Musings of The Global Traveller

How to get to | Liechtenstein

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:11:00 +0000

Liechtenstein

Source: Carl Rogers

Liechtenstein can easily be reached by road or rail from neighbouring Austria and Switzerland, or by bus from Switzerland. There is no airport in the country but Zurich is only about 40 miles (60 km) away.

TIP Driving is the easiest way to visit Liechtenstein.

How to get to | Algeria

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:53:00 +0000

Source: Damien Boilley

Most of the land borders other than with Tunisia are closed. There are some ferries between Marseilles and Alicante and Algiers and Oran. Airlines flying to Algieria include:

Star Alliance - EgyptAir, Lufthansa, Spanair, TAP, Turkish
Oneworld - British Airways, Iberia
Sky Team - Air France, Alitalia
Other selected - Air Algerie, some North African airlines

TIP Some longhaul fares in business and first class are relatively cheap from Algeria (compared with from Western Europe).

TIP On a Oneworld around the world fare, Algeria is treated as part of Europe.

Online around the world booking

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:46:00 +0000

A few days ago I decided to buy one more Oneworld around the world ticket to take advantage of their 10th anniversary 10% off sale which ended 3 November.

This time I booked it using the online tool, as I have booked others before (on both Star Alliance and Oneworld). Normally the booking is ticketed very quickly (within hours) as most of the validation of the complex rules is done automatically by the tool. It has been a few days since I made the booking and there is no sign of an eticket yet.

This is the downside of using online tools - less customer support than booking with a travel agent (who can hurry the ticketing airline along).

Mega party

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:05:00 +0000

As I write this I'm already on my way to the biggest Flyer Talk party of the year, and by the time this entry posts I'll be miles closer to joining the fun. All FT dos are fun, but this one looks to be especially good.

I'm talking about the Star Mega Do - 7 Partners, 6 Airports, 5 Flights, 4 Days, 3 Aircraft, 2 Continents, 1 Alliance, and over 200 excited frequent flyers (as far as I know George Clooney isn't one of them). Unfortunately due to my schedule I miss the start of festivities in Chicago, and Newark, and New York JFK, and flying to Europe. To console myself I'm flying in style with a first class award whisking me half way around the world to arrive just in time for the events in Europe. Given my crazy schedule I'll probably sleep most of the flights, but for now I'm far to excited to sleep despite the long sequence of late nights and early mornings.

Ironically one of the events is a tour of the Airbus factory in Toulouse where A380s are made, yet I'm flying there on a series of Boeing aircraft. At least I'll be flying mostly Airbus on the way back, including an A380.

I'll be back later to report on the fun and some new travel experiences I have planned along the way. For now, though, I must go and prepare for my upcoming transit where I have lots to do.

Kris Flyer redemption changes 1 December

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:09:00 +0000

Singapore Airlines' Kris Flyer program has some changes from 1 December 2009.

Kris Flyer has joined the trend for frequent flyer programs to allow cheap one-way awards - at 50% of the cost of return awards. This is a big and long-awaited improvement.

They have also simplified the star alliance award chart by reducing the number of zones. Generally most award costs remain unchanged, but some have increased a little. A few significant anomalies in the old chart have been fixed (routes where the award cost is very cheap for the distance travelled) - these will cost substantially more miles from 1 December so book now to get the old award mileage cost.

For awards on Delta, the changes are to add more zones than previously to more closely align with the star alliance award chart, and to generally increase the mileage costs (particularly in business class). Presumably this is to reduce arbitrage opportunities.

Mexicana awards have less zones and increased award costs.

For Virgin Atlantic the major change is to allow awards on the entire journey. Previously a route for say North America to Africa required 2 awards, now it can be done in one award. As with the other charts, in general costs have increased.

The Air India awards are not being changed.

Overall there is a slight devaluation of miles - the extent of which depends on routes awards are used on. However, the significant reduction in cost for one-way awards reasonably offsets this in my view.

British Airways strike threat for (late) December - update

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:27:00 +0000

Last week a BA cabin crew union issued notice of a strike ballot. Today the ballot end date has been confirmed as 14 December (source BBC). This means if there is a yes vote, and if a strike is not averted, then the strike must start on or after 21 December - just in time for the Christmas peak travel season. A 26 December start date for a strike is a possibility if the union wants to avoid being cast as a villian who stops people from returning home for Christmas.

The airline won't rebook passengers until a strike is confirmed, by which time it may be too late to get on alternative flights. While a stike is not certain, the more risk averse travellers who are flying on British Airways in late December should start looking into their options.

For myself I have already done some research. I have 3 flights in this period on BA on a flexible ticket. Unfortunately I cannot reroute onto another airline as it would break other rules of my fare, and nor can I retime my trip as I have a fixed timeframe for doing it. So I have a choice of sitting tight and see what rebooking options BA comes up with if a strike goes ahead, or changing a destination on my itinerary which I'm loathe to do at this stage. I won't do anything at the moment but review around 12 December. If a strike is announced on 14 December then I'll need to act quickly, but by being prepared I'll have the best chance of a reasonable outcome.

How to get to | Oman

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:36:00 +0000

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Oman can be reached by land from United Arab Emirate and Yemen, or by air at Muscat. Airlines flying to Oman include:

Star Alliance - EgyptAir, Lufthansa, Swiss, Thai, Turkish
Oneworld - British Airways, Royal Jordanian
Sky Team - KLM
Other selected - most Persian Gulf and major Indian subcontinent airlines

TIP There are a limited number of fifth freedom flights between Muscat and other places in the Middle East, eg British Airways and Lufthansa between Abu Dhabi and Muscat, or Swiss between Dubai and Muscat. These can be relatively inexpensive.

TIP On Star Alliance round the world tickets (which are mileage based) use a combination of Asian (ie Thai) and European (eg Lufthansa) to visit Muscat and avoid high mileage wastage of back-tracking. On Oneworld round the world (continent based) tickets you can backtrack with British Airways (limit one visit to Middle East though) or with Royal Jordanian. Backtracking to Asia is not allowed because Middle East is in IATA TC area 2 and Asia is IATA TC area 3.

Oneworld 10% discount finishes soon

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:26:00 +0000

The Oneworld 10th anniversary promotion offering 10% discount off most of their alliance product fares (ie around the world and similar) ends 3 November 2009.

If booking through an airline or travel agent then ideally the booking should be done today or tomorrow. This is because these types of fares are complex and take time to ticket, and the people that verify the bookings are valid for pricing typically do not work in the weekend.

Frequent Flyer Friday #8

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:42:00 +0000

Celebrating Friday with a short interview with a frequent flyer.

Anglo Large Clawed Otter (ALCO)

ALCO is a Flyer Talk addict who enjoys (in truth is addicted to) flying. ALCO's work has little or no travel, and night law school also doesn't provide much travel opportunities. Weekend travel to the Caribbean or Europe provides ALCO with stress relief and a chance to catch up on coursework. Getting away for the weekend often means catching up with friends scattered around North America and Europe.

First, some questions to see what kind of frequent flyer ALCO is.

What is your home airport?
ALCO - Houston Bush International Airport.

What is the airline you usually fly?
ALCO - Continental Airlines, as they offer the most nonstop options from their Houston hub.

Which of the following best describes your flying pattern?
- infrequent (eg annual) leisure trip
× jetsetting for pleasure
- frequent (eg monthly) business travel
- road warrior
- mileage runner
- I live on planes

How do you mostly earn your frequent flyer miles?
- promos
- credit card spend
- business and leisure travel
- taking extra flights on trips I need to take
× mileage running
ALCO - To pad my frequent flyer balances I prefer to book QUP fares on either United or US Airways to earn miles in bmi's Diamond Club program, which offers extremely favourable earning rates for first class fares. It is often possible to earn on such fares at 3 cents per mile or less, and the first class seat and service make spending an entire weekend doing transcontinental mileage runs bearable.

Please describe how you travel in 4 words.
ALCO - as much as possible

Now for some travel advice from ALCO.

How will Continental joining Star Alliance impact on your travel?
ALCO - Continental's move to *A is a welcome change.

Some things won't change for me. Most of my Continental flights will continue to be credited to OnePass so I can continue to qualify for the plentiful elite upgrades. I'll continue to use United and US Airways domestic first class fares for their less restrictive routing rules than Continental first class fares (which tend to require nonstop or one-stop flights), and continue to credit these to bmi for the better earning & redemption value.

However, the Continental RTW award, which is already great value in first and business class requiring far less miles than other frequent flyer programs, will be further improved by the access to Star Alliance flights. I expect Continental will soon lift the RTW award mileage level to match that of United. I'll take advantage of these while I still can.

What is inside your carry-on bag right now?
ALCO - A weekend's worth of clothes (for a mix of climates depending on connecting cities), several kilos of textbooks, my macbook and ipod, and my trusty Canon 40D (photography and in particular travel photography are hobbies).

What is your preferred airline for regular travel, and why?
ALCO - For regular travel, I prefer Continental Airlines. Their upgrade scheme suits my travel habits (primarily to leisure destinations on weekends), and I rarely find myself sitting in coach even on the cheapest fares. Continental's upgrade scheme (miles and copay) for international business class is far less generous than their domestic upgrade scheme. Despite this I generally earn enough miles for longhaul trips to either be on a business class award or be upgraded to business.

What is your preferred airline for a special trip, and why?
ALCO - Without a doubt, Emirates. I recently had the pleasure of flying Emirates in business class between Capetown and Houston (via Dubai). Despite spending over 24 hours in the air on that itinerary, I didn't want the flights to end. I thought the seat and service were flawless.

Please give one of your great tips on travel.
ALCO - Never be afraid to try out a new destination simply because it hasn't garnered the sorts of favourable reviews that many staple vacation destinations have. I have found reviews of destinations, hotels and airlines on sites like Trip Advisor and Flyer Talk that vary wildly, depending on the reviewer's unique perspective. Though I value such reviews, and may even use them as a planning guide, I have found that I can't really judge a place until I have been there myself. Based on the accounts of others, I was not really expecting to find much of interest on recent trips to Lima, Peru and Seoul, South Korea. I was pleasantly surprised with both places, finding many interesting activities, landmarks and culinary adventures in each destination. I would highly recommend a tour of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to anyone visiting Seoul, even if you are in Seoul only for a long transit. The experience was one of the most fascinating tours I have ever undertaken.

What is your preferred frequent flyer program, and why?
ALCO - bmi Diamond Club. The earnings rates in premium cabins are stellar, and the redemption opportunities and rates within Star Alliance and on partner airlines are good. I like that the program offers one-way awards, and also offers cash + miles redemptions. Having access to United and US Airlines lounges on domestic itineraries as a bmi Gold card holder is also a great benefit.

Please give a tip on frequent flyer programs.
ALCO - It is very difficult to generalise in this area, as flying patterns and frequent flyer goals vary so much from person to person. I have found sites like FlyerTalk to be an invaluable resource for investigating the relative merits of the various programs. The knowledge and experience shared on FlyerTalk has helped me immensely in furthering my own goals of pursuing ever more travel.

Ahh yes, FT is good for feeding travel addictions. Thanks Anglo Large Clawed Otter for sharing. Have a great weekend.

For other frequent flyer friday posts please check out the index. If you have any questions you'd like answered, or wish to nominate someone for an interview, please drop me a line using the please use the contact me link. For all sorts of reasons I can't make any guarantees, but if you're interested chances are others are too and so we'll get some good interviews.

Low cost airline Jetstar launches frequent buyer program

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:37:00 +0000

Jetstar, the low cost subsidiary of Qantas, has launched a new program today. It is not a frequent flyer program (because they are too expensive) but instead a frequent buyer program launched to a branded Macquarie Bank credit card (Mastercard).

For every A$1 spent you get one Jetstar Dollar (jetbucks?) cent, or two on the more expensive platinum card. Like Air New Zealand Airpoints (with Airpoints Dollars), the Jetstar Dollars are used directly to pay fares of that value. However, there are some gotchas:

vouchers are issued automatically when 100 Jetstar Dollars are accumulated
vouchers can only be issued in multiples of 25 Jetstar Dollars
when a voucher is issued you have 3 months to ticket and 6 months to fly it before the voucher expires
Jetstar Dollars can only be redeemed on Jetstar flights
earning cap at A$50,000 a year (or A$100,000 a year on the platinum card)

When using the Jetstar branded credit card on www.jetstar.com to make a flight booking the credit card charges are waived.

You can use a mixture of credit card and Jetstar Dollar vouchers to pay fares. It is unclear whether the excess of voucher value over fare is lost or retained for future use (I'm guessing it is lost).

Conversion of Jetstar Dollars to Qantas Frequent Flyer points is planned for next year.

Overall, it is a cheap pale imitation of most frequent flyer or credit card rewards programs. However if you fly Jetstar a lot it may be worthwhile. For more information, check out the Jetstar Mastercard page.

How to get to | Burma

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:38:00 +0000

Source: Xianzi Tan

Land border crossings exist but have a myriad of rules and are often closed. Thus more visitors to Burma arrive by air. Airlines flying to Yangon (Rangoon) include:

Star Alliance - Air China, Asiana, Thai
Oneworld - none
Sky Team - China Southern
Other selected - Malaysia Airlines, several Southeast Asian low cost airlines

TIP Longhaul fares to Burma are relatively high. It is cheaper to have a longhaul ticket to Bangkok, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur and then fly to Burma on a separate ticket.

TIP In business class a Star Alliance award is good value, or including Burma on a Sky Team or Star Alliance around the world fare.

British Airways strike threat for December

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:17:00 +0000

Unite, the union for BA's cabin crew, has issued notice of a ballot of their members for strike action (BBC). Given the formalities that apply, if a strike does happen it is likely to be close to Christmas. The earliest possible date is 30 November although that is improbable and the latest date for a strike to commence is about 28 December.

Time to start thinking about contingency plans, particularly for travel that is time-constraint (can't easily be delayed) or on routes with few alternatives.

Spooky being recognised while travelling

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:07:00 +0000

I travel a lot, and as such I am recognised by some airline, airport and lounge staff, and immigration/customs and security officers at certain airports which I pass through very frequently.

However this didn't prepare me for a recent encounter in Singapore. While I used to pass through Singapore very often (a few times a month), lately it has been just a few times a year with the most recent being several months ago. So I was stunned to be remembered by a security screener the other day. She not only knew me but remembered my name!

Singapore Changi airport has many millions of passengers passing through every year. There are many security screening stations (at almost every gate) and so there must be hundreds of screeners at this airport. Perhaps it was my tiredness from having spent 4 days travelling, but I was spooked by this. Do I have a stalker? A fan? A friend of a friend perhaps?

Expert travel assistance from a travel dork

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:00:00 +0000

No, not from me.

Self-confessed travel dork, The Cranky Flier (the blog is a must read for me), is now offering a travel concierge service targetted at infrequent airline travellers based in USA.

Expert help is offered for all the main areas of worry for flyers, from planning, to monitoring, contingency plans in case of problems and post-flight disputes with the airlines.

The rates are low for the angst saved, and I can't believe the surcharge for international travel is a mere $20 given how much more complicated it is.

Made up security rules

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:01:00 +0000

It is no wonder airport security has a bad name amongst regular travellers when rules get made up by the screeners/officers.

Today while in a short queue of 3 people I saw and experienced directly myself a screener make up 3 different "rules", one for each passenger. No this wasn't in USA.

What made up security rules have you experienced?

Travel dreams can come true

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:40:00 +0000

Granted, the first travel dream coming true for me recently sets a low bar, but it has been long time a-coming. Finally after years of frustration my local airport will have a bus service that meets every arriving and departing flight. Over the years I've spent a small fortune on cabs (it is a 30-60+ minute cab ride each direction for me) because there is no bus early enough for the early morning departures, or late enough for the late evening arrivals, both of which feature prominently in my itineraries. It was recently announced that from next week the bus will be running 24/7. Yay. I still have gripes about the service, such as the spotty frequency and the lack of frequent flyer discounts (this week alone I'll use the bus 8 times!) but 24/7 is a good move to be applauded.

The second travel dream was the very rare double upgrade from a cramped economy seat to a luxurious business class bed on a 14 hour flight. I'm very grateful to the airline staff who arranged this for me.

The third travel dream is yet to happen, but I am counting down to it. I've been wanting to fly Singapore Airlines on the A380 for years, even planning to be on the inaugural until my hopes were dashed by the date confirmation coming hot on the heels of a complicated itinerary booked in a race for lifetime frequent flyer status a few years ago. Since then I've flown Qantas A380, and Emirates A380, both in first class. Earlier this year I flew Singapore Airlines A380 for the first time, in business class. Finally, in a couple of weeks time, I get to fly first class on Singapore Airlines A380 thanks to judicious use of a frequent flyer mileage award. That isn't the only thing I'm looking forward to on that trip, but the other stuff will have to wait for my flight has been called for boarding.

How to get to | American Samoa

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:26:00 +0000

American Samoa

Source: Eric Guinther

American Samoa isn't the easiest of places to reach. You can arrive by ferry from Samoa or by air from Apia (Polynesian Airlines) or Honolulu (Hawaiian Airlines).

TIP As neither Polynesian Airlines nor Hawaiian Airlines are members of any alliances, award and RTW fare options are limited. From North America it will almost certainly be cheapest to fly via Hawaii.

Free wifi on Virgin America for a limited time

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:46:00 +0000

If you fly Virgin America between 10 November 2009 and 15 January 2010 you can have free wifi thanks to sponsorship by Google.

How to get to | Cayman Islands

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:16:00 +0000

This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.

Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands are a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, just south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica.

You can visit Cayman Islands on a cruise ship, or by air. Airlines flying to George Town include:

Star Alliance - Air Canada, US Airways
Oneworld - American, British Airways
Sky Team - Continental, Delta, Northwest
Other selected - Cayman Airways

TIP Cayman Islands are a useful stop on a Oneworld RTW or award ticket. The prohibition on mileage earning and redemption for American AAdvantage on British Airways trans-Atlantic flights and BA Executive Club on American trans-Atlantic flights does not apply for flights via the Caribbean.

Airline alliance changes and the how to get to travel advice

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:22:00 +0000

In the series of posts of how to get to every country and many places, I give the airlines flying to each country within each major alliance (Star Alliance, Sky Team and Oneworld), as well as some selected non-alliance airlines.

There are a number of upcoming changes to airline alliances.

Continental leaves Sky Team 24 October 2009 and joins Star Alliance 27 October 2009.
Copa leaves Sky Team 24 October 2009.
Mexicana joins One World 10 November 2009.
Brussels Airlines joins Star Alliance on a date yet to be confirmed (25 October turned out to be a rumour).

With over 100 posts in the series, and growing every week, I'm reluctant to edit the posts every time an airline leaves or joins an alliance. Since there are a number of changes coming I'll update for all the changes at once on each post. In some cases the tips for affordable travel will change (eg Guam is more easily accessed on Star Alliance around the world when Continental joins Star Alliance). Where the advice given needs to change I propose replacing the original post with a new one.

I have a crazy travel schedule coming up so this update process may take a short while to complete. Thanks for your patience in the meantime.

Frequent Flyer Friday #7

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:01:00 +0000

Celebrating Friday with a short interview with a frequent flyer.

Felix

Felix does some highly technical stuff [editor - my words] in medical and biological imaging. As a result he travels frequently between Asia and Australia, Europe and USA.

First, some questions to see what kind of frequent flyer Felix is.

What is your home airport?
Felix - Singapore then the main Star Alliance European hubs (Zurich, Frankfurt, London and Munich) and then Sydney.

What is the airline you usually fly?
Felix - Still United these days.

Which of the following best describes your flying pattern?
- infrequent (eg annual) leisure trip
- jetsetting for pleasure
× frequent (eg monthly) business travel
- road warrior
- mileage runner
- I live on planes
Felix - More like every 3 weeks but monthly is close enough.

How do you mostly earn your frequent flyer miles?
- promos
- credit card spend
× business and leisure travel
- taking extra flights on trips I need to take
- mileage running
Felix - I don't do mileage runs, and promotions are mostly available to people who live in large countries.

Please describe how you travel in 4 words.
Felix - longhaul commuter between homes.

Lufthansa and Miles & More are in your bad books. Why is that?
I feel that a former quality airline has been emptied by a modern crew of managers who offer flimsy marketing propaganda instead of tangible value. Most displeasing is the culture of relying on the customer being an idiot. For example calling detrimental changes "enhancements", taking benefits away from most customers in order to make them appear more desireable for the lucky few customers who get to keep the "exclusive" benefits, blaming the airports for providing poor service (buses at Frankfurt when you get a remote stand).

[Editor note - the August 2004 Miles & More changes are a classic example of such marketing double-speak.]

Now for some travel advice from Felix.

What is inside your carry-on bag right now?
Felix - Air because it is empty. I have three drawers two of which will be poured into the carry on before I leave my home depending on the trip's destination. I always bring ipods, books, at least one computer, mobile phones, eyeshades, medication, breathing mask, books, and cameras with me.

Please give a tip on travel.
Felix - Do the maths and avoid low cost carriers (unless you are a USA domestic flyer). Only five times in my life, I have calculated a low cost airline as being cheaper all in than a legacy airline on the same route. Each of those 5 times I paid with high blood pressure - too small seats, canceled flights, hidden charges. The only ones which weren't terrible but a huge hassle to check bags were Air Berlin and JetBlue.

What is your preferred airline for regular travel, and why?
Felix - I don't have one anymore. United used to be my workhorse as I always travel with LOTS of equipment (personal score was 185kg) and UA was most accommodating with great discounts in the past. But these days Singapore Airlines is more flexible, has better prices, their coach product isn't that much worse than United's old business class cabin. By flying Singapore Airlines I can sometimes avoid the at times hostile USA border scheme which makes me fly them more and more often.

What is your preferred airline for a special trip, and why?
Felix - Thai. I just like them and don't have unpleasant moments with them.

What is your preferred frequent flyer program, and why?
Felix - I am historically stuck with (United) MileagePlus, (Lufthansa) Miles & More, (bmi) Diamond Club, and (American) AAdvantage. If I had to choose again, I'd spread things much more evenly, would never have joined Miles & More, and I would have put more emphasis on Oneworld than I did before.

Please give a tip on frequent flyer programs.
Felix - Optimize them for your needs. I have all the predictions in my spreadsheet ready by March. Do not over-credit any program and make sure your upgrade instruments & mileage will not expire. I was very skillful in utilising all my certificates and very naive and dumb in collecting far too many miles.

Thank you Felix for sharing. The advice about not being over-reliant on an airline or frequent flyer program is particularly important for those who fly a lot. Have a great weekend.

For other frequent flyer friday posts please check out the index. If you have any questions you'd like answered, or wish to nominate someone for an interview, please drop me a line using the please use the contact me link. For all sorts of reasons I can't make any guarantees, but if you're interested chances are others are too and so we'll get some good interviews.

How to get to | Corsica

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:01:00 +0000

Source: Wikimedia Commons

There are ferries from various ports in southern France (some year-round), and also Italy including Sardinia (mostly summer only). A small number of airlines fly to Corsica including:

Star Alliance - Lufthansa (seasonal to Bastia)
Oneworld - none
Sky Team - Air France (to Ajaccio & Bastia)
Other Selected - Easy Jet (to Ajaccio & Bastia), some European low cost airlines (to Bastia and mostly seasonal)

TIP The most competition is on the London & Paris to Bastia route.

Emirates Skywards program moves to revenue basis

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:29:00 +0000

Emirates has announced there will be some sweeping changes to their Skywards frequent flyer program from 1 January 2010. The changes can be summed up as a move from a traditional mileage basis to a more innovative revenue basis. In a post a few months ago I described the various types of revenue-based frequent flyer programs (FFPs). The new Skywards program does not match any of those types but instead has fixed earning and fixed awards.

The key changes announced to date include:

no new status tier, yet, and no change to earning requirement
fares categorised as flex (normal published fares) and saver (sales and fares brought through other airlines)
earning fixed amounts based on whole journey using geographic zones
earning related to profitability - higher for first and business class, lower 50% rate for saver fares
status mileage earning to match redeemable mileage earning (yet to be seen if this also applies to bonus mile promotions)
status earning based on membership year rather than calendar year, with year reset on attaining a higher level
awards categorised as flex (more availability) and saver (limited availability)
flex awards at double cost
one-way awards introduced
upgrades cost more from saver fares than from flex fares

Other than awards being fixed amounts based on the journey and geographic zones (instead of variable per flight), it looks very similar to NZ Airpoints program. This is good for those who travel on expensive fares, not so good for others and useless for mileage runners.

I like how the Skywards page announcing this overhaul has an option to get email updates for any further changes posted.

How to get to | Western Sahara

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:45:00 +0000

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Western Sahara refers to the disputed country/province called Western Sahara.

Despite the proximity to the Canary Islands, it is difficult to visit Western Sahara. The ways to reach Western Sahara is to drive or fly from Morocco (if visiting the Moroccan portion) or a difficult drive from Mauritania (if visiting the "independent" portion). Airlines flying to Western Sahara include:

Star Alliance - none
Oneworld - none
Sky Team - none
Other Selected - Royal Air Maroc, Regional Air Lines

TIP Check government travel advisories for the latest safety & security status before visitng Western Sahara. I'd expect French advisories to be the most up to date and accurate.

TIP There are some references to a couple of Canary Islands based airlines starting flights, but at time of writing these are not verified.

How to get to | Azerbaijan

noreply@blogger.com (The Global Traveller) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:14:00 +0000

Source : Derek Jones

You can reach Azerbaijan by air, by ferry across the Caspian Sea (mostly from Turkmenistan) or by bus or train (from Istanbul is easiest). Airlines flying to Azerbaijan include:

Star Alliance - Austrian, bmi, Lufthansa, Turkish
Oneworld - none
Sky Team - Aeroflot, China Southern
Other Selected - Azerbaijan Airlines, several Russian and Eastern European airlines

TIP Fares are generally expensive, however some longhaul fares to Europe include Baku for a small surcharge.

TIP Some frequent flyer programs include Azerbaijan in the Europe redemption zone. These awards are exceptional value in business class.