Globetrotter Now

Boeing’s new jumbo jet

If you get a chance to visit Emirates Palace be sure to stop by the Emirates Cafe in the Grand Lobby and try their signature coffee offering and one of their amazing sweets as well, you won’t be dissapointed, the service is golden too.

picture of the day……

You can see a whole lot more images right here

Benny’s most travelled Rum!

Now here’s a great example of a Globetrotter!

Our friend Ben has spent the last seven years traveling all over the world as a diving instructor and he’s been to some amazing places and seen some amazing sights.

He recently came back home for a couple of weeks and managed to bring back with him what must be the most travelled bottle of rum this side of the equator.

This lovely drop which is cheaper than bottled water where it comes from in Roatan - Bay of Islands has been lovingly carried all the way back to Australia through thick and thin from:

Laceiba - Honduras to

The Grand Cayman Islands

then over to Jamaica

down to Curacoa in the ABC Islands

over to Columbia and all over the Carribian Coast

next stop: Bolivia, then Argentina,

all the back to New Zealand and then home to

Australia!

That’s the mark of a champion and that’s a sweet tasting Rum. Cheers Benny!

These are the kinds of tales we love, filled with passion, adventure and just a little bit of fun! (or Rum)

Have you got a great travel tale?

We’d love to hear it, so get in touch with us and sumbit your story!

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JETSTAR chief Bruce Buchanan has revealed the budget carrier is making more from in-flight service than ticket sales such as such as cups of coffee, muffins, baggage and special seat charges which works out to being around $24 a passenger.

Mr Buchanan said ancillary revenues had increased from $2-$3 per ticket to the mid-$20s in the space of a few years and were growing “very fast”. This is the second-best result in the world when benchmarked against other carriers. This money goes straight to the bottom line.

“One way to look at it is that if we didn’t have the ancillary revenue we wouldn’t be making any money. We would be losing money,” Mr Buchanan said, in a likely reference to the hurt caused by the rocketing price of jet fuel.

So what does it cost?

Jetstar passengers are charged $4 for a muffin or a small container of Pringles, and $3 for a small bag of M&M chocolates.

A can of Coke costs $3 in-flight, but costs an average of $1.20 in supermarkets in Sydney and Melbourne. Coffee will set you back around $3 - below the national average of $3.20 - and a hot chocolate $4.

Meanwhile the cost of a window seat in the exit row can cost up to $60, while in-flight entertainment can cost $15 and extras such as blankets and pillow $7.

In other developments yesterday Jetstar parent Qantas rolled out its biggest gun - the 7.5 million member Platinum Frequent Flyer program - opening a new front in its war with arch rival Virgin Australia.

The Qantas loyalty program has been revamped to give Jetstar passengers the ability to earn and burn points, a move designed to appeal to the budget-conscious suits market.  A new alliance, like the one Qantas has with Woolworths, has been struck with Optus where its subscribers will be able to generate frequent flyer points.

Qantas chief Alan Joyce said the changes will give the airline a competitive edge on other carriers.

Under the changes Jetstar’s fare structure will change.

StarClass - the carrier’s equivalent of business - will be replaced with a full business product, a move that industry observers say is clearly aimed at Virgin Australia’s attempt to lure small and medium businesses.

And so the Airlines Wars continue.

The Globetrotter Daily offers you the very latest Aviation News from all over the world.

Featuring the latest developments in cutting edge techologies, future seating concepts, Air fare specials, Frequent Flyer Programs, Airline Business news and ticket price specials all at the one reliable place!

Be sure to check it out today.

GLOBETROTTER DAILY

http://www.globetrotterdaily.com/airline-wars-globetrotterdaily/

THE latest evolution in in-flight entertainment allows you to access movies and TV shows from your iPad.

The brainchild of US carrier American Airlines, the new product will allow customers to purchase and wirelessly stream movies and TV shows from an in-flight library to personal WiFi-enabled devices like iPads and laptops during the flight.

Partnering with airline WiFi providers Aircell, they are currently testing the new in-flight video system on two Boeing 767-200 aircrafts in transcontinental service, with plans to begin customer testing in June.

“We know our customers want to be connected on the ground and in the sky, so we are working hard to stay on the leading edge of connectivity through technology enhancements like this,” the airline’s Vice President of Marketing Rob Friedman said.

The in-flight video system will operate using the airline’s existing WiFi connection, enabled by three small antennas installed outside each aircraft which connect to Aircell’s nationwide mobile broadband network.

American Airlines are the first domestic airline in America to test in-flight streaming video content. They launched in-flight WiFi in 2008, and will continue outfitting their domestic planes with WiFi throughout this year.

The airline has previously developed several mobile applications, including an iPhone app that tells you if your flight is equipped with WiFi, and paper-free mobile boarding passes.

 HAVE YOUR SAY: What piece of modern tech could you not do without on your travels? Has new technology changed travel for better or worse?

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In Partnership with American Airlines

A PROPOSED alliance with American Airlines will cut fares to almost two-thirds of US destinations and $700 off the cost of flying to four major ports, Qantas has told the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.  

The airline says its proposed joint business arrangement would also allow a “Walkabout Pass” for those travelling to the US from Australasia on joint Qantas/AA flights.

A table included in the airline’s submission to the ACCC shows Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Indianapolis and Detroit as the cities that would benefit from a $700 reduction on current fares but shows Seattle, Washington DC, New Orleans and Boston as destinations that would see lesser price cuts.

“The refined structure will be simpler to manage and communicate to consumers and trade,” the submission says. “It will result in fare reductions for 64 per cent of US destinations and will allow a broader offering of discounted tactical fares to an increased number of destinations as well as expanded stopover options between gateway cities in the US and end destinations.”

The joint business agreement, flagged in January, would be similar to the long-standing joint services agreement Qantas has enjoyed with British Airways and comes a day after Virgin Australia’s alliance with Delta Air Lines received a provisional tick from the US regulator.

As well as more competitive fares and new products, the airline says the joint business arrangement would allow joint strategic planning and management of services across the Pacific as well as in North America and Australia-New Zealand.  Other benefits would include improved marketing, flight schedules, frequent flyer offering, frequencies and connection times.  Qantas is making its application from a position of competitive strength, with 46 per cent of passenger market between Australia and the US when Jetstar flights to Hawaii are included.

Although Qantas’s market share has fallen from 58 per cent in recent years, it is more than double the 17 per cent expected within two years for the Virgin-Delta alliance and an estimated 22 per cent for United Airlines.  According to AA, it has no intention of entering the route and the airlines argue this means it is not a true competitor and there is no detriment to competition from the deal. They argue that an enhanced relationship is needed to reinvigorate competition and say they would continue the existing codeshare if the alliance is rejected, but it would have “inherent limitations”.

They note also that they would be the only direct carriers on trans-Pacific routes that are not part of an immunised alliance.

“Without immunity, the applicants would continue to act independently and duplicate each other’s marketing and sales effort while offering an inferior network, schedule, capacity and frequent flyer offering and a less efficient procurement process,” it said.  The airline wants the agreement to apply to services between the US and Australia/New Zealand, within the regions and beyond to third countries such as Canada and Mexico.

It said the deal would result in significant benefits to consumers and allow the airlines to maximise the benefits of Qantas services to AA’s major hub at Dallas Fort Worth. Four services a week start from Monday.  Qantas has filed an application for authorisation of the joint business arrangement with the ACCC and will file an application with the New Zealand Minister of Transport. The US Department of Transportation will review the agreement.

At present, Qantas offers 41 scheduled round trip flights a week between Australia-New Zealand and the US.

These include 33 weekly flights to Los Angeles, four weekly flights to Honolulu and the four weekly flights starting next week to Dallas Fort Worth. Qantas also offers six weekly flights to New York via Los Angeles.

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A week on from the fan fare and hype in Australia for the re-branding launch of Virgin Australia. Urban Globetrotter takes an in depth look at the Virgin Australia outlook.

SIR Richard Branson landed last week with a pocket full of notes which he believes are the secret to becoming Australia’s best airline.  His personal assistant has the unenviable task of making sense of the scribbles Sir Richard takes when talking to his staff on flights around the world.

This pocket full of scraps has led him to installing new premium economy seats across the fleet which he believes to be “the most comfortable in the world”, food designed by celebrity chef Luke Mangan and in-flight gadgets galore.  All of which can be found on the airlines new A330-200 and Boeing 737-800.

“I flew in from America this morning and I have a pocket full of notes on little things like the new uniform and how we made it more comfortable,” Mr Branson said at the launch of Virgin Australia. “We make sure all these little things are right for the staff and to make sure they are 100 per cent happy.”

Virgin Australia CEO, John Borghetti, said it is the airline’s crew who decide ultimately what passengers will experience.  “We have consumer feedback, emails, random surveys but one of the most important elements of information is the crew because they see things every day and they know what works and doesn’t and what should be changed,” he said.

“The majority of the changes we have made have come from the crew. “We talk about the cabin interior and making seats bigger and more comfortable, but above all I think what the people want apart from a smooth operation is service – a friendly, genuine, engaging service and that’s something we have got and will continue to provide as we have but step up one more level, which we will,” he said.

Virgin’s much touted new service and “luxury” additions have raised questions about another increase in the cost of airline tickets, but Sir Richard counters with the belief that a better business class offering is the secret to keeping economy travellers happy.

“By capturing the business traveller on Virgin Australia, that will enable us to afford better seats in economy and it we can then also address the fare problem and be more competitive,” he said. So it seems that a premium economy will offset a normal economy when it comes to flight tickets in this very crowded airline market.

John Borghetti has had something of a bumpy journey since he took the helm of Virgin Blue last year, with Queensland’s floods and cyclone, stratospheric jet fuel prices, flight delays and regulatory rejections making for a challenging start to his tenure. It does seem that finally the pieces of his strategy are falling into place.

A key plank of the Borghetti strategy of shifting his airline – rebranded Virgin Australia last week – slightly up-market to compete with Qantas for business travellers has been to create a virtual international network through alliances with other, bigger carriers. There are a number of rationales for the strategy, which is broadly aimed at boosting the volumes and importantly the yields of passengers carried on its domestic network, which today is too heavily oriented to the leisure end of the market in massive competition with Tiger Airways and badly over-exposed to the Queensland market. Virgin needs premium airlines in Asia so that it can provide corporate travellers with a network that links Australia to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo.

 ASIAN FOCUS

Its plans for Asia could include tie-ups with several airlines. The Virgin Australia chief executive John Borghetti said the deal’s approval allowed Virgin to focus on the last plank of its international strategy aimed at cementing alliance partners in Asia by the end of this year.

VIRGIN Australia will step up efforts to find airline partners in Asia after finally securing the rights to form an alliance with Delta Air Lines on the Australia-US route.  In a timely boost for the Australian airline, the US air regulator has reversed its decision to block the joint venture with Delta because the airlines had made ”substantial changes” to their initial application. Virgin made a ”very small profit” on the Australia-US route in the first half of this financial year, but Mr Borghetti hinted that it had fallen back into the red since fuel prices soared early this year.

The deal is part of Virgin’s strategy to snare a bigger share of the corporate travel market from Qantas.

There is a gap in Virgin Australia’s coverage, which Borghetti freely acknowledges. He needs at least one more alliance of some kind in Asia. He says there will be something in place before the end of this calendar year.   ”Right now what we are focused on is bilateral alliances. The only part missing is Asia,” he said.

Industry insiders consider Malaysia Airlines or Japan’s All Nippon Airways as likely alliance partners. Singapore Airlines would be the best bedfellow but is less likely, especially with the new announcement of Qantas’ intentions to set up a rival premium Asian Airline.

Qantas, of course, through its Jetstar brands, has a big head-start on Virgin Blue in Asia, with one of the bigger and faster-growing networks in the region. At the very least Borghetti would want to be able to shadow some of Jetstar and Qantas’s more important routes into and within Asia.

ALLIANCES

From its original launch Virgin Blue’s strategy has been to try to have a presence on as many of Qantas’ profitable or strategically valuable routes as it can across the pacific.

The alliance with Air New Zealand, however, (an alliance initially opposed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which subsequently changed its stance) also allows the allies to co-operate to manage capacity better and improve the economics of an over-serviced route.

A similar relationship, for similar reasons, with Delta Air Lines on the trans-Pacific route was also rejected by the US Department of Transportation on anti-trust grounds, before it, too, changed its mind. Today Virgin Blue announced the department planned to grant the allies anti-trust immunity.

Yet another alliance with Etihad Airways, has had a smoother passage, perhaps because Virgin had no capacity on the Australia-Middle East-Europe routes that Etihad flies.

With its three alliances now approved (the US approval needs a final confirmation) Borghetti ought to get some synergies from the trans-Tasman and trans-Pacific co-operation but he now has alliances that connect his business to both Europe and North America – the deal with Delta will give him access to more than 200 destinations in the Americas.

Virgin Australia will be able to connect its passengers with Delta and Etihad’s and Air NZ’s networks and enable them to earn frequent flyer point, and vice verse. Now that it has the right to use the Virgin brand for its international services, Virgin Australia has significantly increased the potential of its trans-Pacific operations and can really step up the fight against its bigger and financially more powerful competitor Qantas as Virgin is a highly recognised brand in North America. Borghetti it should be remembered is a Qantas veteran and knows his competitor inside out. By seeking to add another dimension to the basic strategy and use an up-market international product he is hitting Qantas right where it hurts.

The Qantas international frequent flyer program is highly profitable and if Virgin can offer a similar program across its new alliances and a re-worked domestic product to boost his volumes of business class travellers it will undermine the yield premium Qantas enjoys because of its dominance of the business segment.

It may take some time, but even relatively modest shifts in business travel market share could have quite material effects on Virgin Blue, and Qantas. Which as promised, will ultimately lead to better Airline ticket prices for all Virgin Australia customers.

The New Virgin Australia at a glance:

• New look Aircraft Inside and out.

• Upgraded Premium Seating, Gourmet Menu, Uniforms and In-flight Entertainment.

• Remodelled Premium Lounges and Limousine services.

• New Expanded International Routes through Alliances.

• Improved customer services and ammenities.

So how does this fit with you? Some have called this latest move the last throw of the dice for Virgin in Australia, who have been in financial trouble for some time.  Will you be tempted back to Virgin Australia for extra amenities even if you have to pay a little more?

What are your thoughts? Just drop us an email at: urbanglobetrotter@gmail.com

To read more unique travel stories from Paul Blazey have a look at the Urban Globetrotter Blog http://dld.bz/ZrBK

or Join the conversation over on Twitter!

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