4262
Balair/CTA .................. 800-322-5247
Balkan Bulgarian Airlines ... 800-852-0944
Baltic Intl Airlines ........ 800-548-8181
Bemidji Airlines ............ 800-332-7133
Big Sky Airlines ............ 800-237-7788
Blue Pacific Air ............ 800-600-0082
Branson Airlines ............ 800-442-4247
British Airways ............. 800-247-9297
British Midland ............. 800-788-0555
Buffalo Airways ............. 800-268-2944
Business Express Airlines ... 800-345-3400
BWIA International .......... 800-327-7401
Canada 3000 ................. 888-226-3000
Canadian Air Intl ........... 800-426-7000
Cape Air .................... 800-352-0714
Casino Airlines ............. 888-227-1177
Cathay Pacific Airways ...... 800-233-2742
Cayman Airways .............. 800-441-3003
Century Airlines ............ 800-541-0410
Chart Air San Juan .......... 800-237-1101
Chautauqua Airlines ......... 800-428-4322
China Airlines .............. 800-227-5118
China Eastern Airlines ...... 800-200-5118
Citybird .................... 888-248-9247
Colgan Air .................. 800-272-5488
Comair ...................... 800-354-9822
Condor ...................... 800-524-6975
Conquest Airlines ........... 800-722-0860
Continental Airlines ........ 800-525-0280
Copa Airlines ............... 800-892-2672
Corporate Airlines .......... 800-555-6565
Corporate EXPRESS - Canada .. 800-661-8151
Corsair ..................... 800-677-0720
Croatia Airlines ............ 800-247-5353
Cyprus Airways .............. 800-333-2977
Czech Airlines .............. 800-223-2365
Delta Air Lines ............. 800-221-1212
DHL WorldWide Express ....... 800-225-5345
Direct Air .................. 800-428-0706
East Coast Flight Services .. 800-554-0550
East-West Airlines .......... 800-354-7471
Ecuatoriana ................. 800-328-2367
Egyptair .................... 800-334-6787
El Al Israel Airlines ....... 800-223-6700
Emery Worldwide ............. 800-367-3592
Emirates Air ................ 800-777-3999
Ethiopian Air (Eastern USA).. 800-445-2733
Ethiopian -Midwest & West)... 800-433-9677
Euram ....................... 800-555-3872
EVA Airways ................. 800-695-1188
Evergreen International ..... 800-345-5556
Faucett Peru Airline ........ 800-334-3356
Fine Airlines ............... 800-923-9222
Finnair ..................... 800-950-5000
Frontier Airlines ........... 800-432-1359
Garuda Indonesia ............ 800-342-7832
Grand Aire Express .......... 800-70-GRAND
Great Lakes Airlines ........ 800-554-5112
Gulf Air .................... 800-553-2824
Gulfstream Intl Airlines .... 800-992-8532
Guyana Airways .............. 800-242-4210
Harbor Airlines ............. 800-359-3220
Hawaiian Airlines ........... 800-367-5320
Horizon Air ................. 800-547-9308
Iberia ...................... 800-772-4642
Icelandair .................. 800-223-5500
Island Air .................. 800-323-3345
Island Airlines ............. 800-248-7779
Japan Airlines .............. 800-525-3663
Jet Express Exec Charter .... 800-806-8833
Jet South ................... 800-538-7688
Kenya Airways ............... 800-343-2506
KLM ......................... 800-374-7747
Korean Air .................. 800-438-5000
Kuwait Airways .............. 800-458-9248
Lacsa Costa Rica ............ 800-225-2272
LanChile Airlines ........... 800-735-5526
Lauda Airlines .............. 800-645-3880
Leading Air Logistics ....... 800-552-5323
LIAT ........................ 800-468-0482
Lloyd Aereo Boliviano ....... 800-327-3098
Lone Star Airlines .......... 800-877-3932
LTU International ........... 800-888-0200
Lufthansa ................... 800-645-3880
Lynx Air International ...... 888-LYNX-AIR
Malaysia .................... 800-552-9264
Malev Hungarian ............. 800-223-6884
Mark Air .................... 800-627-5247
Martinair Holland ........... 800-627-8462
Mesa Airlines ............... 800-637-2247
Mesaba Airlines ............. 800-225-2525
Mexicana .................... 800-531-7921
Middle East ................. 800-664-7310
Midway Airlines ............. 800-446-4392
Midwest Express Airlines .... 800-452-2022
Miles Above ................. 800-469-6453
Mohawk Airlines ............. 800-252-2144
Nantucket Airlines .......... 800-635-8787
National Airlines ........... 888-757-5387
Nations Air ................. 800-883-5987
New England Airlines ........ 800-243-2460
Nica Airlines ............... 800-831-6422
North Vancouver Air ......... 800-228-6608
Northwest Airlines .......... 800-225-2525
Olympic Airways ............. 800-223-1226
Pacific Coastal Airlines .... 800-663-2872
Pakistan Intl Airline ....... 800-221-2552
Pan Am ...................... 800-359-7262
Pan-Am Air Bridge ........... 800-424-2557
Penair ...................... 800-448-4226
Philippine Airlines ......... 800-435-9725
Polish Air-Lot .............. 800-223-0593
Polynesian Airlines ......... 800-677-4277
Proair ...................... 800-939-9551
Qantas Airways .............. 800-227-4500
Reeve Aleutian Airways ...... 800-544-2248
Reno Air .................... 800-736-6247
Rover Airways Intl .......... 800-828-4668
Royal Air Maroc ............. 800-344-6726
Royal Jordanian Airlines..... 800-223-0470
Royal Nepal ................. 800-266-3725
Royal Tonga ................. 800-486-6426
Ryan International Airways .. 800-727-0457
Sabena ...................... 800-955-2000
Saro Airlines ............... 800-538-7276
SAS Scandinavian Airlines ... 800-221-2350
Saudia Arabian Airlines ..... 800-472-8342
Scenic Airlines ............. 800-634-6801
Shuttle America ............. 888-999-3273
Silk Air .................... 800-745-5247
Singapore Airlines .......... 800-742-3333
Sky Bus ..................... 800-755-9287
Skywest Airlines ............ 800-453-9417
Solomon Airlines ............ 800-677-4277
South African ............... 800-722-9675
Southern Air Transport ...... 800-898-4110
Southwest Airlines .......... 800-435-9792
Spanair ..................... 888-545-5757
Spirit Airline .............. 800-772-7117
SriLankan ................... 800-247-5265
Sun Country Airlines ........ 800-752-1218
Sunflower Airlines, Fiji .... 800-707-3454
Suriname Airways ............ 800-327-6864
Swissair .................... 800-221-4750
TACA Airlines ............... 800-535-8780
TAP Air Portugal ............ 800-221-7370
Thai Air .................... 800-426-5204
Tower Air ................... 800-221-2500
Transbrasil ................. 800-872-3153
Trans International Express . 888-244-8922
Trans-Jamaican Airlines ..... 800-263-4354
Travelair ................... 800-948-3770
Tropic Air .................. 800-422-3435
Turkish Airlines ............ 800-874-8875
Turks and Caicos Airway ..... 800-845-2161
TWA ......................... 800-221-2000
TW Express .................. 800-221-2000
Ukraine Intl Airlines ....... 800-876-0114
United Airlines ............. 800-241-6522
US Airways .................. 800-428-4322
USAir Shuttle ............... 800-428-4322
USA Jet Airlines ............ 800-872-5387
Vanguard Airlines ........... 800-826-4827
Varig ....................... 800-468-2744
Vasp Brazilian Airlines ..... 800-433-0444
Viasa International Airways . 800-327-4470
Vietnam Airlines ............ 800-565-2742
Virgin Atlantic ............. 800-862-8621
Vision Air .................. 888-4VISAIR
WestJet Airlines ............ 800-538-5696
World Airways ............... 800-967-5350
Yemen Airways ............... 800-936-3642
YTA Freniva ................. 800-382-4484
Yugoslav Airlines ........... 800-752-6528
Zambia Airways .............. 800-223-1136

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Wizz Air Announces Summer Fare discounts

Wizz Air is a major provider of discounted flights throughout Europe including Hungary, Poland, and much of eastern Europe. They've announced discounts off their usual low fares so if you are planning travel to Europe this season check out the Wizz Air map here to see if they cover your destination cities.